Ibuprofen Reduces Risk of Parkinson's Disease - Study Shows

Study Shows Ibuprofen Reduces Risk of Parkinson's Disease
Jessica Berman March 03, 2011 - VOA

Scientists say a common headache medicine dramatically reduces the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a physically-disabling brain disorder that mostly strikes elderly adults.

In a six-year study of just over 136,000 nurses and health professionals, researchers at Harvard University School of Public Health in Massachusetts found that people who take ibuprofen regularly for headache or other pain reduced their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease by nearly 40 percent.

Taking one or two pills of ibuprofen two or more times per week was considered regular use. Other non-prescription pain relievers, including aspirin and acetaminophen, did not show a similar protective benefit.

Researcher Alberto Ascheiro says ibuprofen appears to affect a neural pathway that has been implicated in the development of Parkinson’s. The disease causes difficulties in movement and uncontrollable muscle tremors.

At this point, Ascheiro says, experts do not recommend that people start taking ibuprofen to prevent Parkinson’s, which typically strikes people 65 years of age and older.

"Parkinson’s is a relatively rare disease, so we are not expecting millions of people to take ibuprofen to prevent Parkinson’s," Aschiero said.

On the downside, ibuprofen can cause stomach, kidney, liver and urological problems if not used carefully.

Ascheiro says researchers will now be studying whether the medication benefits those who have been diagnosed with the disease, a population that numbers an estimated six million people worldwide.

"What we will really need to prove is that if they take ibuprofen they will do better in the long term. So what we need to do is a large trial, clinical trial, to test whether ibuprofen could be helpful in people with Parkinson’s," Aschiero said.

A study describing a possible link between ibuprofen use and a reduced risk of Parkinson’s is published in the journal Neurology.



Study Shows Ibuprofen Reduces Risk of Parkinson's Disease
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Deep Brain Stimulation Can Treat OCD and Some Forms of Depression

Electric Jolt Could Right the Brain

Deep brain stimulation can treat obsessive-compulsive disorders, OCD, and some forms of depression

Vidushi Sinha | Washington, D.C. February 25, 2011 - VOA

New research suggests patients with disorders such as obsessive-compulsive behavior, depression, Parkinson's Disease and Tourette's syndrome might be helped by having deep brain stimulation devices implanted in the brain.

Sending electric current through a thin, wire electrode implanted deep in the brain could do what a cardiac pacemaker does for the heart.  Researchers say there is new evidence that a procedure called "deep brain stimulation," or DBS, can treat a variety of obsessive compulsive disorders, or OCD, and some severe forms of depression.

After drug and behavior therapy failed to help his psychiatric patients, Dr. Benjamin Greenberg found DBS made a difference.

"Based on the evidence that we have now, it is about as effective as the lesion procedures have been, which is just over half the patients will be better enough to make it worth doing," says Greenberg, who takes a cautious approach in deciding whether to employ the procedure.  He believes it should be used only after all conventional psychiatric treatments have been exhausted.

The surgically implanted electrodes are not a cure. The wires in the brain only improve the functioning of the patients who are otherwise disabled by their compulsions.

"Compulsions are things you do in response, usually, to your obsessions," Greenberg says. "There are things that somebody could see like washing their hands, counting or touching arranging things over and over again or they can things that are hidden checking things mentally or even praying silently."

So far about 70,000 people worldwide have had deep brain stimulation devices implanted.  Over the past 10 years, only about 70 patients in the United States have undergone deep brain stimulation to treat their OCD.

The technology has also been used in patients with severe depression who have not responded to other treatments.  And it has been deployed experimentally against Parkinson's disease, helping to reduce the characteristic tremors.  But medical experts say deep brain stimulation is still a long way from being a standard clinical treatment for mental disorders.

"There has not been a major advance since many years, there are many things now in the pipeline," says Dr Mahlon Delong, professor of Neurology at Emory University, "But in terms of, 'Does it help us in the clinic?' Not yet."

Side effects like bleeding, infections and seizures during the operation are possible and some seizures have also been reported during treatment. The procedure is still highly experimental, and some believe much more research is needed before we know if it's effective.

"A therapy is something that is both safe and effective and this is still investigational," says Dr Joseph Fins of the Weill Cornell Center. "It’s still not vetted to be proven efficacious."

It is also not clear yet exactly where in the brain DBS electrodes should be inserted to target specific psychiatric diseases.

DBS raises an even more fundamental ethical question: whether a psychiatrist can be sure enough of a diagnosis to justify surgically entering a patient's brain.

Electric Jolt Could Right the Brain

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