News

Parkinson’s Disease in the news

• Many kids still exposed to secondhand smoke in cars - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A new government study reports that while fewer kids and teens are getting exposed to secondhand smoke while riding in the car, rates of exposure are still high enough to warrant concern. The authors recommend that more...
• Child abuse experts calls for U.S. campaign - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Nearly 4,600 U.S. children were hospitalized with broken bones, traumatic brain injury and other serious damage caused by physical abuse in 2006, according to a new report. Babies younger than one were the most common v...
• Health Tip: Common Reasons for Potty Training 'Accidents' - (HealthDay News) -- Potty training accidents can be frustrating for parents and kids, but they're usually a part of the learning process.
• Humana posts higher profit, lifts forecast - (Reuters) - Humana Inc posted a big rise in fourth-quarter earnings that was generally in line with analysts' targets, helped by higher membership in its Medicare plans for the elderly, and the health insurer slightly lifted its full-year prof...
• US: Too many kids breathe others' smoke in cars - Texting while driving, speeding and back-seat action aren't all that parents need to worry about when their kids are in cars: Add secondhand smoke to the list.
• Fewer Teens Exposed to Tobacco Smoke in Cars: Report - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Although fewer kids are being exposed to smoking while riding in cars, more than 20 percent of nonsmoking teens still are, U.S. health officials report.
• Orexigen, FDA agree on trial design for obesity drug - (Reuters) - Orexigen Therapeutics Inc said it reached an agreement with U.S. health regulators on the design of a heart-safety trial required for the approval of its experimental obesity drug. The biopharmaceutical company plans to enroll about 10...
• FDA questions Amgen drug for prostate cancer - Scientists for the Food and Drug Administration say that an Amgen drug slowed the spread of cancer to the bone in men with hard-to-treat prostate cancer, though the drug did not extend life and carried significant side effects.
• Marathoners who go the distance 100 times or more - NEW YORK (Reuters) - For most people running one marathon is a daunting prospect but research scientist Leslie Miller belongs to group of runners who have completed 100 or more marathons, many of them just for the fun of it. "It's my hobb...
• Dr. Oz's health effort nets 1 million participants - Television already has "The Biggest Loser." Dr. Mehmet Oz is looking for the biggest number of losers.
• More Americans Seeking Love Online: Study - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Online dating has upended traditional matchmaking, new research suggests, with more would-be suitors embracing the notion that Mr. or Ms. Right may only be a click away.
• Thousands of U.S. Kids Hospitalized for Abuse - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Close to 4,600 kids in the United States were hospitalized as a result of child abuse in one recent year, and 300 of them died, a new study shows.
• Health Tip: How to Protect Seniors From Injury - (HealthDay News) -- Creating a home safety checklist can help seniors prevent injuries and let them prepare if they happen to fall or hurt themselves.
• "Malaria cure" claim sparks Vienna probe - VIENNA (Reuters) - A Vienna hospital is searching for long-retired staff who might hold clues to a man's claim that he was deliberately infected with malaria when he was a psychiatric patient nearly half a century ago. The case shed fresh ligh...
• DEA raids 2 CVS pharmacies in drug abuse probe - (Reuters) - Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration raided two CVS pharmacies in Florida as part of an effort to curb the abuse of prescription painkillers and other potentially addictive substances. The action on Saturday came one day aft...
• College Degree Lowers Marriage Odds for Those From Disadvantaged Backgrounds - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Far from enhancing their value in the marriage market, a college degree actually reduces the chances that an American from an economically disadvantaged background will tie the knot, a new study finds.
• Smoking linked to mental decline in men: study - Men who smoke experience greater mental declines over time than men who never smoked, but the same link does not appear among women, said a British study published in the United States on Monday.
• Constipation May Help Explain Some Bedwetting - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Constipation is often the cause of bedwetting in children, a small, new study suggests.
• Skepticism grows around Medco/Express Scripts deal - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Objections to Express Scripts' $29 billion plan to buy rival pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions are accumulating as U.S. antitrust regulators weigh whether they have enough evidence to stop the megamerger. ...
• Many U.S. Kids Still Buy Unhealthy Snacks at School - MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) -- Despite efforts to serve healthier meals to school children, roughly half of U.S. elementary school kids can buy junk food at school, a new study finds.

Parkinson’s Disease Research

• 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.
• Scientists identify protein that contributes to symptoms of Parkinson's disease - Scientists have identified a protein that exacerbates symptoms of Parkinson's disease -- a discovery that could one day lead to new treatments for people who suffer from this devastating neurodegenerative illness.
• Biologists a step nearer to solving the Parkinson's conundrum - Scientists have made a significant step forward in isolating the cause of Parkinson’s disease in younger adults.
• Parkinson's treatment shows positive results in clinical testing - Deep brain stimulation -- also known as DBS -- is effective at improving motor symptoms and quality of life in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease, according to new research.
• New gene that regulates body weight discovered - While studying a brain protein related to the involuntary body movements that are side effects of drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia, a pharmacy professor discovered that the protein also plays a role in regulating body weight.
• Deer antlers inspire a new theory on osteoporosis - The loss of manganese could mean that calcium does not stick to bones and could cause osteoporosis. This is the new theory put forward after studying deer antlers. The hypothesis still needs to be confirmed by the scientific community.
• Demographic and clinical factors appear associated with survival in patients with Parkinson disease - Demographics and clinical factors appear to be associated with survival in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), and the presence of dementia is associated with a significant increase in mortality, according to a new report.
• Cause of rare disease discovered - Scientists have 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.
• Reprogramming brain cells important first step for new Parkinson's therapy - In efforts to find new treatments for Parkinson's Disease (PD), researchers have directly reprogrammed astrocytes, the most plentiful cell type in the central nervous system, into dopamine-producing neurons. PD is marked by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain.
• Increased arm swing asymmetry is early sign of Parkinson's disease - People with Parkinson's disease swing their arms asymmetrically -- one arm swings less than the other -- when walking. This unusual movement is easily detected early when drugs and other interventions may help slow the disease, according to researchers who used inexpensive accelerometers on the arms of Parkinson's disease patients to measure arm swing.
• Widespread brain atrophy detected in Parkinson's disease with newly developed structural pattern - Atrophy in the hippocampus, the region of the brain known for memory formation and storage, is evident in Parkinson's disease patients with cognitive impairment, including early decline known as mild cognitive impairment, according to a new study.
• Test for Alzheimer's disease predicts cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease - A method of classifying brain atrophy patterns in Alzheimer's disease patients using MRIs can also detect cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease, according to a new study. Researchers also found that higher baseline Alzheimer's patterns of atrophy predicted long-term cognitive decline in cognitively normal Parkinson's patients. The study is published online in Brain.
• Simple blood test diagnoses Parkinson's disease long before symptoms appear - A new research report shows how scientists from the United Kingdom have developed a simple blood test to detect Parkinson's disease even at the earliest stages. The test is possible because scientists found a substance in the blood, called "phosphorylated alpha-synuclein," which is common in people with Parkinson's disease, and then developed a way to identify its presence in our blood.
• Parkinson's disease risk greater in those exposed to common chemical, trichloroethylene, study shows - A new study demonstrates a connection between a common solvent chemical and Parkinson's disease. The study looked at a cohort of human twins wherein one twin had been occupationally exposed to trichloroethylene (TCE) and other chemicals believed to be linked to development of Parkinson's.
• New culprit found in Lou Gehrig's disease - Following a breakthrough identifying a common converging point for all forms of Lou Gehrig's disease, a new finding from the same scientists shines more light on the broken recycling pathway of the brain and spinal cord cells, which leads to the paralysis of ALS. The new study reveals a second faulty gene in the same pathway, offering a clear target for drug therapy.
• Parkinsonian worms may hold the key to identifying drugs for Parkinson's disease - Researchers have devised a simple test, using dopamine-deficient worms, for identifying drugs that may help people with Parkinson's disease.
• Why do neurons die in Parkinson's disease? Study of hereditary Parkinson’s finds that mitochondria can’t be cleared out when damaged - Current thinking about Parkinson's disease is that it's a disorder of mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles inside cells, causing neurons in the brain's substantia nigra to die or become impaired. A study now shows that genetic mutations causing a hereditary form of Parkinson's disease cause mitochondria to run amok inside the cell, leaving the cell without a brake to stop them.
• People with Parkinson's disease more likely to have leg restlessness than restless leg syndrome - People with Parkinson's disease may be more likely to have a movement disorder called leg motor restlessness, but not true restless legs syndrome as previous studies have suggested, according to a new study.
• Neurological disorder impacts brain cells differently - In a new paper, researchers describe in deeper detail the pathology of a devastating neurological disorder, but also reveal new cellular targets for possibly slowing its development.