An Ohio music conductor is using deep brain stimulation to combat his Parkinson’s disease.

Rand Laycock, 70, the director and conductor of a symphony orchestra, was diagnosed just before his 60th birthday, according to a press release from Cleveland Clinic.

“My doctor at the time told me [a Parkinson’s diagnosis] wasn’t a death sentence, and there would be advancements over the next few years to help with my treatment,” said Laycock.

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Even after a regimen of medications, however, Laycock’s symptoms continued to progress over the next 11 years.

When tremors in his right hand began increasing in severity and frequency, he began exploring other treatments.

“The tremor would really start to be pronounced if I had a deadline coming up for something with the orchestra,” Laycock told Cleveland Clinic.

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He also started experiencing dyskinesias, which are involuntary movements that can be a side effect of long-term use of certain Parkinson’s medications.

Michal Gostkowski, DO, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic, introduced Laycock to the alternative option of deep brain stimulation (DBS), which was described as a “pacemaker for the brain.”

“My doctor at the time told me [a Parkinson’s diagnosis] wasn’t a death sentence, and there would be advancements over the next few years to help with my treatment,” Laycock told Cleveland Clinic. (Cleveland Clinic)

DBS is a “treatment that involves an implanted device that delivers an electrical current directly to areas of your brain,” according to Cleveland Clinic.

There are billions of neurons in the brain, which communicate using electrical and chemical signals. Some brain conditions, including Parkinson’s, can make those neurons less active, the same source stated.

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Deep brain stimulation applies an electrical current to make those neurons more active.

In May 2024, Laycock received a brain implant as the first step of the DBS therapy. He then activated and set up his device with programmer Erica Hennigs, the release detailed.

“I know the thought of brain surgery can be intimidating, but it’s a life-changing procedure that allows you to become your own self again.”

“When it comes to programming the device, we try different settings at first,” said Hennigs. “We then adjust those during follow-up visits as we learn more about how his symptoms are being controlled.”

After seeing success for nearly a year, Laycock progressed to a more advanced form of DBS called adaptive deep brain stimulation, or aDBS.

“Traditional DBS gives the same stimulation to the brain 24 hours a day. What makes aDBS different is that it can adapt and fine-tune the stimulation in real time.” (Cleveland Clinic)

“Traditional DBS gives the same stimulation to the brain 24 hours a day. What makes aDBS different is that it can adapt and fine-tune the stimulation in real time,” said Dr. Michael Gostkowski, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic, in the release.

“By tracking a certain frequency in the brain, it can increase or decrease the stimulation as needed to better control symptoms.”

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Laycock was a good candidate for the advanced therapy because his symptoms fluctuated throughout the day, which means a treatment that could adapt to those fluctuations could be more effective, according to the clinic.

“Since Rand’s a music conductor, fine-tuning with aDBS would reduce the risk of him experiencing tremors if his medication were to wear off in the middle of a concert or performance,” said Hennigs.

Laycock was a good candidate for the advanced therapy because his symptoms fluctuated throughout the day. (Rand Laycock)

Because of his previous positive experience with DBS, Laycock jumped at the chance to receive the new version.

“It sounded like it would make my life simpler – not having to worry about adjusting my device settings and medications as frequently,” he told Cleveland Clinic.

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The conductor’s implanted device was able to support new adaptive technology, so it was just a matter of working with Hennigs to update the settings. 

Laycock began receiving aDBS in March 2025. Now, his tremors are almost completely gone except for times of extreme stress or anxiety, according to the release.

Throughout his health journey, Laycock has not only been supported by his care team, but also his family. (Rand Laycock)

“And my dyskinesia is pretty well under control,” he said. “My symptoms are minimal compared to the way they were, and a lot of that is due to adaptive deep brain stimulation.”

Laycock is now approaching his 47th year as a music conductor, the release stated, and he looks forward to spending time with his wife, two children and granddaughter. 

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Gostkowski encourages Parkinson’s patients to ask their doctors about DBS or aDBS as an option to control symptoms and improve quality of life.

Laycock added, “I know the thought of brain surgery can be intimidating, but it’s a life-changing procedure that allows you to become your own self again.”

Left-handedness and certain neurological disorders could go hand-in-hand, a new study revealed, though the researchers and others acknowledged potential limitations. 

While about 10% of people in the world are left-handed, people with autism are 3.5 times more likely to have the trait, according to an international team of researchers that analyzed data from over 200,000 individuals.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, indicated that left- and mixed-handedness also appear more often in people who have diagnoses such as schizophrenia, autism and intellectual disability.

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Mixed-handedness refers to a situation in which people may use their left hand for a certain task and their right hand for others, according to psychology experts. 

This is slightly different from ambidexterity, which is the equal use of both hands. 

“The key takeaways of this study are that alterations in hand preference from the norm (i.e., right-handedness) are associated especially with psychiatric and psychological conditions that affect the language system (e.g., dyslexia or schizophrenia) or affect neurodevelopment through an early age of onset (e.g., autism or ADHD),” lead author Dr. Julian Packheiser told Fox News Digital.

He is a researcher at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.

“Correlation doesn’t imply causation — and being left-handed does not mean someone will develop autism or schizophrenia.”

Not all neurological conditions showed a link to people’s dominant hand.

Depression and dyscalculia (a math learning disability), for example, showed no meaningful difference in hand preference compared to control groups, the study found.

Language factor

The researchers also determined that “atypical handedness” may be associated with long-term linguistic symptoms like stuttering and dyslexia.

“In most people, the dominant side of their brain is typically where speech, language, logical thought processing and hand preference is located,” Dr. Earnest Lee Murray, a neurologist with West Tennessee Medical Group, told Fox News Digital. 

He was not involved with the new study. 

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“People who are left-handed or ambidextrous often don’t have such a dominant one-sided brain — rather, the key portions of language can be divided between both sides,” Murray also said. 

The study also examined the likelihood of atypical handedness in clinical populations, or groups of people diagnosed with a specific set of health conditions compared to a control population. 

It appears that the earlier a disorder’s symptoms emerged, the more frequently researchers saw cases of left- and mixed-handedness. (iStock)

“We suspected that left- and mixed-handedness could be associated with disorders whose symptoms are related to language,” said Packheiser in a press release about the study.

“Language, like handedness, has a very one-sided location in the brain, so it stands to reason that the development of both and their disorders could be linked.”

Timing is key

The researchers also considered other factors that could come into play, such as the age at which a person might exhibit symptoms.

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It appears that the earlier a disorder’s symptoms emerged, the more frequently researchers saw cases of left- and mixed-handedness.

The researchers hypothesized that left- and mixed-handedness could be associated with diseases that occur very early in life, because the dominant hand is determined at a very early age – possibly even before birth.

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In the womb, thumb-sucking at 10 weeks’ gestation is heavily linked to which hand will be preferred later in life, they noted.

The connection could help experts potentially understand the way brains are organized and how they develop.

The new study comes with potential limitations. Not all neurological conditions show a link to the person’s dominant hand, according to experts. (iStock)

“The study has implications when understanding ways of finetuning the neurorehabilitation of patients with one-sided brain conditions, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis or traumatic brain injury,” Murray said.

Potential limitations

Jonathan Alpert, a Manhattan-based psychotherapist and author, said the study was “interesting,” though he emphasized its limitations.

“Correlation doesn’t imply causation — and being left-handed does not mean someone will develop autism or schizophrenia,” Alpert, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital. 

“Handedness is just one of many factors that can be associated with neurological traits, and these findings should be interpreted with caution to avoid unnecessary alarm or stigma.”

Depression showed no meaningful difference in hand preference compared to control groups, the study found. (iStock)

Alpert called for more research to understand the relationship, if any, between handedness and mental health.

Lead author Packheiser agreed the results are “purely correlational.”

“We have no causal evidence that developing a psychiatric disorder linked to language or neurodevelopment causes a change in handedness, or whether changes in handedness cause any disorder,” he told Fox News Digital. 

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“Individuals from the general public should therefore never be alarmed if their child prefers to use the left hand,” the researcher said.

“But given the rise of mental disorders in the population, it is important to better understand them.”

The list of potential benefits of the shingles vaccine continues to grow.

Beyond protecting against the viral infection and resulting painful rash, the shot has also been linked to a reduced risk of dementia, as Fox News Digital previously reported.

And now, a new study has found that the vaccine could lower the risk of heart disease for up to eight years.

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In the long-running study, researchers analyzed up to 12 years of data for more than 1.2 million people aged 50 or older in South Korea, focusing on shingles vaccination rates and 18 different types of cardiovascular disease. 

They found that those who received the shingles vaccine had a 23% lower risk of heart issues, including stroke, heart failure and coronary artery disease.

The benefits were greater for people under 60 years old, likely because they have a better immune response, according to the researchers.

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The vaccine’s heart health benefits were also more prominent among men and those who have unhealthy behaviors, such as being sedentary, drinking alcohol and smoking.

The findings were published in the European Heart Journal on Tuesday.

The shingles vaccine has also been linked to a reduced risk of dementia, as Fox News Digital previously reported. (iStock)

The primary symptom of shingles is a painful rash that can lead to serious complications, particularly for older adults and those with weak immune systems, according to lead author Professor Dong Keon Yon from the Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea. 

Without vaccination, about 30% of people may develop shingles in their lifetime, Yon noted.

“In addition to the rash, shingles has been linked to a higher risk of heart problems, so we wanted to find out if getting vaccinated could lower this risk,” he said in a press release.

“Our study suggests that the shingles vaccine may help lower the risk of heart disease, even in people without known risk factors.”

“Our study suggests that the shingles vaccine may help lower the risk of heart disease, even in people without known risk factors. This means that vaccination could offer health benefits beyond preventing shingles.”

Those who received the shingles vaccine had a 23% lower risk of heart issues, including stroke, heart failure and coronary artery disease. (iStock)

The researchers shared several possible reasons for the vaccine’s protective effect on heart health.

“A shingles infection can cause blood vessel damage, inflammation and clot formation that can lead to heart disease,” Yon said. “By preventing shingles, vaccination may lower these risks.” 

Potential limitations

Dr. Jasdeep Dalawari, a Virginia-based interventional cardiologist and regional chief medical officer at VitalSolution, an Ingenovis Health company, was not involved in the study but offered his comments on the findings.

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“This result is notable but requires careful interpretation, especially for the U.S. population,” he told Fox News Digital.

Without vaccination, about 30% of people may develop shingles in their lifetime. (iStock)

“The study used a live vaccine, whereas the U.S. uses Shingrix, a recombinant (non-live) vaccine,” Dalawari noted. “It’s important to note that Shingrix is over 90% effective against shingles, compared to the live vaccine’s 51%.”

The live zoster vaccine contains a weakened form of the varicella zoster virus that causes shingles. 

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The cardiologist also pointed out that the observational study shows correlation, not causation, and that further research is needed.

“The study included 1.2 million individuals aged 50+, all from one ethnicity,” he said. “Expanding the participant pool to include diverse ethnicities would be beneficial in our multi-ethnic society.”

“A shingles infection can cause blood vessel damage, inflammation and clot formation that can lead to heart disease,” the researcher said. (iStock)

Although the study did consider other health conditions, lifestyle factors and socioeconomic status, the researchers agreed that it had some limitations.

“As this study is based on an Asian cohort, the results may not apply to all populations,” Yon noted. “While we conducted rigorous analysis, this study does not establish a direct causal relationship, so potential bias from other underlying factors should be considered.”

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The team plans to conduct further research into the heart health benefits of the non-live, recombinant vaccine, which contains a protein from the virus.

A young Maryland woman is “relieved and recovering” after doctors performed a novel surgery to remove her potentially deadly cancerous tumors.

A surgical team at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) extracted the tumors, which had wrapped around the spinal cord, through the patient’s eye socket.

This was the first time surgeons removed a spinal tumor using a “transorbital” approach, according to a UMMC press release.

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Karla Flores was just 19 when she was diagnosed with a chordoma, which is a developmental bone tumor, in her spine. 

At 18, Flores started experiencing double vision, ultimately leading to her diagnosis months later. 

Chordomas are very rare, with only about 300 cases occurring in the U.S. each year.

“The tumor was wrapped around the patient’s spine and spinal cord and had invaded the vertebrae in her neck, just below the base of the skull,” according to Mohamed Labib, M.D., neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center and assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

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“The primary risks were injuring the brainstem, spinal cord or major blood vessels with the drill or the fine instruments we used — any of these injuries could have resulted in paralysis or even death,” Labib told Fox News Digital. 

“But without surgery, the chordoma could have continued to grow and put intense pressure on the spinal cord. This, too, would have paralyzed her arms and legs and eventually killed her. So, you can see how the stakes were very high with this procedure.”

From left to right, Dr. Kalpesh Vakharia, Dr. Mohamed Labib and Dr. Andrea Hebert of the University of Maryland Medical Center. (University of Maryland Medical Center)

The surgeons created a “huge surgical corridor” through the eye socket that enabled them to get in front of the spinal cord. 

“It was a straight shot,” Labib said.

“By going through the bottom of the eye socket, we were able to remove a tumor that otherwise would have been very difficult and very risky to address.”

“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them.”

During the procedure, Labib worked with a facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon, Kalpesh T. Vakharia, M.D., who “carefully cut through the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane protecting the eye, inside the lower eyelid without disturbing the eye.” 

To create the pathway to the spine, Vakharia removed the bottom of Flores’ eye socket and a portion of her cheekbone, the release stated. 

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“We wanted to develop a surgical plan where there would be no external scars and it would be impossible to tell that the patient even had surgery,” said Vakharia. 

After Labib removed the tumor, Vakharia rebuilt the bottom of the eye socket using a titanium plate and rebuilt the cheek with bone from the patient’s hip, the release detailed. 

This is an illustration of the patient’s two spinal tumors.  (University of Maryland Medical Center)

“It was amazing to have had the opportunity to be part of surgery that had never been done before,” Vakharia added.

This approach also prevented any damage to the eustachian tube, major blood vessels such as the jugular vein and internal carotid artery, and nerves that control swallowing and speech, Labib noted.

Prior to Flores’ surgery, Labib had the chance to practice the transorbital procedure on cadavers “many, many times.”

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“The fact that people are willing to donate their bodies to science enabled us to do this and saved the life of this young woman,” he said.

Flores also had a large tumor around her brain stem, which was removed through two separate procedures via her skull and nose, the release stated.

An illustration of the transorbital path to the patient’s tumors. (Tina Wang/University of Maryland Medical Center)

The spinal tumors could have been life-threatening if they had grown to the point where they caused significant brain stem compression, according to Andrea M. Hebert, MD, a UMCC head and neck surgeon who performed the endonasal procedure and took part in the transorbital surgery.  

“Many of these tumors recur, and that’s why we favor a multidisciplinary approach to treatment,” said Hebert in the release.

Flores has also undergone radiation therapy to eliminate any remaining cancer cells.

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“Karla is doing really well — she’s recovered from surgery and radiation and is ready to get back to work and school,” Labib shared with Fox News Digital. 

“She’s an incredibly brave young woman who has faced more than most her age. I expect that same strength of spirit will carry her into a promising future.”

“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them.”

Flores does have some nerve damage due to the tumor’s proximity to the brain stem, which has caused some issues with movement of her left eye. 

“Learning about the spinal and brain tumors was terrifying, but I am so grateful the doctors were able to remove them,” said Flores, who plans to go to school to become a manicurist. 

Karla Flores is pictured on the left, plus the team of doctors that handled the procedure.  (Karla Flores; University of Maryland Medical Center)

“I’m slowly recovering and with any problem I have, they help me,” she continued.

“I keep reminding myself to take one day at a time and know that each step is an accomplishment.” 

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Flores now plans to go to school to become a manicurist. 

Looking ahead, UMMC’s team plans to demonstrate the transorbital procedure this fall to neurosurgeons from around the world, at their annual Skull Base surgery course.

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“When you have such a broadened corridor to reach these tumors, you can completely remove them, which greatly reduces recurrence of the cancer,” Labib told Fox News Digital.

“We also have other patients who will be receiving similar surgeries in the near future.”