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New hope to help advanced Parkinson's patients walk, sleep again

Suffered by millions worldwide, the degenerative disease erodes motor functions and in its later stages often confines patients to a bed or wheelchair. This is due to a condition called orthostatic hypotension causing dizziness and even fainting after a couple of steps. But new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week found that a spinal cord implant could help advanced Parkinson's patients get back on their feet.

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For paralysed people, the spinal cord implant mimics how the brain sends electrical pulses to muscles, reconnecting a severed link. But for orthostatic hypotension, it stimulates the regulator in the brain that senses the need to send more blood when people stand upright.