FoxFeed Blog: What We Fund: Brain's Resilience, Asthma Drug for Parkinson's and Signs of Disease in the Eye

August 13, 2018

The Michael J. Fox Foundation funds promising Parkinson's disease (PD) science to ensure new ideas flow into the pipeline and drive urgently needed breakthroughs for people living with the disease. Through open funding programs and staff-directed grants, the Foundation speeds efforts to grow our understanding of Parkinson's biology and clinical experience, measure PD pathology and progression, and develop therapies to alleviate symptoms and slow or stop disease.

In the second quarter of 2018, we funded projects targeting new treatments ranging from engineered immune cells to personalized speech therapy as well as efforts to improve or repurpose existing therapies. Other studies we funded aimed to predict disease progression, and we also supported studies of novel ways to diagnose and measure Parkinson's. Click through from the links below to read more on these projects.

We covered some of these projects in our recent "Ask the PhD" video covering studies funded through our biannual call for applications.

For a full list of MJFF-supported projects, visit our funded grants page.

Developing New Therapies

Therapies to slow or stop disease progression or to better manage symptoms, such as speech difficulties, aim to improve the quality of life of people living with PD.

• The PERSPECTIVE study: Personalized Speech Therapy for Active Conversation
  Bastiaan R. Bloem, MD, PhD; Parkinson Center Nijmegen and ParkinsonNet at Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands

• Engineering Protective Immune Cells for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease
  Rodrigo Pacheco, PhD; Fundación Ciencia & Vida, Chile

• Validating Astrocyte-produced Protein GDF15 as a Novel Neuroprotective Therapy 
  Lorraine Iacovitti, PhD; Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia

• Exosomal Delivery of shRNA Minicircles to Halt Neurodegeneration and Parkinson's
  Lydia Alvarez-Erviti, PhD; Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja (CIBIR), Fundacion Rioja Salud, Spain

Rethinking Existing Therapies

Whether adapting an asthma drug for the treatment of PD or analyzing an existing Parkinson's treatment, researchers are advancing treatments on multiple fronts.

• Testing the Ability of Clenbuterol to Prevent or Modify the Course of Parkinson's Disease
  Joseph R. Patterson, PhD; Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan

• Registry for the Advancement of Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy in Parkinson's Disease
  Joohi Jimenez-Shahed, MD; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Searching for Therapeutic Targets

The complexity of Parkinson's disease stands in the way of finding cure. Researchers continue to study mitochondria (cell's powerhouses) and other proteins as targets for future therapeutics.

• Studying the Production of Mitochondria to Find New Therapeutic Targets for Parkinson's Disease
  Douglass Matthew Turnbull, MBBS, MD, PhD, MRCP; Newcastle University Medical School, United Kingdom

• PAK6 Activity as a Therapeutic Target in LRRK2-associated Parkinson's Disease
  Elisa Greggio, PhD; University of Padova, Italy

• Interactions Between Alpha-synuclein and Glycoproteins as a Therapeutic Target
  Anna Elizabeth Rhoades, PhD; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

• Hexosaminidase as a Therapeutic Target for Parkinson's Disease 
  Ole Isacson, MD, PhD; Harvard Medical School, Boston

Studying Possible Disease Causes or Contributors

While the exact cause of Parkinson's is unknown, research points to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Aside from primary disease causes, many factors can speed or slow disease progression. Researchers aim to explain their contribution to Parkinson's disease.

• Studying Age-related Chronic Inflammation in Parkinson's Disease 
  Brit Mollenhauer, MD; Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Germany 

• Does the Brain's Ability to Compensate for the Shortage of Dopamine Affect Parkinson's Disease Progression?
  Rick C.G. Helmich, MD, PhD; Radboud University Medical Centre, Netherlands

• The Role of Lysosomal Lipid Metabolism in Parkinson's Disease
  Benoit Vanderperre, PhD; McGill University, Canada 

• Role of Neuromelanin in Parkinson's Disease and Brain Aging
  Miquel Vila, MD, PhD; Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, Spain

Predicting Dementia

People with Parkinson's disease are at risk for developing dementia, a decline in memory, thinking and/or language abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. Researchers are searching for predictors of dementia and developing tests to identify those most at risk.

• Cognitive-driven Activities of Daily Living Impairment as a Predictor for Parkinson's Disease
  Inga Liepelt-Scarfone, PhD; University of Tübingen, Germany

• Can Brain Inflammation Predict Dementia Associated with Parkinson's Disease?
  Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD; Stanford University, California

• The Role of Circular RNAs in Parkinson's Disease and Dementia
  Gavin Hudson, PhD; Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Discovering Novel Ways to Measure Parkinson's

There is a great need for objective tests for Parkinson's, which would facilitate diagnosis and help track disease progression and response to treatment. The ongoing search for objective measures of disease -- biomarkers -- continues to produce promising candidates.

• Searching for Signs of Parkinson's Disease in the Eye
  Stella Sarraf, PhD; Amydis, Inc., San Diego, California

• Developing a Test for Circular RNA, a Possible Biomarker of Parkinson's Disease
  Sebastian Kadener, PhD; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

• N-formyl Peptides as Novel Biomarkers for Parkinson's Disease
  Mary Kathleen Doherty, PhD; University of the Highlands and Islands, United Kingdom
  
  
  To view any of these , go to:
  
  
  https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?what-we-fund-brain-resilience-asthma-drug-for-parkinson-and-signs-of-disease-in-the
  
  
  Then click on MJFox's orange items to view.
  
  

Parkinson’s Disease and a Tulip

AUGUST 13, 2018 BY "SHERRI WOODBRIDGE"

If you were to see a yellow ribbon logo, you’d think of supporting our troops. A pink ribbon is associated with supporting breast cancer awareness. But a tulip?

Ah, the tulip. Several years ago, the red tulip was adopted by the global Parkinson’s community to bring awareness to the disease.

The red tulip, with a fringe of white, became the official symbol of Parkinson’s disease at the 9th World Parkinson’s Disease Day Conference in Luxembourg on April 11, 2005 (although the flower had been associated with Parkinson’s awareness since the early 1980s).

The tulip is described in detail as the “exterior being a glowing cardinal red, small feathered white edge, the outer base whitish; the inside, a currant-red to turkey-red, broad feathered white edge, anthers pale yellow.”

This particular tulip was developed by J.W.S. Van der Wereld, a Dutch horticulturist who had Parkinson’s disease. He named the flower after James Parkinson, the doctor who first described the disease as the “shaking palsy.”

There are several different variations of the PD tulip symbol, including:

The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (PDF) specifically uses a yellow tulip to denote optimism and hope. The three petals are used to promote the “symbol” of their three-pointed mission: “Hope through research, education and advocacy.” This tulip was redesigned annually for PDF and run as a contest, always incorporating the three petals of the original design. It more recently appears, however, that the yellow three-pronged tulip has been replaced by a blue ribbon design as the new brand for the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation.

The tulip has been adopted as a symbol by many Parkinson’s organizations around the world and over the years. Similarly, the European Parkinson’s Disease Association chose the tulip as the symbol for its logo in 1996.

A more modern red tulip with rounded leaves, recognized by many in the United States as the more recent representation of Parkinson’s disease, was designed by early-onset Parkinson’s patient Karen Painter.

I decided, upon my query of the different logos, to see just how many different designs I could find that represent Parkinson’s disease. There are at least 21 different logos with graphics someone designed. If you include photographs of tulips people used to make a logo, it puts the number over 60, and more than likely there are even more.

My question is this: Wouldn’t it be better if we settled on one design to represent this disease? To have a unified front? Like I said, everyone who sees the pink ribbon knows what it stands for. I sometimes get frustrated and feel that we are so spread out as a community and that there is not much unity in terms of research, treatments, good neurologists, etc.

The World Parkinson Congress does a great job of bringing the PD community together as a team: doctors, researchers, and patients. Imagine if we could pull that off more than once every three years. Imagine if … I can dream, can’t I?

By the way — Parkinson’s disease does have its own ribbon color. Do you know what it is?

***

Note: Parkinson’s News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or another qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of Parkinson’s News Today or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to Parkinson’s disease.

https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2018/08/13/parkinsons-disease-tulip-symbol-meaninig-ribbon/

Italian Self-rating Scale for Quality of Life in Parkinson’s Patients Validated in Study

AUGUST 13, 2018 BY ANA PENA 

The Italian version of the scale most often used to determine quality of life in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) — the self-report 39-Item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) — has been validated for Italian patients, a study reports. 

The Italian form of the survey (PDQ-39-IT) can now reliably be used in clinical practice and research to measure the effect of treatments in the quality of life of Italian Parkinson’s patients.

The study, “Quality of life in Parkinson’s disease: Italian validation of the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39-IT),” was published in the journal Neurological Sciences.

The PDQ-39 has been the most widely used measure of health status and quality of life in Parkinson’s patients. It is helpful not only for clinical practice but also for research as an outcome measure in clinical trials testing potential treatments.

It is a scale designed specifically for Parkinson’s patients, containing 39 questions that ask how often patients have difficulties in eight domains: mobility, activities of daily living, emotional well-being, stigma, social support, cognition, communication, and bodily discomfort. 

Since its development in 1995, the questionnaire has been translated, culturally adapted, and validated into 13 different languages.

Before a test can be employed for research or examination purposes, its validity needs to be ensured, and although an Italian translation and adaptation of this test was launched in 2008 — the PDQ-39-IT — its validity had never been verified. 

Researchers have now tested the PDQ-39-IT in 104 patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (mean age 65.7, mean duration of symptoms 7.4 years). Participants were recruited from June to October 2017 from two university hospitals in Rome: the Sapienza University and Tor Vergata University.

An important measure of a scale’s reliability is its internal consistency — that is, how closely related the items within a test are as a group. 

To address this, researchers used a statistical coefficient called the Cronbach’s alpha. Except for social support, all other dimensions surveyed by PDQ-39-IT displayed a high Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70 or above. They were also within the range of those found in the original version of the test.

Researchers also examined another measure of a test’s coherence, called test-retest reliability. A subgroup of 35 patients was asked to complete the survey twice, with an interval of three days between the surveys. The scores obtained in the two surveys were compared. There was a high level of agreement between the test and the retest scores for all dimensions tested.

As a measure of the test’s validity, researchers compared the scores obtained in PDQ-39-IT for each patient with those obtained with the Italian version of  36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF36) — another well-established patient-reported measure of health status.

All dimensions of PDQ-39-IT showed a positive and significant association with the SF-36 questionnaire, again demonstrating the test’s validity.

Overall, the study indicates that PDQ-39-IT “is an acceptable, valid, and reliable tool to measure the quality of life of Italian [Parkinson’s] patients,” researchers wrote.

“It provides Italian clinicians with a valid, reliable, rapidly administrable, and standardized scale to measure quality of life in [Parkinson’s disease], thereby enabling clinicians in all healthcare and rehabilitation professions to make informed decisions,” they added.

In addition, the test is a valuable tool to address the outcome of interventions over the quality of life of Italian Parkinson’s patients participating in clinical trials.

https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2018/08/13/italian-rating-scale-quality-life-parkinsons-patients-validated-study/

Double discovery reveals insights behind brain degeneration

August 13, 2018, University of Queensland

Dr Marija Kojic. Credit: University of Queensland

Research discoveries revealing the genetic causes of neurological degeneration could be a key to slowing the progression of devastating diseases.

A research team led by Dr Marija Kojic and Professor Brandon Wainwright from The University of Queensland's  Institute for Molecular Bioscience (IMB) and Dr Sebastian Glatt from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, made the findings in a study of cerebellar ataxias.

Dr Kojic said cerebellar ataxias were caused by damage to the cerebellum, the part of the brain that controls motor function.

"These rare but devastating conditions get worse over time, causing poor coordination, unsteady walking, difficulty speaking and swallowing, and difficulty performing fine motor skills such as buttoning a shirt," she said.

"While they are often caused by environmental factors such as alcohol, these conditions also have genetic causes, which have so far been largely unexplored.

"For the first time, we have found a link between ataxias and a mutation of the Elongator gene, which regulates how our brain cells produce proteins."

The researchers discovered this mutation slows production of the proteins that neurons need to function, causing them to gradually degenerate.

Professor Wainwright said the team also uncovered a link between inflammation of brain cells and brain degeneration, including ataxias.

"Our study revealed inflammation in the cells surrounding the degenerated cells," he said.

"While this is not unusual, we found that blocking this inflammation slowed the rate at which the cells were dying.

"This effect occurs across a broad range of neuro-degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease, which has profound implications for the treatment of these diseases.

"We may not be able to stop this neurological degeneration but if we can slow it down – for example, so a disease takes 20 years to progress, rather than 10 – this could have a huge impact on the health and quality of life of people living with these conditions.

Professor Wainwright said cerebellar ataxias were terrible diseases with no cure, but research offered hope for the future.

"Understanding how genes play a role in the development of cerebellar ataxias is a step forward in the journey towards finding an effective treatment."

The paper was published in international scientific journal Nature Communications.

More information: Marija Kojic et al. Elongator mutation in mice induces neurodegeneration and ataxia-like behavior, Nature Communications (2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05765-6

Journal reference: Nature Communications 

Provided by: University of Queensland 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-discovery-reveals-insights-brain-degeneration.html

Study identifies chaperone protein implicated in Parkinson's disease

August 13, 2018 by Bob Shepard, University of Alabama at Birmingham

The image on the left shows an abundance of misfolded alpha-synuclein (stained red). The image on the right shows the effect of an increase in 14-3-3θ, preventing the spread of misfolded alpha-synuclein to adjacent brain cells. Credit: University of Alabama at Birmingham

Reduced levels of a chaperone protein might have implications for the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia, according to new research from investigators at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

Findings published in the Journal of Neuroscienceindicate that the reduction of chaperone protein 14-3-3 could lead to misfolding and spread of a key brain protein from one brain region to another.

Genes are encoded to make a particular protein, using DNA as a set of instructions for how the protein is to be assembled. A protein, a long string of amino acids, needs to assume its correct shape in order to interact with other structures. Proteins that fail to or are prevented from assuming the proper shape—a process called misfolding—are implicated in a number of disease conditions.

Alpha-synuclein is a highly expressed brain protein. While its actual function is not well understood, it appears to be involved in communication between neurons. What is understood is that, when alpha-synuclein misfolds, it forms neuronal aggregates, or inappropriately shaped proteins, that contribute to the death of neurons and are associated with the development of Parkinson's and Lewy body dementia.

UAB researchers led by Talene Yacoubian, M.D., Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Neurology, launched an investigation of the role of 14-3-3, a chaperone protein, on alpha-synuclein. Chaperone proteins are involved in regulation of other proteins—in essence, a chaperone protein helps another protein assume its proper shape to perform its proper function.

14-3-3s are a family of seven chaperone proteins in humans. In particular, Yacoubian's group looked at one member of that family, 14-3-3θ, referred to as 14-3-3 theta. In two elegantly designed studies, the researchers investigated the role of 14-3-3θ on misfolding and spread of alpha-synuclein.

In one study, 14-3-3θ was withheld or inhibited in neurons. Observations of alpha-synuclein showed an increase in misfolded proteins, an increase in the spread of aggregates from neuron to neuron, and increased neuronal death. The second experiment involved boosting the amount of 14-3-3θ, which produced a decrease in misfolded alpha-synuclein and limited the spread of the protein across neurons and reduced neuron death.

"Our findings indicate that 14-3-3θ plays an important role in the management of alpha-synuclein, keeping it in a more normal folded state and preventing the spread of aggregates across the brain," Yacoubian said. "The study suggests that 14-3-3θ may be a suitable target for efforts to slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, although more work is needed."

One tantalizing connection to diseases such as Parkinson's and Lewy body dementia is that both are primarily diseases of aging.

"There is evidence that 14-3-3θ may be age-dependent and the amount present in the brain may decrease with age," Yacoubian said. "If subsequent research confirms our findings of its role on preventing misfolding of alpha-synuclein, we may have a viable target for intervention in neurodegenerative diseases that are also age-related."

Yacoubian says studies of 14-3-3θ using animal models are already underway, and she is collaborating with the drug development arm at Southern Research Institute to find a compound that can boost the production of 14-3-3θ and is suitable for use in human studies.

More information: Bing Wang et al. 14-3-3 proteins reduce cell-to-cell transfer and propagation of pathogenic alpha-synuclein, The Journal of Neuroscience(2018). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1134-18.2018

Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience 

Provided by: University of Alabama at Birmingham

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-08-chaperone-protein-implicated-parkinson-disease.html

Are Psychiatric Symptoms a Prodrome of Parkinson’s Disease?

Neurology Reviews. 2018 August;26(8):18

MIAMI—Anxiety and depressive disorders may precede Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in more than half of patients—anxiety by 25 years and depression by 17 years, on average, according to research described at the Second Pan American Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Congress. The data suggest that “neurodegenerative changes may be present in the limbic system before affecting motor circuits,” said the researchers.

“Anxiety, depression, impulse control disorders, irritability, mania, psychosis, and cognitive deficits are the most common psychiatric features of Parkinson’s disease,” said Andreea L. Seritan, MD, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and colleagues. Previous research has indicated that anxiety and depression increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Andrea L. Seritan, MD

A Retrospective Chart Review

To examine the lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorders and compare the onset ages of anxiety and depressive disorders with ages at Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, Dr. Seritan and colleagues conducted a retrospective chart review of patients with Parkinson’s disease who were evaluated by psychiatrists at the UCSF Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Center. The center provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation and management of patients with movement disorders.

The researchers analyzed data from all 108 patients with Parkinson’s disease seen between October 2015 and January 2018.

Psychiatric diagnoses and onset ages were established through clinical interview, using DSM-V criteria. Researchers used neurologists’ notes to identify age of Parkinson’s disease diagnosis. When exact onset ages were not available, the researchers imputed missing onset ages by decade of life.

Most Patients Had a Lifetime Prevalence of Depressive Disorders

Of the 108 participants, 33.3% were women, and the mean age was 63.7. In all, 67% of patients had a lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders, and 87% of participants had a lifetime prevalence of depressive disorders.

Psychiatric symptoms preceded Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in 48 (72%) patients with anxiety disorders and in 58 (68%) of those with depressive disorders. “Both anxiety and depressive disorders had onset in the fourth decade of life, on average, preceding Parkinson’s disease diagnosis by approximately two decades,” Dr. Seritan and colleagues said.

—Erica Tricarico

https://www.mdedge.com/neurologyreviews/article/169903/parkinsons-disease/are-psychiatric-symptoms-prodrome-parkinsons

More than 300 people take part in charity run to raise awareness about Parkinson's disease

August 12, 2018      Yuen Sin

Participants doing zumba at Run for Parkinson's 2018 at Punggol Waterway Park, on Aug 12, 2018. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

SINGAPORE - When a patient is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, people around them may think that he or she will inevitably die from the degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, which can impair a person's motor skills and speech.

In fact, it is not a life-threatening condition, and managing it through having an active lifestyle can prevent secondary conditions like pneumonia.

To raise awareness about this often misunderstood disease - the second most common neurodegenerative disease in Singapore - a team of 10 Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) students on Sunday (Aug 12) organised a charity run at Punggol Waterway Park, supported by the Central Singapore Community Development Council and Parkinson Society Singapore (PSS).

More than 300 people turned up for the event, which is in its second year. It is part of Project Novo, an initiative started by the HCI students last year. So far, the run has raised about $4,000 for the PSS.

HCI student Ivan Ang, 17, a first-year junior college student, said their curiosity about the topic was piqued in 2015, after learning that founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had Parkinson's disease.

"After conducting some research, we realised that there is very little awareness about the disease, its symptoms and how to cope with it. Many also mistake it for Alzheimer's disease."

They found out that exercising and keeping active was one way of managing the condition, and first organised a charity run last year to highlight the importance of this.

Participants at Run for Parkinson's 2018 at Punggol Waterway Park, on Aug 12, 2018. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

The team also spearheaded other initiatives, such as coming up with a device that can simulate involuntary hand tremors that patients may experience, in collaboration with the National Neuroscience Institute. This allows members of the public to experience these symptoms and better empathise with patients. It has been featured at more than 10 community roadshows so far.

"Simple tasks like picking up a glass of water may come easily to us, but it could be difficult for patients with these symptoms," said fellow HCI team member Lee Zhan Hong, 17.

They also produced a documentary based on interviews with patients with Parkinson's disease.

Even though there are about 6,000 to 8,000 people with Parkinson's Disease in Singapore, Madam Neo Siew Hiong, a centre manager with the PSS, said that only about 500 or so are members with the PSS, which provides support and runs events for these patients.

She said: "Some patients may not want to come out and take part in programmes because of the social stigma associated with the disease. But having support groups and a positive mindset can help them manage their conditions lot better."

Jurong GRC MP Rahayu Mahzam , who attended the event as guest of honour, lauded the students' efforts. "We need more of initiatives like this, where citizens see something that they can add value to, and speak up for issues that may not be as popular (as other causes)."

Ms Rahayu, who is on the executive committee of the People's Action Party Seniors Group, added that more attention to this issue of Parkinson's disease should be paid, given Singapore's ageing population.

Retired pub manager Annie Lan, 67, who completed the 2km run, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2005. Some of her symptoms include a sudden freezing of her feet muscles . She hopes more awareness of the disease can help reduce the stigma surrounding the disease.

She said: "When we go out, sometimes people stare at us. But we are no different from them. By exercising every day and keeping myself active, I can complete most tasks on my own and fight back against the symptoms."

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/more-than-300-people-take-part-in-charity-run-to-raise-awareness-about-parkinsons-disease

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics named a center of excellence in Parkinson's care

August 11, 2018

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWQC) — The Parkinson’s Foundation has named University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics a center of excellence and adds it to a global network of 45 select academic medical centers.

The network’s 45 medical centers serve more than 120,000 individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s annually.

“The center of excellence designation recognizes the leaders in providing high-quality Parkinson’s care,” says John Lehr, president and chief executive officer of the Parkinson’s Foundation.

Parkinson’s disease is associated with a progressive loss of motor control, which may include tremors when a person is at rest and loss of facial expression. It can also include depression and anxiety. Presently there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease.

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation:

Parkinson’s disease affects nearly 1 million people in the United States and 10 million globally.

Each year, the United States sees 60,000 new diagnoses of the disease.

Parkinson’s is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s.

It is the 14th leading cause of death in the United States.

The Parkinson’s Foundation works to improve care and advance research toward a cure. It helps raise funds to support fellowship grants and conducts the Parkinson’s Outcome project, which provides data sharing among network members, tracking the treatment of individuals living with the disease to identify which treatments and therapies provide the best outcomes.

http://www.kwqc.com/content/news/University-of-Iowa-Hospitals-and-Clinics-named-a-center-of-excellence-in-Parkinsons-care-490642371.html

Alan Alda Announces Parkinson’s Diagnosis, But He Wants to Use It to Inspire People

 Aug 11, 2018

Alan Alda has been one of the most enduring, and beloved figures on TV screens for over 30 years – and now, he intends to use his most recent medical prognosis to inspire others who have the same condition.

Known for his role in the TV sitcom M*A*S*H and as host of the PBS show, Scientific American Frontiers, the author, director-screenwriter was recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease—but Alda insists he isn’t letting the diagnosis get the better of him.

The actor continues to live a vivacious life, married since 1957 to wife Arlene. To illustrate his enthusiasm, Alda published a video of himself juggling on Twitter as a means of announcing the disease to his social media followers.

“I decided to let people know I have Parkinson’s to encourage others to take action,” he wrote in the caption. “I was diagnosed 3 and a half years ago, but my life is full.”

“I act, I give talks, I do my podcast, which I love. If you get a diagnosis, keep moving.”

“I take boxing lessons 3 days a week, play singles tennis twice a week, and… I even juggle a little. And I’m not entering dementia. I’m no more demented than I was before,” joked Alda. “Maybe I should rephrase that.  

Really, I’m good.”Alda adds that he made the decision to come clean about his Parkinson’s after he noticed himself displaying certain symptoms on camera.

“I could see my thumb twitch in some shots, and I thought it’s probably only a matter of time before somebody does a story about this from a sad … point of view,” he told CBS News. “That’s not where I am.”

The star encourages others who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s not to be “immobilized by fear.” In the mean time, Alda will continue to delight his fans and raise awareness of Parkinson’s Disease, saying himself: “If there’s anything I can do, I want to do it.”

I decided to let people know I have Parkinson’s to encourage others to take action. I was Diagnosed 3 and a half years ago, but my life is full. I act, I give talks, I do my podcast, which I love. If you get a diagnosis, keep moving!  

I take boxing lessons 3 days a week, play singles tennis twice a week, and take a mild pill – all Dr. recommended. I even juggle a little. And I’m not entering dementia. I’m no more demented than I was before. 

Maybe I should rephrase that. 

Really, I’m good.

To see video:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/alan-alda-announces-parkinsons-diagnosis-but-he-wants-to-use-it-to-inspire-people/

749 replies1,722 retweets19,190 likes