Parkinson

Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the brain, but it may be possible to diagnose it at an early stage by examining the bowel, researchers said Tuesday. As new drugs to treatParkinson's are developed, they noted, earlier diagnosis should make it possible to intervene at an earlier stage when the disorder is more susceptible to drugs, thereby prolonging quality of life and lifespan. Parkinson'sis a common neurological disorder that is associated with aging. It is characterized by tremors or shaking, and difficulties with walking, movement and coordination.

A six-month program of Tai Chi exercises helped people with various stages of Parkinson's disease improve stability, their ability to walk and reduced the frequency of falls. A study released this week in the New England Journal of Medicine compared a six-month tailored Tai Chi program to resistance training and stretching to see which was most effective at improving functional movement, walking and balance for Parkinson's patients. Researchers randomly assigned 195 men and women ages 40 to 85 who were in stages one to four of Parkinson's disease (on a scale of one to five)

Freddie Roach was on track to marry his high school sweetheart and become an arborist caring for ornamental trees. "I chose to become a prizefighter instead," Roach said last week while standing in a ring corner of his Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood as a fighter sparred. "I got a plane ticket to Vegas instead, and here we are. " Where he is now is the subject of a new reality series from director Peter Berg ("Friday Night Lights") that will debut Friday on HBO; titled, "On Freddie Roach," it's a six-part series co-produced by HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley.

I sat in an uncomfortable flower-print chair in my neurologist's office. The nurses in the front office were talking to each other about what type of sandwich they would order for lunch. The background was filled with traces of annoying soft-rock music and an overpowering smell of coffee. It was apparent that someone put much effort into creating a calm and relaxing environment, but at the moment it felt as irritating as wearing an itchy sweater in the desert. Hearing the diagnosis — "You have Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease patients have double the risk of developing potentially lethal melanoma, government researchers reported Tuesday. Researchers have long suspected such a link, but the new study, reported in the journal Neurology, provides the strongest evidence to date. Researchers are at a loss to explain how the link occurs biologically, but they suspect it may be a combination of environmental exposure and genetic predisposition. The association is particularly strange, experts said, because Parkinson's patients, in general, have a below-normal risk of developing most types of cancer.

In 2008, at the peak of the financial crisis and with the disappointing sales figures of his last collection hanging over him, Los Angeles-based fashion designer Gregory Parkinson went for broke, using rare fabrics from his archive to create his most spectacular collection to date. Presented in actress Shiva Rose's garden one spring afternoon, the sexy, off-the-shoulder blouses, long floral skirts, pretty sleeveless dresses and chic metallic tunics drew comparisons to Yves Saint Laurent's Ballet Russes collection and the luxe hippie style of Zandra Rhodes.

Low-intensity walking may help people with Parkinson's disease improve their gait and mobility, a new study finds. The study, presented Tuesday at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Honolulu, compared three different forms of exercise to see which was most beneficial to men and women with Parkinson's disease, which affects motor control. Researchers randomly assigned 67 people with the disease to one of three programs: a low-intensity treadmill walk for 50 minutes; a high-intensity treadmill walk for 30 minutes; and a weight and stretching regimen that included leg presses, extensions and curls.

Reporting from Tempe, Ariz. ? When Torii Hunter heard a few days ago that Muhammad Ali would be visiting camp Wednesday, the Angels outfielder got that same feeling of anticipation he had as a kid in late December. "You know how you have to wait to open Christmas presents? That's how I felt," Hunter said. "I couldn't wait. " The clubhouse fell silent when Ali, a Phoenix-area resident, was escorted in by his wife and sister-in-law before the Angels' 8-0 exhibition win over the San Francisco Giants.

A small-scale gene therapy trial conducted at seven U.S. medical centers has found that a single infusion of a specialized gene, piggybacked onto a virus and fed directly into the brain, can safely lessen the severity of symptoms and improve response to medication in patients with advanced Parkinson's page NIH" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001762/" target="_blank"> Parkinson's disease . The clinical trial --...

A drug that could halt the progression of Parkinson's disease is successful in mice and is now being evaluated in human patients, researchers reported this week.   The drug is phenylbutyrate, which is already on the market as an orphan drug for treatment of infants with a rare genetic disorder called urea cycle disorder . Research at the University of Colorado School of Medicine shows that the medication turns on a gene that can protect dopamine neurons. It's the destruction of nerve cells that produce dopamine that leads to the stymptoms of Parkinson's disease, such as loss of movement.