Blue-collar workers, particularly carpenters and construction workers, have a significantly increased risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) compared with white-collar workers, new research shows. Investigators found manual laborers had a twofold increased risk for the fatal neurodegenerative disease, possibly because…
Read MoreMulti-center, multi-tracer PET studies harmonized to detect neuroinflammation in ALS
A novel ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) study has pooled data from multiple sites to effectively visualize neuroinflammation, which is key to developing drugs to treat the disease. Pooling data acquired from different scanners, different neuroinflammation positron emission tomography (PET) markers…
Read MoreInvestigational ALS drug prolongs patient survival in clinical trial
An experimental medication that was recently shown to slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, has now demonstrated the potential to also prolong patient survival. The findings come from a clinical trial…
Read MoreScientists identify promising new ALS drug candidates
Scientists have taken a significant step forward in the search to find effective new drug candidates for the treatment of motor neurone disease. Researchers from the Universities of Liverpool (UK) and Nagoya (Japan) have shown that a Selenium-based drug-molecule called…
Read MoreSilencing of an ALS gene safely delivered to patients in new study
UMass Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital are the first to safely treat two research participants with a synthetic microRNA, delivered into the spinal fluid, designed to silence a human disease-causing gene. Details of the treatment, which targeted the mutant…
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