Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that often impairs the sufferer's motor skills, speech, and other functions. It belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. It is characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor, a slowing of physical movement and, in extreme cases, a loss of physical movement.
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New Findings Shed Light on Parkinson's Disease
It has long been known that "Lewy bodies", one of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease and related types of neurodegenerative conditions, are formed from the aggregate accumulation of the synaptic protein alpha-synuclein. It has also been understood that the progression of such diseases is associated with the spreading of the Lewy bodies, which continue to infiltrate more and more regions of the brain. It has not previously been understood, however, exactly how the Lewy bodies are able to spread. Now, researchers are one step closer to a full elucidation of the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms by which Lewy bodies ultimately invade the entire brain.
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New Findings on Troubling Side Effects of Parkinson¡¯s Medication
One in every 100 elderly people suffers from Parkinson's disease, a disease of the nervous system with symptoms including stiffness and shaking. The standard medication used to treat Parkinson's is Levodopa, a drug that initially has major benefits but can later also produce serious side effects in the form of involuntary, jerky movements.
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Parkinson's: New Clues to Alleviating Gait Disorders and Falls
Many of the symptoms of Parkinson disease can be alleviated with drugs that target dompamine, a chemical in the brain that is involved in nerve cell communication and therefore known as a neurotransmitter. However, such drugs do not improve the gait disorders and falls that commonly affect individuals with severe and advanced forms of Parkinson disease.
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Helping Neurons Fix Themselves In Parkinson's Patients
A Michigan State University researcher is working to uncover how a protein known as parkin may help nerve cells fight off damage from Parkinson's disease, a strategy that could lead to new therapies for the degenerative ailment.
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Deep Brain Stimulation Similar Motor Benefits in Parkinson's
In a major study, investigators have compared how individuals with Parkinson's disease respond to deep brain stimulation (DBS) at two different sites in the brain. Contrary to current belief, patients who received DBS at either site in the brain experienced comparable benefits for the motor symptoms of Parkinson's.
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Cognitive Impairment In People With Parkinson's Disease Exposed By Study
Queen's researchers have found that people with Parkinson's disease can perform automated tasks better than people without the disease, but have significant difficulty switching from easy to hard tasks. The findings are a step towards understanding the aspects of the illness that affect the brain's ability to function on a cognitive level.
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New Clues on Why Some People With Parkinson's Die Sooner
New research shows how old people are when they first develop Parkinson's disease is one of many clues in how long they'll survive with the disease. The research is published in the October 5, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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Tests Help Predict Falls in Parkinson's Disease
A group of tests may help predict which people with Parkinson's disease are more likely to fall, according to a study published in the June 23, 2010, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
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Nerve Cells In Parkinson's Disease Suffer Communication Breakdown
A new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro - at McGill University is the first to discover a molecular link between Parkinson's disease and defects in the ability of nerve cells to communicate. The study, published in the prestigious journal Molecular Cell and selected as Editor's Choice in the prominent journal Science, provides new insight into the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease, and could lead to innovative new therapeutic strategies.
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The research into using stem cells to treat Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. This causes a reduction in dopamine secretion. The patient is presented with tremors, stiffening of the four limbs, slow and difficult movements and difficulty with maintaining balance while walking or standing.
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Adult Stem Cells Treat Parkinson's
At Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, 55-year-old Bhawarlal Jain has received autologous adult stem cell therapy for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Mr. Jain has suffered from advanced symptoms of the disease for 6 years, which included spondylitis - inflammation of the vertebrae - and other joint pain since 2004. According to Jain, "I managed my business until my speech became so impaired that I had to repeat everything at least four times to be understood."
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Industrial Cleaner Linked To Increased Risk Of Parkinson's Disease
Workers exposed to tricholorethylene (TCE), a chemical widely used to clean metal such as auto parts, may be at a significantly higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study released today that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.
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Early Steps in Parkinson's Pathology Revealed
Although the cause of Parkinson's disease remains a mystery, scientists now have a better understanding of the earliest stages of abnormal aggregation of a key disease-associated protein. The research, published online on April 6th in Biophysical Journal, provides new insight into the first steps in the formation of neurotoxic structures called Lewy bodies that are the hallmark of the Parkinson's brain.
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What Happens to Nerve Cells in Parkinson's Disease
A new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro -- at McGill University is the first to discover a molecular link between Parkinson's disease and defects in the ability of nerve cells to communicate. The study, published in the journal Molecular Cell and selected as Editor's Choice in the journal Science, provides new insight into the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease, and could lead to innovative new therapeutic strategies.
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An Ibuprofen a Day Could Keep Parkinson's Disease Away
New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study released February 17 that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.
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Researchers Visualize the Development of Parkinson's Cells
In the US alone, at least 500,000 people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects a person's ability to control his or her movement. New technology from the University of Bonn in Germany lets researchers observe the development of the brain cells responsible for the disease.
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'Mouse Models' Give Insight to Gene Mutation Potential Cause of Parkinson
Using new one-of-a-kind "mouse models" that promise to have a significant impact on future Parkinson's disease research, Mount Sinai School of Medicine researchers are among the first to discover how mutations in a gene called LRRK2 may cause inherited (or "familial") Parkinson's disease, the most common form of the disease.
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Parkinson's Disease Treatments Associated With Compulsive Behaviors
These behaviors have been reported previously in patients with Parkinson's disease, according to background information in the article. Preliminary estimates of impulse control disorders in this population range from 1.7 percent to 6.1 percent for gambling, 2 percent to 4 percent for compulsive sexual behavior and 0.4 percent to 3 percent for compulsive buying.
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Scientists Reveal New Survival Mechanism for Neurons
Nerve cells that regulate everything from heart muscle to salivary glands send out projections known as axons to their targets. By way of these axonal processes, neurons control target function and receive molecular signals from targets that return to the cell body to support cell survival. Now, Johns Hopkins researchers have revealed a molecular mechanism that allows a signal from the target to return to the cell body and fulfill its neuron-sustaining mission.
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New Animal Study Shows Promise for Development of Parkinson's Disease Drug
Few treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD) restore function for extended periods. In a new study published in the inaugural issue issue of the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, an international group of researchers reports that platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) restored function in rodents and shows promise as a clinical candidate drug for treatment of PD.
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Inhaling stem cells for treating parkinson
Stem cells have been delivered in a variety of ways: intravenously, into the spinal canal (intrathecally), into the brain (stereotactically), into the joint (intra-articularly), and into the cardiac muscle (endocardially). Scientists from the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospital of Tš¹bingen , Tš¹bingen, Germany have reported today a new way of delivering stem cells: via the nose.
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Nicotine Can Protect the Brain from Parkinson's Disease
If you've ever wondered if nicotine offered society any benefit, a new study published in The FASEB Journal offers a surprising answer. Nicotine can protect the brain against Parkinson's disease, the research suggests, and the discovery of how nicotine does this may lead to entirely new types of treatments for the disease.
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A Risk Factor For Parkinson's Disease: REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder
Patients suffering REM sleep behaviour disorders dream nightmares in which they are attacked and pursued, with the particularity that they express them by screaming, crying, punching and kicking while sleeping. Lancet Neurology has published the third consecutive work in five years about the relationship between this disorder and Parkinson's disease. The first work showed in 2006 that 45% of patients who suffer this sleep disorder develop Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases caused by a lack of dopamine in the brain. The second article discovered that neuroimaging tests that measure dopamine in the brain, such as the brain SPECT, are useful to identify patients with REM sleep disorders with increased risk of developing a neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease.
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Deep Brain Stimulation Effects May Last for 10 Years in Patients With Parkinson's Disease
One decade after receiving implants that stimulate areas of their brains, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) appear to sustain improvement in motor function, although part of the initial benefit wore off mainly because of progressive loss of benefit in other functions, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
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Seeing a Neurologist Helps People With Parkinson's Live Longer
People with Parkinson's disease who go to a neurologist for their care are more likely to live longer, less likely to be placed in a nursing home and less likely to break a hip than people who go to a primary care physician, according to a study published in the August 10, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
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Increased Arm Swing Asymmetry Is Early Sign of Parkinson's Disease
People with Parkinson's disease swing their arms asymmetrically -- one arm swings less than the other -- when walking. This unusual movement is easily detected early when drugs and other interventions may help slow the disease, according to Penn State researchers who used inexpensive accelerometers on the arms of Parkinson's disease patients to measure arm swing.
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Genetic Variation Found to Protect Against Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is a common movement disorder that affects 1 to 2 percent of people over age 65. The researchers say that although the relative influence of the variants in this study on risk is small, given the late-onset nature of Parkinson's, any variation that can delay the disease is important. In addition, the finding provides evidence that Parkinson's disease is influenced by multiple genetic risks that act together to cause disease.
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Exact Brain Electrode Placement for Parkinson¡¯s Patients Now Possible; Research Opens the Way to More Precise Deep Brain
Deep brain stimulation stops limb tremors in Parkinson's patients. But positioning the stimulation electrode in the brain must be done very precisely to avoid undesired side-effects. To make this possible, researcher Ellen Brunenberg of Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) has developed a method for precise, external localization of the right part of the brain: the motor area of the subthalamic nucleus. She has found an ingenious way to localize this 'magic area': by using MRI to visualize the pathways in the brain that lead to it.
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Seeds of Destruction in Parkinson's Disease: Spread of Diseased Proteins Kills Neurons
New research suggests that small "seed" amounts of diseased brain proteins can be taken up by healthy neurons and propagated within them to cause neurodegeneration. The research, published by Cell Press in the October 6 issue of the journal Neuron, sheds light on the mechanisms associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and provides a model for discovering early intervention therapeutics that can prevent or slow the devastating loss of neurons that underlies PD.
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