WELCOME TO OUR PARKINSON'S PLACE!

I HAVE PARKINSON'S DISEASES AND THOUGHT IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A PLACE WHERE THE CONTENTS OF UPDATED NEWS IS FOUND IN ONE PLACE. THAT IS WHY I BEGAN THIS BLOG.

I COPY NEWS ARTICLES PERTAINING TO RESEARCH, NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE, DEMENTIA, THE BRAIN, DEPRESSION AND PARKINSON'S WITH DYSTONIA. I ALSO POST ABOUT FUNDRAISING FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE AND EVENTS. I TRY TO BE UP-TO-DATE AS POSSIBLE.

I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR IT'S CONTENTS. I AM JUST A COPIER OF INFORMATION SEARCHED ON THE COMPUTER. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THE COPIES ARE JUST THAT, COPIES AND AT TIMES, I AM UNABLE TO ENLARGE THE WORDING OR KEEP IT UNIFORMED AS I WISH. IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND I AM A PERSON WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE. I HAVE NO MEDICAL EDUCATION,

I JUST WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU WHAT I READ ON THE INTERNET. IT IS UP TO YOU TO DECIDE WHETHER TO READ IT AND TALK IT OVER WITH YOUR DOCTOR. I AM JUST THE COPIER OF DOCUMENTS FROM THE COMPUTER. I DO NOT HAVE PROOF OF FACT OR FICTION OF THE ARTICLE. I ALSO TRY TO PLACE A LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF EACH ARTICLE TO SHOW WHERE I RECEIVED THE INFORMATION SO THAT YOU MAY WANT TO VISIT THEIR SITE.

THIS IS FOR YOU TO READ AND TO ALWAYS KEEP AN OPEN MIND.

PLEASE DISCUSS THIS WITH YOUR DOCTOR, SHOULD YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, OR CONCERNS. NEVER DO ANYTHING WITHOUT TALKING TO YOUR DOCTOR FIRST..

I DO NOT MAKE ANY MONEY FROM THIS WEBSITE. I VOLUNTEER MY TIME TO HELP ALL OF US TO BE INFORMED.

I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY ADVERTISEMENT OR HEALING POWERS, HEALING FROM HERBS AND ETC. UNLESS IT HAS GONE THROUGH TRIALS AND APPROVED BY FDA. IT WILL GO INTO SPAM.

THIS IS A FREE SITE FOR ALL WITH NO ADVERTISEMENTS

THANK YOU FOR VISITING! TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

TRANSLATE

Saturday, August 26, 2017

Future Online Seminars



Join PDF's PD ExpertBriefings, one-hour online seminars that offer practical tips and tools. You can join our upcoming seminars live or, if you cannot make the live session, view recordings on our website afterwards.

Coming Up

Stay tuned for announcement of our next series, beginning September 2017.
Tuesday, September 12, 2017 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EDT
John Eric Duda, M.D.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EST
Roseanne D. Dobkin, Ph.D.

Tuesday, January 16, 2018 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EST
Fay B. Horak, Ph.D., P.T.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EST
Christopher G. Goetz, M.D.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EDT
Benzi M. Kluger, M.D., M.S.

Tuesday, June 5, 2018 
01:00 PM
 to 
02:00 PM
EDT
Erin R. Foster, O.T.D., M.S.C.I., O.T.R./L.

‘Walk in the Woods’ benefits Parkinson’s research

August 25, 2017





LITCHFIELD >> The Torrington Area Parkinson’s Support Group will host its sixth annual “Walk in the Woods” for Parkinson’s at White Memorial Conservation Center, Route 202 in Litchfield, CT on Sunday, September 17, 2017. Registration begins at noon. The walk steps off at 1 p.m. along three routes of .5 to 2-miles. 
Proceeds from the event will benefit area people with Parkinson’s and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Research, which strives to improve treatments and find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. 
To register, visit http://www.walkforpd.org, or www.torringtonparkinsonssupportgroup.com. 
Walk in the Woods donations may be made directly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation online at http://www2.michaeljfox.org/site/TR?fr_id=1890&pg=personal&px=1010562. 
TAPSG hopes to raise funds for research, to elevate community awareness of Parkinson’s disease and to provide an afternoon of exercise, entertainment and outdoor fun at the beautiful White Memorial Conservation Center. 
Families may picnic on the grounds prior to or after the walk. Local talent, family activities, baked goods and ticketed drawings will be on site along with the Forbes Flyers precision jumprope team, Litchfield Fire Department, and face-painting booth.

http://www.registercitizen.com/general-news/20170825/bellamy-ferriday-house-to-hold-butterfly-program-salisbury-bank-to-hold-seminar-mural-class-set-in-norfolk-walk-in-the-woods-benefits-parkinsons-research

Parkinson's support group to host seminar

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The annual Parkinson’s Seminar will take place Sept. 7 at Baymont Inn & Suites, 2611 Old Red Trail N.W. in Mandan.

The seminar, sponsored by the Bismarck Parkinson’s Support Group, will feature speakers, brochures, books, resources and information on Parkinson’s disease as well as 17 exhibitors. 

Guest speakers include Laura Logsdon, on a Duopa-A treatment option for advanced Parkinson’s; Randy Tank from Great Plains Rehabilitation on home and vehicle sccessibility; Ralph Dunnigan, a neurologist, speaking about living with Parkinson’s; and Pastor Gary Heaton speaking about "Learning to Live with a Progressive Disease." 

Registration starts at 9 a.m., with the program beginning at 9:30 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m. Cost to attend the seminar is $10 per person, which includes lunch. The registration form, which should be submitted by Aug. 31, can be downloaded from the website bismarckparkinsons.wordpress.com. Call 701-663-2177 for more information.

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/parkinson-s-support-group-to-host-seminar/article_8c20a5bf-e266-5b79-af1a-898cf2b77408.html

Boxing for better health: Fitness class focuses on Parkinson's patients

August 26, 20017



BAXTER—At 70, grandmother and quilting enthusiast Joann Luukkonen never imagined herself in boxing gloves.
Yet Thursday, Luukkonen found herself in Dion's Dangerzone Gym in Baxter with about a dozen others and 15 red heavy bags hanging from the ceiling from one side of the room to the other. This was no ordinary gym class, however, and Luukkonen is no ordinary student.
Designed for sufferers of the neurodegenerative brain disorder Parkinson's disease, Rock Steady Boxing is what Luukkonen hopes will allow her to walk again unassisted, and to once again use quilting skills that have earned her fair ribbons in the past. Twenty-nine years ago at age 41, Luukkonen was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson's disease.
"If there's something out there that might help me, I'm willing to try," Luukkonen said. "It's been a rough journey."
Luukkonen learned of the class while attending a Parkinson's support group at Edgewood Vista in Baxter. It was there she met Lynda Erickson, the Baxter woman who along with her husband Michael Erickson brought the Rock Steady Boxing program to the Brainerd lakes area this summer. In June, the couple traveled to Indiana to become certified, returning to Baxter to establish the fourth affiliate program to exist in Minnesota.
In addition to non-contact boxing, the class includes a host of activities—conditioning, dexterity exercises focused on fine motor skills and even a "obstacle course" of sorts, designed to help people learn how to fall in a way intended to reduce injury and how to get back off the ground.
"We try to get them down on the floor as much as possible, because they're going to end up there," Michael said.
"It's supposed to be hitting all the pieces of the puzzle," Lynda said.
Lynda herself was diagnosed in 2012 at age 54, and a conversation with her neurologist made clear the importance of exercise in slowing the onset of the disease.
"They said you can decide if you want to take medication, but you can't decide if you want to exercise," Lynda said.
Michael stumbled across the Rock Steady Boxing program while researching the disease online, Lynda said, and he was ready to commit to developing a program almost immediately. It took her a little longer to get on board.
"I didn't do any sports in high school and I'm going to box?" Lynda said. "I don't know, I didn't even want to say it out loud that I want to do it."
If there was ever a motivating factor, however, it's what Parkinson's can do without regular movement to keep it at bay. There's no cure for the disorder, which presents itself in a multitude of symptoms stemming from the brain's slow decrease in dopamine production. Four cornerstones of the disease are tremors, rigidity, slowness and negative impacts on balance.
Before Lynda's and Luukkonen's diagnoses, both women thought they had carpal tunnel syndrome—a tingling or numbness in the hand caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist. Luukkonen was a business instructor at Central Lakes College teaching computer courses, so it wasn't a stretch she'd suffer from a condition encouraged by repeated use.
Both described another symptom noticed by others, however—each dragged one of their legs. Michael recognized the combination of symptoms as something more than just a pinched nerve in Lynda. Luukkonen's doctor diagnosed her with Parkinson's, but she wanted a second opinion. At 41 years old, she wasn't ready to face the possibility.
"I thought, 'I'm too young,'" Luukkonen said. "But I had to face it."
A neurologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester confirmed the diagnosis. At the time, in 1988, Luukkonen said her doctor assured her a cure for the disease was imminent. Nearly 30 years later, this promise has yet to be realized.
But that hasn't stopped Luukkonen from seeking ways to fend off the disease. In 2003, she received deep brain stimulation surgery, a procedure in which an electrode is inserted in the brain to disrupt electrical signals in an effort to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's. The impact this device has is most noticeable, she said, when she needs to get the batteries replaced. Without the stimulation, Luukkonen said her tremors become much more noticeable in a short time.
Although able to keep many of her symptoms in check, deep brain stimulation doesn't put an end to the disease. A couple years ago, Luukkonen had to give up quilting—fine motor skills are dramatically impacted by Parkinson's.
Lynda said it isn't just physical symptoms Parkinson's patients face. There's also hidden impacts, such as depression, anxiety and dementia. These symptoms are exacerbated by a lack of exercise and can be encouraged depending on how a doctor addresses the diagnosis with a Parkinson's sufferer. Lynda said she'd heard stories of people essentially told to give up.
"We hear many stories about people who are told, 'Go home and get your affairs in order,'" Lynda said. "We met a 35-year-old ex-Marine in Indiana who went home with that message, laid on the couch and a year later he couldn't walk."
The Marine found Rock Steady Boxing, however, and things changed.
"Three years later with Rock Steady, he passed the Marine physical just to show he could," Lynda said.
Now, Lynda and Michael said they've witnessed similar transformations of Parkinson's patients in their own community. One man, Philip, couldn't stand up without a walker before Rock Steady Boxing.
"He's now getting up at his house with just a cane," Lynda said.
"He hasn't done that in three years," added Chris Bunnis, owner of Dion's Dangerzone Gym.
Chris and wife Jennifer Bunnis were enthusiastic about bringing the class to the gym, which offers boxing-focused and bootcamp-style classes in its space at 13495 Elder Drive.
"It's such a great feeling anytime you come in and work with them and to see the smiles on their face and the progress they've been making," Chris said. "They're like a family to us."
It's not entirely surprising Lynda would be drawn to a program meant to help people. A Crow Wing County social worker for 25 years, Lynda specialized in child protection before her retirement in February. Now, she's dedicating her time to making the Rock Steady Boxing program in Baxter as successful as possible. The program just received a $2,500 grant from Crow Wing Energized, which Lynda said they'll use to purchase equipment such as jump ropes, thicker mats, boxing speed bags and special gel inserts for boxing gloves intended to protect thin skin in older adults.

Although not yet covered by health insurance, Lynda said she's looking for a way to make that happen and is also seeking other grants to help cover the cost of participation. No one, regardless of resources, will be turned away, she said.
"I'm a social worker. ... I needed people," Lynda said. "And I found my niche. I need to keep giving back to the community. I know that if you work hard, you can slow the progress of the disease down. It's no doubt when you see so many people that that's happened to."
Resources on Parkinson's disease
• Rock Steady Boxing meets at 3 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays at Dion's Dangerzone Gym, 13495 Elder Drive, Baxter. Call 218-850-0872 with questions.
• A Parkinson's disease support group meets at 1:30 p.m. the first Thursday of every month at Edgewood Vista, 14211 Firewood Drive, Baxter. The group has met for 12 years to share information, support and concerns. Caregivers are welcome. Contact Lynda Erickson with questions at 218-829-4017.
• BIG and LOUD therapy programs at Big Stone Therapy, 15620 Edgewood Drive N, Suite 240, Baxter, provide individual physical therapy and speech therapy. BIG consists of a high-intensity exercise program to teach patients to use their big movements and turn them into lifelong habits. LOUD consists of a high-intensity, individual voice program to carry over into everyday life. Call 218-454-7012 with questions.
• Speak Out and BIG programs at Essentia Health in Brainerd provide speech therapy and physical therapy. Speak Out is a speech therapy program that strengthens the muscles used for speaking and swallowing by teaching patients how to speak with intent. There are 12 individual sessions followed by the LOUD crowd, a group that provides ongoing vocal practice, accountability and support. The group meets weekly and is free. Call 218-828-7375 with questions.
How to support Rock Steady Boxing
• Lynda and Michael Erickson are seeking donations to support the Rock Steady Boxing program. Donations will be used to purchase new equipment and assist with coverage of class fees for participants, along with supporting growth of the program. Visit https://www.razoo.com/story/Rocksteady to make a donation.
• Another way to help is to volunteer for the classes. Michael Erickson said anyone is welcome to volunteer, although they must be physically fit enough to assist boxers with movements in the class. For more information, call 218-850-0872.

Streetwise: Parkinson's dance class coming to Fond du Lac

August 26, 2017



FOND DU LAC – On three Tuesdays this fall, a group will host free dance classes for people with Parkinson's Disease and their caregivers at the Fond du Lac Senior Center. 
The Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Parkinson Association will offer an uncommon exercise program for people of all abilities with the Parkinson's Movement and Dance Class, at the senior center, 151 E. First St.
“Exercise is one of the best ways to manage the complicated symptoms of Parkinson disease,” said Gary Garland, Wisconsin Parkinson Association’s executive director. “This class provides a way to help people with Parkinson’s get moving, have fun and meet other people who are experiencing the same disease they are. People who have Parkinson's fall into a wide range of how well they can move — this class welcomes everyone and all will find benefit.”
The classes, which are tailored to people with Parkinson's and their caregivers, run from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, Oct. 3, 24 and Nov. 14 at the senior center.
 You can register here, at wiparkinson.org, or call 414-312-6990. 

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/money/2017/08/26/streetwise-parkinsons-dance-class-coming-fond-du-lac/602429001/

Review focuses on possible role of neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases

August 26, 2017

Illustration from web

Illustration from web

In the journal Current Aging Science, a research team has reviewed modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. The reviewers focus on the possible role of neuroinflammation (inflammation of the nervous tissue) in neurodegenerative disease mechanisms. 

Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are among the most common causes of dementia, and increasingly contribute to morbidity and mortality worldwide. A common hallmark of these two diseases is neuroinflammation, which is initially triggered by the presence of pathological molecular structures associated with these disorders. 

Chronic neuroinflammation is sustained by persistent activation of the non-neuronal glial cells in the brain, which results in damage or death of neighboring cells, including neurons and glial cells themselves. Persistent neuroinflammation of the brain is hypothesized to contribute to the neurodegeneration observed in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

The reviewers note four modifiable risk factors for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases: physical inactivity, vascular disease-related conditions, obesity and type two diabetes mellitus.
 These modifiable risk factors contribute to neuroinflammation through specific mechanisms that are directly linked to the pathologies of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. These risk factors are deemed modifiable as their occurrence in the general population can be reduced, or avoided by individuals, through various lifestyle changes, such as improved diet, regular exercise and effective treatment of vascular disease-related conditions such as high blood pressure. This review highlights that the control of the modifiable risk factors is a valid approach for managing the increased incidence of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. 
In addition, the neuroinflammatory mechanisms common to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases are described, which may link the above four common modifiable risk factors with both of these neurodegenerative diseases. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of neuroinflammation could help identify new therapeutic targets for combating neurodegenerative diseases.
Source:

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20170826/Review-focuses-on-possible-role-of-neuroinflammationc2a0in-Alzheimers-and-Parkinsons-diseases.aspx

FDA Clears First Drug for Parkinson's Dyskinesia

August 25, 2017   Megan Brooks




The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved amantadine extended-release capsules (Gocovri, Adamas Pharmaceuticals Inc) for treatment of dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease receiving levodopa-based therapy, with or without concomitant dopaminergic medications, the company announced today.
"Gocovri's approval is an important advancement for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, as it is the first FDA-approved medicine for the treatment of dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease patients," Rajesh Pahwa, MD, professor of neurology at the Kansas Medical Center and director of the Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence at the University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, said in a company news release.
"Notably, Gocovri is the first Parkinson's disease medicine proven in controlled trials to reduce both dyskinesia and OFF time in Parkinson's disease patients receiving levodopa. Treatment of dyskinesia and OFF time continues to be an unmet need in the medical management of Parkinson's disease and the approval of Gocovri is a major step in that direction," added Dr Pahwa.
Dr Pahwa led a phase 3 placebo-controlled trial of amantadine extended-release (ER), published online June 12 in JAMA Neurology and reported by Medscape Medical News.
The amantadine ER capsules, administered at bedtime, are specifically formulated so that the plasma concentration increases slowly during sleep, with peak concentration in the morning and sustained concentrations throughout the day.
he efficacy and safety of amantadine ER for Parkinson's dyskinesia were demonstrated in two phase 3 controlled trials. In study 1, patients receiving the drug showed statistically significant and clinically relevant reductions in dyskinesia, with a 37% reduction in Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) total score, compared with 12% for placebo at week 12. These results were confirmed in study 2, in which amantadine ER achieved a 46% reduction in UDysRS compared with 16% for placebo.
Secondary data from Parkinson's disease patient-reported diaries in study 1 and study 2 showed that amantadine ER–treated patients experienced, respectively, a 3.6- and 4.0-hour increase in functional time daily (defined as "on" time without troublesome dyskinesia) vs a 0.8- and 2.1-hour increase for placebo-treated patients at week 12. The increases in functional time were achieved by decreases in both "on" time with troublesome dyskinesia and "off" time. The placebo-adjusted reduction in "off" time in both studies was about 1 hour per day.
The most commonly observed adverse reactions (>10% and greater than with placebo) with amantadine ER were hallucinations, dizziness, dry mouth, peripheral edema, constipation, falls, and orthostatic hypotension.
The company expects amantadine ER to be available in the fourth quarter.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/884697?src=rss#vp_2

11 year old boy is climbing for a cure against Parkinson's disease

August 25, 2017  By  




RAPID CITY, SD (KOTA TV) - While most 11 year old boys are hanging with their friend, Owen Ponto is organizing an event to help find a cure for Parkinson's disease.

On Sunday, September 10, 2017 people will be climbing for a cure on M Hill.
Parkinson's research is very important to Ponto because both his grandparents suffer from the disease.
Parkinson's disease affects as many as one million individual in the US, and there is still no known cure. 
This is a way to help fund research to help Ponto’s grandparents. 
Owen’s Mother, Tracy Ponto, says “I was really impressed with the number of people that have shared and the donations that we've already gotten in from people that I don't even know who they are which is very cool. Our family has also been sending out emails so hopefully will get a lot of people to the event to come and have fun hiking with us."
Ponto has already raised more than $1,000 before the event has even started and all the money is going to the Banner Sun Health Research Institute. 
If you can't make it to the event you can still donate at baanerhealth.com/bannerfoundation.
Video:http://www.kotatv.com/content/news/11-year-old-boy-is-climbing-for-a-cure-against-Parkinsons-disease-441782643.html

http://www.kotatv.com/content/news/11-year-old-boy-is-climbing-for-a-cure-against-Parkinsons-disease-441782643.html

Researchers enter race for early Alzheimer's test

August 24, 2017


In a new study, ASU-Banner NDRC researcher Paul Coleman and his colleagues at ASU, Mayo Clinic, University of Rochester, Banner Alzheimer Institute and Barrow Neurological Institute describe a blood test to detect Alzheimer's disease at a pre-symptomatic state. Credit: Jason Drees for the Biodesign institute


According to Paul Coleman, an Alzheimer's researcher at the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center (NDRC), one of the greatest difficulties plaguing efforts to find effective treatments for Alzheimer's is the enormous lag between the disease's inception and the appearance of clinical symptoms

In a new study, Coleman and his colleagues demonstrate the promise of an early blood test for Alzheimer's disease. The results suggest that Alzheimer's can be detected even before the onset of symptoms in persons at genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.

In addition to the NDRC, study collaborators include ASU, the Mayo Clinic, University of Rochester, Banner Alzheimer Institute and Barrow Neurological Institute.

The new method successfully distinguished between Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and healthy controls, indicating that the test does not simply identify general phenomena of neurodegeneration but is able to pick out AD from other degenerative brain conditions.

"What we've done in our paper is to replicate our own work multiple times with different populations and even using different technologies," Coleman says. "We also presented data showing the ability to detect people at risk of a future diagnosis for Alzheimer's disease."

The method accomplishes this feat by examining white blood cells or leucocytes. Here, segments of RNA known as transcripts—derived from specific DNA genes—hold vital clues regarding health.
The study was recently published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

Hidden menace
Alzheimer's disease continues its pitiless ascent. The illness afflicts 11 percent of those 65 or older, with the figure soaring to 45 percent for people over 85. Current trends predict some 14 million Americans will be afflicted with the disease by mid-century at a towering cost of a trillion dollars.

Along its path of destruction, Alzheimer's tears out its victim's memory, reasoning capacity and personal identity, necessitating around-the-clock care, before death eventually ensues. The crippling toll of the disease on patients, family and society at large makes it a global health crisis of frightening proportions.

Researchers now know that by the time the first outward manifestations of Alzheimer's appear, in the form of confusion, memory loss and other classic hallmarks, Alzheimer's has been ravaging the brain for decades. If the disease could be identified much earlier—close to its origin—there is hope that perhaps it could be slowed or even halted in its tracks.

Given the vital need for a safe and reliable early diagnostic for Alzheimer's, many previous efforts have taken aim at the problem. Ideally, such a method should be appropriate for primary care settings, allowing a broad swath of the public to be accurately and regularly tested.

Until now, however, efforts to develop a reliable early diagnostic for Alzheimer's have run aground. Further, the accuracy of diagnosis even after the disease has entered its clinical phase, remains poor.

Signposts of disorder
It has long been known that Alzheimer's produces changes in the brain, which can stimulate genes relating to conditions like stress and inflammation. Expression of these genes appears in the blood in the form of specific RNA transcripts.

The research results clearly demonstrate that these RNA transcripts can be combined into a potent early diagnostic or biomarker, able to distinguish normal patients from those with Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease and—most importantly— make accurate predictions about patients at risk for future development of Alzheimer's disease.

The diagnostic precision of the new test is significant. Existing diagnostic screening results for known AD cases (identified through clinical and neuropathological factors), showed diagnostic sensitivity was between 71 percent and 87 percent while specificity ranged from 44 percent to 70 percent. (In medical diagnosis, sensitivity is the ability of a test to correctly identify those with the disease, known as the true positive rate, whereas specificity refers to the ability of the test to correctly identify those without the disease or the true negative rate.)

Such diagnoses are typically conducted in specialized facilities devoted to the study of Alzheimer's. As the authors note, the accuracy of standard diagnosis falls significantly in primary care settings. The result is that Alzheimer's is generally detected very late in the disease process, if it is correctly identified at all—a blueprint for treatment failure, because the illness has already irreparably damaged the brain. The high rate of misdiagnosis leads to frequently unnecessary and ineffective treatment.

Disease in the cross-hairs
In a fresh approach, the authors identify RNA transcripts in blood using two different RNA-analysis techniques, known as cDNA array and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results of the two methods were in close agreement and were further shown to be replicable across multiple sample populations. This allowed the researchers to design a consistent suite of transcripts that could be used to diagnose the disease. This multivariate analysis demonstrated impressive accuracy in a number of critical experiments described in the new paper.

The study divides 177 blood and 27 post-mortem brain samples into several groups, establishing that careful analysis of RNA transcripts in blood samples has the ability to distinguish early clinical AD, Parkinson's disease (PD), and cognitively healthy patients. It can accurately identify those carrying two copies of the APOE4 gene—known to be a severe risk factor for developing Alzheimer's. Transcript screening was also used to identify those at risk for future cognitive impairment due to having at least one direct relative with AD.
The study reveals that both cDNA and RT-PCR methods managed to distinguish probable AD from normal controls with an accuracy of 93.8 percent, using just 5 RNA transcripts for the test. As the authors note, the blood test's' accuracy may be even higher as some of the "false positives"—healthy cases mischaracterized as AD—may be from subjects who are actually positive for pre-symptomatic manifestations of Alzheimer's.

Assessing future risk
The results demonstrate that multivariate analysis of transcripts in blood samples provide an accurate and minimally invasive strategy for diagnosis of AD and early detection of AD risk. Further, the results were consistent with examination of the same transcripts identified in the post-mortem brains of subjects with Alzheimer's compared with those diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and with normal controls. (The brain samples, obtained through the Banner Sun Health Research Institute, were taken from a region known to be vulnerable to the most devastating effects of Alzheimer's.)

In addition to RNA transcripts linked with inflammation and stress, the study examines a series of epigenetic transcripts—RNA sequences that have undergone post-transcriptional modification. Results again found a strong correlation between the presence of these epigenetic markers and AD, implying they may also provide a compelling diagnostic tool.

Future refinements should sharpen the method's ability to accurately identify Alzheimer's disease at an early stage—prior to the onset of clinical symptoms— in a primary care setting, with just a simple blood extraction. Efforts to conduct long term longitudinal studies and hunt for additional diagnostic transcripts should eventually be combined with testing of new therapeutics aimed at early intervention.

Intriguingly, one or more of the many existing drugs for Alzheimer's which have failed in clinical trials, may actually succeed in slowing or arresting Alzheimer's if they can be delivered early enough in the disease process. Further, trials for new drugs targeting at-risk patients can be ramped up significantly if a simple, non-invasive blood test can replace costly imaging like PET scan.

The new early diagnostic therefore represents a promising milestone in the war on
Alzheimer's disease.

Journal reference: Neurobiology of Aging



https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-early-alzheimer.html