Mds Podcast

Prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen interviews Professors Anna Latorre and Shabbir Merchant on the topic of electrophysiology, with a focus on cortical myoclonus. Together they discuss the potential applications of electrophysiology for myoclonus in clinical practice. They also explore the complex interface between cortical myoclonus and epilepsy.

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Irena Rektorová about her recent study on early changes in the locus coeruleus in mild cognitive impairment with Lewy bodies. Using neuromelanin-sensitive MRI, the study reveals selective vulnerability of the caudal locus coeruleus and its association with specific cognitive and other nonmotor features. The conversation explores the implications for early diagnosis, the “body-first” hypothesis, and the potential role of NM-MRI as a biomarker. Read the article.

Prof. Marina de Koning-Tijssen interviews Prof. John Caviness on the topic of myoclonus, focusing on its new classification and treatment. They discuss the long-awaited recently published classification of myoclonus and explore the latest treatment options.

Dr. Sara Schaefer discusses with Dr. Michelle Fullard the similarities and differences in how men and women with Parkinson's disease approach the decision of whether or not to undergo deep brain stimulation. Read the article.

In this episode, Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Prof. Tom Foltynie about the recently published phase 3 clinical trial of exenatide as a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease in The Lancet. While the findings were disappointing, ongoing post-hoc analyses aim to understand the discrepancy with previous phase 2 results and explore how they might shape the future of exenatide and other GLP-1 agonists in neurodegenerative disorders. Read the article.

Prof. Sarah Camargos interviews Prof. Sun Ju Chung about his recent paper in the Movement Disorders Journal investigating diagnostic and prognostic capabilities of measuring blood mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN) for Parkinson’s disease. Journal CME is available until March 3, 2026 Read the article.

Dr. Sara Schaefer and Dr. Davide Martino discuss his recent paper exploring the use of transcranial direct current stimulation over the supplementary motor area for the suppression of tics in patients with Tourette Syndrome. Read the article.

There is an important role for cost-effective clinical biomarkers in the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Dr. Eduardo de Pablo-Fernández and Dr. Cecilia Tremblay discuss how accurate hyposmia and REM sleep behavior disorder can predict Lewy pathology in a non-selected population using data from the Arizona clinicopathological study on Aging and Neurodegeneration. Read the article.

Dr. Jennifer Eisenhauer joins Dr. Sara Schaefer to discuss her recent article describing a combined therapy approach for adult patient with tics: habit reversal therapy (HRT) + acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). They further discuss what these therapies are, their effect in tics, what is gratifying about working with patients with tics, and next steps to determine efficacy of this approach. Read the article.

Dr. Eduardo de Pablo-Fernández discusses and Dr Tommaso Schirinzi discuss the results of his study evaluating markers of immune response, metabolism, inflammatory regulation and tau levels in blood cells in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). They also discuss how these results contribute to the growing evidence of neuroinflammation contributing to the pathogenesis of PSP. Journal CME is available until October 21, 2025 Read the article.

Dr. Shiro Horisawa discusses the latest clinical trial results on MR-guided focused ultrasound pallidothalamic tractotomy for cervical dystonia. He explores the technique's limitations, future prospects, and how it compares to existing therapeutic options. Read the article.

Dr. Hugo Morales Briceno interviews Prof. Ray Chaudhuri to discuss the real world-use of levodopa subcutaneous infusion in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Chan joins the podcast to discuss the results of their pilot study with Dr. Eduardo De Pablo-Fernández. The study uses a foot vibrotactile stimulation as an external cue for the treatment of freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease. Together they discuss how vibrotactile devices can be implemented in clinical practice. Read the article.

In this episode, Prof. Alexander Münchau talks about how machine learning video-based assessments can be leveraged to quantify tics in Tourette syndrome and how this technology has the potential to assist clinicians in tic detection. Read the article.

In this episode, Dr. Aasef Shaikh and Dr. Ming-Kai Pan give us a virtual guided tour of their labs, particularly discussing what they are presently working on. They further elaborate on how these studies can inform our understanding of tremor physiology and where they believe the field should be heading in order to finally understand tremor origin.

Dr. Michele Matarazzo interviews Dr. Victor Fung, President of the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society and lead author of the recent viewpoint published in the Movement Disorders journal. Together, they explore the biological definition and classification of Parkinson's disease, discussing its key insights, future prospects, and the implications of recent advances in the field. Read the article.

In this episode Dr. Ludy Shih briefly describes the current approach to tremor, including pharmacological treatments, botulinum toxin injections and deep brain stimulation. She further dives into the exciting new developments of the past few years and new drugs coming down the pipeline.

In this episode, the two souls at the center of the new tremor classification join the MDS Podcast to discuss what essential tremor is. Listen as Prof. Kailash Bhatia and Prof. Günther Deuschl walk you through their clinical methods and future outlook on essential tremor. Do they agree? Disagree?

Growing evidence suggests a contributory role of tau protein in the pathogenesis of Huntington's disease. In this episode, Dr. Eduardo de Pablo-Fernández discusses the potential role of skin tau quantification as a biomarker for Huntington's disease with Dr. Jaime Kulisevsky and Dr. Iñigo Ruiz-Barrio. The authors discuss the results of the recent study correlating skin tau quantification with clinical and radiological data, and the role of skin tau in defining HD subtypes. Read the article.

In this episode Dr. Alfonso Fasano interviews Dr. Petra Schwingenschuh on her approach to tremor in the clinic. She further explains the importance of a good history taking, how to clinically assess tremor of different body parts, and how to diagnose functional tremor.