While dopamine-replacing therapies are a key component of Parkinson’s disease care, they only reflect a person’s physical characteristics or the state of their disease. Adding a dose of “hopamine” — a person’s own unique set of hopes, desires, experiences, and skills — to Parkinson’s care takes patients’ personal characteristics…
Note: This story was updated March 24, 2023, to correct the name of CND Life Sciences. CND Life Sciences has signed a licensing and collaboration agreement with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston to develop minimally invasive, diagnostic tests for Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The…
People with Parkinson’s disease have higher than normal levels of a nerve cell-damaging red/yellow pigment called pheomelanin in their substantia nigra, the area of the brain that’s mainly affected by the neurodegenerative disease, a study showed. By contrast, levels of eumelanin — an antioxidant black/brown pigment responsible for the…
Researchers at Michigan Technological University are developing a “smart” deep brain stimulation (DBS) system to treat Parkinson’s disease that’s automatically activated only when needed, making it more effective and energy-efficient. The researchers are using neuromorphic computing — an approach inspired by the structure and function of the human…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested more information about the specialized pump used to administer ABBV-951 (foslevodopa/foscarbidopa), an under-the-skin formulation of levodopa/carbidopa, before it will consider approving the therapy for motor fluctuations in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The agency’s complete response letter comes 10…
Inflammatory biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of Parkinson’s disease patients with and without mutations in the GBA gene are at similar levels, and across all patients, higher levels of these markers associate with poorer cognition over time, a study found. TNF-alpha, a pro-inflammatory molecule, showed particular potential as a predictive…
People with physical frailty have a nearly twofold higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than those who aren’t frail, according to an analysis of 12-year data from a U.K. study. Being frail and carrying several genetic variants linked to Parkinson’s further enhanced the chances of developing the neurodegenerative disease…
IMAC Holdings and Brain Scientific have agreed to merge to offer solutions that cover the spectrum of care for neurological diseases, starting from diagnosis all the way through to treatment. The collaboration will focus mainly on disease management for people with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and…
People with idiopathic Parkinson’s disease have significantly higher blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) — a biomarker of nerve cell damage — than those whose Parkinson’s is associated with mutations in the LRRK2 gene, a study showed. This difference, however, held true only for the early stages of disease,…
Most types of physical exercise can help to ease motor symptoms in adults with Parkinson’s disease and improve their quality of life, according to a review study. “Our review highlights the importance of physical exercise in general, while the exact exercise type may be secondary,” Elke Kalbe, PhD,…
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