Welcome to your daily round-up of everything happening in the world of neurorehabilitation.
Research news
Epilepsy drug prevents brain tumours in mice with NF1
A drug used to treat children with epilepsy prevents brain tumour formation and growth in two mouse models of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), according to a study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. NF1 is a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow on nerves throughout the body, including the optic nerves, which connect the eyes to the brain. The findings lay the groundwork for a clinical trial to assess whether the drug, lamotrigine, can prevent or delay brain tumours in children with NF1.
Unpacking the genetic mysteries of childhood epilepsies
Virginia Tech researchers at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC are exploring how gene variants identified in children with severe epilepsy can have an impact on neurons, leading to abnormal electrical activity in the brain and recurrent seizures. With two recent grants totalling $2.4 million from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health, scientists led by Matthew Weston will use mouse models expressing these epilepsy-associated gene variants to understand how they alter neuron behavior to cause seizures.
Common dementia medication doesn’t increase risk of death
Researchers with McMaster University have found that a commonly prescribed dementia medication doesn’t increase the risk of death or certain heart rhythm problems, contrary to past warnings. The systematic review and meta-analysis, published on April 5, 2024 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, investigated the drug donepezil to find out if people who took the drug were at higher risk of developing specific fatal heart arrhythmias related to the QT interval – the amount of time it takes for the heart’s electrical system to do its job and then reset – when compared with people who weren’t on the medication.
Company and financial neuro-rehab news
Quicktome Brain-Mapping Software
META Dynamic Inc. and Omniscient Neurotechnology have entered into a distribution partnership, bringing Omniscient’s Quicktome neurological visualization and planning capabilities to META’s Outsourced Surgical Solutions programme through integration with surgical navigation systems such as the CBYON Eclipse surgical navigation system from META’s partner company, MSSI. Designed by neurosurgeons and data scientists, the Quicktome Software Suite is a cloud-based connectomic analysis platform that allows neurosurgeons to visualize and understand a patient’s brain networks prior to performing life-changing neurosurgery
Results: ARCH Open Label Trial of Sevasemten in Adults with Becker Muscular Dystrophy
Edgewise Therapeutics has announced positive two-year topline results from the ARCH trial. ARCH is an open label, single-center study assessing safety, tolerability, impact on muscle damage biomarkers, pharmacokinetics (PK) and functional measures with sevasemten (EDG-5506) in adults with Becker. Sevasemten is an orally administered small molecule designed to prevent contraction-induced muscle damage in dystrophinopathies including Becker and Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne).
Technology news
Rice team demonstrates miniature brain stimulator in humans
Rice University engineers have developed the smallest implantable brain stimulator demonstrated in a human patient. Thanks to pioneering magnetoelectric power transfer technology, the pea-sized device developed in the Rice lab of Jacob Robinson in collaboration with Motif Neurotech and clinicians Dr Sameer Sheth and Dr Sunil Sheth can be powered wirelessly via an external transmitter and used to stimulate the brain through the dura ⎯ the protective membrane attached to the bottom of the skull.
The device, known as the Digitally programmable Over-brain Therapeutic (DOT), could revolutionize treatment for drug-resistant depression and other psychiatric or neurological disorders by providing a therapeutic alternative that offers greater patient autonomy and accessibility than current neurostimulation-based therapies and is less invasive than other brain-computer interfaces.
