News

Highly rhythmic, Brazilian dance shows promise as a physical therapy for Parkinson’s disease, according to the results of a small clinical trial. Over a 12-week period, practicing a dance program inspired by samba and forró (derived from the English “for all”) improved patients’ functional mobility and gait.

The Shake It Up Australia Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, together with its partners worldwide, has pledged to cover up to 50% of the costs associated with opening a clinical trial into oral Anavex 2-73 (blarcamesine) as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease. Anavex Life Sciences, the developer of Anavex…

A speech therapy called the Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD) can lessen difficulties in communication for people with Parkinson’s disease, a new study shows. The study, “The Impact of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment (LSVT LOUD) on Voice, Communication, and Participation: Findings from a Prospective, Longitudinal…

Women and underweight individuals with Parkinson’s disease are more likely to experience troublesome episodes of dyskinesia when receiving levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel, a formulation of levodopa and carbidopa infused into the intestines, a study has found. According to researchers, this sub-group of patients should be carefully…

Computer-based analyses of the voice could be used for at-home monitoring of symptom severity in people with Parkinson’s disease, a small proof-of-concept study suggests. The study, “Prediction and Estimation of Parkinson’s Disease Severity Based on Voice Signal,” was published in the Journal of Voice.

The natural compound kaempferol — which acts as a potent antioxidant — can reduce the physical and behavioral symptoms of Parkinson’s in a fruit fly model of the disease. According to the researchers, this molecule may exert its protective effects by…

Novant Health announced that it will soon be the first healthcare provider in the Carolinas to offer an incision-free brain “surgery” technique to treat essential tremor and tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease. The technique, called MR-guided focused ultrasound, uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to identify brain…

Scientists have found that switching off TET2, a gene that provides instructions to make an enzyme that alters the activity of certain genes, can lower inflammation and neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson’s disease. Authors of a study with those findings suggest that reducing the activity of this master gene…

The diets of people with Parkinson’s disease  mostly match those of the general population, but a large portion consume inadequate levels of vitamin D, vitamin B1, zinc, and iron, a Belgian study based on patient questionnaires and dietary pattern records found. Fewer than 20% of these…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) is supporting six different funding programs for projects related to Parkinson’s disease, with applications now being accepted. The six  Requests for Applications (RFAs) are meant to support work focused on different aspects of Parkinson’s research, from data analysis…