News

How Enzyme Works to Produce Dopamine in Brain Detailed in Study

A collaborative effort between researchers in Spain and Norway is helping to enrich an understanding of the regulatory mechanisms behind the production of dopamine, the brain chemical messenger progressively lost in people with Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, the team determined the structure of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) — the rate-limiting enzyme…

GBA and APOE Mutations Linked to Cognitive Decline, Dementia Risk

Among Parkinson’s patients, those carrying GBA and APOE gene mutations have a significantly faster cognitive decline and a higher risk of progression to dementia, a study in more than 1,000 patients across Northern Europe reported. Notably, the dementia risk was even higher when mutations in both genes were present. No significant associations…

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…

$3.2M Grant to Advance Work Into Serotonin, Its Role in Movement

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant worth $3.2 million will further research into how the rewiring of serotonin-producing nerve cells — a chemical messenger mostly involved in mood, cognition and memory — might help with controlling movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The grant, given to Christopher…

Pairing of Digital Technologies Aims to Support Remote Clinical Trials

Delve Health and Global Kinetics, two digital healthcare companies, are teaming up to simplify the remote monitoring, data collection and analysis of Parkinson’s disease patients enrolled in clinical studies. “This partnership represents both companies’ commitment to providing Parkinson’s patients quality solutions that are user-friendly within the context of…