Archive for the ‘Parkinson’ Category
Parkinson’s Disease
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
hat is Parkinson’s disease?
Parkinson’s disease affects the way you move. It happens when there is a problem with certain nerve cells in the brain.
Normally, these nerve cells make an important chemical called dopamine. Dopamine sends signals to the part of your brain that controls movement. It lets your muscles move smoothly and do what you want them to do. When you have Parkinson’s, these nerve cells break down. Then you no longer have enough dopamine, and you have trouble moving the way you want to.
Parkinson’s is progressive, which means it gets worse over time. But usually (more…)
Parkinson’s Disease
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
Medications
Medicines are the most common treatment for Parkinson’s disease. The goal is to correct the shortage of the brain chemical (neurotransmitter) dopamine, which causes the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Treatment with drugs is usually started when symptoms become disabling or disrupt a person’s daily activities.
Drugs for Parkinson’s disease are prescribed with specific instructions about when to take them. It is important to follow your doctor’s instructions concerning how and when to take your drugs so that they will be (more…)
Gene Therapy Study for Parkinson's Disease
Monday, October 31st, 2011WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. – A Michigan hospital is embarking on a research study for advanced Parkinson’s disease using a state-of-the-art treatment called gene transfer.
The clinical trial will test whether gene transfer therapy is able to restore better mobility in Parkinson’s patients who have lost responsiveness to drug therapy.
“The start of this clinical trial provides hope to a Parkinson’s disease patient population that has had a long-standing need for better treatment options,” says Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital neurologist Peter LeWitt, M.D., who is internationally known for his research on Parkinson’s disease.
Strategy for Novel Parkinson's Treatment
Sunday, October 30th, 2011UCSF scientists have used a novel cell-based strategy to treat motor symptoms in rats with a disease designed to mimic Parkinson’s disease.
The strategy suggests a promising approach, the scientists say, for treating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases and disorders, including epilepsy.
The scientists transplanted embryonic neurons from fetal rats into an area of the adult rat brain known as the striatum, which integrates excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter signals to control movement. In Parkinson’s disease, cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine are damaged, and thus unable to project their communication wires, or axons, to the region. As a result, the balance of excitation and inhibition in the striatum is lost, causing the motor deficits that are a primary symptom of the disease.
About Parkinson
Saturday, May 22nd, 2010Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the substantia nigra. This disease was discovered by Dr. James Parkinson and hence its name. However, it was only in the 1960’s that medical science was able to get more information on the causes and symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and that it could start to work on methods to help alleviate this problem.
The extra pyramidal system is responsible for the control and communication system between the brain and the body and this is a very huge work. Problems in the extra pyramidal system are all considered a part of Parkinson’s disease. A Parkinson’s disease patient will usually be suffering from depression and other sensory disturbances in the brain due to the damage as well.
Parkinson
Thursday, May 20th, 2010First described as “shaking palsy ‘the disease that bears his name, medical science has not yet succeeded in the cause or causes of most Parkinson’s cases or to develop a cure unravel. However, significant advances in the treatment of the disease, more than half a million older Americans, or one was hit by 100 persons over 50 years. This figure does not include the thousands and thousands with symptoms of the disease are not strong enough to encourage them to get a diagnosis . But early diagnosis is important.
The diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease is based on the patient’s symptoms and neurological and neuropsychological performance in tests and fill in some other possible causes of these symptoms. Some cases of Parkinson’s disease, which doctors treated with potent drugs for schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases or are the result of poisoning, call caused by manganese.