Steve Bryson, PhD, science writer —

Steve holds a PhD in biochemistry from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. As a medical scientist for 18 years, he worked in both academia and industry, where his research focused on the discovery of new vaccines and medicines to treat inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases. Steve is a published author in multiple peer-reviewed scientific journals and a patented inventor.

Articles by Steve Bryson

Aripiprazole at Low Dose Eases Parkinson’s Psychosis, If Tolerable

A low daily dose of aripiprazole, an antipsychotic therapy, significantly eased hallucinations and delusions in people with Parkinson’s disease and psychosis treated in a small, open-label study. Because one-third of the trial’s participants discontinued treatment due to a worsening of disease symptoms, patients using aripiprazole should be monitored closely for tolerability,…

Analyzing Finger Taps, Voice on Cellphone May Help in Diagnosis

Collecting finger tapping, voice, and walking data on a smartphone to be digitally processed by deep machine learning tools can accurately distinguish between people with and without Parkinson’s disease, a study of more than 7,000 people reported. This approach, known integrative digital biomarkers, may help to diagnose the disease…

Intestinal Bacteria Not Seen to Affect Duodopa (Duopa) Blood Levels

The presence of levodopa-metabolizing bacteria in the intestines of adults using Duodopa (Duopa in the U.S.) to treat their Parkinson’s disease did not affect their blood levels of levodopa, a small study in Japan suggested. Rather, people on this levodopa-carbidopa formulation, administered directly into the small intestine, “can maintain a constant…

Development Halted on Gene Therapy Candidate AXO-Lenti-PD

Sio Gene Therapies (Sio), formerly known as Axovant, intends to stop  development of AXO-Lenti-PD, an investigational gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Sio will return the global rights to develop and market the therapy to Oxford Biomedica, which licensed the treatment to Sio in 2018. The…

MJFF Urges US Veterans’ Affairs to Better Fund Disease Care, Research

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) encouraged the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Veterans’ Affairs to expand healthcare access for veterans exposed to hazardous chemicals, and to better support research into service-connected Parkinson’s disease. Recently, the committee hosted a roundtable discussion about healthcare costs for veterans exposed…

Psychosis Common With Late-stage Parkinson’s, Study Reports

Psychosis, including hallucinations and delusions, is frequent in people with late-stage Parkinson’s disease a study reported, after psychotic symptoms were confirmed in more than half of the 92 patients examined. Some degree of cognitive impairment was found in almost all evaluated patients, with study participants diagnosed a mean of 15.9…