Tag: sleep

WPC 2019 – Day 3

~ Simon ~ 7 Comments

 

Today’s post is a recap of Day 3 – the final day – at the World Parkinson’s Congress meeting in Kyoto, Japan.

I will highlight some of the presentations I was able to catch and try to reflect on what was an amazing meeting.

 

The final day of the WPC meeting for me started with Parkinson’s advocate Heather Kennedy‘s presentation on “Your radical new life: Creative ways to overcome our challenges”. In her talk, she spoke of the mindset that is required for tackling Parkinson’s and provided some advice on what-to-do and what-not-to-do.

And Heather was speaking from personal experience. Having been diagnosed in 2012, she has become an active advocate, supporter of Davis Phinney and Michael J Fox Foundations, and an administrator on several online sites. And she regularly speaks about different methods for overcoming the challenges of Parkinson’s:

“It is not ‘why is this happening to me?’, it is ‘what is this teaching me?”

Here is a presenation she gave at the recent Parkinson’s Eve meeting in the UK earlier this year:

Key among her pieces of advice is the need to make connections:

Continue reading “WPC 2019 – Day 3” →

One ring to rule them all

~ Simon ~ 9 Comments

 

An important aspect of developing new potentially ‘curative’ treatments for Parkinson’s is our ability to accurately test and evaluate them. Our current methods of assessing Parkinson’s are basic at best (UPDRS and brain imaging), and if we do not improve our ability to measure Parkinson’s, many of those novel treatments will fail the clinical trial process and forever remain just “potentially” curative.

The ideal method of monitoring Parkinson’s would be a device that requires little effort from the individual being monitored, is completely non-intrusive in their daily living, and is continually collecting information.

In today’s post, we will explore the potential of the Ōura ring.

 

Harry’s first appearance on the SoPD. Source: Bild

Prince Harry has one and I want it.

A Megan?

No.

A smart, ginger beard?

No.

What then?

An Ōura ring.

What is an Ōura ring?

Only the best interesting thing to come out of Finland since… um… hang on… give me a second… to google search… for… something… Finnish. Oh yeah: Nokia mobile phones, the Linux operating system, and person-to-person text messaging (Radiolinja, 1993).

Very techinically minded those Finnish folk!

And the Ōura ring is an EXTREMELY clever piece of technology that simply sits on your finger.

07577-1-e1538154995164-800x298Source: Soukie

But what does the Ōura ring do?

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Monitoring Parkinson’s: Doctor, my glasses are listening to us

~ Simon ~ 8 Comments

 

An important aspect of developing new potentially ‘curative’ treatments for Parkinson’s is our ability to accurately test and evaluate them.

Current methods of assessing Parkinson’s are basic at best (UPDRS and brain imaging), and if we do not improve our ability to measure Parkinson’s, many of those novel treatments will fail the clinical trial process and forever remain just “potentially” curative.

Glasses are a wearable device that the majority of us take for granted. But two technology companies have announced that they are partnering up to focus their combined efforts on making a pair of glasses that could help improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s. 

One company focuses on tracking facial expressions, while the other analyses audio. 

In today’s post, we will look at how these technologies could be applied to Parkinson’s, and discuss what the companies have planned.

 

Looking good. Source: 1zoom

An interesting fact:

Approximately 60% of western populations wear glasses, contact lenses or use some other reading/visual aid (Source). And as we age, this percentage only increases – with the over 75 year olds representing a solid collection within the bespectacled crowd (see graph below).

More women than men wear glasses. Source: CBS

I am in the majority.

But mostly for aesthetic reasons (they make me look smarter than I actually am).

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

Continue reading “Monitoring Parkinson’s: Doctor, my glasses are listening to us” →

Lipid issues in ER = ZZZ issues in PD

~ Simon ~ 11 Comments

New research provides some interesting insight into particular cellular functions – and possibly sleep issues – associated with Parkinson’s.

Researchers in Belgium have recently published interesting findings that a genetic model of Parkinson’s exhibits sleep issues, which are not caused by neurodegeneration, but rather neuronal dysfunction. And as a result, they were able to treat it… in flies at least.

In today’s post, we will review this new research and consider its implications.

Source: Dlanham

I am a night owl.

One that is extremely reluctant to give up each day to sleep. There is always something else that can be done before going to bed. And I can often be found pottering around at 1 or 2am on a week night.

As a result of this foolish attitude, I am probably one of the many who live in a state of sleep deprivation.

I am a little bit nervous about doing the spoon test:

 

 

 

 

 

But I do understand that sleep is very important for our general level of health and well being. And as a researcher on the topic, I know that sleep complications can be a problem for people with Parkinson’s.

What sleep issues are there for people with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “Lipid issues in ER = ZZZ issues in PD” →

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

~ Simon ~ 19 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” →

Dementia with Lewy Bodies: New recommendations

~ Simon ~ 8 Comments

jnnp-2015-January-86-1-50-F1.large

Last year – two years after actor Robin Williams died – his wife Susan Schneider Williams wrote an essay entitled The terrorist inside my husband’s head, published in the journal Neurology.

It is a heartfelt/heartbreaking insight into the actor’s final years. It also highlights the plight of many who are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, but experience an array of additional symptoms that leave them feeling that something else is actually wrong.

Today’s post is all about Dementia with Lewy bodies (or DLB). In particular, we will review the latest refinements and recommendations of the Dementia with Lewy Bodies Consortium, regarding the clinical and pathologic diagnosis of DLB.

robin-williams

Robin Williams. Source: Quotesgram

On the 28th May of 2014, the actor Robin Williams was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

At the time, he had a slight tremor in his left hand, a slow shuffling gait and mask-like face – some of the classical features of Parkinson’s disease.

According to his wife, the diagnosis gave the symptoms Robin had been experiencing a name. And this brought her a sense of relief and comfort. Now they could do something about the problem. Better to know what you are dealing with rather than be left unsure and asking questions.

But Mr Williams sensed that something else was wrong, and he was left unsure and asking questions. While filming the movie Night at the Museum 3, Williams experienced panic attacks and regularly forgot his lines. He kept asking the doctors “Do I have Alzheimer’s? Dementia? Am I schizophrenic?”

Williams took his own life on the 11th August 2014, and the world mourned the tragic loss of a uniquely talented performer.

Source: WSJ

When the autopsy report came back from the coroner, however, it indicated that the actor had been misdiagnosed.

He didn’t have Parkinson’s disease.

What he actually had was Dementia with Lewy bodies (or DLB).

What is Dementia with Lewy bodies?

Continue reading “Dementia with Lewy Bodies: New recommendations” →