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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 ...

Medications

Promising Parkinson's drug decoded

How well our brain functions depends heavily on the performance of our nerve cells. That is why they are regularly checked for their proper function—defective cell components are marked, disposed of and recycled. This includes ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

What you should know about ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)—known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, based on the iconic 1930s New York Yankee baseball player—is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects thousands of Americans every year. ALS ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Detecting Parkinson's disease with a simple retinal exam

Could it be possible to diagnose Parkinson's disease with the help of a simple retinal exam? The idea should be seriously considered, according to a study published in the May issue of Neurobiology of Disease by researchers ...

Genetics

Damaged cell 'trash cans' may contribute to Parkinson's disease

Scientists have uncovered more than 20 genes whose mutations cause familial forms of Parkinson's disease. One of these genes is known as VPS13C, and mutations in this gene may contribute to the disease's onset by causing ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

RNA-based blood test identifies Parkinson's before symptoms appear

Researchers have developed a simple and cost-effective blood test capable of detecting Parkinson's disease long before symptoms emerge, comparing the current state of diagnosing neurodegenerative diseases to the fight against ...