News

Problems with vision are more common in older people with Parkinson’s disease than in others of a similar age, and are linked with poorer health outcomes, a study based on U.S. Medicare records found. Fewer than 60% of the more than 285,000 Parkinson’s patients whose data were analyzed, however, had…

SpeechVive recently raised more than $1.5 million to support efforts to increase accessibility for the wearable medical device that improves the speech clarity of Parkinson’s disease patients. Capital from the syndicated funding round was provided by Elevate Ventures, Foundry Investment Fund, Southwest Angel Network, Racine Medical Angels,…

Parkinson’s disease may affect more than 1.6 million people in the United States by 2037, at an estimated annual economic burden of $79 billion, according to a recent study. The study, “Current and projected future economic burden of Parkinson’s disease in the U.S.,” was published in…

A multi-faceted intervention that included staff education, electronic alerts, and requiring new reports, improved the timeliness with which Parkinson’s disease patients were given medication in a hospital setting, a new study reports. This suggests that similar interventions might aid in the timeliness of Parkinson’s treatments in other hospitals. The study, “…

Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella typhimurium were seen for a first time to form biofilms, or dense clusters of bacteria that can adhere to surfaces and withstand harsh conditions, in the intestines of mice in a study. Salmonella was previously thought to only form biofilms in the environment. These biofilms…

A new technique shows that alpha-synuclein, the protein at the heart of Parkinson’s disease, affects cell membranes differently, based on their composition. This discovery sheds light on how alpha-synuclein clumps known as amyloids might disrupt cellular membranes, potentially helping to design therapies that might slow or stop…

A direct causal link was found between two major underlying features of Parkinson’s disease — mitochondrial defects and lysosomal malfunction — in dopamine producing neurons that lacked the PARK2 gene, which is mutated in some cases of early-onset disease, a study discovered. …

Distinct connections between nerve cells in the brain may explain why some Parkinson’s disease patients develop impulsivity and behavioral problems after deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy, according to a recent study. These findings may help make DBS safer and more effective by adequately targeting the regions in the…

The first participant has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial evaluating the safety of PTC857, PTC Therapeutics‘ investigational therapy for Parkinson’s disease. In addition to safety, the trial, which is being conducted in healthy volunteers, will evaluate how the therapy affects and is processed by the…

With a single treatment, scientists were able to transform brain cells into functioning neurons that restored dopamine — the signaling molecule deficient in people with Parkinson’s disease — to normal levels, eliminating motor symptoms in a Parkinson’s mouse model. The results,…