The 4th World Parkinson Congress Announces Its 12 Hot Topics In Research

September 12, 2016 - PORTLAND, OREGON

Promising, Rising-Star Researchers and Clinicians Present New Study Findings in Parkinson’s Disease

4th World Parkinson Congress Steering Committee Co-Chairs Serge Przedborski, MD, PhD and A. Jon Stoessl, CM, MD, FRCPC

The 4th World Parkinson Congress (WPC 2016), through the organization the World Parkinson Coalition®, announces today its 12 Hot Topics presentations, which highlight emerging areas of study in Parkinson’s research and patient disease management. The hot topic categories include basic science, clinical science, clinical therapeutics, and complementary care. The World Parkinson Coalition leadership, which includes more than 50 reviewers, assessed over 600 submissions and whittled them down to the final 12 abstracts. 

Authors of the selected abstracts are presenting their findings orally to the broader audience, just before the opening plenary each morning, four per day. WPC 2016 is being held in Portland, Ore., September 20 – 23. 

“We are pleased to announce this year’s most exciting, cutting-edge 12 hot topics in science by up and coming researchers and clinicians whose work adds great value to the Parkinson’s community,” states Elizabeth (Eli) Pollard, executive director, World Parkinson Coalition, the nonprofit, international organization behind the Congress. “The vast array of research, from genetics to improving day-to-day living, is further evidence how the global Parkinson’s community is working toward the common goal of improving disease management and in finding a cure.” 

The aim of the WPC 2016 is to unite the worldwide Parkinson community for a high-level scientific and educational program organized into four days of pre-congress courses, plenary sessions, workshops, and discussions on the most recent science and clinical research as well as advances in treatments designed to improve care and quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s disease. 

The WPC 2016 committee chairs and co-chairs, such as Serge Przedborski, MD, PhD; A. Jon Stoessl, CM, MD, FRCPC; Marie-Francoise Chesselet, MD, PhD; Peter LeWitt, MD and Peter Fletcher, MSc, FRCP, are among the highly prominent experts in Parkinson’s who reviewed the submitted abstracts that were chosen for the 12 Hot Topics presentations.

WPC 2016 12 Hot Topics presentations include: 

•     Early detection: How sleep disorders may be associated with Parkinson’s years before telltale signs of the disease appear and how early intervention may help stave off disease onset;
•     Genetics: The genetic connections between cognitive impairment and Parkinson’s and the implications for best practices in disease management; how inhibiting the enzyme that causes breakdown of certain neurotransmitters in the brain may slow down the causes of Parkinson’s disease in some people; further understanding of the underpinnings of how Parkinson’s develops to ultimately find a targeted approach for treating Parkinson’s; and other factors that affect dopamine neurons;
•     Traumatic brain injury and Parkinson’s – finding a connection;
•     How to talk to children about Parkinson’s through story books;
•     The possibility of engineering neurological pathways to improve/repair pathways for dopaminergic neurons;
•     Evidence that the flu vaccine may help ward off Parkinson’s;
•     The effects of exercise on people with Parkinson’s; 
•     Technology: How wearable technology and apps improve lives for people living with Parkinson’s.    

For more information about the abstracts, please visit the WPC 2016 Hot Topics page: http://www.wpc2016.org/HotTopics.

About the World Parkinson Coalition® and WPC 2016 

The World Parkinson Coalition Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides an international forum for learning about the latest scientific discoveries, medical practices, care partner initiatives and advocacy work related to Parkinson's disease. The World Parkinson Coalition® launched the first Congress in 2006 to provide a space for the global Parkinson’s community of researchers, clinicians, health care professionals, people with Parkinson’s and their care partners to meet in person, network and to share advances in Parkinson’s research, improve understanding and promote advocacy worldwide, and to potentially shape future research, treatment and care. 

From its modest beginning to nearly 10,000 delegates who have participated in the previous triennial Congresses, the WPC 2016 is expected to attract more than 4,000 delegates. To learn more about the 4th World Parkinson Congress, please visit: http://www.wpc2016.org/

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/09/prweb13662807.htm