A $2.8 million National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant will fund research into the molecular mechanisms underlying multiple system atrophy (MSA), a progressive disorder driven by protein misfolding and clumping similar to Parkinson’s disease. Differences in the shape of the misfolded protein are being seen to distinguish the two neurodegenerative diseases,…
SMARTfit gym equipment, which combines movement with cognitive tasks in a playful way, may lead to better motor and cognitive functions than  conventional physiotherapy, according to a small study in people with Parkinson’s disease. The equipment can be used easily and safely by anyone, researchers say, and the training…
The Parkinson’s Foundation announced six winners of this year’s Nurse Faculty Award and Physical Therapy Faculty Award. Each winner receives up to $10,000 to support projects that might better the lives of those with Parkinson’s disease. The four physical therapists are graduates of the foundation’s Physical Therapy Faculty Program and the two…
The gift subscription service RunnerBox joined with the Parkinson’s Foundation to provide boxes filled with customized items for those running as Parkinson’s Champions, the foundation’s endurance, do-it-yourself fundraising program. Parkinson’s Champions gives people nationwide an opportunity to raise funds to support those living with Parkinson’s disease while heightening…
Mutations in the enzyme glucocerebrosidase (GCase) prevent it from entering the lysosome — a cell’s recycling center — where it clears away unwanted materials such as alpha-synuclein toxic clumps that cause Parkinson’s disease and ultimately kill nerve cells, a recent study found. These encouraging findings may help to validate efforts to…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 4D Pharma’s request to launch a Phase 1 clinical trial in the U.S. evaluating the safety and tolerability of MRx0005 and MRx0029, its experimental live biotherapeutic products (LBPs) for Parkinson’s disease. LBPs, a new class of therapies, are defined by the…
Activating a particular subpopulation of nerve cells in a specific region of the brain — caudal glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus — can normalize movements in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease, a study reports. Its results suggest that finding ways to specifically stimulate these neurons could ease motor…
People with Parkinson’s disease and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder — marked by acting out dreams, sometimes violently — showed no significant differences in their levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, an inflammatory protein, and orexin, a protective protein, relative to patients without this sleep disorder or people…
A particular region of the brain responsible for sensing and processing speech and speech-like sounds is overly active in people with Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study. These findings may help provide a biological explanation for why Parkinson’s patients tend to speak more quietly than a given situation…
Reports of anxiety and other mental health issues are fewer in people with Parkinson’s who make greater use of a coping mechanism known as self-compassion, a U.K. study based on patients’ views found. These results further suggest that self-compassion can help to negate the negative affects of “internalized stigma,” or fear…
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