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Sci-Fi Repairs

More effective nerve repair could follow a new procedure that assembles cells in complex patterns called cell tartans €“ with echoes of science fiction. Glasgow University scientists achieved the cell arrangement with a heptagon acoustic tweezer, referred to as a €sonic screwdriver€ after an implement used by Dr Who. They found cell tartans aid the alignment of damaged neurones, a preliminary to nerve repair. Dr Mathis Riehle believes a device containing a patient's own cells could be produced to use the procedure for repairing nerve damage more successfully than present methods, including grafts.

The mind rogues

A better understanding of the genetics of motor neurone disease is being sought in a two-year investigation starting this autumn. The UK Whole Genome Sequencing Project, funded with £800,000 by the Motor Neurone Disease Association, is aimed at finding new genetic variations and more predisposing genes, including those determining slower progression of the condition. The researchers will examine more than 1,500 genomes in the association's UK MND DNA bank. The investigation is a collaboration with Project MinE, a Netherlands-based international study established by neurologists and patients to sequence 15,000 MND genomes in Europe and Australia.

Dementia culprit attacked

Genetically modified neural stem cells transplanted into mice have been found to disperse the amyloid-beta protein that accumulates in the brain to cause Alzheimer's disease. The stem cells produced 25 times the normal amount of the enzyme neprilysin to attack the amyloid-beta and could improve brain connections, reported researchers at the University of California, Irvine. However, Dr Mathew Blurton-Jones, the lead researcher, cautioned: €There is clearly a great deal more research needed to determine whether this kind of approach could eventually be translated to the clinic.€

Patterns of anorexia...

Anorexic girls and autistic patients both follow rigid behaviour patterns, tend to be self-focused, concentrate on detail and show little empathy, specialists at Cambridge University observed. They found there could be similar alterations in structure and functioning in brain regions that direct social reactions. Dr Tony Jaffa, who co-led the study, said anorexics might benefit if their obsession could switch from weight and dieting to behaviour. He suggested: €Recognising that some patients with anorexia may need help with social skills and communication and with adapting to change gives us a new treatment angle.

... and bulimia

The brain area concerned with self- reflection was shown in scans to be activated in bulimic women, but the reaction to food was the same in subjects with and without bulimia. Researchers conducting studies at the Institute of Psychiatry proposed that bulimia psychotherapy should therefore concentrate on body image, not eating. They suggested their findings could lead to clinical treatments counteracting the abnormal brain patterns.

Relax, it's the dentist

A study of electrotherapy before, during and after dental work has reported significant relief from anxiety, stress, depression and insomnia. A device clipped to patients' ears delivers electrotherapy stimulation, activating brain stem cells that produce serotonin and acetylcholine. The results claimed for 93 per cent of users are calmness, relaxation and mental focus. The research, in Nigeria, was the latest of more than 60 studies of an American device called Alpha-Stim, one of several similar products newly introduced to UK dentists.