WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Researchers say they've identified factors inhibiting the brain's self-healing process, posing insights into preventing brain damage in premature babies.
Lead researcher Dr. Stephen Back of the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine-Portland and colleagues identified some of the key factors that prevent brain damage repair in premature babies and patients with multiple sclerosis or certain other neurological diseases.
Back, an associate professor of pediatrics and neurology, said the findings offer important clues about why the nervous systems fails to repair itself and suggest some forms of brain damage could be reversed.
Prematurity is the leading killer of U.S. newborns and has increased 29 percent since 1981. More than 470,000 babies are born prematurely each year in the United States.
According to research conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 25 percent of extremely premature babies have neurological problems at 18 to 22 months, and 17 percent will develop cerebral palsy.
The research, partially supported by the White Plains, N.Y.-based, March of Dimes, is published in the online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
