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The significance — physiological and clinical — in the interaction of two proteins known to be associated with early onset Parkinson’s disease, PARKIN and PINK1, is detailed, possibly for a first time, by researchers. Their study, “Phosphorylation of Parkin at serine 65 is essential for its activation in vivo,”…

Non-motor symptoms are common among patients with Parkinson’s disease who have not yet received any treatment, and the type of symptoms differs between men and women and onset age groups, a study shows. The study, “Gender and onset age related-differences…

Intec Pharma announced the complete enrollment of a Phase 3 clinical trial evaluating the safety and effectiveness of its Accordion Pill Carbidopa/Levodopa (AP-CD/LD) in easing motor fluctuations in people with advanced Parkinson’s disease. The investigative treatment will be compared to immediate release Sinemet, an approved combination of levodopa and carbidopa marketed…

Research into the best ways of managing visual hallucinations in patients with Parkinson’s disease over the long term is severely limited and affecting treatment, a review study has found. In particular, the lack of a universal rating scale renders data interpretation and comparison between studies difficult. To overcome this limitation,…

Mutations affecting the NUS1 gene are linked to a significantly increased risk — 11 times higher — of developing Parkinson’s disease, study shows. The study, “Coding mutations in NUS1 contribute to Parkinson’s disease,” was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Although exact triggers of Parkinson’s…

Freezing of gait — the description for a Parkinson’s symptom in which a person’s feet become briefly “glued to the floor,” preventing forward movement despite an intention to walk — is associated with more severe disease and worse motor and non-motor disability, a study reports. The study, “Factors…

Chemical compounds in coffee — especially phenylindanes that form during the roasting of coffee beans — appear to prevent the damaging aggregation of amyloid-beta and tau known to play key roles in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, researchers report. Caffeine, in contrast, had no effect on protein buildup in this early…

Global Kinetics recently announced that the use of its wearable device, Personal KinetiGraph ­­(PKG)-Watch, significantly improves the assessment and management of Parkinson’s disease symptoms, while reducing patients’ costs. These results were presented in four scientific posters at the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, held Oct. 5-9…

Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a specific cell death pathway named Parthanatos — after Thanatos, the ancient Greek personification of death — that leads to the physical and intellectual degeneration associated with Parkinson’s disease. They also found that a protein called PARP-1 is a key mediator of cell death via Parthanatos, supporting the…

Oral administration of a small molecule specifically blocked the activation of a stress-sensing protein complex called the NLRP3 inflammasome and prevented the loss of brain cells, resulting in significantly improved motor function in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease, a study reports. Findings also revealed that the inflammasome is activated in Parkinson’s patients.