JPND highlighted as global partnership to tackle issues associated with the ageing ‘timebomb’
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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.
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A report of the first year of the UK Prime Ministers 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.
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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 brains 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.
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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 Alzheimers.
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 years 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.
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On 29 May, the Public Health Committee in the European Parliament endorsed draft EU rules for clinical trials of new medicines
The new regulation is designed to encourage research while protecting patients’ rights and making simpler, more uniform rules. The new text makes specific provision for low-risk trials, clarifies the duties of ethics committees and details how to obtain informed consent from patients. It also simplifies reporting procedures and empowers the Commission to conduct checks. Finally, it stipulates that member states must respond to applications from clinical trial sponsors within fixed deadlines.
Nature Neuroscience recently published 25 new candidate genes for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Researchers found the genes by sequencing the exomes of patient-parent trios. Variations within the genes must have arisen de novo in each offspring, according to the research, because they were not present in either the father or the mother.
The same trio technique could offer insights into other conditions such as Alzheimers or Parkinsons, said study senior author Aaron Gitler of Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.
The 25 genes perform a variety of functions, but five of them are involved in chromatin remodeling, the process by which proteins unwind or rewind DNA packaging to regulate transcription.
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The interim report of the JUMPAHEAD FP7 action to support JPND has been highlighted on the CORDIS Technology Workplace website.
The JUMPAHEAD project is a coordination action that supports the implementation of JPND to combat neurodegenerative diseases. It is a three year project funded by an FP7 2 million euro grant GA no. 260774.
JUMPAHEAD has allowed JPND to create a unique European collaborative research organization, with the necessary JPND activities formally organized into work packages. This organization has since established a comprehensive research strategy, a realistically-phased implementation plan, and has been widely disseminated to other Joint Programing Initiatives, offering a framework and valuable experience to develop their efforts more rapidly and efficiently.
Click on the links below to access the interim report summary in a number of languages:
EnglishGermanFrenchItalianThe interim report was also highlighted in anarticle in the Research EU magazine produced by CORDIS.
For more information on JUMPAHEAD, clickhere or on the link below: