News

Brain Electrical Activity Can Help Evaluate Learning Skills in Nonverbal Angelman Patients

Nonverbal Angelman syndrome patients can learn new information by exposure to repeated auditory stimuli, a new study shows. Measuring brain electrical activity can help evaluate patients’ auditory learning and memory capacity. The study, “Feasibility of using auditory event-related potentials to investigate learning and memory in nonverbal individuals with Angelman…

Rising Healthcare Costs Strain EU Budgets Even as New Therapies Flourish

Cash-strapped governments across the 28-member European Union are struggling to control runaway healthcare expenditures — at exactly the same time as the promise of new but expensive therapies to treat rare diseases has never been greater. That’s the paradox faced by pharmaceutical companies as well as patient advocacy groups in…

UBE3A Gene Reactivation in Inhibitory Neurons May Prevent Seizures, Angelman Mouse Study Shows

Epileptic seizures caused by disturbances in the activity of a specific type of nerve cell called an inhibitory neuron were prevented by the reactivation of the UBE3A gene in young mice with Angelman syndrome features, a study shows. The study, “Ube3a reinstatement mitigates epileptogenesis in Angelman syndrome model mice,” was published in…