People with Parkinson's disease improve walking, freezing, falling with the GaitAid parkinsonsFreezing.mediGait.com. By: Amir Baram … Continue reading →

A widely used Parkinson's drug may help older people to make up their minds, research suggests. Poor decision-making is a recognised problem of ageing that stems from an inability to learn from experiences. Part of the decision-making process involves learning to predict the likelihood of a rewarding outcome. That in turn implicates dopamine, a brain chemical associated both with reward responses and Parkinson's disease. Study leader Dr Rumana Chowdhury, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London, said: "We know that dopamine decline is part of the normal ageing process so we wanted to see whether it had any effect on reward-based decision-making. "We found that when we treated older people who were particularly bad at making decisions with a drug that increases dopamine in the brain, their ability to learn from rewards improved to a level comparable to somebody in their twenties and enabled them to make better decisions." The team, who report their findings in the journal Nature Neuroscience, used a combination of behaviour testing and brain imaging to study decision-making in 32 volunteers aged in their seventies. Their results were compared with those from 22 individuals in their mid-20s. LIKE HUFFPOST UK LIFESTYLE ON … Continue reading →

London, March 25 : Scientists in Britain have shown that a popular Parkinson's disease drug can better older people's decision making abilities that are affected with age, says a study. A drug widely used to treat Parkinson's disease can help to reverse age-related impairments in decision making in some older people, a study from researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging has shown. The study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, also describes changes in the patterns of brain activity of adults in their seventies that help to explain why they are worse at making decisions than younger people. Poorer decision-making is a natural part of the aging process that stems from a decline in our brains' ability to learn from our experiences. Part of the decision-making process involves learning to predict the likelihood of getting a reward from the choices that we make, reports Science Daily. Dr. Rumana Chowdhury, who led the study at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London (UCL), said: "We know that dopamine decline is part of the normal aging process so we wanted to see whether it had any effect on reward-based decision making." "We found that when we treated … Continue reading →

Public release date: 24-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Jen Middleton j.middleton@wellcome.ac.uk 44-207-611-7262 Wellcome Trust A drug widely used to treat Parkinson's Disease can help to reverse age-related impairments in decision making in some older people, a study from researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging has shown. The study, published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience, also describes changes in the patterns of brain activity of adults in their seventies that help to explain why they are worse at making decisions than younger people. Poorer decision-making is a natural part of the ageing process that stems from a decline in our brains' ability to learn from our experiences. Part of the decision-making process involves learning to predict the likelihood of getting a reward from the choices that we make. An area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens is responsible for interpreting the difference between the reward that we're expecting to get from a decision and the reward that is actually received. These so called 'prediction errors', reported by a brain chemical called dopamine, help us to learn from our actions and modify our behaviour to make better choices the next time. Dr Rumana Chowdhury, who … Continue reading →

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/5zvqz8/neurodegenerative) has announced the addition of the "Neurodegenerative Diseases Market to 2018 - New product entries in both niche and broader Parkinson's disease treatment will boost market despite patent cliff" report to their offering. GBI Research, the leading business intelligence provider, has released its latest research Neurodegenerative Diseases Market to 2018 - New product entries in both niche and broader Parkinson's disease treatment will boost market despite patent cliff. A highly dynamic market scenario is expected in Neurodegenerative diseases in the next few years, with a number of patent expiries and anticipated new drug approvals. The market for Alzheimer's disease has not seen any recent major breakthroughs, and is expected to experience a decline due to the patent expiry of several major products. The market for Parkinson's disease, on the other hand, is expected to experience growth due to the anticipated approval of expensive products such as Duodopa in the US, in spite of the fact that it will soon hit its own patent cliff. Additionally, the overall aging of populations the developed world is expected to increase the number of patients suffering from these diseases due to their relatively high prevalence in the elderly. … Continue reading →

Alzheimer's, Dementia & Mental Health Parkinsons Drug Helps Seniors in Their Seventies With Decision-Making Discover brain activity of senior citizens is different than in young adults who are better at making decisions March 25, 2013 - New research finds changes in the patterns of brain activity of senior citizens in their seventies offers new insight into why the elderly are worse at decision-making than young people and they also discover a Parkinsons Disease drug can help reverse age-related impairments in decision-making in older people. The study from researchers at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, London, England, is published today in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Poorer decision-making is a natural part of the aging process that stems from a decline in our brains' ability to learn from our experiences. Part of the decision-making process involves learning to predict the likelihood of getting a reward from the choices that we make. An area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens is responsible for interpreting the difference between the reward that we're expecting to get from a decision and the reward that is actually received. These so called 'prediction errors', reported by a brain chemical called dopamine, help us to learn from … Continue reading →