Özge Özkaya, PhD,  —

Shortfalls in instrumental daily activities such as housework, meal preparations, money management, and shopping, which require both motor and non-motor skills precede difficulties in more physically oriented daily activities in patients with pre-diagnostic Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the scientific journal Brain.

Researchers at the University of Oregon synthesized organic molecules that break down and release hydrogen sulfide under certain biological conditions such as oxidative stress, and may protect cells.

PRX002, a drug candidate under development for the potential treatment of Parkinson’s disease is safe and well tolerated, according to the results of a Phase 1 clinical trial (NCT02095171) conducted on healthy volunteers and published in the scientific journal Movement Disorders.

Visual hallucinations are frequent among Parkinson’s disease patients, confirms a study published in the Journal of Neurological Sciences. In addition, it shows that visual hallucinations are associated with the duration of the disease, the use of dopamine agonist drugs, the quality of sleep, and the patients’ ability to think. According to the authors, these results “should trigger further inquiry by neurologists”.

A new method to encapsulate single cells in alginate hydrogels, a material derived from a sugar naturally-occurring in brown seaweed, could improve the delivery of therapeutic substances to the body and be used for the treatment of many diseases including Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published in the leading scientific journal Nature Materials.