Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

A new robotic system, called OSCANN Desk, uses eye movement to help diagnose Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. This non-invasive technology, developed by researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, and AURA Innovative Robotics Company, is in the phase of clinical trial authorized by the Spanish Agency of…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted for review its request to approve apomorphine sublingual film (APL-130277) as a quick-acting, oral treatment of the motor fluctuations, or off episodes, associated with Parkinson’s disease. Sunovion, which is developing the potential therapy, submitted a new drug application, or…

Psychosis and cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson’s disease may be linked to structural changes in the brain, namely a decrease in volume of an area that controls memory formation, a study suggests. The study, “Hippocampal subfield atrophy in patients with Parkinson’s disease and psychosis,” was published…

People who take certain immunosuppressants — medicines that dampen the immune system’s response — appear to have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, new research shows. These findings support a role for the immune system in Parkinson’s, potentially raise the possibility of developing treatments to alter disease progression, at…

New methods to measure brain activity in dancers can be applied to develop new forms of treatment, such as dance-movement therapy, for movement-related disorders including Parkinson’s disease, according to a Finnish PhD candidate. Her research project, “Dance on Cortex – ERPs and Phase Synchrony in Dancers and Musicians during a…

Rate hypothesis, a theory that Parkinson’s results from an imbalance in brain signals telling the body to start and stop moving,  may involve  “start” and “stop” signals that are more complex and intricate than initially thought, Stanford researchers report. And, the researchers suggest, the loss of that complexity and structure might factor in…

Dopamine-releasing neurons are important players in the formation of new, long-term memories,  research shows. These findings may help develop new therapies for memory disorders. The study “Novelty-Sensitive Dopaminergic Neurons in the Human Substantia Nigra Predict Success of Declarative Memory Formation” was published in the journal Current Biology.

Deficits in short-term memory, known as working memory, may underlie the compulsive “binge eating” observed in some Parkinson’s patients undergoing dopamine replacement therapy, a new study suggests. The research “Reward sensitivity in Parkinson’s patients with binge eating” was published in the journal Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. Parkinson’s patients…

Nearly all Parkinson’s disease patients experience non-movement symptoms, such as sleep disturbances or depression, which affect their quality of life as much as movement-related symptoms, according to an online survey of 700 participants, nearly 600 of whom completed it in full. Patients’ caregivers are those most likely to detect non-movement…

Theranexus announced it is starting a Phase 2 clinical trial investigating  THN102  as a potential therapy for Parkinson’s patients who struggle with inappropriate and excessive sleepiness during daytime hours. The trial (2017-004475-31), which is planned to enroll 60 patients at 20 sites across Europe and in the U.S., was approved…