Dystonia News and Research

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Dystonia is a neurological movement disorder, in which sustained muscle contractions cause twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures.

New framework aligns neural implants with user's needs

Gabriel Lázaro-Muñoz, PhD, JD, and Amanda R. Merner, PhD, of the Health Technology Performance Lab within the Mass General Brigham Neuroscience Institute, are the authors of a paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, "Implantable Neuromodulation Devices in Psychiatry: Human Fidelity and Implementation Challenges."

8 Jul 2026

New AI model improves prediction of cancer immunotherapy success

Cancer immunotherapy drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can be miracle drugs for cancer patients, curing some and turning deadly disease into a manageable chronic condition in others.

3 Jul 2026

Neuroscience research questions traditional markers for cerebellar movement disorders

A new finding by a Virginia Tech neuroscientist at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is challenging the way investigators study chronic neurological disorders such as dystonia, ataxia, and tremor.

22 Jun 2026

Researchers identify CD99L2 gene as a cause of spastic ataxia

Despite modern high-throughput sequencing, the genetic cause of most rare movement disorders remains unclear.

17 Mar 2026

Study highlights need for XDP specific diagnostic assays

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 primarily men of Filipino ancestry.

17 Nov 2025

Air pollution and Parkinson’s: What a 292,000-person study reveals about hidden risks

Researchers in Northern Ireland examined whether exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) increases the risk of Parkinson’s disease. While no overall link was found after adjusting for confounders, younger adults under 50 showed a modest association with PM2.5, raising questions about age-related susceptibility and diagnostic misclassification.

15 Oct 2025

New AI model can identify treatments that reverse disease states in cells

In a move that could reshape drug discovery, researchers at Harvard Medical School have designed an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying treatments that reverse disease states in cells.

10 Sep 2025

Prefrontal cortex biopsies during deep brain stimulation surgery do not increase risk of adverse events

Obtaining prefrontal cortex biopsies during deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery in living patients does not increase the risk of adverse events or cognitive decline compared to standard DBS procedures that don't involve biopsies, a team of clinical research scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has demonstrated.

4 Sep 2025

Portable device enables at-home monitoring of Parkinson’s disease symptoms

The number of people living with Parkinson's disease globally has doubled in the past 25 years.

17 Aug 2025

Leg movement variability provides reliable marker of dystonia in pediatric cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy affects around one in 345 children in the U.S., and more than half of them experience a problem called dystonia - involuntary and often painful muscle contractions, most commonly in the legs, that lead to abnormal movement and postures and make regular activities such as walking difficult.

14 Aug 2025

Gene editing in the brain offers hope for ultra-rare neurological disease

Scientists have corrected gene mutations in mice causing an ultra-rare disease by editing DNA directly in the brain with a single injection, a feat with profound implications for patients with neurological diseases.

21 Jul 2025

Researchers discover key mechanism behind synapse maturation

Researchers from the lab led by Prof. Joris De Wit (VIB-KU Leuven) have discovered an important clue to how connections between brain cells, known as synapses, mature.

21 May 2025

Oral medication sodium oxybate shows promise for treating laryngeal dystonia

Laryngeal dystonia (LD), a rare neurological disease that significantly impacts a person's ability to speak due to uncontrollable vocal cord spasms, can have a debilitating effect on a person's social life, employment and mental health.

20 Nov 2024

UCSF studies point the way toward continuous care for people with Parkinson's disease

Two new studies from UC San Francisco are pointing the way toward round-the-clock personalized care for people with Parkinson's disease through an implanted device that can treat movement problems during the day and insomnia at night.

19 Aug 2024

Decoding cerebellar neural patterns in movement disorders

The cerebellum is a region of the brain that helps us refine our movements and learn new motor skills.

3 Jul 2024

Addressing the lifelong needs of adults with cerebral palsy

Because the majority of people living with cerebral palsy (CP) are adults, a focus on adult care in addition to pediatric and adolescent care is increasingly important to address their needs.

6 Jun 2024

New research center delves into ubiquitin's role in cancer

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has now approved a new Collaborative Research Centre in the search for innovative therapies against cancer: Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Goethe University Frankfurt and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) have joined forces for this purpose.

31 May 2024