News

Improving access and care for Parkinson’s disease patients, increasing the number of practitioners, and improving healthcare providers’ education are three priorities raised in a Parkinson Canada report that explores the advocacy needs of the Parkinson’s community in Canada. The organization, which plans to build a foundation for future…

A protein involved in the transport of brain signaling molecules may confer protection against neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease, a study shows. This transport protein, called vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2), is associated with greater resilience to the toxic effects of alpha-synuclein clumps in dopamine-producing neurons, preventing their death. Dopamine…

A modified version of the Interlocking Finger Test — a bedside screening done by assessing hand movements — could be useful for detecting dementia in people with Parkinson’s disease, a new study indicates. “We recommend the use of the modified test version,” the researchers wrote, noting that “scores…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) is offering a free guide about medical marijuana and Parkinson’s disease (PD) in response to a survey, conducted through Fox Insights, that found more than 70% of patients use cannabis for medical purposes. Nearly one in three respondents (31.8%) also reported not…

OccamzRazor has received $6.1 million in investments to support its artificial intelligence (AI)- based platform aimed at accelerating the identification of new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease. With the technology, which uses AI to analyze data from many published sources, novel treatment targets can be identified and…

Multiple cognitive difficulties, especially problems with memory, are quite common among people in the later stages of Parkinson’s disease, a study in these patients reported. Its researchers found evidence of difficulties that ranged verbal learning to comprehension, with memory most severely affected in 64% of the patients evaluated, and…

Data from a new U.K. study with the most diverse group of patients ever reported show that Parkinson’s disease symptoms — including tremors, cognitive difficulties, epilepsy, and hearing loss — can emerge up to 10 years before a diagnosis. Moreover, ethnicity or socioeconomic status were not found to be associated with…

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, “…