The leucine-repeat rich kinase 2 (Lrrk2) gets most of its attention in the context of Parkinson's disease (PD). Variants in Lrrk2 are a major cause of familial PD (though familial PD makes up only a small fraction of overall PD cases).

Functional Neuromodulation Ltd. is looking to help those suffering from mild Alzheimer's disease. To that end, it recently disclosed that it has kicked off the global ADvance II Study (NCT03622905), a pivotal clinical trial to assess deep brain stimulation (DBS) in these patients.

Irvine, Calif.-based Axonics Modulation Technologies Inc., which has developed an implantable rechargeable sacral neuromodulation (r-SNM) device for the treatment of urinary and bowel dysfunction, has won the FDA's nod for its system to help patients with fecal incontinence.

Concussion and traumatic brain injury (TBI) are serious public health problems, but they can be tricky to diagnose, with symptoms sometimes not presenting for days or weeks following a head injury. Abnormal eye movement can indicate a TBI, but traditional "follow my finger" screenings won't pick up more subtle changes in vision. Artificial intelligence (AI) could improve diagnosis by measuring deficits in certain eye movements that occur with a TBI. In a study published online July 25, 2019, in the journal Concussion, Bethesda, Md.-based Righteye Inc.'s FDA eye-tracking technology not only identified but scaled the severity of TBIs by measuring horizontal and vertical saccades, rapid eye movements between fixed points.

Screening for early signs of cognitive impairment and dementia amongst the elderly is a task that's often unevenly attended to by primary care physicians. But the routine personal consumer devices that we use every day might offer a clearer and more consistent window into early declines in cognitive and memory function, according to data from a feasibility study that were reported this week at the Association for Computing Machinery's Knowledge, Discovery and Data Mining conference in Anchorage, Alaska.