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.
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A study set to be released Wednesday determined Muhammad Ali displayed signs of slowed or slurred speech as much as a decade before he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
According to ESPN.com's William Weinbaum, Arizona State University speech scientists Visar Berisha and Julie Liss studied public speaking appearances Ali made from 1968 through 1981 and found his speaking rate slowed by 26 percent from the ages of 26 to 39.
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 42 and died in 2016 at the age of 74.
Jonathan Eig, author of the upcoming biography Ali: A Life was part of the study as well, and he found Ali's speech slowed by 16 percent after a 1977 fight against Earnie Shavers that saw him absorb 266 punches.
Eig concluded Ali's speech would slowly rebound the further removed he got from fights but that irreparable damage was done.
Per Weinbam, Eig said Ali had some knowledge regarding the danger he put himself in by fighting until he was nearly 40: "Ali did damage to himself and he knew it and kept boxing too long, but he didn't have the information we now have about CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy)—you don't have to wait until you're middle-aged to stop."
Ali's last fight was in 1981 against Trevor Berbick, and the study found he was already slurring his words three years prior to that.
The official Parkinson's diagnosis came almost three years after Ali retired from boxing.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a muscle-wasting disease that affects one in every 3500 boys around the world.
It is a genetic disease that boys inherit from their mother. Girls can inherit the gene as a carrier and may display mild symptoms, but nothing as debilitating as a boy's experience.
Boys are usually wheelchair bound by their early teens. Most die by their mid-20s, often from heart failure or an inability to breathe.
It was once thought incurable. But today, trials of a WA-developed drug are under way in America with promising results.
And who provided the jumpstart for this medicinal marvel?
None other than the happy, hopping quokka.
Lab quokkas
Back in the mid-20th century, scientists thought the quokka was quite an odd organism because of its unique biology and habitat.
To better understand these bounding bundles of happiness, scientists at UWA put several specimens in cages.
At first, they didn't learn a lot.
Academic understanding of the quokka was hampered by the fact that they kept dying, though not before they suffered muscle paralysis.
In 1960, Professor Byron Kakulas, then a mere PhD candidate, was asked to investigate the problem.
Around this time, vet scientists discovered the importance of trace elements. Animals had to consume small amounts of minerals such as copper, zinc and chromium to maintain health.
Knowing this, Professor Kakulas began to suspect that the caged quokkas were suffering from a vitamin E deficiency.
When this deficiency was rectified, not only did the quokkas stop dying, but their muscles began to regenerate.
Previously paralysed quokkas recovered completely, something once believed to be biologically impossible.
This discovery—that muscle fibres are capable of regeneration—inspired a flurry of research. It initiated searches for cures of many different muscular diseases.
In 1967, the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Western Australia was established to fund a cure for DMD based on the quokka discovery.
Perth hosted the International Congress of Muscle Diseases in 1971. It was the first major international congress to be held in Australia, putting our medical research (and the quokka) in a global spotlight.
The Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute (now the Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science) was established in 1983. It facilitated research into other neuromuscular diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis.
Research to results
Almost half a century after Professor Kakulas was presented with his first dead quokka, clinical trials of a drug to treat DMD have begun in the US.
DMD is the most common lethal muscle disease.
It is a genetic disease, with two-thirds of cases inherited from parents and the other third a result of spontaneous DNA mutations.
DMD affects how the body produces dystrophin, a protein that protects the membrane of muscle fibres during muscle contractions. Without dystrophin, the membranes get damaged and muscles waste away, replaced by fat and fibrous connective tissue.
Of all the genes in the body that make proteins, the gene for dystrophin is one of the longest with 2.2 million base pairs. That's more than 30 times the length of an average protein gene, which has 66,600 base pairs.
The base pairs in the dystrophin gene are chunked into 79 exons of DNA, which join together like puzzle pieces in a chain.
DMD occurs when an exon in the middle of this chain is deleted, preventing the protein from linking together. To do its job in our body, dystrophin needs both ends of its protein chain.
Murdoch University researchers have developed a drug called eteplirsen, which can patch the two chain ends together.
Professors Steve Wilton and Sue Fletcher have created 'molecular patches' that mask the mutated section of DNA. Eteplirsen helps cell protein producers skip over the break in the DNA, creating shorter (but still semi-functional) forms of dystrophin.
This semi-functional dystrophin can prevent—and in some cases restore—the deterioration of muscle weakness.
Not a jack of all cures
Because the gene for dystrophin is so long, mutations that cause DMD can occur at many different points. This variability means that one drug can't be used to treat all DMD patients as molecular patches are designed to mask one specific spot on the DNA.
Professors Wilton and Fletcher's drug treats a gene mutation that affects around 10% of boys suffering from DMD.
Some data suggests that 80% of DMD patients have DNA mutations that would respond to this same gene-skipping technology.
And so far, clinical trials suggest that the technology works.
Walking on sunshine
In 2012, 12 boys in the US participated in a trial of eteplirsen—at a cost of US$300,000 a year.
There have certainly been success stories. Billy Elsworth from Pennsylvania visited Perth to thank Professors Wilton and Fletcher. At 16, he is still able to walk. In fact, in 2015, he ran the Pittsburgh Kids Marathon.
Hopefully, while in Perth, he was able to hop on over to Rottnest Island and thank the quokka too.
Micro inflammation developed at specific sites in the brain (top panel). Pathological analysis of the stomach showed damage to tissues in the stomach (bottom right) compared to mice not under stressful conditions (bottom left). Credit: Arima Y., et al. eLife. August 15, 2017.
Hokkaido University researchers revealed that fatal gut failure in a multiple sclerosis (MS) mouse model under chronic stress is caused by a newly discovered nerve pathway. The findings could provide a new therapeutic strategy for the intractable disease, particularly progressive MS, which has no therapeutic strategy at present.
MS affects an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide and causes motor dysfunction, impaired vision and gastrointestinal failures. It is an autoimmune condition of the central nervous system (CNS) mediated by immune cells called autoreactive CD4+ T cells. In EAE mouse models, these pathogenic CD4+ T cells can cause an MS-like disease when transfused intravenously to healthy mice.
In previous studies using EAE mouse models, Professor Masaaki Murakami of Hokkaido University and his colleagues revealed autoreactive CD4+ T cells cross the blood-brain barrier at specific sites and cause inflammation in the CNS, including the brain and spinal cord. The emergence of a "gateway" for autoreactive CD4+ T cells to cross the barrier was caused by regional neural activation at those sites, which is triggered by specific sensory-sympathetic interactions. They termed these phenomena as gateway reflexes and have now published on at least three: the gravity-, electric-, and pain-gateway reflexes.
In the present study, the team and their collaborators in Japan and Germany investigated the possible relations between chronic stress, micro-inflammation in the brain, and stress-related organ failures. They put healthy mice under stress by disturbing their sleep or by rearing them on wet bedding. The transfer of pathogenic CD4+ T cells under the stress caused severe symptoms such as gastrointestinal failures and even sudden death. Cell transfer or stress alone did not cause these symptoms. Subsequent investigations revealed a complex nerve-related mechanism behind this process.
The injected pathogenic CD4+ T cells accumulated around blood vessels in two specific sites at the center of the brains of the stressed mice. Micro-inflammation developed around specific blood vessels, and the inflamed sites then released a small molecule called ATP that switched on a nerve pathway that is normally turned off. This switch led to gut dysfunctions, bleeding and failure. Also, the bleeding led to increased levels of potassium in the blood, one of factors leading to heart failure.
The team was able to prevent gut failure by suppressing inflammation in the brain or blocking nerve pathways from the brain to the gut. The results suggest that tiny areas of inflammation around some specific vessels in the brain, which are known to happen in various brain diseases including multiple sclerosis, are a risk factor for organ dysfunctions including severe gut and heart failure.
"These results demonstrate a direct link between brain micro-inflammation and fatal gastrointestinal diseases via the establishment of a new neural pathway under stress," says Masaaki Murakami. "Micro-inflammation in the brain is also seen in Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. So it's of particular interest to investigate possible connections between brain micro-inflammations and organ dysfunctions, including those within the brainitself, in those patients."
The study was published in the journal eLife.
More information: Yasunobu Arima et al, Brain micro-inflammation at specific vessels dysregulates organ-homeostasis via the activation of a new neural circuit, eLife (2017). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.25517
A new in-vitro study by University of California, Davis, researchers indicates that quaternary ammonium compounds, or "quats," used as antimicrobial agents in common household products inhibit mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, as well as estrogenic functions in cells. Their findings will appear online Aug. 22 in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Quats are used as antiseptics in toothpastes, mouthwashes, lozenges, nasal sprays, eye drops, shampoos, lotions, intravaginal spermicidal sponges and household cleaners, to name a few.
"Disinfectants that we are putting on and in our bodies, and using in our environment, have been shown to inhibit mitochondrial energy production and the cellular estrogen response," said biochemist Gino Cortopassi in the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "This raises concern because exposure to other mitochondrial-inhibiting drugs, such as rotenone and MPTP, is associated with increased risk for Parkinson's disease."
Quats derail energy in cells
The study surveyed a collection of 1,600 compounds and drugs in household and pharmaceutical use, with multiple measures of mitochondrial function, and found that quats as a class inhibited mitochondrial function and estrogen signaling.
Mitochondria are critical cell structures that generate energy. Like a train delivering its payload among stations, electrons pass through five stations of the mitochondria to produce maximal cell energy. If the train is derailed at any of those stops, it can't deliver its payload of energy down the line for the cell to use.
The group also found that quats, at the same concentrations that inhibited mitochondria, inhibited estrogen signaling in cells. Estrogen is a sex hormone responsible for secondary sexual characteristics in females.
"Because exposure to quats is also interrupting the sex hormone estrogen response in cells, it could also potentially cause reproductive harm in animals or humans, and others have shown that quats cause reproductive toxicity in animals," Cortopassi said.
From cells to mammals
While the work at UC Davis has been conducted in cells, not in mammals, a group of researchers at Virginia Tech accidentally discovered a few years ago that quat exposure through a laboratory disinfectant caused reproductive toxicity and reduced fertility in mice. They also recently demonstrated a link between quats and neural tube birth defects in both mice and rats.
"Our study in cells provides a mechanism for their observations in laboratory animals," said Sandipan Datta, a postdoctoral scholar in Cortopassi's laboratory. "They demonstrated that quat exposure caused reproductive toxicity in both females and males. The anti-estrogenic effects we see in cells could explain the female reproductive toxicity they observed, such as less estrus cycles and lower breeding rates."
Quats have been widely used as topical antiseptics and disinfectants since the 1940s. Other antiseptic compounds, such as triclosan, have been withdrawn from the market after research in animal models showed they may impair muscle function.
Some companies have been looking to replace triclosan with quats, Cortopassi said, with the idea that they may be creating a safer product. The research demonstrates that may not be the safest alternative.
Taking it to the next level
Cortopassi said it's important for his team to take this research to the next level in animal models. Additional studies are needed to determine how these chemicals may accumulate in tissues with regular use, and to understand if quat exposure affects health and disease in humans.
"This paper adds to the growing number of studies which find that quats may not be as safe as previously believed," said Terry Hrubec, associate professor at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine-Virginia, and not a co-author on this study. "The fact that six out of the 10 most potent mitochondrial inhibitors were quats shows that this class of chemicals likely affects living systems. The results from this study are concerning because almost everyone is exposed to quats on a regular basis."
RED HOOK — Moving Beyond Parkinson’s is a fundraiser sponsored by Studio KTM and Arbonne Cosmetics. They will host a day of information, sampling, mini-makeups and hair consultations. The fundraiser will be held 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 26 at 41 Firehouse Lane, Red Hook. For information and to reserve a spot, call 845-758-6092.
Studio KTM is an organic hair salon owned and operated by Kristen Marquette and Arbonne is a health and wellness company with 37 years dedicated to bringing products to your life that are pure, safe and beneficial. By integrating botanical ingredients with green chemistry Arbonne crafts products with integrity, expertise and innovation.
“Have fun, learn some new beauty tips, try lots of products, enjoy a healthy snack and join us at the first annual Parkinson’s fundraiser to make movement training available to people in our area”, says Studio KTM owner Kristen Marquette.
The objective of the fundraiser is to support people locally who have Parkinson’s Disease by providing scholarships for exercise programs to improve sufferers’ mobility, and purchase equipment that people can try before buying it for themselves.
One hundred percent of all profits from the sale of Arbonne products during the fundraiser will go to Moving Beyond Parkinson’s.
Those who do not wish to purchase products may make a straight donation or participate in the 20/80 raffle where 80% of all proceeds will go Moving Beyond Parkinson’s.
Participants go through a series of moves at a Dance for Parkinson’s Disease class with the Brooklyn, New York-based Mark Morris Dance Group. Oklahoma City Ballet will be begin offering a similar class in September. Photo by Ellis Gaskell
Oklahoma City Ballet will offer a ballet class that benefits people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease beginning Sept. 5 at its new facility at 6800 N Classen Blvd.
Dance for Parkinson’s is being offered through OKC Ballet’s growing outreach division, as a part of the Golden Swans program that benefits senior adults. This new program was made possible in part by a grant from the Oklahoma City Community Foundation’s Elderly Services iFund, according to a news release.
Ballet has been proven to be beneficial for Parkinson’s patients through the Dance for PD program created by Mark Morris Dance Group faculty member David Leventhal. He has received numerous awards and recognition from the Parkinson’s community for creating this program. Erica Portell, OKC Ballet faculty member, attended classes in Brooklyn, New York, to become trained through Dance for PD in August.
“To me what is so unique about this approach is that it’s not ‘watered down’ or condescending,” said Portell in a news release. “There isn't a dynamic of ‘you are a patient -let's use dance to try and fix you.’ It respects that these people are grown adults with long, rich life experiences to draw from and to contribute. I would say a better description of the dynamic is ‘You Have Parkinson's. And you are here as a dance student.’”
Parkinson’s sufferers greatly benefit from the community formed, the strength and stability developed, and confidence in movement that ballet classes aid in developing, according to the release. The program consists of one-hour classes that vary between doing movements while seated, using the back of the chair for assistance, and doing movements across the floor. All instruction is catered to the abilities of that particular student, with options given for varying degrees of difficulty.
“Class is beyond inclusive,” Portell said in the release. “It is presented with options and modifications for everyone from early onset or recent diagnosis to those using wheelchairs or walkers. There's a way for everyone to participate at their maximum level.”
Portell’s own father suffers from Parkinson’s Disease.
Dance, specifically choreography or simply putting a sequence of movements together, ultimately helps participants to start thinking creatively on how to move from point A to point B. Participating in dance classes helps instill confidence in students by emphasizing what they are able to do and not focusing on what they cannot do. Dance also expands their abilities to do certain things, helping with their strength, stamina, flexibility, and stability.
Finally, participants feel a sense of community by being a part of a group dance class. Dancing together forms bonds, and there are specific activities that are conducted within the class in order to help participants develop those bonds.
Oklahoma City Ballet will be working with the Parkinson Foundation of Oklahoma to reach people in need of these classes. The expected outcomes of the program are that participants will have a decrease in their symptom severity, according to the news release.
Starting Sept. 5, the free Dance for Parkinson’s class will be offered weekly from 2 to 3 p.m. Tuesdays at the Brackett Dance Center. For more information or to sign up for these classes, contact Stephanie Pitts, OKC Ballet’s Outreach Coordinator,by emailing Stephanie@okcballet.org.
KEN SCHNEIDER and Marv Gibson recently participated late last month in the National Field Archery Association National Tournament in Yankton
A member of the Norfolk Archery Club recently won a first-place award in national competition.
Marvin Gibson participated late last month in the National Field Archery Association National Tournament in Yankton. He finished first in the Silver Senior Male Traditional. Targets division, with targets involved ranging from seven to 80 yards. Overall, the three-day competition involved 28 targets each in the association’s field, hunter and animal rounds. Scores each day were added together to determine winners of each division and class.
In the traditional class that Gibson participated in, competitors uses a recurve bow with a short stabilizer without a sight or clicker. The bow is drawn and released with the fingers. A shooting glove or finger tab can be used.
Gibson’s accomplishment was particularly noteworthy because he suffers from fairly advanced Parkinson’s disease. It was a surprise, he said, that after two days of competition, Gibson realized he was in the running for the title.
The third day of competition then propelled Gibson to first place in his division.
Gibson has participated in archery since he was 7 years old. He has won numerous awards in state, multi-state, national and world tournaments.
Another member of the Norfolk Archery Club, Ken Schneider, shot his all-time best animal round. He tied the national record for Silver Senior Male Bowhunter Freestyle with a score of 570 out of 588.
In that class, competitors use a compound bow with a short stabilizer, a fixed pin sight, and a mechanical release.
More than 400 archers from the United States and five foreign countries competed in the tournament.
The partnership between NNI and NTU Singapore will see the development of innovative technologies to better diagnose and treat patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and brain injuries. Credit: NTU Singapore
The National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) are collaborating to develop innovative technologies to better diagnose and treat patients with neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease and brain injuries.
These include developing an artificial intelligence system that can accurately identify types of traumatic brain injuries from computed tomography (CT) scans.
Another project involves coming up with a computing algorithm for more precise identification of tissues during brain surgeries. It aims to restore the neurological functions of patients suffering from various conditions such as Parkinson's disease.
Over the next three years, the collaboration will also foster closer working relations between medical practitioners and engineers through annual fellowships and student attachment programmes.
Managed by NTU's Institute for Health Technologies (HealthTech NTU), the one-year fellowship programme will see up to two neurosurgical residents at NNI work full-time with NTU professors on campus. Each resident will receive S$100,000 to complete and commercialise their projects.
A student attachment programme that spans a few weeks will also be introduced, allowing NTU engineering students to work alongside neurosurgeons at NNI.
Aimed at grooming multidisciplinary scientists, students will get to widen their engineering knowledge into medical practice. They will gain first-hand exposure to various aspects of clinical medicine by interacting with neurosurgeons in the course of their work.
Associate Professor Ng Wai Hoe, Medical Director of the National Neuroscience Institute, said, "Innovation occurs at intersections of disciplines, knowledge and expertise. Doctors have a deep understanding of clinical needs from their everyday interactions with patients. Our unique collaboration brings these medical needs to engineering laboratories - an environment where imagination is encouraged in the form of technological advances and capabilities.
"The rapidly ageing population will lead to a significant rise in neurological diseases globally. By harnessing the power of the human brain, neurotechnology can provide solutions to revolutionise the treatment of brain disorders. This partnership has great potential to be an innovation launchpad for Neurotechnology."
Professor Lam Khin Yong, NTU's Chief of Staff and Vice President for Research, said, "This collaboration creates a unique multidisciplinary research environment by integrating healthcare with both medical and engineering expertise from NTU's Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine and College of Engineering.
"This will not only nurture next-generation doctors armed with a multidisciplinary skillset to meet Singapore's healthcare needs, but also enhance medical technologies to diagnose and treat neurological conditions more effectively."
HealthTech NTU develops and translates new technologies to solve health problems and improve the quality of life. It tackles healthcare challenges with innovative solutions, cutting-edge technologies, and expert interdisciplinary teams.
A Spring Hill gallery hosted the annual Antes Portas art exhibition, opened as tradition dictates, through Ekka week, to a happy mixture of bush expats and city friends, all keen to explore the latest offerings from Louise Durack, Susan McConnel, Chrissie Higgins, Binnie Donovan, Peta Trude, Alison Coates, Judith Maestracci, Robyn Kirk, and Jonathan Baxter.
Nadeesha Kalyani, QUT, and Cindy Cooper, part of the Parkinson's Choir that performed on the night.
The mixed offering of acrylic, pen and ink, watercolour, oil on canvas, photography, silver and gold leaf, string sculpture and driftwood were centre stage, along with the annual auction raising money for a cause dear to the artists.
This year it was Parkinson’s disease and a Parkinson’s choir performed during the evening.
Over a dozen people spent time at the Civic Center this weekend to learn more about combating Parkinson's disease.
The Eljay Foundation for Parkinson's Awareness hosted its annual conference Saturday. Different organizations dedicated to those with Parkinson's came out to support the conference. A number of speakers also spoke with attendees.
Dr. Brian Kelley, a staff neurosurgeon at Christus St. Patrick and conference speaker, said Parkinson's disease is personal.
"When I was in college, my roommate, his dad developed Parkinson's disease," said Kelley. "In college I really wasn't familiar with Parkinson's disease, but watching it progress and what a problem it was for both him, and what it did to his family as well, made it very personal. When I started training in neurosurgery at the University of Kansas, they were doing deep brain stimulation there. To see the amount of improvement patients would get made it something I was convinced I'd do for the rest of my practice."
