Medical News Today

Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today

1. Gene Therapy Helps Children With Rare, Incurable Brain Disease
   Using gene transfer techniques pioneered by University of Florida faculty, Taiwanese doctors have restored some movement in four children bedridden with a rare, life-threatening neurological disease. The first-in-humans achievement may also be helpful for more common diseases such as Parkinson's that involve nerve cell damage caused by lack of a crucial molecule in brain tissue...
2. Unravelling How Locomotion Starts
   Scientists at the University of Bristol have shed new light on one of the great unanswered questions of neuroscience: how the brain initiates rhythmic movements like walking, running and swimming...
3. Potential To Predict Parkinson's Disease Via Colonoscopy Or Flexible Sigmoidoscopy
   Two studies by neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center suggest that, in the future, colonic tissue obtained during either colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy may be used to predict who will develop Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder of aging that that leads to progressive deterioration of motor function due to loss of neurons in the brain tha...
4. Gene Variants Identified That Speed Progression Of Parkinson's Disease
   UCLA researchers may have found a key to determining which Parkinson's disease patients will experience a more rapid decline in motor function, sparking hopes for the development of new therapies and helping identify those who could benefit most from early intervention...
5. Vitamin K2 Potentially Offers Hope For A New Treatment For Parkinson's Disease
   Neuroscientist Patrik Verstreken, associated with VIB and KU Leuven, succeeded in undoing the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson's using vitamin K2. His discovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients...
6. Researchers Discover A New Family Of Key Mitochondrial Proteins For The Function And Viability Of The Brain
   This family comprises a cluster of six genes that may be altered in neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease...
7. Damaged Stem Cells Commit Suicide For The Good Of The Embryo
   Embryonic stem cells - those revered cells that give rise to every cell type in the body - just got another badge of honor. If they suffer damage that makes them a threat to the developing embryo, they swiftly fall on their swords for the greater good, according to a study published online in the journal Molecular Cell...
8. Researcher Developing Therapy To Halt Symptoms In Parkinson's Patients
   Parkinson's disease, a disorder which affects movement and cognition, affects over a million Americans, including actor Michael J. Fox, who first brought it to the attention of many TV-watching Americans. It's characterized by a gradual loss of neurons that produce dopamine...
9. Once-Marginalized Parkinson's Disease Theory May Be Valid
   The March issue of the FEBS Journal reports that scientists from the Californian University in San Diego have discovered new evidence for a theory that was once marginalized with regard to the underlying causes of Parkinson's disease, which conflicts with an older theory that Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases are caused by insoluble intracellular fibrils called amyloids...
10. Scientists Identify Brain Circuitry Associated With Addictive, Depressive Behaviors
    Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have determined how specific circuitry in the brain controls not only body movement but also motivation and learning, providing new insight into neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease - and psychiatric disorders such as addiction and depression...