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Parkinson's & Movement disorders news

Neuroscience

New evidence about dopamine delivery explains why current Parkinson's treatments succeed—and their limitations

A McGill-led study is challenging a popular theory about how dopamine drives movement, a discovery that could shift how scientists think about Parkinson's disease treatments.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

New ALS diagnostic blood test boasts 97% accuracy

ALS is a debilitating paralytic disease characterized as the death of upper and lower motor neurons. Fortunately, ALS is relatively rare, with an incidence rate of 1.6 per 100,000 adults, resulting in about 30,000 cases in ...

Neuroscience

Aging midbrain neurons face energy crisis linked to Parkinson's

Dopamine neurons in a part of the brain called the midbrain may, with aging, be increasingly susceptible to a vicious spiral of decline driven by fuel shortages, according to a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Early Parkinson's predictor found in daily step count

Oxford's Big Data Institute and Nuffield Department of Population Health report that daily step counts may help identify who will later be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, with lower activity patterns acting as an early ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

In-home sensor technology offers smarter care for ALS patients

Bill Janes is on a mission to improve life for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As a licensed occupational therapist and researcher at the University of Missouri, he's seen firsthand how the disease can steal ...

Neuroscience

Brain markers could yield early clues into Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease affects more than 1.1 million people in the United States, progressively damaging the brain cells that control movement. By the time symptoms like tremors appear, patients have already lost around half ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Untreated sleep apnea raises risk of Parkinson's, study finds

New research reveals that people with untreated obstructive sleep apnea have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. However, they can significantly reduce the risk by improving the quality of their sleep by using ...

Neuroscience

Pause and rewind: How the brain keeps time to control action

Whether speaking or swinging a bat, precise and adaptable timing of movement is essential for everyday behavior. Although we do not have sensory organs like eyes or a nose to sense time, we can keep time and control the timing ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Evidence builds for disrupted mitochondria as cause of Parkinson's

For decades, scientists have known that mitochondria, which produce energy inside our cells, malfunction in Parkinson's disease. But a critical question remained: do the failing mitochondria cause Parkinson's, or do they ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

What polymers can teach us about curing Alzheimer's disease

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have applied ideas from polymer physics to illuminate the mechanism behind a key pathology in Alzheimer's disease, the formation of fibrils of tau proteins. They showed that ...

Genetics

New genetic test targets elusive cause of rare movement disorder

Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a targeted genetic test to improve diagnosis for X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a rare and disabling movement disorder that affects ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Even in people with Parkinson's gene, coffee may be protective

Even for people with a gene mutation tied to Parkinson's disease, coffee consumption may be associated with a lower risk of actually developing the disease, according to a new study published in the September 30, 2020, online ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Finding right drug balance for Parkinson's patients

Parkinson's disease is most commonly treated with levodopa, a drug which alleviates the slowing of bodily movements, called bradykinesia, found in Parkinson's disease patients.

Neuroscience

Stem cells can repair Parkinson's-damaged circuits in mouse brains

The mature brain is infamously bad at repairing itself following damage like that caused by trauma or strokes, or from degenerative diseases like Parkinson's. Stem cells, which are endlessly adaptable, have offered the promise ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Parkinson's disease can affect the eyes, and here's what we know so far

Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting over 10 million people worldwide. It's characterized by changes in movement, including tremors, and slower and more rigid movements. But researchers ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

People with Parkinson's disease can have a brighter future

Well over six million people globally have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, which has an enormous impact on the lives of patients and their families and incurring mounting costs for society. In this special supplement ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Parkinson's disease is not one, but two diseases

Although the name may suggest otherwise, Parkinson's disease is not one but two diseases, starting either in the brain or in the intestines. Which explains why patients with Parkinson's describe widely differing symptoms, ...

Neuroscience

Improving prediction of Parkinson's disease

Including genetic markers in addition to well known risk factors improves tests to predict Parkinson's disease, according to a study led by Queen Mary University of London.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Diagnosis of neurological diseases to benefit from AI

Cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology for diagnosing neurological disease such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's from eye scans will be tested and scaled in the NHS.

Neuroscience

Brain astrocytes show metabolic alterations in Parkinson's disease

A new study using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology links astrocyte dysfunction to Parkinson's disease (PD) pathology. The study carried out at the University of Eastern Finland and published in Scientific Reports ...