Parkinson's Disease News and Research

Latest Parkinson's Disease News and Research

Researchers discover key interaction at heart of promising new treatment for Fabry disease

A research team led by biochemist Scott Garman at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has discovered a key interaction at the heart of a promising new treatment for a rare childhood metabolic disorder known as Fabry disease.

23 Dec 2011

Deal may be near for House agreement on Senate bill

House Republicans will hold a conference call at 5 p.m. Thursday amid indications of a possible deal to extend the payroll tax cut before it expires on January 1, a top Republican source has told CNN. The development comes hours after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, called for a short-term extension of the tax holiday as part of a compromise, increasing pressure on House GOP leaders to end their resistance to such a step.

23 Dec 2011

UCF scientists pioneer new source of stem cell generation

A process that prompts a single gene to generate millions of supercharged stem cells, which can then turn into any kind of cell a body needs to repair itself, has been patented at the University of Central Florida.

23 Dec 2011

Oak Pharmaceuticals acquires three Lundbeck hospital-based injectables

Akorn, Inc., a niche generic pharmaceutical company, today announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Oak Pharmaceuticals, has acquired three off-patent, branded, hospital-based injectables from the US subsidiary of H. Lundbeck A/S.

23 Dec 2011

Researchers develop CAD-type tools to engineer RNA control systems

The computer assisted design (CAD) tools that made it possible to fabricate integrated circuits with millions of transistors may soon be coming to the biological sciences. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) have developed CAD-type models and simulations for RNA molecules that make it possible to engineer biological components or "RNA devices" for controlling genetic expression in microbes.

23 Dec 2011

Impax submits IPX066 NDA to FDA for treatment of Parkinson's

Impax Pharmaceuticals, the branded products division of Impax Laboratories, Inc. today announced the submission of Impax's New Drug Application (NDA) for IPX066 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). IPX066 is a patented extended release capsule formulation of carbidopa-levodopa.

22 Dec 2011

People with smaller regions of brain's cortex more likely to develop early Alzheimer's

New research suggests that, in people who don't currently have memory problems, those with smaller regions of the brain's cortex may be more likely to develop symptoms consistent with very early Alzheimer's disease.

22 Dec 2011

GSK, ProteoTech enter R&D agreement to develop new Parkinson's therapeutics

ProteoTech, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, has entered into a drug development agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (China) R&D Company Limited (GSK) to collaborate on ProteoTech's small molecule technology platform against misfolded proteins to specifically advance work on its alpha-synuclein therapeutic program for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other synucleinopathies.

21 Dec 2011

CREB1 molecule activates genes linked to brain longevity

Overeating may cause brain aging while eating less turns on a molecule that helps the brain stay young.

20 Dec 2011

Stabilizing mitochondria protects against Parkinson's in a rat model

Stabilizing the cell's power-generating center protects against Parkinson's disease (PD) in a rat model, according to a report published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

20 Dec 2011

UCL awarded 20M grant to establish The Leonard Wolfson Experimental Neurology Centre

A new centre dedicated to the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases will be established at UCL following the award of a -20million grant from the Wolfson Foundation, it was announced today.

19 Dec 2011

UCL to establish new center for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases

A new centre dedicated to the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases will be established at UCL following the award of a £20million grant from the Wolfson Foundation, it was announced today.

19 Dec 2011

Increased Sirt1 expression protects against neurodegeneration in HD mouse model

Treatment that increases brain levels of an important regulatory enzyme may slow the loss of brain cells that characterizes Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders.

19 Dec 2011

Researchers identify gene that causes PKD/IC in infants

A large, international team of researchers led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has identified the gene that causes a rare childhood neurological disorder called PKD/IC, or "paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia with infantile convulsions," a cause of epilepsy in babies and movement disorders in older children.

17 Dec 2011

GE Healthcare's MIND campaign goes online for patients with neurodegenerative diseases

GE Healthcare's MIND campaign is going online to give those affected by neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia and parkinsonian syndromes a platform to share their stories.

17 Dec 2011

Advice for newly-diagnosed Parkinson's patients

After 12 years with Parkinson's disease (PD), 57-year old Bill Schmalfeldt has this advice for newly-diagnosed Parkinson's patients.

17 Dec 2011

NACP and MAPT polymorphisms interact to influence rate of Parkinson's progression

Parkinson's disease is marked by the abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein and the early loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra region of the brain. A polymorphism in the promotor of α-synuclein gene known as NACP-Rep1 has been implicated as a risk factor for the disease.

16 Dec 2011

New drug candidate may halt mental decline of Alzheimer's

A new drug candidate may be the first capable of halting the devastating mental decline of Alzheimer's disease, based on the findings of a study published today in PLoS one.

15 Dec 2011

Magnetic stimulation of brain nerve cells may speed up recovery from hemispatial neglect

Imagine waking up and being unable to see or recognize anything on the left side of your body. This condition, called hemispatial neglect, is common after a stroke that occurs on the right side of the brain. The current treatment of attention and concentration training using computer and pencil-and-paper tasks is inadequate.

15 Dec 2011

H2S plays critical role in signaling pathway linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's

Something rotten never smelled so sweet. This is what members of a team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are telling one another as they discuss a new finding they did not expect to make. They have discovered that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) - the flammable, highly toxic gas that we usually associate with the smell of rotten eggs in landfills and sewers - plays an important role in the regulation of a signaling pathway implicated in biological malfunctions linked to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, among others.

14 Dec 2011