Neurology News
Can one neuron release more than one neurotransmitter? Why is it comforting to discuss problems with others?
Can one neuron release more than one neurotransmitter?--Marvin Shrewsbury, Wailuku, Hawaii
[More]Is It Time to Give Up on Therapeutic Cloning? A Q&A with Ian Wilmut
Ian Wilmut, famed for creating Dolly the cloned sheep, announced recently that he is abandoning the technique to concentrate on a popular new approach: making induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Such cells would get around the ethical and legal issues surrounding embryonic stem cell work, of which cloning, or somatic cell nuclear transfer, has been an integral part. For the Insights story, "No More Cloning Around," in the August 2008 Scientific American, Sally Lehrman asked Wilmut about his change in focus, whether somatic cell nuclear transfer is still relevant, and what lessons he learned in his experience with Dolly. Here is an edited excerpt of that interview. [More]
Why Migraines Strike
For the more than 300 million people who suffer migraines, the excruciating, pulsating pain that characterizes these debilitating headaches needs no description. For those who do not, the closest analogous experience might be severe altitude sickness: nausea, acute sensitivity to light, and searing, bed-confining headache. “That no one dies of migraine seems, to someone deep into an attack, an ambiguous blessing,” wrote Joan Didion in the 1979 essay “In Bed” from her collection The White Album.
Historical records suggest the condition has been with us for at least 7,000 years, yet it continues to be one of the most misunderstood, poorly recognized and inadequately treated medical disorders. Indeed, many people seek no medical care for their agonies, most likely believing that doctors can do little to help or will be downright skeptical and hostile toward them. Didion wrote “In Bed” almost three decades ago, but some physicians remain as dismissive today as they were then: “For I had no brain tumor, no eyestrain, no high blood pressure, nothing wrong with me at all: I simply had migraine headaches, and migraine headaches were, as everyone who did not have them knew, imaginary.”
[More]New Targets for Treating Huntington's Disease Discovered
Researchers have discovered early blood markers in people genetically predisposed to develop Huntington's disease, a mysterious neurodegenerative disorder. These signs may provide future targets for staving off or even preventing symptoms from developing. [More]
Wireless Device Helps Illuminate the Role of Light on Human Health
During a 24-hour period humans experience a rise and dip in the production of most hormones and neurotransmitters (the chemicals that relay signals between nerve cells). This daily cycle is referred to as the body's circadian rhythm and is regulated by both internal systems and external stimuli, the most powerful of which is visible light. [More]