Alice Melão,  —

A voice therapy program called SPEAK OUT!, developed by the Parkinson Voice Project, can help Parkinson’s disease patients regain their ability to communicate, according to a new study. Parkinson’s patients, especially those who received the training in early stages of the disease, saw improvements in speech intensity, pitch…

Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are predicted to have Parkinson’s disease by the year 2030, according to the results of a large-scale study. This represents a projected increase by about 1.8 times in Parkinson’s prevalence since 2010, highlighting the need for optimized care and treatment strategies for this…

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) was seen to slow the progression of “rest tremors”  in patients with early-stage Parkinson’s disease, a pilot study reports. The study, “Effects of deep brain stimulation on rest tremor progression in early stage Parkinson disease,” was published in Neurology. “The finding around…

Use of a hypertension treatment called Dynacirc (isradipine) — a calcium channel blocker — eased the type of nerve cell damage seen in Parkinson’s disease, a mouse study reports. These preclinical findings support an ongoing Phase 3 trial (NCT02168842), known as STEADY-PD III, that is evaluating Dynacirc’s potential to…

A new software can predict with an accuracy of 96 percent the form of Parkinson’s disease and future symptoms that a patient may experience. The software was the result of a collaboration between researchers at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU), the Institute of Experimental Medicine,…

A new device that can increase the production of viable neural stem cells may change the landscape of neural stem cell therapies as potential strategies for neurodegenerative and chronic diseases, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. The invention, developed by a team at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), was recently…

More than half of Parkinson’s patients who have been treated with a dopamine agonist may develop impulse control disorders over time, according to recent research. The study, “Longitudinal analysis of impulse control disorders in Parkinson disease,” was published in the journal Neurology. Impulse control disorders are characterized…

Very tiny particles of cerium oxide — a compound with antioxidant effects — can prevent the toxic effects of alpha-synuclein in the brain, which may represent a new therapeutic option for Parkinson’s disease, a study suggests. The study, “Nano-particle mediated inhibition of Parkinson’s disease using computational…

Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital researchers have found that a family of fat molecules, called ceramides, are key players in the development of an early onset form of Parkinson’s disease called Parkinsonism. The study, “Phospholipase PLA2G6, a Parkinsonism-Associated Gene, Affects Vps26 and Vps35, Retromer Function,…

Viruses that infect bacteria, known as bacteriophages, may contribute to the onset and progression of Parkinson’s disease by unsettling the variety and number of the gut’s microbiota, a study reports. These findings, in the study “Bacteriophages: are They An Overlooked Driver of Parkinson’S Disease?”, were recently presented at …