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Prion Disease Research

03/21/24 Science Article

Can new drugs stop a deadly set of brain-eating diseases?

03/05/19 Multibriefs Exclusive

Professor claims cure for CWD, but others aren’t sure

02/21/19 Cornell Wildlife Health Mag

Prion Hypothesis for CWD: An Examination of the Evidence

02/04/19 Pennsylvania Government Pressroom

State Agencies Issue Statement on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)

02/01/19 Medical research.com

Prions from Brain Detectable in Skin Earlier Than Brain Damage Interview with Wen-Quan Zou, M.D., Ph.D., 2017 CJD Grant Recipient

01/15/19 WIRED magazine

One Couple's Tireless Crusade to Stop a Genetic Killer

10/19/18 Response submitted to ProMed by the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center regarding ProMed's recent article suggesting that there is a connection between human prion disease and squirrel brain:

“The article reproduced recently in ProMed suggested that a US patient developed variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). This diagnosis was based on MRI results that reportedly appeared similar to those of patients with variant CJD (vCJD). However, all other clinical and demographic evidence (triphasic EEG pattern, patient age, disease duration, and subsequently prion protein codon 129 genotype) strongly suggested that this was a case of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). Indeed, through national human prion disease surveillance, the patient was confirmed through autopsy as sCJD, not vCJD. The reporting of this case as probable vCJD – a disease linked to consumption of beef contaminated with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, also known as “mad cow disease”) – and suggesting that this case might be etiologically linked to squirrel consumption is inappropriate and may cause undue alarm.

“The previous ProMed commentary mentioned a 1997 Lancet report that hypothesized about a potential link between consumption of squirrel brains and CJD; there was no mention of vCJD in that report. Since that brief report, there has been no convincing evidence found suggesting that the consumption of squirrel meat, brain or otherwise, is a risk factor for any prion disease. While prion diseases have been identified in several other types of mammals, they have never been identified in squirrels. Without additional experimental or epidemiological evidence, a link between consumption of squirrel brain and human prion disease is unjustifiably speculative.”

6/24/18 Crain's Cleveland Business

Researchers use crowdfunding to fill grant gap

4/9/18 CJD Foundation Awards Six Research Grants for 2018

2018 Synopses of Recent Studies

12/6/17 What finding prion proteins in skin means

a layman’s explanation of a recently reported study

11/23/17 New York Times

Abnormal Proteins Found in Skin of Patients With a Rare Brain Disease

11/22/17 Science Translational Medicine

Translational Medicine: Prion seeding activity and infectivity in skin samples from patients with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease — Orru et al.

Serious Science

Prions: Diseases and Treatment — Molecular biologist Byron Caughey on the structure of prions, prion diseases, and their causes and treatment

11/23/16 Annals of Neurology

Diagnostic and Prognostic Value of Human Prion Detection in Cerebrospinal Fluid

IFL Science

New Anti-Prion Compound Provides New Hope For Treating Brain-Wasting Disease

1/20/16 Science Translational Medicine

Quantifying prion disease penetrance using large population control cohorts

8/6/14 National Institutes of Health

NIH and Italian Scientists Develop Nasal Test for Human Prion Disease NIH Multimedia Link

6/18/14 Science Codex

Self-repairing mechanism can help to preserve brain function in neurodegenerative diseases

University of California San Francisco News Center

Daiichi Sankyo and UCSF Announce Collaboration in Drug Discovery Research for Neurodegenerative Diseases

3/3/14 Healio Infectious Disease News

Novel prototype assay provides high specificity, sensitivity in detecting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

2/2/14 Health Canal

Researchers Discover Breakthrough in Understanding the Secret Life of Prion Molecules

2/14 The Lancet Neurology

Doxycycline in Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: A Phase 2, Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

11/8/13 2 Minute Medicine

Novel Prion Disease Associated with Diarrhea and Autonomic Neuropathy

10/10/13 Fox News Health

Scientists stop brain cells in mice from dying in potential Alzheimer's treatment breakthrough

7/31/13 Science Codex

3-D look at prion may help find cure to brain diseases, University of Alberta work shows

3/4/13 Scientist Live

Scientists identify molecular system that could help develop potential treatments for conditions such as Alzheimers disease

10/1/11 The Journal of Infectious Diseases

Stem Cell Therapy Extends Incubation and Survival Time in Prion-Infected Mice in a Time Window–Dependant Manner

Genetic Prion Disease

1/20/16 Science Translational Medicine

“Big data” gets personal

10/2/14 CureFFI.org

A cautionary tale of ascertainment bias in genetic disease age of onset

2/5/14 NBC News

Gene Tool Delivers Healthy Babies to Mom with Fatal Disease

2/3/14 The New York Times

Ethics Questions Arise as Genetic Testing of Embryos Increases

2/3/14 The New York Times

Yes I really want to know, by Sonia Vallabh

Strides for CJD

10/07/18 23ABC News

(Strides event in Bakersfield, CA) Friends and Family of Harvey Hall help spread CJD awareness

10/07/18 23ABC News

(Strides event in Bakersfield, CA) Walk held in memory of late Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall

September 2018, Larry King

Larry King interviews Brandi and Jeffrey Evans (Strides event in Beverly Hills, CA), "Larry King Now"

ROCK4RV 2018

September 22, 2018 News12 Connecticut feature story

Interview with Mike Vitanza

Mad Cow and Chronic Wasting Disease

2/12/15 Scripps Research Institute

Scientists’ ‘Mad Cow’ Discovery Points to Possible Neuron Killing Mechanism Behind Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases

10/2/14 Iowa Department of Agriculture

Test Results From Captive Deer Herd with Chronic Wasting Disease

6/12/14 The Associated Press

U.S. company recalls 4,012 pounds of beef products over mad cow concerns

3/16/14 Australian Broadcasting Corporation News

US lifts EU beef import ban

2/10/14 USA Today

California Company Recalls 8.7 Million Pounds of Meat

Safety in the Health Care Community

3/1/14 Winston-Salem Journal

Local widow details husband’s struggle with CJD

2/16/14 Winston-Salem Journal

Lawsuits Common After Discovery of Brain Disease Mishap

2/10/14 Winston-Salem Journal

18 Patients Exposed to Deadly Disease at Forsyth Medical Center

2/10/14 Winston-Salem Journal

18 Patients Exposed to Deadly Disease at Forsyth Medical Center

10/3/13 Neurology Today

What to Make of News Reports of Possible Exposure to CJD?

10/2/13 NBC News

Final fear: Funeral homes refuse victims of brain disease

9/21/13 NBC News

Fatal rare brain disease confirmed in N.H. patient; 15 possibly exposed