Featured Article Main Category: Parkinson's Disease Also Included In: Sports Medicine / Fitness;MRI / PET / Ultrasound Article Date: 27 Nov 2012 - 0:00 PST Current ratings for: Fast Cycling Benefits Parkinson's Patients 1 (2 votes) 2.5 (2 votes) Results of the study were revealed on Monday at the Radiological Society of North America 2012 Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting in Chicago. Most cases occur after the age of 50, and as the disease progresses, cognitive and behavioral problems such as dementia, may also develop. In a statement, in which he describes the finding as "serendipitous", Alberts recalls: "I was pedaling faster than her, which forced her to pedal faster. She had improvements in her upper extremity function, so we started to look at the possible mechanism behind this improved function." fcMRI measures changes in blood oxygen in the brain, which enables researchers to look at how active different brain regions are and how well they connect with each other, explains Shah. The researchers randomly assigned the patients to one of two groups. One group (13 patients) cycled at their own voluntary pace, while the other group cycled at a forced rate. Originally posted here: Fast Cycling Benefits Parkinson's Patients … Continue reading →

Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Sarah McDonnell s_mcd@mit.edu 617-253-8923 Massachusetts Institute of Technology CAMBRIDGE, MA -- A new imaging technique developed at MIT offers the first glimpse of the degeneration of two brain structures affected by Parkinson's disease. The technique, which combines several types of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), could allow doctors to better monitor patients' progression and track the effectiveness of potential new treatments, says Suzanne Corkin, MIT professor emerita of neuroscience and leader of the research team. The first author of the paper is David Ziegler, who received his PhD in brain and cognitive sciences from MIT in 2011. The study, appearing in the Nov. 26 online edition of the Archives of Neurology, is also the first to provide clinical evidence for the theory that Parkinson's neurodegeneration begins deep in the brain and advances upward. "This progression has never been shown in living people, and that's what was special about this study. With our new imaging methods, we can see these structures more clearly than anyone had seen them before," Corkin says. Parkinson's disease currently affects 1 to 2 percent of people over 65, totaling five million people worldwide. The disease gradually … Continue reading →

Public release date: 27-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Anita Kar anita.kar@mcgill.ca 514-398-3376 McGill University This press release is available in French. Clinician-scientists take a unique, integrated approach that is essential to advancing science and medicine. Problems encountered in the clinic inspire research and new findings from the labs are directly applied to patients' needs. The integrated model is a hallmark of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital The Neuro, at McGill University and the MUHC and is now being replicated worldwide. Two clinician-scientists at The Neuro have been awarded grants today to further research on Parkinson's disease and HIV/AIDS. Tag. You're it! Studying how an enzyme relates to Parkinson's disease When the protein parkin functions properly it acts like a quality control officer, tagging other proteins that no longer work correctly for destruction. When there are mutations in the gene for parkin, this process no longer occurs efficiently, which causes cell death and leads to a familial form of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Edward Fon, Director, McGill Parkinson Program and clinician-scientist at The Neuro studies what regulates parkin's tagging process and the role a specific enzyme that removes tags may have in this process. Learning more about how … Continue reading →

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) today announced successful top-line results from its pivotal Phase III trial evaluating the efficacy, tolerability and safety of pimavanserin in patients with Parkinsons disease psychosis (PDP). Pimavanserin is ACADIAs proprietary, non-dopaminergic product candidate that selectively blocks serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. Pimavanserin met the primary endpoint in the Phase III trial by demonstrating highly significant antipsychotic efficacy as measured using the 9-item SAPS-PD scale (p=0.001). Pimavanserin also met the key secondary endpoint for motoric tolerability as measured using Parts II and III of the Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale, or UPDRS. These results were further supported by a highly significant improvement in the secondary efficacy measure, the Clinical Global Impression Improvement, or CGI-I, scale (p=0.001). In addition, clinical benefits were observed in all exploratory efficacy measures with significant improvements in nighttime sleep, daytime wakefulness and caregiver burden. Consistent with previous studies, pimavanserin was safe and well tolerated in this Phase III trial. These data represent an unprecedented advance for Parkinsons patients who suffer from the psychosis frequently associated with this disease, said Jeffrey Cummings, M.D., Sc.D., Director of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. Among Parkinsons patients, psychosis is the leading cause … Continue reading →

NEW YORK (AP) Shares of Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. more than doubled to their highest price in more than three years Tuesday after the company said its drug pimavanserin reduced psychosis in patients with Parkinson's disease. Acadia said pimavanserin was more effective than a placebo in treating the condition. Patients who took the drug also slept better at night, were more awake during the day, and were less of a burden to caregivers. Acadia shares gained $3.40 to $5.70 in morning trading. Earlier the stock peaked at $6.54, its highest price since August 2009. The shares closed at $2.30 on Monday. In the late-stage trial, 199 patients took either 40 milligrams of pimavanserin or a placebo once a day for six weeks. The most common side effects of pimavanserin in the study were urinary tract infections and falling. Acadia says up to 60 percent of Americans with Parkinson's disease develop psychosis and there is no approved therapy to treat the condition. The company said anti-psychotic drugs are sometimes used to treat the condition, but those drugs can increase the risk of death as well as side effects like the loss of motor control. Acadia said pimavanserin did not affect patients' motor … Continue reading →

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Amarantus BioSciences, Inc. (AMBS), a biotechnology company developing new disease-modifying treatments and diagnostics for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury centered on its proprietary anti-apoptosis therapeutic protein MANF, today announced that the Company has successfully completed experiments demonstrating that MANF has an excellent diffusion profile in the striatum of rat brains. The striatum is located in the brain, and is partially responsible for proper movement as part of the basal ganglia network. The striatum becomes severely compromised in Parkinson's disease due to neurite retraction from dopaminergic neurons located in the substantia nigra. The data generated in this study show that when compared to GDNF, a neurotrophic factor currently in a Phase 2 clinical trial for Parkinson's disease, MANF had a significantly higher volume of distribution when delivered to the striatum. These results are part of on-going animal studies to determine the best localization of delivering MANF to the brain in Parkinson's disease human clinical studies. "The data obtained in this study provide strong evidence that volume distribution from the site of delivery in the brain is unlikely to be an impediment to MANF's clinical progress," said John W. Commissiong, PhD, Chief Scientist at Amarantus. … Continue reading →