Parkinson&#039s | Common News Update

Jan202019 by adminNo Comments

Common gut bacteria blocks effects of Parkinson's drugs, study says

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Jan. 18 (UPI) -- A common gut bacteria can block a common Parkinson's disease medicine from working on patients with the disease, a new study says. Gut bacteria metabolizes levodopa, a common Parkinson's medication, into dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain. Since dopamine can't pass through the blood-brain barrier, it saps the levodopa of its effectiveness, according to a study published Friday in the journal Nature Communications. "It is well established that gut bacteria can affect the brain," Sahar El Aidy, an assistant professor in microbiology at University of Groningen and study lead investigator, said in a news release. "There is a continuous chemical dialogue between gut bacteria and the brain, the so-called gut-brain axis." The less effect a normal dosage of levodopa has on...

Aug212018 by adminNo Comments

Method developed to test new Parkinson's therapies

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Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Researchers have developed a new tool that can evaluate new therapies for Parkinson's disease, which they say could lead to quicker development of drugs to treat the neurological condition. In a test of mice, the new model induces the biology of a disease-causing gene rather than the symptoms. Researchers at the University of British Columbia's Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health published their findings Tuesday in the journal Nature Parkinson's Disease. Parkinson's disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder that affects the body's motor system, causing people to shake and have difficulty with movements. In the United States, about 10 million people have the illness, according to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. Many patients have mutations in a ge...

Mar262018 by adminNo Comments

Tracking Parkinson's symptoms with phone app could improve treatment

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March 26 (UPI) -- Smartphone software and technology can accurately track the severity of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, leading to better drugs and treatment, according to a study.Because Parkinson's symptoms fluctuate widely on a daily basis, it makes it difficult to track the progression of the disease and adjust treatment, researchers said.Data collected by the app, called HopkinsPD on Android and mPower on iPhone, allowed physicians to get an ongoing look at the patient's condition instead of their visits once every several months."This study demonstrates that we can create both an objective measure of the progression of Parkinson's and one that provides a richer picture of the daily lived experience of the disease," co-author Dr. Ray Dorsey, a neurologist at the University of R...

Feb112018 by adminNo Comments

New test speeds up diagnosis of Parkinson's, Lewy body dementia

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Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Researchers at the National Institutes of Health said they've developed a new test to detect Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, shaving days off the wait time of existing tests.The NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases created the test by modifying one used for the early diagnosis of prion diseases, a group of neurodegenerative disorders caused by transmissable pathogens.For Parkinson's disease, the test detects levels of Lewy bodies in spinal fluid. Lewy bodies are the abnormal clumping of alpha-synuclein, a protein.Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies both resemble prion diseases, which result in the deterioration of brain functions. But Parkinson's disease is about 1,000 times more common than prion diseases, and Lewy bo...

Dec222017 by adminNo Comments

Study explains how exercise can slow Parkinson's disease

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Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus conducted a study that suggests why exercise can help Parkinson's patients slow the disease's progression.The critical components are the DJ-1 protective gene and the alpha-synuclein protein, according to a news release announcing the study.Humans born with a mutated version of the DJ-1 gene get severe symptoms of Parkinson's disease at a younger age than others. Alpha-synuclein molecules bundle together in the brain to help precipitate neurological decline in Parkinson's patients.In the study from Colorado research associate professor Wenbo Zhou and professor Dr. Curt Freed, mice with Parkinson's were grouped into two categories: those with exercise wheels and those without.After three months, the mice with ...