People with mild Parkinson’s disease sleep less, are less active, and show more sedentary behavior than their healthy peers, a small study showed. Poorer sleep also significantly associated with more sedentary time in both populations. While further research is needed to confirm these early findings, they suggest that screening for…
Nb10 and TiNb9, two nanoparticles of a particular chemical element, effectively reduce the formation of toxic amyloid fibrils — a hallmark of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, a lab dish study showed. Particularly, these nanoparticles suppressed the assembly of toxic clumps of S100A9, a pro-inflammatory molecule that is central to…
Impulse control disorders (ICDs) among people with Parkinson’s disease were significantly more common and more severe after a COVID-19-related lockdown than before the pandemic, according to a small study in Spain. Also, patients who developed ICDs in the post-lockdown period were younger, developed Parkinson’s at a younger age, or had more…
A new human-derived model of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) — a highly selective and protective membrane whose dysfunction is linked to Parkinson’s disease — enables researchers to monitor in detail cellular events upon stress, inflammation, and therapy administration, a study shows. This model allowed the assessment of the protective effects of…
LL-37, a natural antimicrobial molecule present in the brain and gut, selectively binds to harmful clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — and prevents their further aggregation and toxic effects in lab-grown nerve cells, a study shows. The discovery of such a strong suppressor…
Anavex Life Sciences’ investigational oral therapy Anavex 2-73 (blarcamesine) leads to clinically meaningful cognitive improvements while reducing motor and non-motor symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), according to data from a Phase 2 trial. These benefits also significantly associated with increases in the levels of sigma-1 receptor (SIGMAR1),…
Assessing vowel percentage, or duration, during a simple reading task is an effective method to detect changes in speech rhythm at early stages of Parkinson’s disease, according to a small study from Italy. Notably, such rhythmic differences between early-stage Parkinson’s patients and healthy individuals were not as pronounced during…
The asymmetric loss of dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease may determine the severity of patients’ motor and cognitive symptoms, a study suggests. Such differences in the loss of these dopaminergic neurons — a characteristic feature of Parkinson’s — may explain the contrast…
Two years of continuous treatment with apomorphine as an under-the-skin infusion safely preserved quality of life and effectively eased motor fluctuations in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease, according to a single-center, real-life study in France. Notably, patients with poor life quality before starting with continuous apomorphine were more likely to improve in…
One month of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS), administered at home using a hand-held device by electroCore, improved walking and motor abilities, and eased freezing of gait in adults with Parkinson’s disease, according to data from a small clinical trial. Freezing of gait refers to a patient’s feeling for…
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