Parkinson's Disease News and Research

Latest Parkinson's Disease News and Research

New insights into how the brain controls movements

In the children's game "red light green light," winners are able to stop, and take off running again, more quickly than their comrades.

19 Apr 2007

Jefferson participates in global study to extend effectiveness of drug for Parkinson's

After Parkinson's disease patients use the drug levodopa or L-dopa for several years as a treatment for restoring the cellular communication that controls muscle movement by replacing lost dopamine, they begin to experience motor complications that include a shortened response to each dose of L-dopa.

19 Apr 2007

New hope for people with therapy-resistant depression

A study at the University Clinics of Bonn and Cologne gives people with therapy-resistant depression reason for hope.

19 Apr 2007

New bill to train more preventive medicine doctors

U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) joined together to take a major step toward stemming the tide of America's eroding preventive medicine and public health workforce.

18 Apr 2007

Researchers observer proteins important in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's moving along axons

Using a novel video-imaging system, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have been able to observe proteins important in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease moving along axons, extensions of nerve cells that carry proteins away from the cell body.

18 Apr 2007

New combined imaging promises insights into multiple sclerosis

Researchers have developed a way to use three types of microscopic imaging techniques simultaneously to analyze living tissue and learn more about the molecular mechanisms of multiple sclerosis, information that could help lead to earlier detection and new treatments.

18 Apr 2007

Bioluminescence part of new imaging technique

CNRS scientists in collaboration have developed a new technique for the in vivo imaging of neuronal function using bioluminescence, based on a GFP-aequorin fusion protein.

18 Apr 2007

Deep brain stimulation helps improve memory in patients with psychiatric illness

Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic will present results of a study today that shows deep brain stimulation (DBS) is associated with improvements on formal memory tests in patients with severe psychiatric illness.

17 Apr 2007

Astrocytes may contribute to Lou Gehrig's disease

Two papers by Columbia and Harvard researchers report for the first time that astrocytes (the most abundant non-neuronal cells in the central nervous system), which carry a mutated gene known to cause some cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease), induce motor neuron death.

16 Apr 2007

Potential of nanotechnology in medicine

Scientists are working now to create novel nanostructures that serve as new kinds of drugs for treating cancer, Parkinson's and cardiovascular disease; to engineer nanomaterials for use as artificial tissues that would replace diseased kidneys and livers, and even repair nerve damage; and to integrate nanodevices with the nervous system to create implants that restore vision and hearing, and build new prosthetic limbs.

15 Apr 2007

Richard Mayeux wins AAN Potamkin prize for Alzheimer's research

The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) is awarding the 2007 Potamkin Prize to Richard Mayeux, MD, MSc, Fellow of the AAN and co-director of the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's and the Aging Brain, Columbia University Medical Center in New York, for his research related to Alzheimer's disease.

12 Apr 2007

CAMR calls on U.S. Senate to pass stem cell research act

At an event on Capitol Hill today with Senators Specter (R-PA), Harkin (D-IA), Hatch (R-UT), Kennedy (D-MA) and Feinstein (D-CA), the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) called on the U.S. Senate to pass the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.

11 Apr 2007

Associations between smoking, caffeine and NSAID use and Parkinson's disease

Individuals with Parkinson's disease are less likely to smoke or consume high doses of caffeine than their family members who do not have the disease, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

10 Apr 2007

Smoking and drinking lots of coffee may protect against Parkinson's disease

In what must be a rare example of smoking supposedly providing some benefit, researchers in the U.S. say in families with a history of Parkinson's disease, those who smoke cigarettes and drink lots of coffee appear to reduce their risk of developing the disease.

9 Apr 2007

Largest-ever Parkinson's disease trials

Researchers with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) have initiated one of the largest-ever Parkinson's disease clinical trials.

7 Apr 2007

Environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease

The Parkinson's Institute today announced that new findings concerning the role of environmental factors in the development of Parkinson's disease will be reported at Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) as part of the final meeting of the Collaborative Centers for Parkinson's Disease Environmental Research (CCPDER).

7 Apr 2007

Technology to make implantable devices safe for MRI

While magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is already well established as a premiere non-invasive imaging technology, patients with implantable pacemakers, implantable cardiac devices, neurostimulators and other medical devices are often denied the evaluation their medical situation urgently requires.

5 Apr 2007

Nicotine shown to enhance learning and memory

While nicotine is highly addictive, researchers have also shown the drug to enhance learning and memory, a property that has launched efforts to develop nicotine-like drugs to treat cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, schizophrenia, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

5 Apr 2007

How auxin regulates TIR1 in plants provides clues to new treatments for human diseases

For the first time, scientists from the University of Washington School of Medicine, Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Cambridge have determined how a plant hormone -- auxin -- interacts with its hormone receptor, called TIR1.

5 Apr 2007