Mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease patients who practice Tai Chi were found to experience significant benefits, including better posture, fewer falls, and improved walking ability, researchers from the Oregon Research Institute (ORI) reported in NEJM (New England Journal of Medicine)…
In a new article published in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneration, researchers at the University of Missouri School of Medicine take some of the first steps toward unraveling the molecular dysfunction that occurs when proteins are exposed to environmental toxins…
In April 2009, researchers at UCLA announced they had discovered a link between Parkinson’s disease and two chemicals commonly sprayed on crops to fight pests. That epidemiological study didn’t examine farmers who constantly work with pesticides but people who simply lived near where farm fields were sprayed with the fungicide maneb and the herbicide paraquat…
Patients with a recent onset of Parkinson disease have a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency, but vitamin D concentrations do not appear to decline during the progression of the disease, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Vitamin D is now considered a hormone that regulates a number of physiological processes…
New research shows a link between use of two pesticides, rotenone and paraquat, and Parkinson’s disease. People who used either pesticide developed Parkinson’s disease approximately 2.5 times more often than non-users…
The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research announced awards totaling approximately $10.1 million for five new clinical studies and 14 pre-clinical therapeutic development projects. The funding includes $2.5 million to drive four new clinical trials under the Clinical Intervention Awards, one of the Foundation’s Edmond J. Safra Core Programs for PD Research…
Officials at the new Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute announced today the center’s participation in a novel Parkinson’s study aimed at determining the physical and neurological impact of simple exercise on Parkinson’s patients…
A report in the September issue of Archives of Neurology (one of the JAMA/Archives journals) shows that individuals whose occupation involves contact with pesticides appear to have an increased risk of having Parkinson’s disease. According to background information in the article, the development of Parkinson’s disease related to chemical exposure was identified in the late 20th century.
People with Parkinson’s disease have significantly higher blood levels of a particular pesticide than healthy people or those with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found. In a study appearing in the July issue of Archives of Neurology, researchers found the pesticide beta-HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) in 76 percent of people with Parkinson’s, compared with 40 percent of healthy controls and 30 percent of those with Alzheimer’s.