Last year's ice bucket challenge for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis netted $220 million in donations for ALS charities, and the 2015 challenge is off to a strong start with $100,000 from Major League Baseball. Alzforum looks at how all that money is b
The endocytic receptor SORL1 has come to fruition both literally and figuratively. An interactive diagram of the 2,214 amino acid behemoth—filled with findings about hundreds of rare variants—is live for viewing on the Alzforum Mutations database. A handf
Move over, genome, transcriptome, proteome. The latest ome aims to map every metabolite linked to human health and disease. Metabolomics, although still a nascent field, offers hope for biomarkers and treatments in neurodegenerative disease. The field
Banked brain tissue enables crucial advances in the understanding and treatment of degenerative disorders. As appreciation of the many different variants of neurodegenerative disease is growing, well-preserved tissue is in more demand than ever. Are the b
Researchers have tied sleep to clearance of waste products such as excess Aβ. New research suggests this clearance may be driven by a change in the extracellular ion composition, which swells the interstitial fluid. Other work finds an essential role for
With the holidays upon us, are your nerves fraying under the combined pressures of work deadlines, shopping, decorating, and entertaining? Now may be a good time to sit back and consider the effects of stress on the brain. Stress per se is not a cause of
For families with autosomal-dominant neurological conditions, the fear of passing on the disease to their children looms large. Now, people at this highest genetic risk can ensure that they have healthy children by undergoing in vitro fertilization follow
In the Finnish city of Kuopio, neurosurgeons collaborate with neurophysiologists and molecular and cellular biologists to make frontal cortex, dura, intraventricular CSF, skin, fat, and other tissue from hydrocephalus patients available for research purpo
In this series, ARF takes stock of deep-brain stimulation after more than a decade of life-altering procedures, In deep brain stimulation, surgeons implant wires into the brain and hook them up to a pacemaker-like stimulator implanted in the chest, which
Two weeks after the FDA gave the nod to aducanumab, the aftershocks continue to reverberate. Critics are lambasting the agency, three members of its advisory committee resigned, and the drug’s cost has ignited calls for pricing reform. Meanwhile, Alzheime
With the nation at war for eight continuous years, and awareness of the dangers of sports concussions on the rise, a new priority—and opportunity—are taking shape for neurodegenerative disease researchers. In a time of austere budgets, the Department of D
If you find it hard to keep up with Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks, spare a thought for the brain. With 100 to 500 trillion synaptic connections, the human brain dwarfs all of them. How do those connections work to formulate thought, recall
A contentious hypothesis about where and how Parkinson’s disease starts off is gaining ground as new studies provide clues in its support. Neuroanatomists Heiko Braak and Kelly Del Tredici, both at the University of Ulm in Germany, have described the dist