A recent study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) revealed that the FOXO1 gene may play an important role in the pathological mechanisms of Parkinson's disease.These findings are published online in PLoS Genetics, a peer-reviewed open-access journal published by the Public Library of Science.
The another new study was published online June 20 in Neurology
Deep brain stimulation, a treatment that involves the surgical implantation of wires in the brain that deliver an electrical current, could improve motor functions for at least three years in people with advanced Parkinson's disease.
Researchers randomly assigned 159 patients with Parkinson's disease to receive deep brain stimulation either in an interior area of the brain called the subthalamic nucleus (STN) or in a less studied and larger exterior brain area called the globus pallidus interna (GPi). The two groups had similar improvements in common Parkinson's symptoms, such as tremors, muscle rigidity and speech, and those improvements held 36 months after the surgery.
Not everyone with Parkinson's disease will be a candidate. People who have severe mental disability or other medical problems may not be eligible.
Two patients freed from severe to disabling effects of dystonia through deep brain stimulation therapy continued to have symptom relief for months after their devices accidentally were fully or partly turned off, according to a new report.
A recent study in the journal Movement Disorders demonstrates that acupuncture does indeed activate areas in the brain that are normally responsible for movement and that are typically not functioning normally in PD
Adults who reported ever having had a head injury and who were exposed to the herbicide paraquat had nearly a three-fold increased risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a survey published Monday in the journal Neurology.
Actually, acupuncture may be construed as a form of deep brain stimulation via systematic stimulation of the skin. It may therefore one day prove to be an effective tool in the battle against PD.
Chinese researcher found that Electro-scalp acupuncture can decrease the loss of DAT and improve the activities of DAT in the striatum of the patient of PD.
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Reference:Jiang XM, Huang Y, Li DJ, Tang AW, Wang SX, Zhuo Y, Li QS, Chen J, Gao YP. Zhen Jiu. 2006 Jun;26(6):427-30. Chinese.
Linked news:
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) — A new and powerful class of antioxidants could one day be a potent treatment for Parkinson's disease, researchers report.A class of antioxidants called synthetic triterpenoids blocked development of Parkinson's in an animal model that develops the disease in a handful of days, said Dr. Bobby Thomas, neuroscientist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University and corresponding author of the study in the journal Antioxidants & Redox Signaling.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2012) — Health professionals may soon have a new method of diagnosing Parkinson’s disease, one that is noninvasive and inexpensive, and, in early testing, has proved to be effective more than 90 percent of the time.In addition, this new method has the potential to track the progression of Parkinson’s, as well as measure the effectiveness of treatments for the disorder, said Rahul Shrivastav, professor and chairperson of Michigan State University’s Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders and a member of the team developing the new method.
Jan. 10, 2013 — New research suggests that testing a portion of a person’s saliva gland may be a way to diagnose Parkinson’s disease. The study was released January 10 and will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013.
