News by Subject Medicine & Health

Amsterdam, NL, November 15, 2019 - Constipation is a common complaint in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Fecal microbiome transplantation (FMT) and pre- and probiotics are potential options for treating constipation and restoring the microbiome of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), but scientists warn that clinical data are scarce, and more research is needed before supporting their use. They present their findings in a review article in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease.

Amsterdam, NL, November 14, 2019 - Relatively new research findings indicating that the earliest stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) may occur in the gut have been gaining traction in recent years. In a review published in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, Tomasz Brudek, PhD, evaluates evidence for the association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and PD and proposes directions for future research.

Researchers have provided new insight into the neural processes behind movement and learning behaviours, according to a study published today in eLife.

Scientists from the University of Cologne have contributed to identifying Cav2.3 as a new target for a promising specific therapy.

A Rutgers-led team has created better biosensor technology that may help lead to safe stem cell therapies for treating Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and other neurological disorders. The technology, which features a unique graphene and gold-based platform and high-tech imaging, monitors the fate of stem cells by detecting genetic material (RNA) involved in turning such cells into brain cells (neurons), according to a study in the journal Nano Letters.

By following a group of newly diagnosed patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) for a decade or more, researchers have been able to identify several factors never before reported that appear to be associated with higher mortality rates in PD patients compared to the general population. As reported in the Journal of Parkinson's Disease, these factors are early onset of PD, early impairment of memory and thinking, and early motor symptoms requiring the start of drug therapy.