Parkinson Disease

A recently published study used linguistic analysis to investigate communication gaps between patients with Parkinson disease and physicians about off periods using a database containing dialogues recorded during regular office visits. Not only did the recordings show 4 specific areas that need improvement, they also showed a care gap between what the physicians thought they did and what actually happened.

A new study found that a gut infection in mice lacking a gene linked to Parkinson disease led to similar symptoms as the neurological disorder.

Research findings suggest that sleep disturbances are associated with central parkinsonian pain in patients with Parkinson disease. Both sleep disturbances and pain are common disabling nonmotor symptoms of the disease.

New international research probed different forms of proteins found in the brain to try and determine which one may be the most promising for future therapeutic interventions for Parkinson disease (PD).

In addition to motor symptoms, Parkinson disease (PD) can also result in nonmotor symptoms like cognitive impairment and eventual dementia. Researchers have identified brain structure changes associated with worsening cognition in hopes that it can lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms of PD.

This week, we recap the top managed care news from the first half of 2019, including outcomes from some of the biggest diabetes trials, research into the annual Medicare wellness visit, and an experimental treatment in Parkinson disease.

Compared with patients who did not receive the deep-brain stimulation surgery, patients who received the surgery experienced improvements in urinary frequency, urgency, and inconsistence.

Researchers have found additional evidence that Parkinson disease initiates among cells in the gut and then travels through the body’s vagus nerve to the brain, according to a recently published study conducted in mice models.

"Cocktail therapy," or drug combination treament, may improve quality of life and the conditions of patients with Parkinson disease dementia.

According to new research published this week, investigators have identified the earliest signs of Parkinson disease (PD) in the brain, years before patients present with any symptoms.

Patients with Parkinson disease appeared to have more than a 2-fold higher risk of developing temporomandibular disorder, known as TMD, in a study that evaluated health insurance data from Taiwan.

A new study has found the annual economic burden of Parkinson Disease in the United States is $52 billion, more than double previous estimates.

According to a recent study, data collected through a wearable device called the Personal Kinetigraph (PKG) can assist clinicians in recognizing patients with Parkinson disease who may benefit from deep-brain stimulation or other device-assisted therapies.

Eric Anderson, MD, PhD, vice chair of neurology, quality at SOC Telemed, discusses the growing field of wearable technology for movement disorders like Parkinson disease.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that hepatitus C infection may be a risk factor for developing Parkinson disease.

Evidence suggests probiotics may decrease pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and potentially pathogenic bacterial overgrowth in patients with Parkinson disease.

According to a recent study, people with bipolar disorder were more likely to later develop Parkinson disease (PD) compared with patients who do not have the disorder.

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University sought to resolve conflicting results on whether appendectomies raised a person's risk for developing Parkinson disease. Using data from more than 62 million patients, they team reported results today during the 2019 annual meeting of Digestive Disease Week.

Once-daily treatment of opicapone, added to levodopa, has been found to increase the length of ON-periods in patients with Parkinson disease, according to an abstract presented at the 2019 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.

A recent study employed the use of a high-throughput ultrasonication-induced amyloid fibrillation assay to amplify and detect α-synuclein aggregates from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and investigated the association between seeding activity and clinical indicators. The assay, created by the study investigators and dubbed the HANdai Amyloid Burst Inducer (HANABI), dramatically reduces the time to perform the assay from the estimated 10 days for the shaking-based assays to only several hours.

Intranasal insulin treatment may have the potential to improve motor functions and verbal fluency in patients with Parkinson disease.

According to a recent study, hypoxia associated with episodes of upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome may increase the levels of α‐synuclein in the blood and thus may contribute to the development of Parkinson disease.

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder found in the elderly, currently affecting an estimated 2% of individuals 60 years or older. PD is a multifactorial disease in which both environmental and genetic factors are significantly associated with disease onset. Although symptoms of the disease may present with a tremor or perhaps a speech problem, by the time the symptoms are evident, it is often too late to stop the progression of the disease.

Findings from a literature review suggest that exercise has the potential to improve non-motor symptoms of Parkinson disease.

The blood pressure medication felodipine could potentially be “repurposed” as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson, Alzheimer, and Huntington diseases, according to findings from a recent study.

Researchers have identifed major barriers and facilitators regarding communication between parties involved along the continuum of care in Parkinson disease, specifically related to off periods of the disease.

Further complications in patients with PD are seen when they enter an akinetic (medication OFF) and mobile phases (medication ON), demonstrated in 50% of patients diagnosed within 3-5 years, and 80% of patients diagnosed within 10 years. These fluctuations in motor function present a critical point in terms of managing the disease because it requires continued adjustments in treatment, such as changing the frequency and dosage amount or parameters for deep brain stimulation.

Biomarkers of Parkinson Disease, detected by smell and analysis of sebum, could lead to a noninvasive diagnostic test for the disease.

Results from a recent study suggest that a revolutionary treatment may have the potential to slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of Parkinson disease.

A recently published study looked to evaluate the effect of a single dose of nilotinib (Tasigna) in patients with PD. While nilotinib is FDA approved for the treatment of adult patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and not PD, the drug is able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and reduce inflammation as well as lower levels of a toxic protein that prevents the brain from utilizing dopamine stored in vessels in areas of the brain that may control movement.