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ScienceDaily: Parkinson's Research News

1. Let's get moving: Unraveling how locomotion starts
   Scientists have shed new light on one of the great unanswered questions of neuroscience: How the brain initiates rhythmic movements like walking, running and swimming.
2. Vitamin K2: New hope for Parkinson's patients?
   Neuroscientists have succeeded in undoing the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson's using vitamin K2. The discovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients.
3. Neurodegeneration 'switched off' in mice
   Researchers have identified a major pathway leading to brain cell death in mice with neurodegenerative disease. They were able to block the pathway, preventing brain cell death and increasing survival in the mice.
4. Freezing Parkinson's in its tracks: Researcher developing therapy to halt symptoms in Parkinson's patients
   Scientists have developed a peptide that protects dopamine-producing neurons, freezing neurodegeneration in its tracks in preclinical trials. This peptide could be easily delivered by daily injections or absorbed through the skin from an adhesive patch as a preventative therapy for Parkinson's disease, she says.
5. Brain circuitry associated with addictive, depressive behaviors identified
   Scientists 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.
6. Strong support for once-marginalized theory on Parkinson’s disease
   Scientists have used powerful computational tools and laboratory tests to discover new support for a once-marginalized theory about the underlying cause of Parkinson’s disease.
7. 19th century therapy for Parkinson's disease may help patients today
   In the 19th century, Jean-Martin Charcot, the celebrated neurologist, developed a "vibration chair," to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Charcot reported improvements in his patients, but he died shortly thereafter and a more complete evaluation of the therapy was never conducted. Now, a group of neurological researchers have replicated his work in a study to see if Charcot's observation holds true against modern scientific testing.
8. Parkinson's protein causes disease spread in animal model
   Researchers have shown that brain tissue from a Parkinson's disease mouse model, as well as synthetically produced disease protein fibrils, injected into young, symptom-free PD mice led to spreading of PD pathology.
9. Metformin can substantially reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease in diabetes, study suggests
   A major 12-year study based on a Taiwanese population cohort has demonstrated that not only does diabetes increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease more than twofold, the use of sulfonylureas, commonly used as treatment for diabetes, increases the risk further by about 57 percent. This study also found that by including metformin in the therapy, no increased risk in developing Parkinson's disease was recorded.
10. How Parkinson's disease starts and spreads
    Injection of a small amount of clumped protein triggers a cascade of events leading to a Parkinson’s-like disease in mice, according to a new article.