News by Subject Medicine & Health

The relay station of the brain, the substantia nigra consists of different types of nerve cells and is responsible for controlling the execution of diverse movements. Researchers at the University of Basel's Biozentrum have now characterized two of these cell populations more precisely and has been able to assign an exact function to each of them. The results of the study have now been published in Cell Reports.

Researchers from Osaka University developed a new device that can measure levels of α-synuclein aggregates in cerebrospinal fluid. This 'HANdai Amyloid Burst Inducer' device amplifies and detects misfolded α-synuclein using ultrasonication. The use of ultrasonication greatly reduced the assay processing time compared with existing methods. Seeding activity of α-synuclein was correlated with disease severity and radiographic examinations.

A team of biophysicists has discovered and studied the structure of the KR2 rhodopsin under physiological conditions. This pioneering work breaks ground for a future breakthrough in optogenetics, a highly relevant area of biomedicine with applications in neurological disease treatment and more. The fundamental discovery will lead to a new instrument for efficient therapy of depression, anxiety disorders, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease.

Adjusting the frequency and dosage of Parkinson's patients' medication is complex. In their 'ON' state they respond positively to medication and in their 'OFF' state symptoms return. Addressing these fluctuations requires a clinical exam, history-taking or a patient's self-report, which are not always practical or reliable. A new technology that combines an algorithm with a senor-based system using wearable motion sensors, automatically, continuously and reliably detects a patient's medication ON and OFF states without patient or physician engagement.