Parkinson Disease

Statistically significant improvements in several quantitative test measures of episodic memory, attentiveness, and depressive emotional bias were observed in patients treated with clenbuterol and nadolol.

Test your neurology knowledge with NeurologyLive®'s weekly quiz series, featuring questions on a variety of clinical and historical neurology topics. This week's topic is Parkinson disease (PD).

In honor of Parkinson Disease Awareness Month, Hubert Fernandez, MD, director of the Center for Neurological Restoration at Cleveland Clinic, provided perspective on the advances in the care for the neurodegenerative disorder.

Despite a pause in the trial due to the COVID-19 pandemic, patients who opted to continue treatment into the open-label extension demonstrated significant improvements in Parkinson disease dementia symptoms for up to 48 weeks.

Over a 12-week treatment period, patients with Parkinson disease on light therapy demonstrated statistically significant improvements of 58% and 40% in lower and upper limb coordination and movement.

The vice president of Health Economic and Outcomes Research at Acadia Pharmaceuticals provided perspective on the negative effects seen from quetiapine and how the knowledge of pimavanserin has improved since approval. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

If approved, ABBV-951 will become the first subcutaneous delivery of carbidopa/levodopa, often considered the standard of care for symptom management for patients with Parkinson disease.

The vice president of Health Economic and Outcomes Research at Acadia Pharmaceuticals discussed the ongoing challenges with lowering mortality in Parkinson disease, and the need to improve caregiver burden. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

The vice president of Health Economics and Outcomes Research at Acadia Pharmaceuticals provided perspective on the mechanistic advantages of pimavanserin over atypical antipsychotics to treat Parkinson disease psychosis. [WATCH TIME: 2 minutes]

Frailty domains such as exhaustion, slow gait speed, low grip strength, and low physical activity were all associated with incident Parkinson disease.

The director of functional neurosurgery at Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute provided perspective on the growth of high intensity focused ultrasound and the lessons learned when treating essential tremor.

Findings showed that global cognition declines in the prediagnostic period in men but not women with incident Parkinson disease, further indicating cognitive heterogeneity in the prodromal period by sex.

The senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation discussed the potential for new therapies that target genetically mutated forms of Parkinson disease. [WATCH TIME: 3 minutes]

The international study on genetic testing and counseling, PD GENEration, is currently at the halfway mark of its goal of 15,000 participants.

Compared with healthy controls, those with isolated RBD performed significantly worse on all cognitive assessments except in tasks of executive function.

The senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation detailed some of the potential reasons for the nearly 50% increase from the previously estimated rate. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

The senior vice president and chief scientific officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation provided perspective on recently published findings showing a nearly doubling of Parkinson disease incidence that previously reported. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

Analysis on the EARLYSTIM trial assessing deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in early Parkinson disease showed maintained speech intelligibility and nonspeech oral movements.

Investigators concluded that the therapeutic effectiveness of antiparkinsonian medications is short and limited for intolerable abdominal pain.

For controlling symptoms of Parkinson disease psychosis, pimavanserin had the most favorable effect size based on 2 major efficacy outcomes.

Caregivers of patients with advancing PD were more likely to spend more hours caring per day and had a higher self-perceived burden, compared with caregivers for patients with early PD.

The chief training and education officer at the Parkinson’s Foundation discussed the inclusion of various medical professionals that assist in Parkinson disease care, and the need to provide access to educational tools to inform clinicians. [WATCH TIME: 5 minutes]

Nearly two-third of all participants with REM-sleep behavior disorder had mild cognitive impairment level 2 with multi-domain MCI, but particularly attention and memory deficits.

After a follow-up of nearly 4 years, nearly half of the patients (n = 10) with baseline classification of cognitive IADL impairment and mild cognitive impairment converted to dementia.

Going forward, the company must provide safety and steady-state pharmacokinetic data on the 200 mg dose of IKT-148009, as well as continued measurement of visual acuity and examination of the cornea and lens.

Mesdopetam showed significant effects on the secondary end point of Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale, an assessment of involuntary movements associated with long-term treatment with dopaminergic medication.

KM-819, a potent inhibitor of FAF1, a key regulatory protein in cell death pathways, is currently being assessed in a 2-part trial, with results expected to help guide a future 24-month study.

A systematic review revealed inconsistencies in the literature for assessing subjective cognitive complaints in cognitively normal patients with Parkinson disease.

Plain sulfonamide diuretics was identified as a drug chemical subgroup potentially inversely associated with Parkinson disease risk, while weaker signals included insulin and ß2-adrenergic agonists.

Not previously explored, new findings showed links between antiseizure drug prescriptions and incident PD, with trends towards increased risk in those with greater number of prescription issues and multiple AEDs.