The Syn-One test, which uses a skin biopsy to look for atypical clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein, may help both in confirming a diagnosis and guiding treatment decisions for people being evaluated for Parkinson’s disease, new data show. “Skin biopsies are minimally invasive and, our study showed, very effective in aiding the diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders,” Jonathan Ross Isaacson, MD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Massachusetts, said during a talk at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2024 Annual Meeting, held April 13-18, in Colorado and online. Isaacson’s presen ..read more

AB-1005, an experimental gene therapy administered directly into the brain, helped ease motor symptoms in patients with moderate Parkinson’s disease, whereas it appeared to stabilize disease progression for those with mild disease in a small Phase 1 clinical trial. No serious safety issues were reported for the 11 enrolled participants. Top-line findings from the study were announced earlier this year by the therapy’s developer AskBio (a subsidiary of Bayer). The results were presented in detail at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2024 Annual Meeting, held April 13-18, in Denver, Color ..read more

Caring for my father as he battled Parkinson’s disease was fraught with challenges, but nothing prepared me for the devastating blow of losing him since my last column. In the wake of his passing, I found myself thrust into a world of unfathomable sorrow. His collapse a few days earlier and subsequent admission to a hospital sent shock waves through my soul, leaving me reeling with a sense of profound helplessness. As I stood by his bedside, watching him as he slowly shut down, my heart shattered into pieces. In those agonizing moments, I felt the weight of a lifetime of his love and sacrific ..read more

Every time I step foot in a new country, I dive into the local culture to try to intimately understand the region. I compare and contrast it with the U.S., where I’m from, in an effort to expand my understanding and experiences. But I’m not only an explorer of geographical places, I also tend to question the fabric of our human existence. I think about how each of us got to be the way we are. I got this quality from my dad, who spent many years exploring Austria and the Pacific Ocean while working on freighters. For a long time, I thought it was a coincidence that I had a knack for languages ..read more

If someone says the words “Parkinson’s disease,” what’s the first thought that comes to your mind? How do you visualize this disease? I can’t help but think about how I used to visualize Parkinson’s disease. I probably learned about it at some point during my childhood, and the image I had was that of a creaky, older, bald-headed man with hunched shoulders, shaky hands, and a rickety cane. Because April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month, I want to acknowledge the common misconception that this disease affects only the elderly. Typically, when we think about chronic illnesses like Parkinson’s, we ..read more

SPARX3, an ongoing clinical trial investigating the effects of moderate– and high-intensity aerobic exercise — specifically, treadmill walking four times per week — in Parkinson’s disease, is still recruiting patients at 23 sites in the U.S. and one in Canada, according to the trial’s website. The Phase 3 study, which spans two years, is now enrolling patients, ages 40 to 80, to test the impact of aerobic exercise on Parkinson’s disease progression. Launched in 2021 and headed by principal investigator Daniel Corcos, PhD, a professor at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medici ..read more

A new machine learning model is able to identify Parkinson’s disease more accurately than other models based on electroencephalography (EEG) readings of the brain’s electrical activity, a study found. “The proposed model holds promising potential as a valuable and enduring aid for experts and clinicians in diagnosing” Parkinson’s, researchers wrote in the study, “An efficient Parkinson’s disease detection framework: Leveraging time-frequency representation and AlexNet convolutional neural network,” which was published in Computers in Biology and Medicine. There is no test that can conclusivel ..read more

Rumble Boxing, a U.S. fitness brand, is partnering for the second year with Team Fox, the grassroots fundraising community of The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), to raise awareness and funds during Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month this April. Among Rumble’s planned activities is a multicity tour panel with its co-founder Noah Neiman, together with MJFF community members affected by the disease. Rumble also will offer open houses across its studios nationwide, featuring donation-based classes, with an aim of bringing awareness to the benefits of boxing for people with movement disorders s ..read more

I’m fortunate to have two daughters who are my pride and joy. We get along extremely well, and they’ve always been supportive of me, especially during my Parkinson’s diagnosis in 2015. After I had deep brain stimulation surgery in 2021, they both came to our farm to see me, cook meals, and take me for walks every day for a solid month. They are remarkable and kind young women. We text one another every morning, often our Wordle scores, and then again if something exciting happens during the day. And boy, are they ever fast at texting! They can get 10 texts in while I try to type just one. I k ..read more

The first patient has been dosed in a first-in-human trial testing Vanqua Bio’s VQ-101 as an oral therapy for Parkinson’s disease linked to mutations in the GBA gene, the company has announced. The Phase 1 clinical trial is assessing the safety, tolerability, and pharmacological properties of VQ-101 in both healthy volunteers and Parkinson’s patients with or without GBA gene mutations, according to a company press release. The participants will be randomly assigned to receive either the experimental therapy, at single or multiple ascending doses, or a placebo. Vanqua Bio last year announced V ..read more