Levels of the protein prosaposin, known as PSAP, are altered in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease, and these changes are linked to worse motor symptoms, a study discovered. Mice lacking PSAP were more susceptible to the loss of nerve cells seen in Parkinson’s patients. Treatment with the…
Adults with Parkinson’s disease are willing to take additional medicine to manage daily off times — when the benefits of standard levodopa therapy wear off — as long as it does not increase the risk of their bodily fluids becoming discolored, according to a patient survey. Survey respondents also…
Vincere Biosciences has been given $700,000 in seed funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance in testing USP30 small molecule inhibitors, its candidate therapy aiming to slow or stop progression in Parkinson’s disease. Valid for two years, the Phase I Small Business…
The Parkinson’s Foundation and CurePSP have partnered on a new, multi-part educational program for healthcare professionals that’s aimed at helping frontline workers better understand atypical parkinsonism. Its overarching goals are improved diagnosis and care. The Atypical Parkinsonism Program focuses on three disease types: progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal…
Newer glucose-lowering drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes, compared with a placebo, appear to lower a person’s risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a meta-analysis of controlled clinical trials. Findings suggest a potential association between recent classes of anti-diabetic medications and the risk of developing Parkinson’s, and they…
In people with Parkinson’s disease, the cerebral cortex of the brain can compensate for disease-related dysfunction in the basal ganglia, the main part of the brain affected by Parkinson’s. Researchers found that patients with milder Parkinson’s symptoms have more compensatory activity in the cerebral cortex, while patients with…
Interfering with the circadian clock, or the body’s internal clock, may make dopaminergic neurons — the nerve cells that become progressively lost in Parkinson’s disease — more prone to damage at night, according to a study in fruit flies. “Our results further suggest that genetic variations in circadian clock…
Pupil light reflex (PLR), the automatic contraction or dilation of the eye’s pupil in response to light levels, was found to be impaired in people with Parkinson’s disease in a small study. Impaired PLR is believed to contribute to the vision problems experienced by some Parkinson’s patients. New data…
Patients who are on long-term levodopa to treat Parkinson’s disease are more likely to experience self-reported freezing of gait, or FOG, than levodopa-naïve (untreated) patients, a study has found. These findings suggest that FOG should be taken into account when studying Parkinson’s, with “the ultimate aim to develop…
Significant alterations in the structure and function of the eye’s retina — the layer at the very back of the eyeball that’s key in transmitting information to the brain — were revealed in adults with Parkinson’s disease in a new study. Data demonstrated a significant impact of disease duration…
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