Are there days in your life that you would rather forget ever happened? Falling down the stairs in front or your entire class or an embarrassing fashion faux pas? By the same token, there are some occasions we wish could remain as fresh in our mind’s eye as the day they occurred — whether it is a wedding day, the birth of a child or a graduation. Scientists have found 4 individuals who possess what is being referred to as “super-memory” — the ability to recall in uncanny detail both private and world events that have taken place. Three of the individuals are male; the lone female was the first to be recognized. Read more →

Huntington’s disease can be a devastating illness for patients and their families. The disease is directly inherited — if you have a parent with Huntington’s disease, you have a 50% chance of inheriting the abnormal huntingtin gene yourself. Unfortunately, if you inherit the huntingtin gene, you will certainly develop the disease. While there is no cure for Huntington’s disease, researchers in both clinical and basic neuroscience fields are working to unlock the mysteries of this disease and to find a cure. Read more →

Huntington’s Disease (HD) affects approximately 30,000 people in the United States. Less than 10% of these people are under 20 years old at the time of diagnosis. These patients with juvenile, or early-onset, HD and their family members face significant and unique challenges as they battle a fatal, degenerative disease.

Symptoms of HD typically present in the third to fifth decade of life, but symptoms may appear as early as the first, or as late as the ninth, decade. Read more →

George Huntington was the son and grandson of medical practitioners. He gave rise to a great interest in the origins of this disease which now bears his name.

At the age of 22, the year following his graduation from medical school at Columbia, George Huntington (1850-1916) made his contribution to medical research, publishing his report on a hereditary form of chorea in The Medical and Surgical Reporter in the April 13, 1872 issue. His publication became one of the classical descriptions of neurological disease. Read more →

In an attempt to localize the part of the brain responsible for hunger, surgeons in Toronto inadvertently identified and stimulated a portion of the brain involving in memory and learning. This finding may lead researchers to develop new techniques for improving brain function in dementia.

The surgeon was attempting to implant a deep brain stimulator into the hypothalamus of an obese man, in order to curb his appetite by stimulating brain cells that suppress hunger. Read more →