Cognitive function in adults with Parkinson’s disease either remains stable or progressively declines over time, according to a four-year follow-up study that also found that early problems with several tasks related to visual processing and spatial reasoning were among predictors of eventual cognitive impairments. Among Parkinson’s patients with cognitive…

Recognizing cognitive decline and low sex drive in people with Parkinson’s disease and depression could aid the early diagnosis and better management of the disease, according to researchers in Iran. While it’s not known if treating depression may ease other nonmotor symptoms, “these findings could be beneficial for…

MindMaze is partnering with Mount Sinai Health System in New York to accelerate the access of people with neurological diseases to a pioneer digital neurotherapeutic program to improve patients’ motor and cognitive functions. The program aims to provide high-dose and high-intensity training to improve the brain’s ability…

Drinking more than three beers or about three large glasses of wine per week is associated significantly with higher iron levels in several brain regions, which is linked to worse cognitive function. That’s according to a study from the United Kingdom involving nearly 21,000 people — likely representing the largest…

A team of scientists at the University of Cincinnati, in Ohio, has received a grant worth $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to study how stress can affect — and worsen the progression of — Parkinson’s disease. The researchers, led by Kim Seroogy, PhD, previously showed…

Aerobic exercise stabilizes progression of motor symptoms and improves cognitive function in people with Parkinson’s disease, according to additional data from the Park-in-Shape clinical trial. Notably, these benefits were found to be associated with increased neuronal connectivity in brain areas controlling such functions and with reduced brain atrophy (shrinkage). These…

One in three people with early to mid-stage Parkinson’s disease were found to have difficulties in learning a new task by following instructions. The deficits were more prone during the early stages of learning, when new memories are being made, and were linked to poorer activation of certain brain…

Anavex Life Sciences’ investigational oral therapy Anavex 2-73 (blarcamesine) leads to clinically meaningful cognitive improvements while reducing motor and non-motor symptoms in people with Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD), according to data from a Phase 2 trial. These benefits also significantly associated with increases in the levels of sigma-1 receptor (SIGMAR1),…

The asymmetric loss of dopamine-producing, or dopaminergic, neurons in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease may determine the severity of patients’ motor and cognitive symptoms, a study suggests. Such differences in the loss of these dopaminergic neurons — a characteristic feature of Parkinson’s — may explain the contrast…

Oral doses of silibinin — a plant compound sold as a dietary supplement — were found to lessen cognitive impairment in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. It worked, according to researchers, by preventing neurodegeneration in the hippocampus, a brain region associated with cognitive function. These neuroprotective effects…