News

Parkinson’s Disease in the news

• Breathing Smog While Pregnant May Worsen Asthma in Offspring - SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Exposure to air pollution while in the womb might harm the lung-function development of children with asthma, a new study finds.
• Sleep Apnea Linked to Higher Cancer Death Risk - SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Sleep apnea has already been linked to a host of adverse health problems, such as high blood pressure and heart disease. Now, new research suggests that in people who already have cancer, the sleep disorder may r...
• Study Ties Secondhand Smoke to Bladder Irritation in Kids - SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Parents who smoke may put their children at greater risk for bladder irritation, according to a small new study.
• Old drug for arthritis is effective against killer parasites - A cheap off-patent drug that is commonly used for arthritis could be a wonder treatment for amoebic parasites that infect 50 million people each year, 70,000 of them fatally, a study on Sunday said.
• Screening for Lung Cancer Might Benefit Those at Highest Risk - SUNDAY, May 20 (HealthDay News) -- Using low-dose CT scans to screen for lung cancer might save the lives of patients at the greatest risk for the disease, a new analysis suggests.
• Lung cancer CT scans: Just for older heavy smokers - New lung cancer screening guidelines from three medical groups recommend annual scans but only for an older group of current or former heavy smokers.
• Messy Facebook debut marks weak day on Wall Street - NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Friday after a sloppy debut by Facebook Inc spoiled hopes that a spectacular open for the most-anticipated stock sale in years would brighten the mood in what has been a gloomy month for equity markets. Sha...
• Georgia woman with flesh-eating disease in "critical" condition - (Reuters) - A Georgia woman fighting a flesh-eating bacterial infection was in critical condition at Augusta Hospital on Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether Aimee Copeland had undergone surg...
• Chicago protests on eve of NATO summit raucous, peaceful - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Hundreds of demonstrators staged raucous protests against Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget cuts and other economic issues on the eve of the NATO summit, but police said there were few arrests and only minor clashes. The ...
• Latest anti-NATO protest in Chicago small, peaceful - CHICAGO (Reuters) - About 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit ...
• Keeping Your Family Safe From Dog Bites - SATURDAY, May 19 (HealthDay News) -- More than 4.7 million Americans are bitten by dogs each year, and more than half of those victims are younger than age 14, experts say.
• Females, Young Athletes Take Longer to Get Over Concussions - FRIDAY, May 18 (HealthDay News) -- Female athletes take longer to recover from concussions, a new study says.
• Chicago braces for largest anti-NATO protest - CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago police trying to keep the peace during the NATO summit may face their biggest test on Sunday when thousands of demonstrators were expected to march near the site where leaders of the military alliance begin a two-day me...
• Fate of 'uninsurables' hinges on Supreme Court - Cancer patient Kathy Watson voted Republican in 2008 and believes the government has no right telling Americans to get health insurance. Nonetheless, she says she'd be dead if it weren't for President Barack Obama's health care law.
• Healthy Dieting in Pregnancy May Be Helpful - FRIDAY, May 18 (HealthDay News) -- Eating a healthy, calorie-controlled diet during pregnancy can helps prevent excessive weight gain and cut the risk of obstetric complications, researchers report.
• After stinging report, Pope softens tone for U.S. nuns - VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Friday held out an olive branch to American Roman Catholic nuns, who are reeling from a stinging Vatican report that criticized them as being feminist and politicized. "I wish to reaffirm my deep grat...
• Nurses to kick off Chicago NATO summit with rally - CHICAGO (Reuters) - This weekend's NATO summit is attracting raucous rallies and protests to Chicago that have little to do with the mission of the military alliance, including a large rally of nurses angry about the resources devoted to healt...
• Venezuela's Chavez unseen for week but follows riot - CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has not been seen or heard in public since returning a week ago from his latest cancer treatment in Cuba but was well enough to monitor a jail riot in Caracas, an ally said on Friday. The u...
• Health Tip: Keep Cloth Grocery Totes Clean - (HealthDay News) -- Reusable grocery totes may be friendly for the environment, but they can also befriend harmful bacteria.
• Diabetes Can Take a Toll on Your Emotions - THURSDAY, May 17 (HealthDay News) -- Many people know diabetes -- both type 1 and type 2 -- can take a serious toll on physical health. But these blood-sugar disorders also can affect your emotions and, in turn, your emotions can wreak havoc on yo...

Parkinson’s Disease Research

• Let's get moving: Unraveling how locomotion starts - Scientists have shed new light on one of the great unanswered questions of neuroscience: How the brain initiates rhythmic movements like walking, running and swimming.
• Vitamin K2: New hope for Parkinson's patients? - Neuroscientists have succeeded in undoing the effect of one of the genetic defects that leads to Parkinson's using vitamin K2. The discovery gives hope to Parkinson's patients.
• Neurodegeneration 'switched off' in mice - Researchers have identified a major pathway leading to brain cell death in mice with neurodegenerative disease. They were able to block the pathway, preventing brain cell death and increasing survival in the mice.
• Freezing Parkinson's in its tracks: Researcher developing therapy to halt symptoms in Parkinson's patients - Scientists have developed a peptide that protects dopamine-producing neurons, freezing neurodegeneration in its tracks in preclinical trials. This peptide could be easily delivered by daily injections or absorbed through the skin from an adhesive patch as a preventative therapy for Parkinson's disease, she says.
• Brain circuitry associated with addictive, depressive behaviors identified - Scientists have determined how specific circuitry in the brain controls not only body movement but also motivation and learning, providing new insight into neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease -- and psychiatric disorders such as addiction and depression.
• Strong support for once-marginalized theory on Parkinson’s disease - Scientists have used powerful computational tools and laboratory tests to discover new support for a once-marginalized theory about the underlying cause of Parkinson’s disease.
• 19th century therapy for Parkinson's disease may help patients today - In the 19th century, Jean-Martin Charcot, the celebrated neurologist, developed a "vibration chair," to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Charcot reported improvements in his patients, but he died shortly thereafter and a more complete evaluation of the therapy was never conducted. Now, a group of neurological researchers have replicated his work in a study to see if Charcot's observation holds true against modern scientific testing.
• Parkinson's protein causes disease spread in animal model - Researchers have shown that brain tissue from a Parkinson's disease mouse model, as well as synthetically produced disease protein fibrils, injected into young, symptom-free PD mice led to spreading of PD pathology.
• Metformin can substantially reduce the risk of Parkinson's disease in diabetes, study suggests - A major 12-year study based on a Taiwanese population cohort has demonstrated that not only does diabetes increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease more than twofold, the use of sulfonylureas, commonly used as treatment for diabetes, increases the risk further by about 57 percent. This study also found that by including metformin in the therapy, no increased risk in developing Parkinson's disease was recorded.
• How Parkinson's disease starts and spreads - Injection of a small amount of clumped protein triggers a cascade of events leading to a Parkinson’s-like disease in mice, according to a new article.
• How embryonic stem cells orchestrate human development - Researchers show in detail how three genes within human embryonic stem cells regulate development, a finding that increases understanding of how to grow these cells for therapeutic purposes.
• Eating flavonoids protects men against Parkinson's disease, study finds - Men who eat flavonoid-rich foods such as berries, tea, apples and red wine significantly reduce their risk of developing Parkinson's disease, according to new research.
• Genetic research develops tools for studying diseases, improving regenerative treatment - Researchers may make it easier to recover after spinal cord injury or to study neurological disorders. His research can greatly improve animal and human health by developing technology to advance cellular therapy and regenerative medicine.
• Tracking proteins behaving badly provides insights for treatments of brain diseases - Scientists have developed a novel technique that tracks diseased proteins behaving badly by forming clusters in brain diseases such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's.
• REM sleep disorder doubles risk of mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson's, study finds - People with symptoms suggesting rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, or RBD, have twice the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or Parkinson's disease within four years of diagnosis with the sleep problem, compared with people without the disorder, a new study has found.
• Parkinson's disease stopped in animal model: Molecular 'tweezers' break up toxic aggregations of proteins - Researchers have used specific molecular “tweezers” they developed to break-up aggregates of toxic proteins that are thought to cause Parkinson’s disease. For the first time, they stopped progression of the disease in a living animal model.
• Gaining insight into a gene's protective role in Parkinson's - Researchers have identified how a specific gene protects dopamine-producing neurons from dying in both animal models and in cultures of human neurons.
• Study of live human neurons reveals Parkinson's origins - Parkinson’s disease researchers have discovered how mutations in the parkin gene cause the disease, which afflicts at least 500,000 Americans and for which there is no cure.
• Why do cells age? Discovery of extremely long-lived proteins may provide insight into cell aging and neurodegenerative diseases - One of the big mysteries in biology is why cells age. Now scientists report that they have discovered a weakness in a component of brain cells that may explain how the aging process occurs in the brain.
• 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 lets researchers observe the development of the brain cells responsible for the disease.