News

Study links brain atrophy to tremor progression in Parkinson’s

In people with Parkinson’s disease, shrinkage in tremor-related brain areas is associated with the progression of motor symptoms, according to a study. In the brain’s gray matter, which contains cell bodies of neurons, this shrinkage, or atrophy, of tremor-related regions and the whole brain over two years was associated…

Tracer to diagnose Parkinson’s via PET scans moving into clinical trial

A consortium dubbed Center Without Walls is planning to begin human testing of specific positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracers, which its scientists identified, to detect toxic proteins like alpha-synuclein, helping diagnose and monitor Parkinson’s and similar diseases. Funded by a five-year, $30 million grant from the National Institutes of…

Syndication model seen accelerating progress in digital healthcare

A syndication model being explored in a Parkinson’s disease study may help accelerate digital healthcare by speeding the development of digital tools to track disease activity, according to a published paper. “The syndication model combines the speed of single sponsor studies with the advantage of having multi-member expertise and…

NIH consortium to explore gut-brain connection in Parkinson’s

The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a consortium to support clinical studies designed to better understand the link between the gut and brain in Parkinson’s disease. The Gut-Brain Communication in Parkinson’s Disease Consortium is motivated by the fact that there are compelling data indicating that the gastrointestinal…

Researchers ID 3 genes linked to disease activity in Parkinson’s

Researchers in China have identified three genes — GPX2, CR1, and ZNF556 — with increased activity in people with Parkinson’s disease that could play a role in its development. If validated in future studies, these genes could ultimately serve as disease biomarkers to facilitate Parkinson’s diagnoses. “Our study identifies…

Potential diagnostic tool finds protein clumps in living cells

Researchers have developed a chemical tag that can detect and measure protein clumping, which is thought to contribute to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, in living cells. The potential diagnostic tool, called TME, readily distinguished living white blood cells derived from Parkinson’s patients over those from healthy individuals, outperforming current…