News

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…

People who have had a heart attack are at lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease later in life relative to the general population, according to a nationwide study in Denmark. “These findings indicate that the risk of Parkinson’s disease is at least not increased following a heart attack and…

IMAC Holdings has completed dosing the second group of patients in its Phase 1 clinical trial testing umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for the treatment of bradykinesia due to Parkinson’s disease. About a year ago, a first group of five patients received a low dose of the…

Researchers at Iowa State University are evaluating whether four months of group singing sessions can improve breathing and swallowing in people with Parkinson’s disease. Changes in brain activity and stress markers also will be analyzed. The study, supported by a three-year grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, is…

Parkinson’s patients have a subpopulation of astrocytes — brain cells that support neuronal function and health — that produce a vitamin D-activating enzyme called CYP27B1 and are involved in clearing the toxic alpha-synuclein clumps that form in the disease. The small study compared deceased Parkinson’s…

Women with Parkinson’s disease in China appear to have a poorer quality of life than do men, a study of patients at a Beijing rehabilitation center reported. Researchers observed that women experienced more physical discomfort, were more likely to perceive stigma, and expressed fewer positive emotions. When caring for…

Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease might be a matter of using artificial intelligence to “smell” patients’ skin, scientists in China reported. The artificial intelligence smell system they developed is detailed in study, “Artificial Intelligent Olfactory System for the Diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease,” published in ACS Omega. No single test can…

Gastrointestinal (GI) dysmotility, or lack of movement, can impair the absorption and delay the effects of levodopa-based medication in people with Parkinson’s disease, a study reports. Notably, the study describes the cases of two Parkinson’s patients who stopped responding to levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel — available under the brand name…