Source: Linkedin

During the lunch break of a recent research conference and desiring some ‘alone time’, I approached a table toward the back of the conference center.

There was only one other inhabitant of this oasis of solitude and after asking if they minded if I sat there (“Please” they gestured), I sat down. A moment or two later, a polite conversation was started. It was innocent enough (“Enjoying the conference?“) but this quickly shifted to specifics (Me asking “So what area of the research is of most interest to you?“).

And this was where the rabbit hole began.

You see, my table companion explained that they had trained as a radiologist – this is a group of doctors that specialise in diagnosing and treating injuries/diseases using medical imaging.

And upon being told their occupation, I asked if they were interested in the research exploring diagnostic imaging for Parkinson’s.

Their answer was: “Well, yes, but I’m more interested in using the imaging therapeutically“.

To which, my facial expression must have shifted towards something like:

My table companion was amused by the expression on my face and added that they lived locally and they were curious about the research being done on Parkinson’s. But more specifically, they were interested to know if anyone was investigating low-dose ionizing radiation as a potential therapeutic treatment.

My facial confusion must have become somewhat more exaggerated at that point, and so they gave me the background history and context to their reason for interest.

It was a fascinating story.

What did they say?

Continue reading “The radiologist at a Parkinson’s conference” →

Your hematopoietic system. Source: Wikipedia

The process of hematopoiesis (or blood formation) is absolutely fascinating.

Seriously.

You start off with a single, multi-potential hematopoietic stem cell. This is called a hemocytoblast (it’s the big cell in middle of the image below):

A hemocytoblast. Source: Pinterest

Given enough time, this single cell will give rise to an entire blood system, made up of many of different types of cells (as displayed in the schematic above) with very specific functions that are required for us to live normal lives.

It is a remarkable achievement of biology.

Understand that at any moment in time your blood system will contain 20-30 trillion cells (in the average human body). And as the image near the top of the post suggests, there are quite a few branches of potential cell types that these blood stem cells can generate.

Very interesting, but what does this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “A nod to immunomod with fingolimod” →

So, what happened during September 2022?

In world news:

September 6 – Liz Truss was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

September 8 – Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. Her son Charles III succeeded her as King.

16th September – Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman died in an Iranian hospital days after being detained by the Government’s Guidance Patrol (or “morality police” ) for allegedly not complying with the country’s hijab regulations

26th September – NASA’s DART crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos and changed its course in a first test of potential planetary defense (do a google search for “Nasa’s Dart” and watch what happens – very clever!).

30th September – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs treaties absorbing the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into the Russian Federation ( …and nobody paid attention)

In the world of Parkinson’s research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:

In September 2022, there were 888 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word “Parkinson’s” attached (8884 for all of 2022 so far). In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinson’s research activity (clinical trials, etc).

The top 6 pieces of Parkinson’s news

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – September 2022” →

Godzone (Noun). Source: Mindfood

Growing up in New Zealand, the author of this blog developed a healthy fear of the dangers of melanoma at a very young age.

Unfortunately, New Zealand has one of the highest age-standardised incidence rates of melanoma in the world. It occurs in approximately 50 people per 100,000 of the general population, each year (it is one of many things we beat Australia at, their incidences is only 48 per 100,000).

By contrast, in the US the incidence is just 21.8 per 100,000 (Source).

And despite being less common than other types of skin cancer, in New Zealand melanoma accounts for 80% of skin cancer-related deaths (Source).

Wow! Really?

Really, really.

Fact: Melanoma is the third most common cancer in men and women in New Zealand (Source – in the UK and US, it is 5th).

But why the high incidence?

Ultraviolet radiation is the main reason. New Zealand and Australia have ~40% higher levels of ultraviolet radiation than the northern hemisphere. That whole ozone hole thing above Antarctica – yep, it’s still a thing (source).

Combine that unfortunate circumstance with the fact that both countries have a high proportion of antipodeans with lighter pigmented skin making up their populations – who (I can confirm) are more susceptible to sunburn – and you have a perfect recipe for melanoma.

I can remember as a kid returning home from the beach looking like a boiled lobster… on a regular basis.

An ACDC fan. Source: Runt

I really hate to say it, but New Zealand isn’t quite perfect.

Interesting, but what does this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “The mystery of melanoma” →

Source: Azquotes

Nosology is the branch of medical science that deals with the classification of diseases.

The goal of nosology is to have “a description whose primary purpose is enabling a diagnostic label to be put on the situation” (Source).

Note here the use of the word ‘situation‘, instead of ‘disease‘ in the sentence above. Much of what doctors and clinicians face in medicine are not specific diseases. Rather, they are situations (or conditions) that need to be treated.

Think of stroke. It “is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death” (Source). Certain diseases (for example, diabetes or heart disease) may result in an individual having a stroke, but the stroke itself is typically a very individual condition/situation. And this is what clinicians attempt to treat.

We often think of diseases as being defined by a specific cause. Like the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) viral infection that leads to COVID-19. But even here the situation that doctors face can vary widely – some infected people die, while others are completely asymptomatic carriers of the virus.

Where are you going with this? You don’t think Parkinson’s is a ‘disease’?

Continue reading “Parkinsonism type 1 through infinity” →

Source: News-medical

Next time you are speaking with your neighbour, you should point out to them that there is a great deal of diversity in the number of species of Curcuma plants.

In India alone, there is approximately 40 to 45 species. And in Thailand there is another 30 to 40 species. Throughout tropical Asia there are numerous wild species of Curcuma, and even New Guinea and northern Australia are known to have Curcuma plants.

Curcuma plants. Source: Pacificbulbsociety

Curcuma is a perennial, herbaceous flowering plant that belongs to the broader ginger family. The plants can reach a height of one meter and they produce numerous, edible rhizomes (creeping rootstalk).

Rhizomes. Source: Etsy

The interior of these rhizomes are yellow or orange and can be reduced into a powder.

That powder is the spice we call turmeric.

Great. But what does turmeric have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “Spice up your life” →