Category: Uncategorized

Keep an eye on mild TBI

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

Last week one of the most comprehensive analyses assessing the risk of developing Parkinson’s following mild traumatic brain injury (or TBI) was published.

Using data collected from US military veterans, the study concluded that mild TBI was associated with a 56% increased risk of developing Parkinson’s.

In today’s post, we will review the study, discuss what TBI means, and consider what implications this study could have for the Parkinson’s community.

Source: Jamesriverarmory

At a recent research conference, a young PhD student was looking at me from across the room.

Finally, she walked across to me and asked:

“Excuse me. Are you the goat guy?”

I smiled.

It had been a while since anyone had asked me this.

“Yes,” I replied, “I am the goat guy”

Let me explain:

Continue reading “Keep an eye on mild TBI” →

Monthly Research Review – May 2018

~ Simon ~ 4 Comments

At the end of each month the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during May 2018.

The post is divided into five parts based on the type of research (Basic biology, disease mechanism, clinical research, other news, and Review articles/videos). 

Before we start: 

Today is the 31st May 2018, which represents the one year anniversary since the passing of Tom Isaacs:

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Tom was one of the co-founders of the Cure PD Trust.

In 1996 – at just 27-years of age – Tom, a London-based surveyor, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. After dealing with the initial shock of it all, Tom embraced his situation and became a committed, (utterly) tireless activist. He firstly walked the entire coastline of the UK to raise money and awareness for Parkinson’s.

tom isaacs

His book, “Shake well before use“, discusses that trip and adapting to life with Parkinson’s. It is a fantastic read. Upon returning from his epic walk, he (along with three others) founded and set up the Cure Parkinson’s Trust.

It is pretty safe to say that other than Michael J Fox and Muhammad Ali, Tom has had the most impact on marshaling scientific research efforts to find a cure for Parkinson’s.

And he did it all with style and humour:

This was a video of Tom in 2009, talking about life with Parkinson’s disease:

Here at SoPD HQ, we were gutted by his passing, and wanted to make a special note here.

 

So, what happened during May 2018?

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – May 2018” →

The Mannitol results

~ Simon ~ 30 Comments

Last week the first results of an ambitious project are being shared with the Parkinson’s community.

Clinicrowd is a “crowd sourcing platform exploring disease treatments that Pharma companies have no interest to investigate or promote”. Their initial focus was Parkinson’s (though they now have additional projects for other medical conditions), and their first experimental treatment for Parkinson’s was the sweetener ‘mannitol’.

The results provide some interesting insights into the properties of mannitol and into crowd sourced projects.

In today’s post, we will discuss what mannitol is, why it is interesting, outline the Clinicrowd project, and review the results of the mannitol study.

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Mannitol. Source: Qualifirst

Without a shadow of doubt, one of the most popular topics searched for on this website is ‘mannitol’.

In 2017, the second most visited page on the site (behind only the main/home page) was a post called “Update – Mannitol and Parkinson’s“. And as if to put an exclamation point on the matter, the fourth most visited page was “Manna from heaven? Mannitol and Parkinson’s”

Understand though, that both of these posts were actually written in 2016!

Throughout 2017-18, not a week has gone by without someone contacting me to ask about mannitol and the ‘CliniCrowd‘ project.

Thus, it brings me great pleasure to sit down tonight and write this post.

What is mannitol?

Continue reading “The Mannitol results” →

To B3 or not to B3, that is the question

~ Simon ~ 19 Comments

The results of a recent clinical study for Parkinson’s conducted in Georgia (USA) has grabbed the attention of some readers.

The study involved Niacin (also known as nicotinic acid), which is a naturally occurring organic dietary compound and a form of vitamin B3.

The study was very small, but the researchers noticed something interesting in the blood of the participants: Niacin was apparently switching some of the immune cells from an inflammatory state to an anti-inflammatory state.

In today’s post, we will discuss what Niacin is, how it relates to Parkinson’s, and we will consider some of the issues with having too much niacin in your diet.

Source: Universal

It is one of the most common requests I get:

“Can you give an opinion on this supplement ____ or that vitamin ____ as a treatment for Parkinson’s?”

And I don’t like giving opinions, because (my standard disclosure) “I am not a clinician, just a research scientist. And even if i was a clinician, it would be unethical for me to comment as I am not familiar with each individual’s medical history. The best person to speak to is your personal doctor“.

But I also don’t like giving opinions because of a terrible fear that if I write anything remotely positive about anything remotely supplemental or vitamintal (is that a word?), a small portion of readers will rush off and gorge themselves on anything that sounds remotely similar to that supplement or vitamin.

So you will hopefully understand why I am hesitant to write this post.

But having said that, the recently published results of a small clinical study conducted in Augusta (Georgia, USA) are rather interesting.

Continue reading “To B3 or not to B3, that is the question” →

Two birds, one stone?

~ Simon ~ 13 Comments

This week interesting research was published in the journal EMBO that looked at the Parkinson’s-associated protein Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (or LRRK2).

In their study, the researchers discovered that lowering levels of LRRK2 protein (in cells and animals) affected the ability of Mycobacterium tuberculosis – the bacteria that causes Tuberculosis – to replicate.

In today’s post, we will discuss what Tuberculosis is, how it relates to LRRK2 and Parkinson’s, and we will consider why this is potentially REALLY big news for Parkinson’s.

Daedalus and Icarus. Source: Skytamer

In Greek Mythology, there is the tale of Daedalus and Icarus.

Daedalus was a really smart guy, who designed the labyrinth on Crete, which housed the Minotaur (the ‘part man, part bull’ beast). For all his hard work, however, Daedalus was shut up in a tower and held captive by King Minos to stop the knowledge of his Labyrinth from spreading to the general public.

Source: Clansofhonor

But a mere tower was never going to stop Daedalus, and he set about fabricating wings for himself and his young son Icarus (who was also a captive).

Being stuck in the tower limited Daedalus’ access to feathers for making those wings, except of course for the large birds of prey that circled the tower awaiting the demise of Daedalus and his son. But he devised a clever way of throwing stones at the birds in such a way, that he is able to strike one bird and then the ricochet would hit a second bird.

And thus, the phase ‘killing two birds with one stone’ was born (or so it is said – there is also a Chinese origin for the phrase – Source).

Interesting. And this relates to Parkinson’s how?!?

Well, this week researchers in the UK have discovered that a protein associated with Parkinson’s is apparently also associated with another condition: Tuberculosis. And they also found that treatments being designed to target this protein in Parkinson’s, could also be used to fight Tuberculosis.

Two birds, one stone.

What is Tuberculosis?

Continue reading “Two birds, one stone?” →

Monitoring Parkinson’s: Let’s just sleep on it

~ Simon ~ 20 Comments

Regular readers will be aware that here at the SoPD, we are on a mission to change the way we clinically test drugs (Click here for the most recent rant on this topic). 

We have a lot of interesting drugs waiting in the pipeline to be clinically tested and an eager (read: desperate) population of individuals affected by Parkinson’s, but we are missing one critical part of the equation: better tools of assessment.

How can we determine whether a drug is actually working or not? And how can we better monitor people over time on said drug?

Our current methods assessing individuals with Parkinson’s rely heavily on clinical rating scales and brain imaging. These are basic tools at best, conducted episodically (annually in general, or once every 2-6 months during a clinical trial), and provide little in the way of useful objective data (on an individual basis).

In today’s post, we will look at a single aspect of Parkinson’s – sleep – and try to nut-out a better/more informative method of assessing it over time.

The Bluesky project. Source: Mirror

Last week tech industry giants Pfizer and IBM made an big announcement.

It was news that I have been quietly waiting to hear for some time.

It related to their “BlueSky Project” – a collaboration between the two companies to provide better methods of assessment/monitoring of Parkinson’s.

 

The two companies announced that they are now ready to start accepting the first participants for a new clinical trial.

And it is a really intriguing study for one simple reason:

The entire trial will take place inside one house.

Continue reading “Monitoring Parkinson’s: Let’s just sleep on it” →

A vaccine for Parkinson’s – the AFFiRiS update

~ Simon ~ 16 Comments

This week Austrian biotech firm, AFFiRiS AG, made an announcement regarding their experimental immunotherapy/’vaccine’ approach for Parkinson’s.

In their press release, the company provided the results of a long-term Phase I clinical trial testing the tolerability and safety of their treatment AFFITOPE® PD01A.

The treatment was found to be safe and well-tolerated in people with Parkinson’s. But there was one sentence which was particularly intriguing in the press release regarding clinical symptoms.

In today’s post, we will discuss what is meant by ‘immunotherapy’, outline what this particular clinical trial involved, review the results, and explore what this could mean for the Parkinson’s community.

Source: uib

I have previously mentioned on this website that any ‘cure for Parkinson’s’ is going to require three components:

  1. A disease halting mechanism
  2. A neuroprotective agent
  3. Some form of cell replacement therapy

This week we got some interesting clinical news regarding the one of these components: A disease halting mechanism

Clinical trial results from Austria suggest that a new immunotherapy approach in people with Parkinson’s is both safe and well tolerated over long periods of time.

What is immunotherapy?

Continue reading “A vaccine for Parkinson’s – the AFFiRiS update” →

DUBstop: Oxford-style

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

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This week multiple research groups at the University of Oxford and Boston-based FORMA Therapeutics announced a collaboration to identify, validate and develop deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) inhibitors for the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions, like Parkinson’s.

But what exactly are DUB inhibitors? And how do they work?

In today’s post, we will answer these questions, look at what the new collaboration involves, and look at what else is happening with DUB inhibitors for Parkinson’s.

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Source: Blog4dubstep

Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the late 1990s. Only recently -in the 2010s – has the culture really become more mainstream. And while I have a hard time appreciating the heavy bass music (man, I am becoming a grumpy old man before my time), it is amazing to watch some of the dancers who robotically embody this form of music:

The guy on the right is named Marquese Scott. Sometimes he simply defies the laws of physics.

The title of today’s post is a play on words, because rather than doing ‘Dubstep’ we are going to be discussing how to ‘DUB-stop’.

Researchers in Oxford have recently signed an agreement with a US company to focus resources and attention on a new approach for tackling neurodegenerative conditions, including Parkinson’s.

What they are proposing is a complicated biological dance.

Their idea: to stop deubiquitinating (DUB) enzymes.

What are deubiquitinating enzymes?

Continue reading “DUBstop: Oxford-style” →

I’ll have the fish please

~ Simon ~ 16 Comments

We have previously discussed the importance of the right foods for people with Parkinson’s on this blog – Click here for a good example.

Recently, new data from researchers in Sweden points towards the benefits of a specific component of fish in particular.

It is a protein called β-parvalbumin, which has some very interesting properties.

In today’s post, we discuss what beta-parvalbumin is, review the new research findings, and consider how this new information could be applied to Parkinson’s.

A very old jaw bone. Source: Phys

In 2003, researchers found 34 bone fragments belonging to a single individual in a cave near Tianyuan, close to Beijing (China).

But it was not the beginning of a potential murder investigation.

No, no.

This was the start of something far more interesting.

Naming the individual “Tianyuan man”, the researchers have subsequently found that “many present-day Asians and Native Americans” are genetically related to this individual. His bones represented one of the oldest set of modern human remains ever found in the eastern Eurasia region.

Tianyuan caves. Source: Sciencemag

But beyond the enormous family tree, when researchers further explored specific details about his jaw bone (or lower mandible as it is called) they found something else that was very interesting about Tianyuan man:


Title: Stable isotope dietary analysis of the Tianyuan 1 early modern human.
Authors: Hu Y, Shang H, Tong H, Nehlich O, Liu W, Zhao C, Yu J, Wang C, Trinkaus E, Richards MP.
Journal: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Jul 7;106(27):10971-4.
PMID: 19581579                     (This research article is OPEN ACCESS if you would like to read it)

In this study, the investigators analysed the carbon and nitrogen isotopes found within bone collagen samples taken from the jaw bone of Tianyuan man. In humans, the carbon and nitrogen isotope values indicate the sources of dietary protein over many years of life.

The researchers found that a substantial portion of Tianyuan man’s diet 40,000 years ago came from freshwater fish.

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

Continue reading “I’ll have the fish please” →

Planet Researcher to Planet Patient

~ Simon ~ 18 Comments

Planet

This is Mariëtte Robijn:

photo

She’s really ‘leuk’ (Dutch for nice).

Diagnosed at 46 with Parkinson’s, Mariëtte keeps a great blog that touches on many areas of life, including boxing. But it also provides her with a medium to discuss how she lives with Parkinson’s (you should follow her if you don’t already).

 

In a recent post on her blog – called “Planet Patient vs Planet Researcher” – Mariëtte asks ‘are we really so very different, we patients and researchers?‘

Her answer is ‘Yes!‘ and she listed 10 areas where the differences are apparent.

Mariëtte’s points are made from an educated point of view – she is a very dedicated Parkinson’s research advocate.

Reading through her post, however, I saw it as a nice opportunity to provide the view of things from the other world (Planet Researcher). So, with her permission, I have copied her 10 points here and I have tried to provide a Planet Researcher view of her thoughts (below in red). And I should add that I do not speak for everyone on Planet Researcher – my views are simply that: mine.

Continue reading “Planet Researcher to Planet Patient” →