Laboratory Equipment

Some children who are accurately diagnosed in early childhood with autism lose the symptoms and the diagnosis as they grow older, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health has confirmed. The research team made the finding by carefully documenting a prior diagnosis of autism in a small group of school-age children and young adults with no current symptoms of the disorder.

The report is the first of a series that will probe more deeply into the nature of the change in these children’s status. Having been diagnosed at one time with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), these young people now appear to be on par with typically developing peers. The study team is continuing to analyze data on changes in brain function in these children and whether they have subtle residual social deficits. The team is also reviewing records on the types of interventions the children received, and to what extent they may have played a role in the transition.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/some-children-grow-out-autism

New research proves the validity of one of the most promising approaches for combating Alzheimer’s disease (AD) with medicines that treat not just some of the symptoms, but actually stop or prevent the disease itself, scientists are reporting. The study, in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, also identifies a potential new oral drug that the scientists say could lead the way.

Wenhui Hu, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues point out that existing drugs for AD provide only “minimal” relief of memory loss and other symptoms, creating an urgent need for new medicines that actually combat the underlying destruction of brain cells.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/10/drug-treats-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease-not-symptoms

Chronic exposure to dim light at night can lead to depressive symptoms in rodents- but these negative effects can be reversed simply by returning to a standard light-dark cycle, a new study suggests.

While hamsters exposed to light at night for four weeks showed evidence of depressive symptoms, those symptoms essentially disappeared after about two weeks if they returned to normal lighting conditions.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-harmful-effects-of-light-at-night-can-be-reversed.aspx?xmlmenuid=51

Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) at the Univ. of Barcelona (UB) have coordinated a research into how IDPN nitrile, and industrial compound, causes neurological syndromes similar to those of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, a severe neuromuscular degenerative disease. The study, led by Jordi Llorens, has been recently published in Neuropathology and Applied Neurobiology Journal.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Industrial-Poisons-Can-Cause-ALS-Like-Symptoms-071812.aspx