Millions of people around the world live with Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that primarily affects mobility, balance, and muscle control, though its symptoms can include many other issues, from mood changes to gastrointestinal issues and a deterioration of memory and other cognitive functions….CONTINUE READING
According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the global prevalence of Parkinson’s has doubledTrusted Source in the past 25 years, and as per the most recent estimates, the disease has resulted in “5.8 million disability-adjusted life years” globally.
While much of this increase is driven by increasing numbers of older adults, there is also some evidence that age-adjusted incidence is also on the riseTrusted Source.
Dopaminergic medication, deep brain stimulation, and speech and occupational therapy are some of the treatments currently available to people with Parkinson’s disease, but researchers are constantly on the lookout for more and better treatments.
In order to pave the way to better treatments, scientists are first seeking to understand more about how Parkinson’s disease works, and what mechanisms in the body might affect its development.
Several studies from the past 12 months have focused on one particular aspect of Parkinson’s disease, namely gut health. But why is gut health important in Parkinson’s, and what could it reveal about the disease?
To find out more about the current research and how the disease can affect individuals, Medical News Today welcomed two guests to the latest installment of our In Conversation podcast: Dr. Ayse Demirkan and Gary Shaughnessy.
Dr. Demirkan is a senior lecturer in AI Multiomics for Health and Wellbeing at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, and co-author of a paper about the imprint of the microbiome in Parkinson’s disease, which appeared in Nature CommunicationsTrusted Source in November 2022.
Gary Shaughnessy is the chair of trustees at Parkinson’s UK, a research and support nongovernmental organization. In 2015, Shaughnessy received a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, and since then, he has been taking on regular physical challenges to raise money for Parkinson’s research….CONTINUE READING