Scientists have found that berberine, a natural plant compound that has been used in China as an over-the-counter medicine for diarrhea, can promote the production of l-dopa, a precursor of the brain chemical dopamine that is missing in patients with Parkinson’s disease, in the gastrointestinal tracts of mice. The…
People with Parkinson’s disease who failed to take their medication as prescribed — meaning, were nonadherent — showed no difference in measures of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) than those who were fully adherent, a questionnaire study of a patient group found. This finding…
Changes in the composition of fat molecules on the membranes of nerve cells appear to change how the alpha-synuclein protein interacts with these same cell membranes, possibly promoting the aggregation that characterizes Parkinson’s disease, new research reports. The study, “The docking of synaptic vesicles on the presynaptic membrane induced by…
Abnormal blood sugar (glucose) levels, either lower or higher than the norm, appears to be linked with a faster progression of motor difficulties in people with Parkinson’s disease, research suggests. The brief report on this finding, “Euglycemia Indicates Favorable Motor Outcome in Parkinson’s Disease,” was published in the journal…
Newronika‘s AlphaDBS, an innovative deep brain stimulation (DBS) system being evaluated in patients with Parkinson’s disease, has received CE Mark approval in Europe. The CE Mark is a seal of approval issued by the European Commission that means products have been assessed to meet pre-established safety, health,…
Biogen and Sangamo Therapeutics have begun a collaboration to develop and commercialize gene therapies for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, as well as an undisclosed neuromuscular disease. The five-year collaboration will join Sangamo’s science expertise and proprietary technology with Biogen’s clinical development capabilities. The goal is to submit investigational…
A three-year U.K. project will investigate whether weight-shifting strategies, developed and tested using virtual reality, can help people with Parkinson’s disease to overcome freezing of gait — when patients feel like their feet are “glued” to the floor and can’t move forward. If these strategies prove successful in…
Parkinson’s UK is paving the way for a future clinical trial that will continue to test a naturally occurring protein, the glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor or GDNF, as a potential therapy for slowing Parkinson’s disease progression. The new trial will follow a 2019 clinical study of…
Five genes appear to be involved in the onset and development of Lewy body dementia (LBD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by toxic protein clumps, known as Lewy bodies, inside brain cells, a study by a branch of the National Institutes of Health reported. Some of these genes are also associated…
A project investigating a complex formed by two key proteins involved in Parkinson’s disease development has received nearly $150,000 in funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). The research team behind the project believes the interaction between these two proteins — LIMP-2…
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