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A palm-worn device can quantify joint stiffness in Parkinson’s disease patients by tracking changes in rigidity following treatment with deep brain stimulation, and may be of use in measuring fluctuations in motor symptoms, scientists who created the tool report. Their study, “A Palm-Worn Device to Quantify Rigidity in…

Although exercise is beneficial for patients at all stages of Parkinson’s disease, a regular routine should be in place before movement issues become pronounced, an expert who led a presentation hosted by The Parkinson Voice Project advises. The theme of the free Feb. 9 talk by Michael Braitsch,…

Discoveries into molecular mechanisms, risk factors — especially genetic — and advances in potential and repurposed therapies for Parkinson’s disease over the last 20 years are reason to believe that major breakthroughs await the next two decades, a review article by two researchers states. The review article, “Therapies to…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers, physicians, and health care providers that infusions of plasma from young donors for the treatment of normal aging or diseases such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s are not approved and have not undergone the agency’s rigorous testing for efficacy…

People who have had kidney, heart, lung, or bone-marrow transplants are less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than the general population, research suggests. The study, “Transplant and risk of Parkinson disease” was published recently in Parkinsonism & Related Disorders.  Chronic neuroinflammation is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease with…

Cell replacement therapies in which dopamine-producing stem cells are transplanted into Parkinson’s disease patients could improve motor symptoms, reducing or eliminating the need for dopaminergic medicines, a study suggests. The study, “Repairing the Brain: Cell Replacement Using Stem Cell-Based Technologies,” was published in the Journal of …

Naturally occurring gene variations in brain cells may explain why dopamine-producing neurons are the first to die in people with Parkinson’s, according to a new study. The findings also suggest that brain regions with a greater number of these variations are more likely to undergo cell death later in…

The protein Furin 1, produced by dopaminergic neurons — nerve cells that synthesize the neurotransmitter dopamine — triggers a harmful inflammatory molecular cascade in neighboring non-neuronal cells that contributes to the degradation of these neurons over time, a study in flies found. Because Furin 1 is controlled by LRRK2 — a major player…

Having a higher number of comorbidities is associated with postoperative confusion in Parkinson’s patients undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS), according to a new study in Brazilian patients. The study, “Postoperative Confusion in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Undergoing Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus,” appeared in…

Stem cell-derived neurons from patients with familial forms of Parkinson’s may be used as a valuable model to screen and develop novel therapies for this disease, according to a study. The study, “T-type Calcium Channels Determine the Vulnerability of Dopaminergic Neurons to Mitochondrial Stress in Familial Parkinson Disease”…