Parkinson’s sufferer treks mountain for charity

A KENT man with Parkinson’s Disease is tackling a sponsored trek in America’s Sierra Nevada mountain range to raise £5,000 for fellow sufferers.

 

Martin Hurst, 53, of Style Close, Rainham, and his wife, Meryl, are in training for the gruelling five-day trek in aid of the Parkinson’s Disease Society (PDS).

 

They have already been promised £4,176 and are arranging a party at their home for friends and relatives which should raise another £200 to 300.

 

Meryl and Martin were recently two of 50 special guests at an exclusive event held by the PDS in London, hosted by TV favourite Graham Norton.

 

The party marked the launch of Party for Parkinson’s, a PDS fund-raising initiative that aims to raise £100,000 in 2008.

 

“We didn’t want to sit around moping, so we decided to do something positive while we are still well enough to trek,” said Martin.

 

“I feel a bit apprehensive about it but it is all in a wonderful cause. I was made redundant two weeks ago but I am not letting Parkinson’s Disease put me off of trying to get another job either.”

 

Graham Norton, whose father had Parkinson’s, said: “I am delighted to be supporting the Party for Parkinson’s initiative. It is a fantastic way of having fun and raising money for an important cause at the same time.”

Source: Medway News

The past few days in the stock market have been quite interesting. On Tuesday the stock market dipped 500 points, but on Tuesday it rose about 600 points! Talks of a recession have made the stock market completely volatile shaking it all over the place. According to some polls the economy has replaced the war in Iraq as the number one concern amongst the American populous. Another concern is our health care. There are many candidates that are beginning to form specific health care plans for our present situation, but it’s also very important to look at our needs in the future. A recent article states the following statistics:

• By 2030, the number of Americans age 65 and up will have more than doubled — to more than 70 million — accounting for nearly one in five people.
• The nation’s health care costs double to about $4 trillion — with half of it spent on care for the elderly.
• As many as 16 million Americans could have Alzheimer’s by 2050, and Medicare spending on their care will exceed $1 trillion, or 40 percent of the money spent by the federal health program.
• Cancer diagnoses are expected to double from 1.3 million to 2.6 million in 2050. Cancer care cost more than $206 billion in 2006.
• By 2030, arthritis will afflict 67 million adults. Arthritis and related conditions already cost the nation $128 billion a year in medical care and lost productivity.
• Deaths from heart disease are expected to increase 2.5 times faster than the population as a whole, with the prevalence of hear disease rising 16 percent each decade.
• Parkinson’s disease, which typically occurs at age 60, already affects up to 1 million Americans and costs the nation more than $26 billion a year.

I find these statistics very daunting to deal with and feel like our country hasn’t even begun to address this large and looming issue. There have been some institutions that have begun to break down this problem, but we have long time to go in a very short time.

This article was adapted from information distributed through The Press Democrat.

Swede scientists are developing new ways to grow brain cells that could one day be used to treat Parkinson’s disease.  A recent article in the news reports that an institute in Sweden believes that stem cell therapy holds the promise of treating disease by growing new tissues and organs from stem cells – ‘blnak’ cells that have the potential to develop into fully mature or ‘differentiated’ cells.

These kind of treatments are still a big challenge though.  Early efforts at growing dopaminergic neurons from embryonic stem cells produced cells which, when transplanted into animal models, had a tendency to form tumors or clumps, or die without an obvious reason.

Researchers have moved away from embryonic stem cells – which can be induced to grow into a wide variety of different cells. Instead they used neural stem cells – which are programmed to develop only into nerve cells.

When the researchers transplanted the cells into laboratory animals whose substantia nigra region of the brain was damaged, the results were promising. “We reversed almost completely the behavioural abnormalities, and neurons differentiated, survived and re-innervated the relevant part of the brain better” Professor Arenas said. “Furthermore we do not see the kind of proliferation of the cells that has occurred in the past and we get very little clustering when the cells are treated with Wnt5a. The cells are safer than embryonic stem cells and more efficient than fetal tissue.”

Verification of this approach with human cells is ongoing and if the study is successful, it may lead to a clinical trial. Experts in the field have recently identified this approach as the next step in cell replacement therapy for Parkinson’s disease and the hope is that this may, ultimately, lead to cells suitable for transplant into human patients.

A portable, battery-powered device has just recently been developed in Singapore.  This device is to help bradykinesia (slow -movement) as well as gait (Short steps with feet barely leaving the ground).  The device helps the user focus their mind and attention on a laser that shows them where to step.  This laser beam creates a walking path for the patient.  The device is strapped to a belt the device also generates different tones and vibrations to help stimulate walking.

Choo Teow Sin, a 70-year-old patient, responds best to the visual cue of the laser beam, his wife told The Straits Times. His gait is also noticeably better and his confidence improved.

A recent news article stated that when using this product they saw improvements in walking and reduced freezing.  A couple of products that are similar to this have already been introduced by other companies.  This specific product can certainly be worth looking into considering that the producer of this device are trying to improve the device model and make it much more affordable for users.