Marisa Wexler, MS,  senior science writer—

Two new studies in mice suggest that caffeine might have protective effects in the brains of Parkinson’s disease patients. The studies, “Chronic Caffeine Treatment Modulates  Disease Progression in a Transgenic Alpha-Synuclein Prion-Like Spreading Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease,” and “Chronic Caffeine Treatment Reverses A-Synuclein-Induced…

Parkinson’s patients who have had the disease for a long time, who do not sleep very efficiently, and have higher motor impairment are more likely to experience sleep benefit — the phenomenon in which Parkinson’s patients wake up feeling better before taking medication. The study with that finding, “…

Parkinson’s disease can sometimes mask the symptoms of other neurological disorders, according to a case report. The report, titled “NMDAR encephalitis presenting as akinesia in a patient with Parkinson disease,” documents the case of a 71-year-old woman who was eventually diagnosed with encephalitis, the symptoms…