Stuttering or stammering affects people of all ages and races and most often starts between the ages of two and five, when children start to develop language skills. Although most children outgrow stuttering, about one percent of adults continue to…
Blog Archives
Norepinephrine Boosts Memory in Down’s Syndrome Model
Down’s syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all (trisomy 21) or part of an extra copy of chromosome 21. The consequences of the extra genetic material are very variable and the condition is associated with a…
Progress in Drug Discovery for Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) describes a group of diseases where motor neurons of the spinal cord and brain stem, which are critical for stimulation of muscle cells, degenerate and die. Lacking the appropriate input, the muscle cells become much smaller…
What Shall We Do with the Drunken Fruit Fly?
In fact not just one, but a whole bunch of them! Whilst not immediately obvious, researchers at North Carolina State and Boston universities have found them pretty useful in the study of alcohol tolerance. Recognising the difficulties of genome-wide association…
Heart Muscle Protein Rescues Mice with ‘Floppy Baby’ Syndrome
Floppy Baby Syndrome encompasses a number of incurable genetic diseases that cause severe muscle weakness. In one form of the disease, mutations occur in the ACTA1 gene which encodes the skeletal muscle protein, alpha actin. Most babies born with these…
Genes Linked to Autism
Autism, the best known of the autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), is a relatively common condition affecting around 1 in 150 children in the US, with about four times more boys than girls affected. People with autism spectrum disorders struggle with…
