Medical News Today

Parkinson's Disease News From Medical News Today

1. Early-onset Parkinson's disease linked to genetic deletion
   Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University Health Network (UHN) have found a new link between early-onset Parkinson's disease and a piece of DNA missing from chromosome 22. The findings help shed new light on the molecular changes that lead to Parkinson's disease. The study appears online in JAMA Neurology...
2. Research yields first detailed view of morphing Parkinson's protein
   Researchers have taken detailed images and measurements of the morphing structure of a brain protein thought to play a role in Parkinson's disease, information that could aid the development of medications to treat the condition. The protein, called alpha synuclein (pronounced sine-yoo-cline), ordinarily exists in a globular shape...
3. TB and Parkinson's disease linked by unique protein
   A protein at the center of Parkinson's disease research now also has been found to play a key role in causing the destruction of bacteria that cause tuberculosis, according to scientists led by UC San Francisco microbiologist and tuberculosis expert Jeffery Cox, PhD...
4. Ground breaking research identifies promising drugs for treating Parkinson's - including the licenced drug ursodeoxycholic acid
   New drugs which may have the potential to stop faulty brain cells dying and slow down the progression of Parkinson's, have been identified by scientists in a pioneering study which is the first of its kind...
5. How the brain takes out its trash may help decode neurological diseases
   Imagine that garbage haulers don't exist. Slowly, the trash accumulates in our offices, our homes, it clogs the streets and damages our cars, causes illness and renders normal life impossible. Garbage in the brain, in the form of dead cells, must also be removed before it accumulates, because it can cause both rare and common neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's...
6. What is deep brain stimulation?
   Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure that involves placing a neurostimulator in the brain which sends out electrical impulses to specific regions of the brain. The electrical impulses are sent out to block abnormal signals that can cause a number of different neurological disorders...
7. Parkinson's severity linked to brain inflammation
   A new study found markers of inflammation in the cerebrospinal fluid that protects the brain and spine from injury, linking these markers to symptoms like fatigue, depression and anxiety in patients with Parkinson's disease. Researchers say the findings may lead to new ways of treating the complex riddle of Parkinson's...
8. Study examines cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in early Parkinson disease
   Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of tau proteins, a-synuclein, and β-amyloid 1-42 (Aβ1-42) appear to be associated with early stage Parkinson disease (PD) in a group of untreated patients compared with healthy patients, according to a study by Ju-Hee Kang, M.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues...
9. Scientists exonerate a process thought to play a role in causing Parkinson's disease
   Clues left at the scene of the crime don't always point to the guilty party, as EPFL researchers investigating Parkinson's disease have discovered. It is generally accepted that the disease is aggravated when a specific protein is transformed by an enzyme. The EPFL neuroscientists were able to show that, on the contrary, this transformation tends to protect against the progression of the disease...
10. Compounds already exist to potentially treat both inherited and non-inherited cases of Parkinson's disease
    Researchers at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere have brought new clarity to the picture of what goes awry in the brain during Parkinson's disease and identified a compound that eases the disease's symptoms in mice. Their discoveries, described in a paper published online in Nature Neuroscience, also overturn established ideas about the role of a protein considered key to the disease's progress...