A newly identified type of immune cell — a kind of immature neurophil or white blood cell — was found to be responsible for the regeneration and survival of eye and spinal cord nerve fibers that is known to be possible in mice with induced nerve injury,…

Everyone suffers from stress from time to time but when you have a chronic disease, stress not only adds to your everyday burden but can often exacerbate the symptoms of your condition. While we can’t avoid stress altogether, there are ways that we help ourselves relax more and not let things…

Note: This story was updated Nov. 30, 2022, to indicate six patients in the Phase 2a part of FOCUS-C9 will receive a monthly 10 mg dose of WVE-004 over four months. An ongoing clinical trial of Wave Life Sciences’ WVE-004 in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and…

We had snow in the air last week, reminding me that Christmas is coming, and with it, one of my favorite creative projects: wreath-making. I’ll start clipping the Fraser fir boughs and assembling the wreaths in November, but in the meantime, I’ve been gathering pine cones. I’ve been wiring…

A research team at Colombia University led by Lars Brichta and Paul Greengard identified two proteins responsible for neuronal cell loss in Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study entitled “Identification of neurodegenerative factors using translatome–regulatory network analysis” appeared on 27 July, 2015 in the journal…

The University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has announced that a new UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences will be established, made possible by $185 million in funding — the largest-ever gift to the university and one of the largest ever made to support the neurosciences in the U.S. —…

After three weeks of my husband, Todd, being cloistered in our home with a cold, we ventured out Saturday for Michigan Tech’s last home hockey game of the season. Our Huskies took on their archrival, the Northern Michigan Wildcats. Games between the two teams usually sell out because…

Almost 6 million Americans are living with some form of paralysis, including nearly 1.3 million who have suffered spinal cord injuries. However, a team of University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) scientists reports this week that a 39-year-old man who has been completely paralyzed for four years was…

According to the Motor Neurone Disease Association, here are some common symptoms and effects of MND: Discomfort and pain: although they do not come from MND directly. Muscle cramps and spasms: which may be eased by changing positions. If you feel these changes are not enough, talk to your doctor. Stiff joints: some slow…

Cumbersome security procedures, rising airfares, and shrinking legroom have made commercial air travel difficult enough these days — even for healthy passengers. Imagine how much harder it is for patients with rare diseases who must get to doctors’ appointments or clinical trials that are hundreds of miles away from home.