All Posts: brain
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Why Adults at Risk for Huntington’s Disease Choose Not to Learn if They Inherited Deadly Gene
MEDIA CONTACT:Karen Teberkm463@georgetown.edu WASHINGTON (May 16, 2019) — As many as 90 percent of individuals who have a parent with Huntington’s disease (HD) choose not to take a gene test that reveals if they will also develop the fatal disorder — and a new study details the reasons why. Understanding the “why” matters as new […]
Category: News Release
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Impacted by Parkinson’s Disease, Three Couples Plan to Leave a Lasting Legacy to Support Research
(April 26, 2019) — When someone is diagnosed with an incurable, life-changing disease like Parkinson’s, they usually have many questions about how it will affect their life and what can be done to manage it. Unfortunately, many people who have Parkinson’s symptoms don’t get those answers until they are fortunate enough to see a doctor […]
Category: GUMC Stories
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MCGSO Welcomes Hardy Middle School During Brain Awareness Week
(March 29, 2019) — In an effort to promote brain research and awareness, the Medical Center Graduate Student Organization (MCGSO) hosted more than 100 seventh graders from a local middle school for a full day of creative, interactive brain-related activities and demonstrations. The March 14 visit to Georgetown gave MCGSO members a potent opportunity to […]
Category: GUMC Stories
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Novel Brain Map Tracks Early Brain Atrophy From HIV Infection
MEDIA CONTACT:Karen Teberkm463@georgetown.edu WASHINGTON (March 28, 2019) — A new map of brain tissue in people with HIV shows atrophy in several areas including a primary neurocognitive control center where shrinkage and loss of function can be seen in scans before clinical symptoms appear. The map and other findings from researchers at Georgetown University Medical […]
Category: News Release
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Researchers Decode How Cancer Drug Works in Brains of Parkinson’s Disease Patients
MEDIA CONTACT:Karen Teberkm463@georgetown.edu WASHINGTON (March 12, 2019) — Laboratory analysis from the first arm of a phase II clinical trial testing the use of nilotinib in patients with Parkinson’s disease demonstrates precisely how the agent increases levels of dopamine in the brains of study participants, says a research team at Georgetown University Medical Center. Symptoms […]
Category: News Release
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Training the Next Generation of Researchers in Movement Disorders
(February 8, 2019) — After she first developed a tremor in her right hand, years went by before Pam Cota was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease by Fernando Pagan, MD (M’96, R’00), director of the MedStar Georgetown University Hospital Movement Disorders Clinic. The number of Parkinson’s disease patients expected to grow to 1.2 million by 2030, according […]
Category: GUMC Stories
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Georgetown Physician Leads International Experts in Developing Treatment Guidelines for Huntington’s Disease Symptoms
(February 1, 2019) — A group of international experts in Huntington’s disease, led by Georgetown University Medical Center’s Karen Anderson, MD, has developed consensus guidelines for the clinical management of behavior symptoms caused by the incurable disease. Huntington’s disease is a fatal genetic disorder that impacts a person’s physical and mental abilities that is often accompanied […]
Category: GUMC Stories
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Researchers Find Inhibiting One Protein Destroys Toxic Clumps Seen in Parkinson’s Disease
MEDIA CONTACT (ONLY, PLEASE):Karen Teberkm463@georgetown.edu WASHINGTON (November 14, 2018) — A defining feature of Parkinson’s disease is the clumps of alpha-synuclein protein that accumulate in the brain’s motor control area, destroying dopamine-producing neurons. Natural processes can’t clear these clusters, known as Lewy bodies, and no one has demonstrated how to stop the build up as well […]
Category: News Release
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Georgetown University Medical Center Selects Nora Volkow for Highest Honor
MEDIA CONTACTKaren Teberkm463@georgetown.edu WASHINGTON (November 12, 2018) — Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) will present Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health, with its highest honor, the Cura Personalis Award, at a ceremony on Tuesday, Nov. 13, at 4 p.m. “The tradition of bestowing […]
Category: News Release
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Opioid Gene Variant in Adolescents Reduces Reward, May Increase Later Substance Abuse Risk
MEDIA CONTACTKaren Teberkm463@georgetown.edu SAN DIEGO (November 5, 2018) — Adolescents with a particular variant of an opioid receptor gene have less response in a part of the prefrontal cortex that evaluates rewards, compared to those with the other version of the gene, say researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). For the study, presented Monday […]
Category: News Release