Ricki Lewis, PhD

brain tumor, neuroma, tumorigenesis, cell phone use

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs, Suicidality, Depression, Major depressive disorder, Neonatal abstinence syndrome

cognitive enhancement, cosmetic neurology

Huntington disease, neurogenetics, George Sumner Huntington, Systematic Evaluation of Treatments for Huntington's Disease, Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Parkinson,Parkinson's

Animal models enable researchers to track amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathogenesis. Erik Storkebaum, MSc, and colleagues at the Center for Transgene Technology and Gene Therapy at Flanders Interuniversity, Leuven, Belgium, took several approaches to increase supply of the neuroprotective protein vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in an animal model. "When administered to rats at 60 days, which is 1 month before symptoms, it delayed onset and prolonged survival by 22 days. When we gave VEGF at the age of disease onset, which more closely mimics the human situation, the treatment still prolonged life by an average of 10 days," Storkebaum reported at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in October 2004

Levodopa (l-dopa) and dopamine agonists are the main treatment for Parkinson disease (PD), but these therapies are of limited value in the long course of the illness because they counter a neurotransmitter deficit but do not halt neurodegeneration. In this main article and in an accompanying story, we offer an update on the status of Parkinson treatments today.

Early applications ofstem cell medicine arelikely to be neurologic,targeting spinal cord injury,brain tumors, metabolic derangements,and disordersof movement and mood. Althoughtreatments are stillyears away, continual mediacoverage of the fledglingtechnology is fueling questionsin the doctor’s office.“For our patients with devastatingneurological conditions,stem cell researchgives them hope of newtherapeutic measures,” saidSandra Olson, MD, presidentof the American Academyof Neurology (AAN).