News

Analyzing Finger Taps, Voice on Cellphone May Help in Diagnosis

Collecting finger tapping, voice, and walking data on a smartphone to be digitally processed by deep machine learning tools can accurately distinguish between people with and without Parkinson’s disease, a study of more than 7,000 people reported. This approach, known integrative digital biomarkers, may help to diagnose the disease…

Ontario to Compensate Miners With Parkinson’s Due to McIntyre Powder

In the culmination of a woman’s 10-year campaign, the government of Ontario, Canada, has agreed to recognize Parkinson’s disease (PD) as an occupational disorder linked to the use of McIntyre powder, an aluminum-based inhalant, in mining and other industries. The decision by Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) was…

DJ-1 Protein Loss Linked to Longer-lasting Immune Response

Loss of a protein called DJ-1, which is linked to the development of early-onset Parkinson’s disease, may also mean a longer-lasting immune response, according to a new study. Researchers observed that immunoaging — a decline in immune function with aging — was slowed in a man with Parkinson’s who…

Buspirone, for Anxiety, Helps to Prevent Disease in Mouse Model

Mice in a Parkinson’s disease model treated at higher doses with the anti-anxiety medication buspirone had lesser evidence of nerve cell degeneration in the brain and more normalized behaviors than untreated mice, a pair of researchers in Australia reported. “To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the ability…

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…