Author Archives: Francisco Fernandez, MD

A key concept when discussing the prevention or mitigation of cognitive aging is that of cognitive reserve. CR is defined as the discrepancy between the expected and observed levels of cognitive impairment, given the observed level of age-related neuropathology or brain disruption. CR is the individual ability to compensate for age-related neural deterioration and maintain […]

Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) is a leading cause of permanent neurologic disabilities in young adults. Functional impairments after SCI are substantially attributed to progressive neurodegeneration. The use of stem cells is a novel therapeutic approach to help regenerate the damaged nervous system.  In a new study researchers from the University of Manitoba, in Canada […]

Gram-negative bacteria construct their outer membrane with two main, non-protein components, lipids and sugars, which form an impermeable barrier. Researchers did not know how this lipopolysaccharide component comes together.  Researchers have now discovered how these bacteria, which can cause drug-resistant pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections in hospitalized patients, finish building this crucial component […]

In a new study presented at the Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society 2020, researchers have evaluated a novel compound that targets potassium channels in brain interneurons, which not only improves gamma oscillations in patients with schizophrenia but also their symptoms.  The study included two dozen men with schizophrenia, the AUT00206 compound was compared […]

One cutting-edge cancer treatment today involves collecting and reprogramming a patient’s T cells and then putting them back into the body ready to detect and destroy cancerous cells. This type of therapy is effective for blood cancers like leukemia but has rarely succeeded in treating solid tumors.  Recently, Stanford University engineers have developed a delivery […]

In a recently published study, researchers from across 45 countries analysed DNA from 76,755 people with schizophrenia and 43,649 without it to better understand the genes and biological processes underpinning the condition. The results appear in the journal Nature. According to the study results, a total of 287 different regions of the genome linked to […]