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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by NED HIBBERD
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Parkinson’s Vaccine Being Tested in HoustonHOUSTON - A local lab is evaluating a promising therapy for a devastating illness: Parkinson’s disease.  For almost two centuries, Parkinson’s has proven resistant to the best efforts of science.  But researchers at UTHealth have developed a vaccine designed to stop the disease in its tracks.  For Joe Davidson, an avid piano player in his 60’s, Parkinson’s disease might as well be erasing notes from the page.  “Parkinson’s has made it so that I can't play everything that I used to be able to play,” explains Davidson. “My fingers just don't move the way I want them, as fast as I want them to.”  After his diagnosis in 2002, Davidson retired early from the University of Houston, where he had been a teacher and administrator.  He is among about 19,000 people in the Houston area who are coping with Parkinson’s and its symptoms: tremors, stiffness and slurred speech. |
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by Brent Constantin
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
New research melds mind and machine  Continued research into biotics, the meshing of technology and biology, took another robo-step forward this week at the University of Calgary.
Research led by Dr. Naweed Syed, cell biology and anatomy department head in the faculty of medicine, has allowed chemical communication within brain cells to be "read" at a resolution previously unheard of.
In 2008, Syed made headlines when his lab, in collaboration with a German team, developed the first "neurochip"-- a bionic hybrid technology that allowed snail brain cells to be stimulated through a chip and the resulting activity to be recorded.
"The notion was that we should be able to regain lost brain function from, for example, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease," said Syed. "When the brain cells die either due to stroke or trauma, they are dead forever, so how do you regain that lost brain function?"
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by Webmaster
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
LRRK2 gene key to Parkinson's Disease, say experts Researchers have uncovered a genetic mutation linked to the neurodegenerative condition, Parkinson's disease, which affects one in five hundred people in the UK, mainly over the age of 60.  The study showed that mutations in the LRRK2 gene interfere with the activity of specific micro RNAs - small stretches of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) that control the expression of two proteins, E2F1 and DP. The study used the fruit fly as a model.  Professor Bingwei Lu, who led the research said 'MicroRNA, whose role in the body has only recently begun to be figured out, has been implicated in cancer, cardiac dysfunction and faulty immune response. But this is the first time it has been identified as a key player in a neurodegenerative disease'. Â
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by Personal Liberty News Desk
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Vitamin D Deficiency May Predispose Individuals To Parkinson’s Disease   On the heels of several studies linking vitamin D deficiencies to general cognitive disorders, new research has found that low serum levels of the nutrient may also be partially responsible for the development of Parkinson’s disease.
For the study, Paul Knekt and his colleagues from the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland, recruited nearly 3,200 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 79, and took blood samples to assess their vitamin D levels.
Over the next three decades, a total of 50 respondents developed Parkinson’s disease.
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by University of Texas
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Scientists work towards creating a vaccine for Parkinson's disease Nina Brown, 68, and millions of others with a debilitating neurological condition called Parkinson's disease are counting on researchers for a cure. At The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth), protein chemists are working to develop a therapeutic vaccine.  Parkinson's disease is a chronic disorder that worsens over time and can rob people of their ability to perform everyday tasks. Named after the English doctor who described the condition almost 200 years ago, its symptoms often include tremors or shaking, slow movements, stiffness in arms and legs, drooling, slurred speech and unsteadiness.  "We're creating a vaccine to target a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with Parkinson's disease," said Rowen Chang, Ph.D., who is the professor leading the research project at the UTHealth Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM). "If we can slow the protein buildup, I believe we will also slow the deterioration of nerve cells tied to body movement." The protein is alpha synuclein. |
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by WSOCTV.com
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Nonmotor Parkinson's Problems Parkinson’ Disease  Parkinson’s disease is a condition that affects the central nervous system. It’s caused by a loss of cells in an area of the brain, called the substantia nigra. These cells produce dopamine, a chemical involved in smooth, coordinated movement of the muscles. The four main symptoms are: tremor (shaking in the hands, arms, legs, face or jaw), slowed movement (called bradykinesia), rigidity (stiffness of the limbs and trunk) and trouble with balance and coordination.The National Parkinson Foundation estimates more than one million Americans have Parkinson’s Disease. Roughly 60,000 new cases are diagnosed annually. The condition typically develops after 60; however, 15 percent of patients are under 50 at the time of diagnosis. Researchers say the annual cost of Parkinson’s disease to the U.S. economy is approximately $10.8 billion.  |
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Parkinsons Articles -
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Written by ScienceDaily
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
Tests Help Predict Falls in Parkinson's Disease A group of tests may help predict which people with Parkinson's disease are more likely to fall, according to a study published in the June 23, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.  "Falls are a major problem for people with Parkinson's disease and can lead to injuries and reduced mobility, which can result in increasing weakness, loss of independence and increased use of nursing homes," said study author Graham K. Kerr, PhD, of Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. "Despite these issues and their impact on the health care system and society, little research has been done to help predict which people with Parkinson's disease are more likely to fall so we can try to prevent these falls."  |
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Breaking News -
Parkinson's News
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Written by Steve Johnson, San Jose Mercury News
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Wednesday, 01 September 2010 00:00 |
FDA Approves Groundbreaking Study of Embryonic Cells A Menlo Park biotech firm said Friday that federal regulators will let it proceed with the world's first human test of a treatment made from embryonic stem cells, a much-anticipated but controversial study of patients with spinal cord injuries that had been placed on hold for nearly a year because of safety concerns.  If the treatment from Geron works, it "would be revolutionary," said Dr. Richard Fessler, a neurological surgeon at Northwestern University, who will lead the study of a stem-cell treatment designed to be injected into patients with spinal injuries to restore their motor function. "The therapy would provide a viable treatment option for thousands of patients who suffer severe spinal cord injuries each year."  |
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