Category: News

A new study has shown that men but not women who have higher urate concentrations had a lower future risk of developing Parkinson’s. It suggested that urate could be protective against risk for Parkinson’s and possibly could slow disease progression during the preclinical stage. Urate is an antioxidant. Several studies have shown that patients with… Read more »

Several studies presented at the 2015 ECTRIMS Conference addressed the issue of how to assess treatment response after the first year, specifically whether the appearance of new MRI lesions or new relapses is reliable. At least 7 studies have shown that newly diagnosed patients, started on interferon and assessed at 1 year, have very high… Read more »

Stem cell pseudomedicine is on the rise, becoming highly profitable as patients and families are desperate for a cure for devastating and incurable neurological diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis. Treatment with “cellular therapy” usually costs between $15,000 and $20,000, is not covered by insurance, and is more widely available overseas than… Read more »

Fifteen percent of the population has migraine and 2% to 8% fibromyalgia, with both disorders more common in women than men and with fibromyalgia being more common with increasing age, especially around 50 years old. In a recent study published in Neurology, September 2015, ten percent of migraine patients in a headache clinic had fibromyalgia…. Read more »

The evidence for low vitamin D levels being a risk factor for development of MS is becoming more compelling. In fact, some studies have shown that low vitamin D early in the disease course predicted worse MS clinical and MRI activity and disease progression. A new study sheds light as to why this might be…. Read more »

There are now 11 medications, FDA approved, for relapsing and remitting MS. Other than Novantrone, which is no longer used because of safety issues that were worse than initially predicted, no medication has been approved for progressive MS. The current thrust of research is neuroprotection rather than anti-inflammatory effects. Below is the summary of studies… Read more »

Coffee has been consistently shown when drunk in large amounts to reduce the risk of developing Parkinson’s. Also, patients who smoke cigarettes have a lower risk of Parkinson’s. It has been hard to understand why this should be so, but recent studies point to the fact that Parkinson’s disease patients, because they have less dopamine… Read more »

This device is in clinical trials but seems likely to be approved by the FDA and may be available in 1 to 2 years. The therapy is called CVT-301. It is inhaled as one would use an asthma inhaler. Patients with long-standing Parkinson’s almost always develop motor fluctuations, also called on-off effects. Manipulating the levodopa… Read more »