News

A voice therapy program called SPEAK OUT!, developed by the Parkinson Voice Project, can help Parkinson’s disease patients regain their ability to communicate, according to a new study. Parkinson’s patients, especially those who received the training in early stages of the disease, saw improvements in speech intensity, pitch…

Motor fluctuations, treatment with antidepressants, disease severity, and deep brain stimulation (DBS) are among the risk factors that contribute to frequent falls in patients with Parkinson’s, a large-scale study reports. According to researchers, identifying predictors that put Parkinson’s patients at the greatest risk for falls can aid…

The one-item Fatigue Visual Analog Scale (VAFS) is a highly consistent and reliable tool to assess fatigue in patients with Parkinson’s disease, and is associated with their quality of life, according to researchers. Their study, “The dimensionality of fatigue in Parkinson’s disease,” was published in the…

Tiny crystals known as quantum dots can block the formation of Parkinson’s hallmark protein clumps, lowering nerve cell death and motor deficits, a mouse study has found. The research, “Graphene quantum dots prevent α-synucleinopathy in Parkinson’s disease,” was published in Nature Nanotechnology. Quantum dots are very…

A panel of United Kingdom-based experts has defined a set of practical considerations to manage motor fluctuations and wearing-off in Parkinson’s disease patients. Based on practical clinical experience, the guidelines were outlined in “Noninvasive options for ‘wearing-off’ in Parkinson’s disease: a clinical consensus from a panel of…

Approximately 1.2 million people in the United States are predicted to have Parkinson’s disease by the year 2030, according to the results of a large-scale study. This represents a projected increase by about 1.8 times in Parkinson’s prevalence since 2010, highlighting the need for optimized care and treatment strategies for this…

Sustained release formulation of pramipexole (Mirapex, Boehringer Ingelheim) outperforms its immediate release alternative to treat sleep disturbances in advanced Parkinson’s patients, a new study suggests. The research, “Comparison of nocturnal symptoms in advanced Parkinson’s disease patients with sleep disturbances: pramipexole sustained release versus immediate release formulations,” was…

Prana Biotechnology’s investigational compound PBT434 prevented neuronal loss and improved motor function in an animal model of multiple system atrophy (MSA), a condition that shares many of Parkinson’s motor symptoms, according to preclinical data. MSA is a progressive disorder affecting both involuntary functions, such as blood pressure,…

Researchers have analyzed the three-dimensional toxic form of the protein alpha-synuclein, which is directly involved in Parkinson’s disease. The findings are now challenging previous knowledge investigators had of this disease. Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenrative disorder that belongs to the class of synucleopathies. In these type of diseases,…

Neupro patches (rotigotine) have been approved in China for treating symptoms of early-stage idiopathic (of unknown cause) Parkinson’s disease as a stand-alone therapy or in combination with levodopa. Patients may benefit from this treatment strategy over the course of the disease, through to late stages, when levodopa’s benefit wears off or becomes…