NINDS News Articles

New research in twins contributes to the increasing evidence that repeated occupational exposure to certain chemical solvents raises the risk for Parkinson’s disease. Of the six chemicals investigated, researchers concluded that two common chemical solvents, trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PERC), are significantly linked to development of this disease.

NIH-funded researchers have developed a flexible brain implant that could one day be used to treat epileptic seizures. In animal studies, the researchers used the device – a type of electrode array – to take an unprecedented look at brain activity during seizures. Someday, these arrays could be used to pinpoint where seizures start in the brain and perhaps to shut them down, the researchers say.

Having common risk factors for stroke can lead to cognitive problems without causing a full-blown stroke. The new findings come from the REGARDS study, an effort to track stroke risk and cognitive health in Americans 45 and older. One of the strongest predictors of cognitive decline was high systolic blood pressure, with each 10 mm Hg increase bumping up the risk by 4 percent.

NINDS intramural scientists led by Eugene Major have developed a sensitive laboratory assay to detect JC virus. The test has become an important resource for diagnosing cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML, a brain disease that is a rare side effect associated with some monoclonal antibody therapies used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune disorders.

Researchers have identified the most common genetic cause known to date for two neurological diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). A mutation in a single gene on chromosome 9 accounts for nearly 50 percent of familial ALS and FTD in Finland, and more than a third of familial ALS in other groups of European ancestry.