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People with Parkinson’s disease who underwent acupuncture for eight weeks had significantly lower levels of anxiety at a follow-up visit two months later than those who received a sham procedure, a clinical trial from China reported. Trial findings also suggested that acupuncture may be an effective way to improve…

Parkinson’s patients with a postural abnormality called Pisa syndrome show deficits in their ability to process visual and balance-related information, a new study done using virtual reality suggests. “The visual tilting perception assessed in our study is a visual domain task, and our study revealed that [Pisa syndrome]…

Poor sleep quality is a key factor in developing dyskinesia, the uncontrolled and involuntary movements that can affect people with Parkinson’s disease, a study that followed patients for up to three years suggests. “[Poor sleep quality] may increase the risk of developing dyskinesia in PD [Parkinson’s disease], implying that therapeutic…

Researchers have devised a new method to generate dopamine-producing neurons from skin cells of Parkinson’s disease patients, a process that could be used to better study the molecular mechanisms of the disease and develop new treatments. The cells retained many relevant aspects of the disease, including the accumulation of…

People with persistent smell deficits are more likely to develop brain imaging abnormalities suggestive of Parkinson’s disease, or be diagnosed with the disease, than those whose deficits return to normal on a subsequent smell test, according to data from a Phase 2 study. Deficits in two consecutive smell tests,…

Scientists have shed new light on the interaction of toxic apha-synuclein clumps — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — with microglia, the brain’s immune cells. This interaction was found to be mediated by RAGE, a protein at the surface of microglia, which promoted the release of inflammatory molecules from…

Servier is set to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial in healthy volunteers to investigate an LRRK2 inhibitor, developed in collaboration with Oncodesign, as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The trial, to start before the end of the year, follows the clearance of the Phase 1 clinical trial…

Older age at onset, a faster rate of disease progression, and severe cognitive impairment are key factors in poorer survival rates for people with Parkinson’s disease, a study that followed patients in northern China for 10 years found. Fatigue may also be an indicator of poorer survival, while physical exercise…

GT-02287, Gain Therapeutics’ experimental oral therapy, reduced the toxic alpha-synuclein protein clumps that characterize Parkinson’s disease in lab-grown nerve cells derived from patients with disease-causing mutations in the GBA1 gene, the company announced. The treatment also boosted the function of lysosomes, the cells’ recycling centers, which is…

Zonisamide, an epilepsy medication approved in the U.S. for some seizure-causing disorders, may reduce the motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, according to a review study of clinical trial data. The findings also suggest the therapy is associated with improvements in daily life activities for Parkinson’s patients, and with reductions…