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MONTEREY, CA, USA (UroToday.com) - The Stanford University group, headed by Dr. Craig Comiter, reported on their experience with effects of pudendal nerve stimulation on urodynamics parameters in patients with refractory urinary urgency and frequency. Subsequent and consequent to the widespread use of sacral neuromodulation has come the application of a similar technology for stimulation of the pudendal nerve.

A new study published in this week's PLoS Biology could have significant consequences for neural tissue transplantation to treat brain injuries or neural degeneration. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies report that inactivating a specific gene in adult neural stem cells makes nerve cells emerging from those precursors form connections in the wrong part of the adult brain. The research team, led by Professor Fred H. Gage, Ph.D.

Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have identified a novel mechanism in the regulation and differentiation of neural stem cells. Researchers found that the protein receptor Ryk has a key role in the differentiation of neural stem cells, and demonstrated a signaling mechanism that regulates neuronal differentiation as stem cells begin to grow into neurons. The study will be published in the Nov.

Inside every axon is a dendrite waiting to get out. Hedstrom et al. converted mature axons into dendrites by banishing a protein crucial for neuron development. The results suggest that this transformation could occur after nerve cell damage. The study, to be published in the Nov. 17 issue of the Journal of Cell Biology, will be available online Nov. 10.

Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered new insights into the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" nature of a protein that stimulates stem-cell maturation in the brain but, paradoxically, can also lead to nerve-cell damage. In two separate studies in mice scheduled to appear online this week and in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UT Southwestern research teams studied the protein Cdk5 and discovered both helpful and detrimental mechanisms it elicits in nerve cells........

MONTREAL (MedPage Today) -- Treating depression in patients with cardiovascular disease may not help improve cardiac outcomes, researchers reported here.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (MedPage Today) -- Elevated nonfasting triglycerides, previously associated with an increased MI risk, also appear to be linked to risk of ischemic stroke, a population-based study found.

QUEBEC CITY (MedPage Today) -- Infants born to mothers with gestational diabetes are at increased risk of language impairment in early childhood, researchers here said.