Latest news with #Parkinson's-like
Scientific American
22-07-2025
- Health
- Scientific American
Ozzy Osbourne's Death Puts Spotlight on Rare Form of Parkinson's
On July 22, Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, died at age 76. The 'Prince of Darkness' had been outspoken about keeping up with stage performances and touring while undergoing care for a rare form of Parkinson's disease called Parkin —named after the gene PRKN which is linked to the disease. He played his last live performance with his bandmates in Birmingham, England on July 5. 'It's been terribly challenging for us all,' Osbourne said in a 2020 Good Morning America interview when he publicly announced his diagnosis. 'There's so many different types of Parkinson's,' Osbourne's wife, Sharon, said during the interview. 'It's not a death sentence by any stretch of the imagination, but it does affect certain nerves in your body.' On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Osbourne's cause of death was not disclosed. The late heavy metal musician had often openly shared his intense lifestyle and experience with drug use, which may have worsened the progression of his form of Parkinson's, according to the New York Times. What Do We Know About Parkin? Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative condition in which nerve cells, largely in the basal ganglia of the brain, deteriorate or die. According to the National Institutes of Aging, the illness typically progresses with age (most people develop the disease after age 60) and is known for causing tremors, stiff muscles, balance issues, slowed movement and other mobility problems. People may also experience difficulty swallowing, chewing and speaking as well as mental health issues, including depression and mood changes. Emerging research suggests that acting out dreams might also predict Parkinson's disease. PRKN, which is one of the genes implicated in Parkinson's disease, is involved in maintaining mitochondrial function, which could affect cellular energy—but how that exactly leads to disease is unclear, according to Medline Plus. Parkinson's disease is linked to more than 200 mutations, some of which may cause issues with protein production, durability and function. In the 2020 Good Morning America interview, the Osbourne family disclosed that he had Parkin 2.[LY1] Osbourne had volunteered to have his genome sequenced in 2010 to see if his DNA could offer more clues about his health and condition. 'He was really curious to know about his Parkinson's-like symptoms, so we looked pretty closely in his genome for that kind of stuff. We found a few hints, but we couldn't tell him why he has symptoms like a tremor. And frankly, his history of drug abuse probably contributed to that, too,' Nathan Pearson, then research director of Cofactor Genomics which sequenced Osbourne's genome, told Scientific American in 2010. Does Parkinson's Disease Cause Death? Data on Parkinson's disease and mortality are inconsistent, with some studies suggesting that those with the condition, particularly an advanced or severe form, have about a 1.5 times higher death rate than the general population, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association. Parkinson's disease in combination with another disease or injury, such as a fall, ulcer or pneumonia, could also increase the likelihood of death. While uncurable, Parkinson's is considered a livable disease. Drugs that act on certain brain neurotransmitters, including dopamine —a hormone involved in movement—can help alleviate symptoms. Research on deep-brain stimulation, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Parkinson's tremor in 1997, has shown the technology to be a highly effective treatment.
Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Health
- Boston Globe
What long COVID can teach us about future pandemics
Researchers are improving our understanding of the biological causes of long covid and working toward treatments. These advances may help not only people facing chronic illnesses today but also postinfection syndromes of the future. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up But experts are worried that despite the hard-won lessons of covid, we are not fully prepared for the next pandemic and its aftermath due to decreases in research funding and support, and polarization of public health measures. Advertisement Climate change and increasing human encroachment into wildlife habitats mean a higher risk of diseases spreading. " I would argue that probably we're less prepared for this now than we were even prepared for the covid-19 pandemic," Al-Aly said. Long covid is new and not new Long covid originally surprised researchers and clinicians, but in retrospect, there were clues that infections could lead to chronic health conditions in some patients, researchers said. Other illnesses and pandemics have caused post-acute infection syndromes that bear striking similarities to those of long covid. Advertisement Therefore, long covid is new and very much not new. Related : We now know that 'we have post-infectious disease syndromes that occur, and that it's not unique to covid, but covid really brought it to the forefront,' said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. During and after the 1918 flu pandemic, people complained of feeling lethargic, memory problems and hazy thinking - which sounds a lot like the 'brain fog' and other neurocognitive effects of long covid. Farmers couldn't tend to their crops or shear their sheep, leading to economic distress. Years after the flu subsided, there was a rise in a Parkinson's-like symptoms tied to the illness. There was also a coinciding epidemic of encephalitis lethargica, or sleeping sickness, that some believe to be related to the flu, though this link is disputed. Similar long-lasting symptoms followed outbreaks of the respiratory viruses SARS-CoV-1 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in the decades before covid. Some people also face persistent symptoms following Lyme disease, Ebola and dengue. Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a still-mysterious chronic condition marked by persistent fatigue and malaise after exertion, is also suspected of having similar underlying causes as long covid; a 2024 meta-analysis found approximately half of long covid patients have ME/CFS. The difference with covid, of course, is 'just the sheer volume of people who had covid and got long covid,' which made it much easier to study and research compared with the other post-acute syndromes, said Wes Ely, a professor of medicine and co-director of the Center for Critical Illness, Brain Dysfunction, and Survivorship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Advertisement The pattern is now more apparent: While many people escape unscathed, 'it's clear that there's a wave of chronic disease and disability after pandemics,' Al-Aly said. A nurse recorded a patient's vitals. Long covid originally surprised researchers and clinicians, but in retrospect, there were clues that infections could lead to chronic health conditions. Kate Dearman/for The Washington Post This should factor into preparing for future pandemics and their aftereffects. 'We need to think about both the short and long term from the get-go when designing antivirals, designing vaccines' and identifying patients early to get them help earlier, Al-Aly said. Preparing for the aftermath of future pandemics In many ways, the United States may be less prepared to deal with the long covids of tomorrow than you would think. Understanding the biological causes of long covid will help. 'Investing in an understanding or unlocking the secrets of long covid' is going to pay dividends not only for long covid, but could be repurposed more broadly for post-viral illnesses of the present and future, Al-Aly said. But now, many of those resources and investments are at risk. Related : The Office of Long COVID Research and Practice, established in 2023 at the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the sprawling research efforts about the condition, has been shuttered. The HHS Secretary's Advisory Committee on Long Covid - a group of long covid physicians, researchers, patients and their advocates meant to advise on gaps in knowledge and research priorities - was terminated before its first meeting. Though HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has stated his commitment to finding long covid treatments, citing long covid's impact on his son, there had not been any new structures put in place for long covid research as of June. Meanwhile, clinical trials searching for long covid treatments are continuing, but researchers fear that future funding may be at risk, following cuts to dozens of long covid research grants (some of which were later restored). Advertisement The Trump administration's budget proposal 'I think we have a lot of work to do. And, you know, it's terribly unfortunate so much of this work has been now stopped by this administration,' Osterholm said. However, the multibillion-dollar RECOVER Covid Initiative launched by the NIH allowed researchers to set up clinics and study long covid at a 'much bigger scale than they ever have been before,' said Leora Horwitz, a professor of population health and medicine at the New York University School of Medicine. 'I think they've put us in a good position now to recognize similar sorts of conditions of future as-yet-unknown pandemics.' The infrastructure set up by RECOVER has allowed for the long-term tracking of in-depth health data and could be a model for what to test in future pandemics, said Horwitz, who co-leads the branch of RECOVER studying adult patients, which includes almost 15,000 participants at 83 sites across 33 states. More important, there is now broader recognition that a subset of people can develop prolonged symptoms from infections, Horwitz said. Moen viewed imaging of mice brain sections that have been infected, and then treated, with SARS-CoV-2, at the Iwasaki Lab. Jackie Molloy/For the Washington Post Experts said that many of these developments and understanding were driven by fierce advocacy from the community of long covid patients, who have prompted politicians to act. However, the U.S. health care system remains strained even without contending with another pandemic, said Osterholm, who pointed to a projected shortage of physicians and other health care professionals. Advertisement Fixing the health care system is important, he said. 'If we don't invest right now, the bottom line is we're going to just do a repeat all over again in the next pandemic,' Osterholm said. At the same time, many of the public health tools for mitigating infection spread and severity - and therefore risk of long-term symptoms - have become increasingly politicized. Masking, vaccination, antivirals and improved indoor air quality have all helped combat covid and are valuable tools to implement should another pandemic arise, Al-Aly said. But people are increasingly tuning out these public health conversations and resisting being reminded of the pandemic, 'like almost collective amnesia,' he said. 'We paid a heavy price for this knowledge, and literally more than 1.1 million people died' in the United States, Al-Aly said. Now it's a 'question of whether there will be the political will and also the public sentiment to actually utilize this information for public good,' he said.
Time of India
28-05-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Parkinson's disease four times more likely among people with autism, study suggests
New Delhi: People with autism could be four times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease later in life, according to a study among Swedish population. Autism is a neuro-developmental disorder affecting thought processes and social behaviour. It is diagnosed in early childhood, while Parkinson's disease is ageing-related neuro-degeneration, in which one experiences tremors in limbs and affected movement. "This indicates that there can be shared biological drivers behind ASD ( autism spectrum disorder ) and Parkinson's disease," first author Weiyao Yin, a researcher at the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, said. The study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Neurology, analysed data from more than 22 lakh people born in the country between 1974 and 1999, who were followed from the age of 20 up to the end of 2022. Findings "suggest a potential shared etiology between neuro-developmental disorders and PD (Parkinson's disease), warranting increased awareness of long-term neurological conditions in individuals with ASD," the authors wrote. Yin said, "One hypothesis is that the brain's dopamine system is affected in both cases, since the neurotransmitter (brain chemical) dopamine plays an important part in social behaviour and motion control." While there is considerable evidence that dopamine production is affected in Parkinson's disease, the role of dopamine in autism is not yet clear, even though studies have shown that the brain chemical is involved, the researchers said. The researchers also took into account the fact that people diagnosed with autism are commonly prescribed anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs, which can cause Parkinson's-like symptoms. The link between autism and Parkinson's disease became less pronounced, "but the risk was still double", the researchers said. "The healthcare services need to keep people with ASD -- a vulnerable group with high co-morbidity and a high use of psychotropics -- under long-term observation," last author Sven Sandin, a statistician and epidemiologist at the department of medical epidemiology and biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, said. "At the same time, it's important to remember that a Parkinson's diagnosis before the age of 50 is very rare, including for people with autism," Sandin said. The researchers pointed out that they only analysed early-onset Parkinson's disease before the age of 50 and that the average age of participants by the end of the study was 34. The incidence of Parkinson's disease was therefore very low -- 24 cases among 51,954 people with autism (0.05 per cent), and 438 among 22,26,611 people without autism (0.02 per cent). Future studies will need to examine if the elevated risk persists into older age, the team said. Global estimate of autism prevalence is one per cent, while in India, the estimate is 1.5 per cent, according to a 2023 study published in the Indian Journal of Pediatrics.
