Monthly Archives: Giugno 2013

JPND highlighted as global partnership to tackle issues associated with the ageing ‘timebomb’

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The entire edition of the magazine can be viewed at the link below (JPND article on p124-125).

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Clickhere to access other international press articles related to JPND.

Interferon-Beta Aids Balance and Movement in Mice With Spinocerebellar Ataxia 7

The first in vivo trial of the use of interferon-beta in a mouse model of the group of fatal, neurodegenerative diseases known as spinocerebellar ataxia has shown that its use can significantly improve their physical condition and control symptoms.

Researchers in France and the US believe that their results show that a clinical trial in humans is merited.

More information at the link below:

A report of the first year of the UK Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia has been published

The achievements against the three main areas of the challenge are described, with progress reports from the three Dementia Challenge Champion Groups on:
1. Driving improvements in health and care.
2. Creating dementia friendly communities.
3. Better dementia-related research.

Also, Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced that a G8 dementia-specific summit will be held in the UK in September 2013, allowing health and science ministers, international leading experts, senior industry leaders and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to achieve more coordination and collaboration on dementia R&D globally. 

More information at the links below:

A number of recent systematic reviews relevant to JPND diseases are highlighted below

Click on the titles to access the abstract of the review:

The association between vitamin D and cognitionDeep brain stimulation (DBS) and its effects on swallowing function in Parkinson’s disease (PD)Sensitivity and Specificity of Diagnostic Accuracy in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Synthesis of Existing Evidence 

Discovery reveals how an important protein helps translate learning into memory

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (Gladstone Institutes) have deciphered how a protein called Arc regulates the activity of neurons – providing much-needed clues into the brain’s ability to form long-lasting memories.

These findings, reported in Nature Neuroscience, also offer newfound understanding as to what goes on at the molecular level when this process becomes disrupted. 

Latest figures show that in 1990, 3.68 million people had dementia in China and by 2010 this number had risen to 9.2 million

The international study, led by the University of Edinburgh and published in The Lancet, reviewed almost 90 public health studies that included the health information of almost 350,000 people in China. 

More information at the link below:

The XPRIZE Foundation, a nonprofit organization that creates highly coveted prizes for advances in human endeavor, will award a total of $50 million – the biggest XPRIZE yet – to anyone who develops a new therapy for Alzheimer’s.

Though details of the prize have yet to be finalized, it may rally a new set of innovators to the charge against this disease, said Eric Leuthardt, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the scientists who proposed the idea at this year’s Visioneering conference, 25-28 April 2013. 

This annual meeting brings together experts from many disciplines to vote on what the XPRIZE Foundation should fund next.

More information at the links below: