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Parkinson's & Movement disorders news

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Early Parkinson's predictor found in daily step count

Oxford's Big Data Institute and Nuffield Department of Population Health report that daily step counts may help identify who will later be diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, with lower activity patterns acting as an early ...

Neuroscience

Dance effective in fighting against cognitive decline in Parkinson's, study finds

A new study led by researchers at York University shows that dance can be beneficial in halting the cognitive decline associated with Parkinson's disease and, for some participants, they even showed signs of improvement. ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

In-home sensor technology offers smarter care for ALS patients

Bill Janes is on a mission to improve life for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). As a licensed occupational therapist and researcher at the University of Missouri, he's seen firsthand how the disease can steal ...

Neuroscience

Brain markers could yield early clues into Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease affects more than 1.1 million people in the United States, progressively damaging the brain cells that control movement. By the time symptoms like tremors appear, patients have already lost around half ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Untreated sleep apnea raises risk of Parkinson's, study finds

New research reveals that people with untreated obstructive sleep apnea have a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease. However, they can significantly reduce the risk by improving the quality of their sleep by using ...

Neuroscience

Pause and rewind: How the brain keeps time to control action

Whether speaking or swinging a bat, precise and adaptable timing of movement is essential for everyday behavior. Although we do not have sensory organs like eyes or a nose to sense time, we can keep time and control the timing ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Evidence builds for disrupted mitochondria as cause of Parkinson's

For decades, scientists have known that mitochondria, which produce energy inside our cells, malfunction in Parkinson's disease. But a critical question remained: do the failing mitochondria cause Parkinson's, or do they ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

What polymers can teach us about curing Alzheimer's disease

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have applied ideas from polymer physics to illuminate the mechanism behind a key pathology in Alzheimer's disease, the formation of fibrils of tau proteins. They showed that ...

Genetics

New genetic test targets elusive cause of rare movement disorder

Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School have developed a targeted genetic test to improve diagnosis for X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a rare and disabling movement disorder that affects ...

Neuroscience

Removing toxic proteins before they can damage motor neurons

University of Wollongong (UOW) scientists have developed a breakthrough therapy that clears toxic proteins from nerve cells—a discovery that advances the work of the late Professor Justin Yerbury and could transform the ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Personalized care can ease Parkinson's pain

Every 27 minutes, someone in Australia is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Best known for its tremors, movement and balance issues, it also brings another, often overlooked burden—persistent pain.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Researchers stimulate improvements in Parkinson's treatment

New research led by QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has identified ways to make the most widely-used advanced treatment for Parkinson's disease—deep brain stimulation therapy—more effective and safer.

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Growth factors and Parkinson's disease—Where next?

Growth factors such as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) were initially thought to be exciting new treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD), but trials have been disappointing. A panel of prominent leaders ...

Parkinson's & Movement disorders

Parkinson's dyskinesia mechanism explained

Many people with Parkinson's disease eventually develop debilitating movements called dyskinesia, a side effect of their much-needed dopamine replacement medication. The mechanism underlying this unwanted side effect has ...

Neuroscience

Researchers unravel protein mystery of three brain diseases

The accumulation of one particular protein in the brain is the basis of three very different age-related conditions. Until recently, nobody understood how this was possible. Research by the Laboratory for Neurobiology and ...

Genetics

Parkinson's disease may start in the gut

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of North Carolina in the USA have mapped out the cell types behind various brain disorders. The findings are published in Nature Genetics and offer a roadmap ...