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Simple vision tests can predict which people with Parkinson s disease will develop cognitive impairment and possible dementia 18 months later, according to a new study by UCL researchers.
The study, published in
Movement Disorders, adds to evidence that vision changes precede the cognitive decline that occurs in many, but not all, people with Parkinson s.
In another new study published today in
Communications Biology, the same research team found that structural and functional connections of brain regions become decoupled throughout the entire brain in people with Parkinson s disease, particularly among people with vision problems.
The two studies together show how losses and changes to the brain s wiring underlie the cognitive impairment experienced by many people with Parkinson s disease.
Jan 08 2021 Read 502 Times
A team from the Francis Crick Institute, UCL and Cambridge University has been awarded $7.7million to identify the genetic and biological factors that cause Parkinson’s disease.
The team, co-led by Sonia Gandhi, Group Leader of the Crick’s Neurodegeneration Biology laboratory, has received the grant from ASAP (Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s). This global research initiative funds teams that are working on understanding the basic mechanisms that contribute to the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease.
By using advanced imaging methods to look for single molecules, or oligomers, in the brain as indicators of early onset of the disease, the researchers aim to build a map of the cells first affected and the conditions progression. By looking at all the genes expressed in those specific cells, they will build a model that shows how genetic factors affect pathways that cause Parkinson’s. The aim is to then modify these gene
7 January 2021 Visual hallucinations in people who have lost their sight can stem from spontaneous activity in the brain’s visual centres, according to a study led by UCL and Weizmann Institute of Science researchers.
The study, published in
Brain, investigated why some people who have lost their eyesight experience vivid hallucinations, a condition called Charles Bonnet syndrome.
The researchers were studying slow, spontaneous fluctuations, which appear unconsciously in our brains when we rest. The research team was seeking to understand whether unprompted behaviours, that occur without any external cause, might be triggered by these spontaneous brain fluctuations.
People experiencing Charles Bonnet visual hallucinations presented the research team with a rare opportunity to investigate their hypothesis. This is because in Charles Bonnet syndrome, the hallucinations appear at random, in a truly unprompted fashion, and the vis
No association between COVID-19 and Guillain-Barré syndrome
Neuroscientists at UCL have found no significant association between COVID-19 and the potentially paralysing and sometimes fatal neurological condition Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Researchers say the findings, published in the journal Brain , along with a linked scientific commentary by UCL and other international experts, should provide the public with reassurance, as the UK s national coronavirus vaccination programme is rolled out.
Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare but serious autoimmune condition that attacks the peripheral nervous system, typically affecting the feet, hands and limbs, causing numbness, weakness and pain. While its exact cause is unknown, GBS often occurs after a gastroenteritis infection called Camplylobacter, with the immune system mistakenly attacking nerves rather than germs.
2National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
3Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
4Precision Medicine, Platform on Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare, World Economic Forum, San Francisco, CA, United States
5Institute of Genetics, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
6Human Metabolomics, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
7Facultad de Medicina, Center for Genetics and Genomics, Clinica Alemana Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
8Institute of Health Management, Southern Medical University, Guangdong, China
9KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
10Rare Diseases South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa