News

Short-term treatment with levodopa does not significantly ease speech difficulties in people with early Parkinson’s disease, a new study indicates. Results suggest that monitoring changes in speech could be useful for tracking the progression of Parkinson’s in patients on treatment. The study, “Short-term effect of dopaminergic…

Machine learning — a form of artificial intelligence that allows a computer to adapt, analyze, and infer from patterns in data — can distinguish by voice people with Parkinson’s disease from those without it and track disease stages by continued changes in voice quality, a study reported. Using speech recordings,…

An extract from the plant Tabebuia impetiginosa, which has been used for centuries in traditional medicines of South America, eased Parkinson’s disease symptoms in rat models, a study reported. Treatment aided the animals’ locomotion, eased evident stiffness, and raised dopamine levels in brain tissue, its researchers wrote. The study, “…

Offering more weekly exercise classes at a higher intensity over a wider geographical area may help to instill  better exercise habits in people with Parkinson’s disease, a study suggested. The study, “Associations between exercise classes and self-reported exercise by people with Parkinson’s disease at Parkinson’s foundation centers…

Australian researchers have received a $1.37-million grant to assess the potential of an early diagnostic test for Parkinson’s disease. The test, developed by scientists at the UNSW Medicine & Health’s EMBL Australia Node in Single Molecule Science, is able to quantify the number of alpha-synuclein aggregates — a hallmark…

Parkinson’s disease patients don’t appear to be at an increased risk for side effects after getting the COVID-19 vaccination compared with the general population, and reported having fewer reactions to it than healthy participants in a small study. “Our data showed few [adverse events] reported after…

A modified form of vitamin B3 called nicotinamide riboside (NR), taken as an oral supplement, increased levels of an energy production molecule in the brain and altered brain metabolism over one month in a small group of newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease patients, according to results of a Phase 1…

Finger tapping data from Parkinson’s patients using smartphone screens were linked with disease severity in a large-scale analysis that used standard assessment methods. Given that current Parkinson’s severity measurements are based on clinical observations by trained movement disorder specialists, these findings suggest that approaches such as finger tapping analyses…

Exablate Neuro, a non-invasive ultrasound treatment of motor symptoms in advanced Parkinson’s patients, is now available at the University of Maryland Medical Center, part of the school that led a pivotal trial of the technology. Based on trial findings, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the Insightec device…

In a final report on the Phase 2 AMBLED trial, scientists detailed the failure of Foliglurax (PTX002331) — once an investigational therapy for Parkinson’s disease — to significantly reduce some of the side effects associated with the long-term use of levodopa. “There was no evidence in this study…