I can't fight this - I have to accept it: Neil Diamond reflects on living with Parkinson's disease

Legendary recording artist Neil Diamond reflected on his Parkinson's disease diagnosis and learning to live with the condition in an emotional new interview on CBS Sunday Morning. The "Sweet Caroline" singer, who revealed his diagnosis in 2018 and subsequently quit touring, admitted that he is still in the process of navigating his life with the disease. 

"OK, so this is the hand that God's given me and I have to make the best of it, and so I am," explained Diamond. "I just have to take life as it comes to me, enjoy it, be thankful that I've had it, especially having the life that I've had." Click here to learn more.

Efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of movement disorders

Growing evidence exists for the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - a treatment modality for various psychiatric disorders - for movement disorders with and without psychiatric comorbidity. This topic has attracted the attention of multiple researchers who have published findings to support or disapprove ECT's efficacy on Parkinson’s disease and Parkinsonian disorders, Huntington’s disease, and dystonia. Click here to learn more.

Cold is beneficial for healthy aging (HD)

Cold activates a cellular cleansing mechanism that breaks down harmful protein aggregations responsible for various diseases associated with aging. While an answer to how this precisely works has been unclear, a research team at the University of Cologne has unlocked one responsible mechanism using a non-vertebrate model organism and cultivated human cells that carried the genes for Huntington’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Both diseases are characterized by accumulations of harmful and damaging protein deposits – so-called pathological protein aggregations – and in both model organisms, cold actively removed the protein clumps, thus preventing the protein aggregation. Click here to learn more.

Limited growth of nerve fibers seen in Friedreich’s ataxia in cell study

Abnormalities found in sensory nerve cells — cells that detect body position and movement — derived from people with Friedreich’s ataxia may help explain the loss of coordination seen in FA patients, according to a cell-based study published in the journal Brain Communications.

These sensory nerves were unable to fully extend nerve fibers toward tissue and transmit proper signals. Researchers noted that since proper targeting of nerve fibers is essential for cell survival, such abnormalities may lead to the degeneration of sensory cells. Click here to learn more.

Signs, non-motor manifestations one should watch out for in Parkinson's Disease

Before the onset of Parkinson’s disease, certain non-motor manifestations, such as constipation, REM sleep behavior disorder and excess salivation can indicate a person may suffer from the disease in later life, according to Dr. Pavan Pai, Consultant Interventional Neurologist at Wockhardt Hospitals. Click here to read more.