to the head -- not concussions per se -- cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), reported Boston University researchers who studied the brains of teenagers with head injuries and used mice to recreate head trauma. "The concussion is really irrelevant for triggering CTE," said BU's Lee Goldstein, MD, PhD. "This is the first really solid evidence that we have where we have controlled experiments where we can make that case very strongly and convincingly." (Washington Post)
Just days before its Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) date, Braeburn Pharmaceuticals learned the FDA needs more information to move its long-acting formulation forward. Braeburn competitor Indivior recently received FDA approval for a monthly buprenorphine shot for patients stabilized on the sublingual form of the drug (Suboxone). (Endpoint News)
While Pfizer is getting out of neuroscience research, is establishing a separate neuroscience division. (NASDAQ)
-- a 21-year old woman, a 28-year-old man, and a 37-year-old woman -- reported severe activation of disease during alemtuzumab (Lemtrada) immunotherapy. All three had similar MRI lesion morphology and unexpected high total B cell count 6 months after starting the drug. (Neurology)
The inverse association of was less pronounced in people who carried minor alleles of both RXRA-rs4240705 and SLC17A6-rs1900586, but it's what component of cigarette smoking might be neuroprotective or by what mechanism. (Neurology)
Proteins in nerve cell synapses reliably discriminated 's disease patients, Swedish researchers found. These particular synaptic proteins have an important predictive molecular fingerprint and could be a potential target for early disease intervention. (Brain)
Lifestyle changes in diet, exercise, cognitive training, and vascular risk management may be beneficial for cognition even for older at-risk researchers with the FINGER trial concluded. (JAMA Neurology)
And APOE4 linked to Alzheimer's disease. In a study of 20 gene variants associated with brain amyloidosis, the ABCA7 gene had the strongest association with amyloid deposition after APOE4. (JAMA Neurology)
Researchers studying pregnant rhesus macaques observed a "robust maternal-placental-fetal inflammatory response" following Zika infection, suggesting the a mother's placenta and affect oxygen delivery to the fetus during development. (Nature Communications)
Cognitively unimpaired elderly men and women have on FLAIR MRI, Mayo researchers said. Women had significantly greater white matter hyperintensities volume relative to their white matter volume, while men had 2.2-greater relative odds of having a cortical infarction. Understanding these differences could help develop sex-specific preventive strategies. (Neurology)