Category Archives: Parkinson’s Treatment

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire -09/05/12)- This weekend, 14,000 Canadians from coast-to-coast will be walking in the 22nd annual Parkinson SuperWalk to raise money to support valuable education, resources, support services and research funded each year by Parkinson Society Canada. Dr. Isabelle Boileau is just one of many researchers across Canada who has received funding from Parkinson Society Canada to support her work. Dr. Boileau is working with a team at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) to use state-of-the-art medical imaging technology to examine dopamine receptors in people with Parkinson's disease. "Our goal is to ultimately determine if and how current treatments for Parkinson's affect the dopamine receptors in the brain," says Dr. Boileau. "Our thought is that over time, and in specific people, these medications could in fact be changing the receptors, which could be why some people with Parkinson's develop involuntary movements known as dyskinesia." The team is hoping that this research will one day enable doctors to predict who might be at risk of developing dyskinesia as a result of their Parkinson's disease medications and customize treatment accordingly. Since Parkinson Society Canada's research program began, it has provided funding for over 400 awards, fellowships and grants to … Continue reading →

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. Produced by NewsOK.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. EDMOND Jerry Gill understands he has Parkinson's disease. And he is working hard to stay out of a rocker or from behind a walker. Jerry Gill works on his balance with Integris Health Edmond physical therapist Samantha Klepper. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN It may be a life sentence, but not a death sentence, said Gill, 2011 distinguished alumni in the Oklahoma State University Hall of Fame. Gill, 67, decided two years ago when he diagnosed with the disease that sitting around wasn't for him. At first, I felt sorry for myself, said Gill, a three-year starter for the Cowboy's football team in the 1960s. I started reading literature and seeing what I could do. He has been exercising three times a week, at times yelling orange power, as part of Integris Health Edmond Jim Thorpe outpatient clinic's PWR! Up program. Samantha Klepper, Edmond's Jim Thorp lead physical therapist, said PWR! Up and Speak Out, a voice therapy program, are new programs for Parkinson's patients. Klepper is one of the few Oklahoma therapists affiliated with PWR! Up and … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on innovative treatments that address unmet medical needs in neurological and related central nervous system disorders, today announced the completion of enrollment in its ongoing pivotal Phase III trial with pimavanserin in patients with Parkinsons disease psychosis (PDP). Top-line results from this trial are expected to be announced by the end of November 2012. The Phase III trial, referred to as the -020 Study, is a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study designed to evaluate the efficacy, tolerability and safety of pimavanserin as a treatment for patients with PDP. The -020 Study incorporates several design enhancements that were guided by previous data in ACADIAs PDP program. A total of 198 patients have been enrolled in the study and were randomized on a one-to-one basis to receive either 40 mg of pimavanserin or placebo once-daily for six weeks. The primary endpoint of the -020 Study is antipsychotic efficacy as measured using nine items from the hallucinations and delusions domains of the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms, or SAPS. An independent group of centralized raters is used to assess the primary endpoint in the study. Motoric tolerability is a key secondary … Continue reading →

A Canterbury University study is believed to be the first in the world to use an advanced technique that could help identify the early onset of dementia in people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is the second-most common degenerative disorder, after Alzheimer's disease, but many Parkinson's patients will also be diagnosed with dementia as a result of the disease. The Canterbury study, which involved 101 Parkinson's patients and 25 healthy people, used a new technique to allow researchers to look at the brain while the patient was still alive to identify cell changes in the thalamus - a part of the brain involved in all aspects of function, except smell processing. Previously, such brain changes in Parkinson's patients could be found only during the late stages of the disease. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but methods to treat the motor and cognitive symptoms could significantly improve a patient's quality of life and are more effective if started as early as possible. Canterbury PhD student Nadia Borlase, who is working with the New Zealand Brain Research Institute and the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation on the project, said the researchers used advanced neurological imaging to identify the subtle brain changes … Continue reading →

ADVANCED APPROACH: Canterbury PhD student Nadia Borlase is carrying out research on identifying dementia after the onset of Parkinson's disease. A University of Canterbury study is believed to be the first in the world to use an advanced technique that could help identify the early onset of dementia in people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease is the second-most common degenerative disorder, after Alzheimer's disease, but many Parkinson's patients will also be diagnosed with dementia as a result of the disease. The Canterbury study, which involved 101 Parkinson's patients and 25 healthy people, used a new technique to allow researchers to look at the brain while the patient was still alive to identify cell changes in the thalamus - a part of the brain involved in all aspects of function, except smell processing. Previously, such brain changes in Parkinson's patients could be found only during the late stages of the disease. There is no cure for Parkinson's disease, but methods to treat the motor and cognitive symptoms could significantly improve a patient's quality of life and are more effective if started as early as possible. Canterbury PhD student Nadia Borlase, who is working with the New Zealand Brain Research Institute and … Continue reading →

Overlook Medical Center in Summit will host the Atlantic Neuroscience Institutes inaugural Day of Hope: Living Well with Parkinsons and Alzheimers on Saturday, Sept. 8, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the hospitals Bouras auditorium. This event is for patients, care partners and community members to learn about new research and treatment options, as well as to come together and receive inspiration, entertainment and information on helpful resources. Guest speakers include: Dr. Nir Lipsman, a neurosurgeon at the University of Toronto with a specialty in Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinsons and Alzheimers Diseases. Dr. John Zeisel, president and co-founder of Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, Ltd., and author of Im Still Here: A New Philosophy on Alzheimers Disease. Stand-up comedians, Uncle Floyd Vivino and Tom Caldora, will perform a comedy act to prove laughter is indeed the best medicine. Floyd Vivino, aka. Uncle Floyd, is a television, film, and stage performer primarily known for his comedy/variety TV show The Uncle Floyd Show. The show aired in the New Jersey and New York market from 1974 to 1998. It featured slapstick comedy, puppetry, some audience participation and piano music. Caldora is a stage performer who started work as a comic in the … Continue reading →

Wockhardt gets US nod for Parkinson's disease drug The co will manufacture the extended release tablets of ropinirole at its facility in Aurangabad Press Trust of India / New Delhi Aug 28, 2012, 18:07 IST Drug maker Wockhardt today said it has received approval from US health regulator to sell generic ropinirole hydrochloride, which is used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) is for extended-release tablets in multiple strengths of 2mg, 4mg, 6mg, 8mg and 12mg containing ropinirole hydrochloride, the company said in a statement. Ropinirole's extended release tablet is the generic name for the brand Requip XL, marketed in the US by Glaxo SmithKline, the company said. Wockhardt will manufacture the extended release tablets of ropinirole at its facility in Aurangabad. The technology for the tablets was developed in-house, it said. Citing IMS Health data, Wockhardt said the total market for this product in the US is about USD 58 million. Commenting on the approval, Wockhardt Founder Chairman and Group CEO Habil Khorakiwala said: "This is the sixth US FDA approval for Wockhardt in the past two weeks. Three of these have been for extended-release products". Wockhardt scrips closed … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2012) Deep-brain stimulation (DBS) may stop uncontrollable shaking in patients with Parkinson's disease and essential tremor by imposing its own rhythm on the brain, according to two studies published recently by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers in the journal Movement Disorders. An article addressing brain stimulation for essential tremor was published online August 28; a related article on Parkinson's disease was released May 30. DBS uses an electrode implanted beneath the skin to deliver electrical pulses into the brain more than 100 times per second. Although this technology was approved by the Food and Drug Administration more than 15 years ago, it remains unclear how it reduces tremor and other symptoms of movement disorders. With the help of electroencephalography or EEG -- electrodes placed on the scalp -- study authors used new techniques to suppress the electrical signal associated with the DBS electrode. That enabled the first clear, non-invasive EEG measurements of the underlying brain response during clinically effective, high-frequency brain stimulation in humans. The results show that nerves in the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, fire with rapid and precise timing in response to individual stimulus pulses. This suggests that DBS may … Continue reading →

FAIRHOPE, Alabama -- A sense of doom enveloped Jayne Godfrey when doctors diagnosed her in 2007 with early onset Parkinsons disease at 39. "It was depressing," said the Spanish Fort mother of two, paralegal and recreational runner. "Doctors told me, You have a progressive neurological disease for which there is no cure. I kept thinking, Could this be a wrong diagnosis? Where was the hope?" A persistent tremor and increasingly frequent falls while jogging brought Godfrey to neurologists in Fairhope and in Jacksonville, Fla. at the Mayo Clinic. "My life was unraveling and I had to do something about it," Godfrey said. The diagnosis confirmed her worst fears. "It was so absolutely devastating for both of us," Godfreys mother, Mary Robbins of Daphne, said. "You are told there is no hope. It is a death sentence." But during an Internet search for information about the chronic, progressive movement disorder, Godfrey happened upon to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Research. It was a beacon in an otherwise bleak landscape, connecting Godfrey to others in the Parkinsons community and illuminating her with knowledge and hope. Established in 2001 by actor Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinsons, the foundations mission is … Continue reading →

By MICHELLE MERLIN Register Citizen mmerlin@registercitizen.com LITCHFIELD For two hours every month, Goshen resident Rosellen Waiveris doesnt feel the need to hide the tremor in her hands. Ms. Waiveris has Parkinson's, a disease in which the brain decreases dopamine levels, producing a tremor in the extremities. The degenerative disease progresses over time and can result in loss of mobility, speech and memory. But Ms. Waiveris, whose only symptom of the disease is a tremor in her hand, has found camaraderie in the Torrington Area Parkinsons Support Group (TAPSG). The group, which meets on the last Saturday of each month at the Sullivan Senior Center, offers Parkinsons patients and their caretakers the chance of having a comfortable network in which they can discuss their lives, the latest treatments and the difficulty of handling the disease. So many of the people with Parkinsons felt alone, said one of the groups founders, Carol Pathe. They didnt feel they had anyone who would really understand. TAPSG is hosting a fund-raising walk on Sunday, Sept. 16, at White Memorial in Litchfield. Registration begins at noon, and the 0.6 to 1.7 mile walk starts at 1 p.m. People interested in registering for the walk or donating … Continue reading →