Parkinson's disease and the gut microbiome

A new study led by scientists in Japan analysed the microbiota of people living with Parkinson's, as well as those without, and noted that those with the disease have notably fewer bacterial genes...

New treatment hopes for Alzheimer's disease: A look at recent drug trials

Eli Lilly (2023) created donanemab, noting last year that 47% of participants taking the medication had no clinical progression at one year of the disease. However, the placebo group also had no...

Alzheimer's disease hypotheses

‘With Aβ accumulating in the brain through impaired clearance, not overproduction, Berger and Ede (2023) suggest that a possible explanation for this is reduced concentrations of insulin-degrading...

Medication management for patients with Parkinson's: the impact of a nurse specialist and non-medical prescribing in the hospital setting

In July 2000 the Department of Health (DH, 2000) published the NHS Plan. This included strategies to develop traditional roles, allowing nurses opportunities to evolve and challenge boundaries in...

When should pharmacological cognitive enhancers be used?

Alzheimer's disease and ethics

Ozanimod for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and how Brexit changed the journey

In 1997, Beta-interferon 1a (Avonnex) was licenced in the European Union (EU) for RRMS to reduce the impact and disease process of MS. Today there is a mixture of tablets, injections and infusions...

Prescribing considerations in the use of oral medication in Parkinson's disease

People with Parkinson's (PwP) have depleted levels of dopamine in the brain. From the 1970s, levodopa, which is metabolised to dopamine, was utilised to treat the disabling motor symptoms. Initially...

Past the peak: navigating depression in the aftermath of COVID-19

Depression was already one of the commonest mental disorders in Great Britain, but new research has shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increase of mental distress in adults across the...

Prescribing for established adult patients with epilepsy

Seizures are controlled with medication in about 70% of cases; inexpensive anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are the mainstay of treatment. When seizures do not respond to AED therapy, surgery,...

Natalizumab for the treatment of highly active MS: risks and benefits

Natalizumab is a DMT that is used in highly active RRMS, which has a high efficacy of 70% for reducing relapses and sustaining disease progression. It is given by intravenous infusion every 4 weeks,...

Managing depression in the primary care setting

Depression is characterised by persistent low mood and/or loss of pleasure in most activities and a range of associated emotional, cognitive, physical, and behavioural symptoms (NICE, 2015). The DSM-5...