An Accidental Discovery Turned Into a Potential Parkinson’s Treatment

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Parkinson's disease on physicians tabletResearchers at the UC San Diego School of Medicine who believed they were analyzing connective tissue cell protein received quite a shock when they alternatively stumbled upon a therapy to eradicate the observable symptoms of Parkinson’s disease in mice. Not just that, but the treatment might be useful in various conditions that call for the need to replace damaged tissue: diabetes, spinal cord injuries, perhaps even heart problems.

The research centered on a siRNA technique, in which researchers grew fibroblasts (a kind of connective tissue cell) in petri dishes while silencing the protein PTB. After a few weeks, they were surprised to learn the majority of fibroblasts had converted into neurons.

Lead author of the study, Xiang-Dong Fu, explained, “Researchers around the world have tried many ways to generate neurons in the lab, using stem cells and other means, so we can study them better, as well as to use them to replace lost neurons in neurodegenerative diseases. The fact that we could produce so many neurons in such a relatively easy way came as a big surprise.”

The research team then decided to test their new theory on Parkinson’s disease in mice, finding that it completely restored movement and functionality for the remainder of the mice’s lifetime – even those with an advanced case of the disease.

Obviously, the process to figure out if these results transfer to humans will take time and extreme care to be certain of safety. Nonetheless, for individuals struggling due to the disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, it is cause for hope.

As Fu says, “It’s my dream to see this through to clinical trials, to test this approach as a Parkinson’s treatment but also many other diseases where neurons are lost, such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases and stroke. And dreaming even bigger – what if we could target PTB to correct defects in other parts of the brain, to treat things like inherited brain defects?”

As we look forward to the next steps in this significant breakthrough, you can trust Generations at Home for professional, highly skilled home care for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. A few of the various ways we can help include:

  • Balanced meal planning and preparation
  • Light household chores
  • Shopping and other errands
  • Personal care, such as bathing/showering, getting dressed, etc.
  • Friendly companionship
  • Safe, accompanied transportation
  • And a whole lot more

To learn how we can help a senior you love with in-home care needs, reach out to us at 727-940-3414 and request a free in-home consultation.

How One Woman Uses Her Sense of Smell to Diagnose Parkinson’s Disease

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You may not recognize her by name, but you’ve probably heard her story. Joy Milne has an exceptionally unique talent: recognizing Parkinson’s disease by using her nose. Her gift came to light when she detected what she details as an “overpowering sort of nasty yeast smell” in her husband of ten years. Subsequently observing other differences in her husband, in particular personality and mood shifts, he ultimately went to the doctor for medical help, and was given a diagnosis of Parkinson’s.

Upon walking into a Parkinson’s support group meeting, that identical scent permeated the room – although evidently only Joy was able to notice it. Actually, she was even able to pick up on varying levels of the odor – some whose odor was faint, while for other people, it was much stronger. With both her own and her husband’s medical backgrounds (she a nurse and he a physician), this finding was definitely meaningful and required further action.

Her story led her to assist Tilo Kunath, a Parkinson’s disease researcher at the University of Edinburgh, with the aim of developing a tool to offer earlier detection – and ultimately, treatment – of Parkinson’s.

While initially skeptical of the probability of Parkinson’s being found through odor, he was open to additional exploration after finding out about the success dogs were having in identifying the odor of cancer in individuals. He then designed a way to assess her skills, by giving her a random assortment of t-shirts – half which had been worn by someone clinically determined to have Parkinson’s, and the other half by those without the disease – and, her accuracy rate was astonishing. As a matter of fact, she missed the mark on only one of the t-shirts, worn by someone without Parkinson’s, but who in fact was later identified as having the disease as well.

Kunath explains, “Imagine a society where you could detect such a devastating condition before it’s causing problems and then prevent the problems from even occurring.” Dr. Thomas Hummel of the Technical University of Dresden’s Smell & Taste Clinic, said that while the idea is interesting, there are still an assortment of questions to first sort out.

Parkinson’s disease, in addition to a variety of other chronic health issues, can be more effectively managed with the help of an in-home care provider like Generations at Home. Call us at 727-940-3414 for additional information.