News for Preventive Neurology

To celebrate  Brain Awareness Week (March 11 to 15), researchers from the Oxford Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute are hosting a series of  activities, displays, talks on the subject of Sleep and the Brain. A crack team of neuroscientists will take over the Museum of the History of ... READ MORE

A NEW brain stimulation therapy could help supress tremors in people with Parkinson’s disease, according to new research. The non-invasive technique has been pioneered by researchers supported by  the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, a collaboration ... READ MORE

The pain relief offered by cannabis varies greatly between individuals, a brain imaging study supported by Oxford Biomedical Research Centre suggests. The researchers found that an oral tablet of THC, the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, tended to make the experience of pain more bearable, ... READ MORE

Our brains adapt whenever we learn a new skill, such as juggling and they also adapt after damage such as stroke. In this Oxford Biomedical Research Centre public talk, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Heidi Johansen-Berg shows how brain imaging allows us to watch the brain remodel, reorganise ... READ MORE

Research study (SCarlet RoAD) opens to test an investigational medication for the treatment of prodromal Alzheimer’s disease On 20 January 2012 the OPTIMA Project (Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing: Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford) based at the John Radcliffe ... READ MORE

A study of schizophrenia patients has found profound disruptions in their sleep patterns, with half also having irregular body clocks that are out of synch with the pattern of night and day. The Oxford researchers argue that the extent and severe nature of these long-term sleep problems should be ... READ MORE

A Wellcome Trust article highlights the work of Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg at the University of Oxford and her research exploring the structural changes in the brain’s white and grey matter that underlie learning. Understanding the precise cellular nature of those changes may improve diagnosis of ... READ MORE

Tiny electric currents applied across regions of the brain can improve hand movements in recovering stroke patients for a short period, an Oxford University study has demonstrated. The researchers are hopeful that developing this brain stimulation technique further may provide a useful addition ... READ MORE

The Thomas Willis Oxford Brain collection features in a Sunday Telegraph article by local journalist Vikki Owen.  She talks movingly about donating her father's brain to research and his struggle with MS. The Thomas Willis Oxford Brain Collection is a collaborating centre for the Brains for ... READ MORE

The Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and the MS Society have joined forces to fund a three year Clinical Research Fellowship to carry out translational research into basic or clinical aspects of multiple sclerosis (MS). The collaboration will support the research of Dr Oliver Leach, based within ... READ MORE

A brain chemical called GABA is the reason why “some people dance like Fred Astaire – while others have the natural rhythm of Ann Widdecombe”, the Daily Mail has reported. The news is based on a study involving 12 healthy young adults who had their brains stimulated with electrodes to alter ... READ MORE

The Cochrane Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, based at the JR Hospital, is running  a volunteer recruitment campaign in conjunction with the development of a free online course “Making Sense of the Evidence in Dementia”, primarily aimed at caregivers and former caregivers of people with ... READ MORE

Peter Brown has recently been appointed as Professor of Experimental Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurology and as an Honorary Consultant Neurologist within the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust. Professor Brown was attracted from UCL in London to Oxford by the range and volume of ... READ MORE

Two projects led by Professor Peter Rothwell, from the Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, are leading to major improvements in the effectiveness of stroke prevention. Results from the study (named EXPRESS) indicated that urgent use of existing treatments (including ... READ MORE

Scientists at the Universities of Oxford, Southampton and St George’s, University of London are asking people with and without Alzheimer’s disease to come forward with examples of their writing as part of a study to identify changes in language use that occur with the condition. ‘We’re ... READ MORE