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SPINE MENDING

New neurological tests could produce drugs that aid recovery from spine and brain injury, restoring some sensation and mobility. Researchers at Imperial College London and Tuebingen University, Germany, found injecting mice with the PCAF protein, which is created naturally and promotes peripheral nerve repair, also increased regrowth in the central nervous system. Professor Simone Di Giovanni said €a pharmaceutical method€ could eventually be developed to trigger nerve repair and achieve €some level of recovery€ in patients. In another project, at Keio University, Japan, scientists combined treadmill rehabilitation with a silicon implant releasing a drug to treat severed spinal cords in rats. The team found slowly-released semaphorin 3A, a signalling protein, boosted repair, and the treadmill activity targeted spinal areas that coordinate repetitive movements such as walking.

D FOR ASTHMA ...

Severe asthmatics who fail to respond to corticosteroids may benefit from vitamin D. A combination of vitamin D and corticosteroids was found to boost the anti-inflammatory molecule interleukin-10, which falls to low levels in patients not helped by corticosteroid-based therapy. However, scientists conducting the study at the Medical Research Council-Asthma UK Centre warned more work was needed before vitamin D could be recommended. Simultaneously, their American colleagues are investigating whether vitamin D reduces wheezing in young children. Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz, who led the UK study, said: €The whole field of research in vitamin D has exploded.€

... AND CANCER

The value of vitamin D in preventing and slowing prostate cancer is being investigated at Bristol University. Vitamin D, present in oily fish, eggs, fortified margarines and breakfast cereals, and sometimes called 'the sunshine vitamin', produced good results in earlier, limited studies. The new project involves 3,000 men, considered a big enough sample to test the treatment.

THE QUIET DEVICE

A device is being developed to reduce tinnitus noise by regulating the face and neck nerve signals that are amplified to compensate for the cochlea defect. When face and neck messages reach the brain, the tinnitus noise is increased by multi-tasking neurons that integrate sensory signals. Hearing specialists at Michigan University aim to minimise this by changing the timing of signals in relation to one another. Professor Susan Shore said: €If we get the timing right, we believe we can decrease the firing rate of neurons at the tinnitus frequency.€

TUMOUR TESTS

A drug treatment after radiotherapy for high-grade gliomas is being tested in patients over 70, a group often excluded from clinical trials by age. High-grade gliomas often recur after treatment because cancer cells damaged by radiotherapy can self-repair. However, researchers at the Brain Tumour Charity's London centre, funded by Cancer Research UK, found the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ, can block cell repair. The trial will determine the effectiveness of HCQ treatment. Next, the team will consider whether similar drugs could help childhood brain tumour patients.

HAPPY HOURS

Occasional drinking may prevent depression, possibly in the way it wards off cardiovascular problems. In a seven-year study of 5,500 moderate drinkers at Navarra University, Spain, the least depression was found among those drinking two to seven small glasses of wine weekly. Professor Miguel Martinez- Gonzalez said: €Lower amounts of alcohol intake might exert protection in a similar way to what has been observed for coronary heart disease. It is believed [the two conditions] share some common disease mechanisms.€