So far, they have found the somnogen in the spinal fluid of 32 sleep-clinic patients.
Three percent of Zoe's bone marrow and 12% of her spinal fluid were cancerous.
Now the cancer has spread to my spinal fluid, which will likely seal my fate within weeks.
Dr. Rye and his colleagues have found the sleep-inducing spinal fluid in patients previously diagnosed with both conditions.
Her cancer had come back and spread to her brain and spinal fluid.
Giffords had hydrocephalus after she was shot, a condition where an excess of cerebral-spinal fluid puts pressure on the brain.
Giving chemotherapy directly into spinal fluid can also affect cognitive functioning, as can drugs such as steroids and methotrexate, she said.
The Emory researchers think this same sleep-inducing substance in spinal fluid may play a role in other conditions that involve excessive drowsiness.
Instead, her October 2008 surgery at the Tampa, Florida- based center left Balch incontinent, with a dangerous spinal fluid leak, she said.
But they can test for it in other patients by watching how their spinal fluid acts on GABA in a laboratory setting.
For its part, Merck notes that its BACE inhibitor recently demonstrated a reduction in cerebral spinal fluid, or CSF, a biomarker, in a Phase I study.
Eli Lilly , meanwhile, is touting data from its two amyloid drugs, including a pill drug that dramatically lowers levels of amyloid in the cerebral spinal fluid.
Research in autism has indicated abnormalities in spinal fluid and chemical signaling in the brain- anecdotal reports of children undergoing stem cell therapy have indicated some potentially encouraging results.
"The absence of a dose-response curve was disappointing, " says Jeffrey Cummings of UCLA. Moreover, he noted that the drug only very modestly reduced levels of a nasty protein called tau in the spinal fluid.
Eli Lilly (nyse: LLY - news - people ), meanwhile, is touting data from its two amyloid drugs, including a pill drug that dramatically lowers levels of amyloid in the cerebral spinal fluid.
Tulipan said he believes the surgery should be done as early as possible because the longer the spinal cord is exposed to amniotic fluid, the more it can be damaged.
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