Mayo Clinic Develops Potential New Therapy To Stop The Progression Of Parkinson’s Disease

Filed under Articles, Clinical Trial, Drugs, News – November 19th, 2008

Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org) researchers have developed a method to reduce the production of alpha-synuclein in the brain. Alpha-synuclein is a protein that is believed to be central to the cause of Parkinson’s disease (http://www.mayoclinic.org/parkinsons- disease). All patients with Parkinson’s disease have abnormal accumulations of alpha- synuclein protein in the brain.

The new method involves the delivery of RNA interference compounds directly to selected areas of the brain via injection. The RNA interference compounds silence the gene that produces alpha-synuclein, according to the Mayo researchers. The study was published this month in Molecular Neurodegeneration.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive disorder that affects nerve cells in the part of the brain that controls muscle movement. Symptoms include tremor, slowed movement and rigid muscles. At least 1 million people in the U.S. are believed to have Parkinson’s disease, and 2 percent of the population can expect to develop the disease during their lifetime.

“While our research has not yet been tested on humans, we expect that these findings will lead to an effective treatment for slowing or even halting the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” says Demetrius Maraganore, M.D. (http://www.mayoclinic.org/bio/10345655.html), a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

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Sergey Brin and Parkinson’s Disease

Filed under Articles, General – September 19th, 2008

Google co-founder Sergey Brin launched a personal blog Thursday, on which he revealed he has a genetic code that has been linked to having increased chances for developing Parkinson’s disease.

In the blog, too.blogspot.com, Brin says his mother and great aunt both were diagnosed with the degenerative brain disorder. Through 23andme Inc., a genetic testing organization, both Brin and his mother found they carry the G2019S mutation, which accounts for a substantial proportion of familial Parkinson’s, he wrote.

“The exact implications of this are not entirely clear,” Brin wrote in the blog. “Nonetheless, it is clear that I have a markedly higher chance of developing Parkinson’s in my lifetime than the average person.”

Brin deduced that he has a 20 percent to 80 percent higher-than-average chance to develop the disease, depending on the study and measurements.

“This leaves me in a rather unique position. I know early in my life something I am substantially predisposed to. I now have the opportunity to adjust my life to reduce those odds (e.g., there is evidence that exercise may be protective against Parkinson’s),” he wrote. “I also have the opportunity to perform and support research into this disease long before it may affect me. And, regardless of my own health, it can help my family members as well as others.”

Brin said he will help support research into the disease.

“I feel fortunate to be in this position,” he wrote. “Until the fountain of youth is discovered, all of us will have some conditions in our old age only we don’t know what they will be. I have a better guess than almost anyone else for what ills may be mine —and I have decades to prepare for it.”

EMEA Releases Guidelines On Development Of Medicines For Parkinson’s Disease

Filed under Drugs, Research – September 8th, 2008

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has released two guidelines for companies developing medicines for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, and for Parkinson’s disease, in the light of recent scientific progress in the understanding of these diseases and conditions.

Advances in clinical science, physiopathology and molecular biology have stimulated new interest in the development of more effective symptomatic or disease-modifying treatments, i.e. early treatments that may prevent the emergence or slow down the progression of disease. The guidelines were developed in response to the need of companies developing these new types of medicines for guidance on appropriate clinical-trial designs.

As life expectancy increases, neurodegenerative diseases and dementia will affect more and more people over the coming decades, and these guidelines are expected to help improve the availability of medicines to treat such diseases and conditions. The guidelines will come into effect on 1 February 2009.

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Preventing Protein Clumping Characteristic Of Parkinson’s Disease With Baker’s Yeast

Filed under General, Prevention – August 18th, 2008

ScienceDaily (Aug. 15, 2008) — Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified a protein from a most unlikely source — baker’s yeast — that might protect against Parkinson’s disease. More than a million Americans suffer from Parkinson’s disease, and no treatments are available that fundamentally alter the course of the condition.

By introducing the yeast protein Hsp104 into animal models of Parkinson’s disease, researchers prevented protein clumping that leads to nerve cell death characteristic of the disorder.

“Yeast express a protein called Hsp104, which is able to reverse protein aggregation,” says James Shorter, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics. “However, for reasons that are unclear

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Support Can Mean the World

Filed under General – August 3rd, 2008

PAUL STURROCK last night thanked his well-wishers - and joked he was shocked to hear Jim McLean praise him.

On Monday former Dundee United striker Luggy revealed he has Parkinson’s Disease but insisted he has the condition under control with drugs.

Goodwill messages have poured in - with Record Sport columnist McLean leading the tributes.

Sturrock, whose Plymouth side host United in a friendly today, was a mainstay of McLean’s Tannadice team that won the league in 1983 and starred in the UEFA Cup Final defeat by Gothenburg in 1987.

Last night he said: “The kind words and

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Ritalin: Reducing the Fear of Falling

Filed under Drugs, General, Health Care – July 29th, 2008

Getting old isn’t just about the body aches and pains.  As we get older, our risk of falling greatly increases.  Old bones don’t heal like young ones, and for those that are older falling can lead to death. 

But researchers at Tel Aviv University provide hopeful news from an unexpected source. Ritalin, used for managing Attention Deficit Disorder in hyperactive children, may have therapeutic benefits for seniors too. Older people who take methylphenidate (the generic name for Ritalin) may improve their cognitive abilities and their gait, cutting the risk for serious falls. This surprising finding was made by Prof. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff, a lecturer at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, and his colleagues, and reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

TAU’s researchers are the first to investigate the power of

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Leading to the Ballot

Filed under General – July 28th, 2008

Initiative 1000, the ballot initiative that would allow terminally ill patients the choice to seek life-ending medication, officially qualified for the November ballot Thursday when Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office determined they had turned in more than the required 224,800 valid signatures from voters across the state.

“People all over Washington support death with dignity, and we’re building momentum daily. We’re going to go all the way,” said former governor Booth Gardner.

Gardner, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, has been the leading backer and a chief spokesman for the campaign so far.