Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

Loneliness raises a person’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease within 15 years, a long-term study of nearly half a million U.K. residents found, supporting calls into the therapeutic benefits of personally significant social bonds. This work adds to evidence “that loneliness is a substantial psychosocial determinant of health,” the…

Vincere Biosciences has been given $700,000 in seed funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance in testing USP30 small molecule inhibitors, its candidate therapy aiming to slow or stop progression in Parkinson’s disease. Valid for two years, the Phase I Small Business…

Interfering with the circadian clock, or the body’s internal clock, may make dopaminergic neurons — the nerve cells that become progressively lost in Parkinson’s disease — more prone to damage at night, according to a study in fruit flies. “Our results further suggest that genetic variations in circadian clock…

Patients who are on long-term levodopa to treat Parkinson’s disease are more likely to experience self-reported freezing of gait, or FOG, than levodopa-naïve (untreated) patients, a study has found. These findings suggest that FOG should be taken into account when studying Parkinson’s, with “the ultimate aim to develop…

While it appears that people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease later in life than are individuals without the neurodevelopmental disorder, further proof is needed to establish a link, according to a new systematic review. “Our review provides preliminary results that a…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted breakthrough device designation to Inbrain Neuroelectronics’ neural platform for its potential to provide more effective deep brain stimulation (DBS) as an add-on Parkinson’s treatment. The platform — called Intelligent Network Modulation System — combines skin-like graphene material and artificial…

The findings of new research identifying the mechanism behind a familial form of Parkinson’s — one caused by a CHCHD2 gene mutation — suggest the potential to delay or perhaps prevent the disease’s development in people with the mutation, according to researchers. The team of scientists found this CHCHD2…

An online artificial intelligence (AI)-powered test where users tap their fingers in front of a webcam may ultimately help rate the severity of Parkinson’s disease from afar and within minutes, a study suggests. The system performed almost as well as three expert neurologists and better than two primary care…

Researchers have built a map of how neurons wire up in the zebrafish brain to propel forward and steer movement, something people with Parkinson’s disease may have trouble with. As movement begins to be initiated, a region at the base of the brain known as the mesencephalic locomotor region…

Eye scans may help identify who’s at risk of developing Parkinson’s several years before symptoms first become apparent and doctors can make a diagnosis of the disease, a study suggests. Researchers observed that two specific structures in the retina, a light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of…