The Case to Realign Parkinson ’s Disease Research
Conclusion
PD research is spread out in many directions, but after 50 years of trying, it is still decades away from finding a cure. That realization must sink in to its participants before a change in approach is accepted.
The requisite changes are: 1) a focus on multivariate solutions; 2) an overlay industry structure that coordinates the focus and funding of PD research and tracks performance and 3) a modified approach to FDA regulation. Once these changes are put in place, the funding of PD research should be increased substantially over the next several years with the singular objective of finding a cure...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 15, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Patients Parkinson's Disease Steven Zecola Source Type: blogs
The Therapeutic Potential of Voice Technology
John Halamka, M.D., president, Mayo Clinic Platform, and Paul Cerrato, senior research analyst and communications specialist, Mayo Clinic Platform, wrote this article.The human voice is capable of extraordinary feats of genius and everyday acts of kindness. It can recite Shakespearean sonnets, teach our children moral values, stir audiences with a dramatic performance, and much more. But few of us ever imagined it capable of assisting in the diagnosis of disease. That ’s about the change, as evidenced by several innovative projects in voice technology.With the right digital tools, it is now possible t...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - February 4, 2021 Category: Information Technology Source Type: blogs
Vercise Genus Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson ’s FDA Approved
Boston Scientific has landed FDA clearance for its Vercise Genus Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) System. This is the fourth generation of the company’s DBS devices, which are designed to have a longer battery life, improved targeting to reduce symptoms, and make programming and management easier.
Vercise Genus devices are available in rechargeable and non-rechargeable varieties, and are all safe for conditional use inside MRI scanners, given certain precautions. The implants rely on Boston Scientific’s Cartesia directional leads to deliver electric pulses to the brain. The company partnered with Brain...
Source: Medgadget - January 25, 2021 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Medgadget Editors Tags: Neurology Neurosurgery Source Type: blogs
Medications That Can Cause Depression
There is nothing more frustrating than when the cure is part of the problem. Because depression is prevalent in patients with physical disorders like cancer, stroke, and heart disease, medications often interact with each other, complicating treatment. To appropriately manage depression, you and your physician need to evaluate all medications involved and make sure they aren’t cancelling each other out.
A review in the journal Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience a while back highlighted certain medications that can cause depression. The following are medications to watch out for.
Medications to Treat Seizures and Parkinso...
Source: World of Psychology - March 31, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Therese J. Borchard Tags: Depression Medications Drug Interactions Mood Disorder Source Type: blogs
Better Sleep . . . With Benefits
There are a handful of strategies that can augment or improve sleep quality while remaining consistent with the Wheat Belly lifestyle. Many people who banish all wheat and grains from their diet experience improvement in sleep duration and quality, further enhanced by our efforts to cultivate bowel flora. (Bowel flora metabolites have a major influence on sleep and dreams.) But, given life stress, transitional changes as you get further into this lifestyle, bad habits, and other factors sometimes make additional efforts necessary. But getting sufficient quality sleep can take you further down the path of health.
Melatonin ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 20, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates 5-Hydroxytrptophan Dr. Davis health melatonin Natural Sleep Aides oxytocin reuteri tryptophan undoctored wheat belly yogurt Source Type: blogs
The Best Natural Sleep Aides
Melatonin should be the first nutritional supplement choice for restoring sleep patterns.
Melatonin is not a sleeping pill, as it does not share the characteristics of prescription sleeping pills: It does not adversely modify sleep patterns, it does not become habit-forming, and there is no withdrawal process when stopped. It simply “resets” your circadian clock to make your brain and body receptive to sleep. Numerous other benefits have been identified, including 70 percent reduction in tension headaches, 50 percent reduction in migraine headaches, reduction in chronic pain, and reduction in symptoms of irritable bowe...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 20, 2018 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: News & Updates 5-Hydroxytrptophan Dr. Davis health melatonin Natural Sleep Aides tryptophan undoctored wheat belly Source Type: blogs
More Comments on the Mind-Brain Dualism
In a previous post ("I Hate My Brain") I argued for the separateness of the mind from the brain by appealing to myself and my awareness that my brain is suffering from Parkinson's disease. I noted that I (my mind) used to be driving along in a very nice car (my brain), but that the car now had flat tires and sand in the gasoline. While my mind can still tell my body to turn over in bed or stand up from a chair, my muscles just aren't getting the message, because the needed brain cells (the ones that make and receive neurotransmitting chemicals) are dying off, thus making it increasingly difficult to move around. Adding the...
Source: The Virtual Salt - June 28, 2018 Category: Neurology Authors: Robert Harris Source Type: blogs
“My family say they grieve for the old me” – profound personality changes after deep brain stimulation
Okun (2012).New England Journal of Medicine.Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus inParkinson ' s disease (PD) has been highly successful in controlling the motor symptoms of this disorder, which include tremor, slowed movement (akinesia), and muscle stiffness or rigidity. The figure above shows the electrode implantation procedure for PD, where a stimulating electrode is placed in either thesubthalamic nucleus, (STN), a tiny collection of neurons within the basal ganglia circuit, or in the internal segment of theglobus pallidus, another structure in the basal ganglia (Okun, 2012). DBS of the STN is more ...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 13, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
“My family say they grieve for the old me” – profound personality changes after deep brain stimulation
Okun (2012).New England Journal of Medicine.Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus inParkinson ' s disease (PD) has been highly successful in controlling the motor symptoms of this disorder, which include tremor, slowed movement (akinesia), and muscle stiffness or rigidity. The figure above shows the electrode implantation procedure for PD, where a stimulating electrode is placed in either thesubthalamic nucleus, (STN), a tiny collection of neurons within the basal ganglia circuit, or in the internal segment of theglobus pallidus, another structure in the basal ganglia (Okun, 2012). DBS of the STN is more ...
Source: The Neurocritic - May 13, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs
Drug May Help Those with Dementia with Lewy Bodies
New help may be on the way for people with dementia with Lewy bodies, which is the second most common neurodegenerative type of dementia after Alzheimer ’s disease.by Alzheimer's Reading RoomThe disease can cause movement problems and issues such ashallucinations in addition to thinking and memory problems. But the drug used to treat the movement problems can also exacerbate the hallucinations, delusions and other psychiatric problems.Lewy Body Dementia is not a rare disease.It affects an estimated 1.4 million individuals and their families in the United States. Because LBD symptoms can closely resemble other more c...
Source: Alzheimer's Reading Room, The - January 29, 2018 Category: Neurology Tags: health LBD lewy bodies Lewy Body Dementia life news Parkinson ’s drug treatment Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 68-year-old man with Parkinson disease
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 68-year-old man is seen for follow-up evaluation of Parkinson disease, which was diagnosed 10 years ago. Although his symptoms initially were well controlled with medications, he has experienced increasing fluctuations in motor symptoms, specifically tremor at rest and slowness, within the past 3 years. Medications are carbidopa-levodopa, entacapone, and amantadine. He notes marked symptom improvement after taking these medications, but the benefit lasts only for 2 hours. Increased dosing of carbidopa-levodopa...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 23, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Neurology Source Type: blogs
Will There Be an Uptick in FDA NDA Approvals This Year?
Late last year, John Jenkins, director of the FDA’s Office of New Drugs told attendees at an event that the decline in new drug approvals (NDAs) was not due to a shift in FDA standards or policies. The number in 2016 (22) is remarkably lower than the total in 2015 (45). Could there be changes in 2017?
Report from event: Uptick in 2017?
Regulatory Focus reported from the Prevision Policy conference, quoting Jenkins directly: “There are fewer applications in front of us to act upon,” Jenkins said, noting that although he cannot discuss individual applications, a handful of the complete response letters (CRLs) issued ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - April 18, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Natural Sleep Aides
Melatonin is the natural hormone of sleep and circadian rhythms, its release activated with darkness and inhibited with light. Sleeping in complete darkness, with no exposure to a bathroom light when going to the bathroom, for instance, is a natural way to increase melatonin release. It is not a sleeping pill. It is a sleep hormone, simply making your body more receptive to sleep.
Melatonin supplementation can hasten the onset of sleep, make sleep deeper, and discourage early awakening. It also has substantial effects in reducing blood pressure, especially when taken as a sustained-release preparation. Melatonin is not h...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 7, 2016 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Dr. Davis News & Updates Sleep Weight loss Wheat Belly Lifestyle Dr. William Davis energy health Natural Sleep Aides Wheat Belly Total Health Source Type: blogs
Micrographia Tiny Handwriting Remedy (Parkinson's Disease)
If your handwriting has become tiny and virtually illegible (as is common with Parkinsonism and Parkinson's Disease), there are a few things I've discovered that might help you too. To return back to legible handwriting, do the following:1. Get some Manuscript Tablets from the 99 cent store or other source. Alternatively, get some wide-ruled notebook paper. Use the lines, which are a quarter of an inch (one centimeter) apart, as guidelines for your lower-case letters. Each letter must reach from one line to another. Yes, a quarter of an inch tall.2. Slow down. You'll notice that you can't scribble very fast when the letter...
Source: The Virtual Salt - April 26, 2016 Category: Neurology Authors: Robert Harris Source Type: blogs
Orthostatic tremor - pearls
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-3639768-12"); pageTracker._initData(); pageTracker._trackPageview(); Hassan A, Ahlskog AE, Matsumotos JY. Orthostatic tremor: clinical, electrophysiologic and treatment findings in 184 patients. Neurology 2016; 86: 458-464.The article is a Mayo series of 184 patients seen over 37 years. Definition: lower body tremor activated on standing, absent when s...
Source: neurologyminutiae - February 23, 2016 Category: Neurology Source Type: blogs
