Carers Week launches in UK

Carers' Corner

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 10 June 2015

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Wake up to the needs of 6.5 million carers, say campaigners

All of this week (8-14 June), Carers Week aims to recognise, support and celebrate the vital contribution that carers make to families and communities across the UK, including those dealing with the impact of Parkinson’s.

The annual campaign connects communities with individuals, providing resources and materials to encourage greater awareness and help empower carers. Events are taking place up and down the country to involve carers and make them aware of the support available to them.

The focus of this year’s Carers Week is on building ‘carer-friendly communities’ – an acknowledgment that caring can often become an extremely isolating job.

Diana Walles, manager of Carers Week, said: “This is our call to action to urge individuals, organisations and service providers to wake up to the needs of carers and do their bit. Across the UK 6.5 million – 1 in 10 people – are caring for a loved one.

“Without help and assistance at the right time carers can find themselves facing financial hardship, health problems, emotional stress and relationship breakdown.”

To pledge your support and to find out how to get involved with events near you, visit the website.

Let us know what kind of support carers receive in your country by contacting us

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Musical therapy study to receive $20 million in funding

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is donating US $20 million to a medical trial researching the effects of musical therapy on brain conditions, including Parkinson’s. The trial will be carried out by the Sound Health initiative, a joint partnership between the NIH and The John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The initiative was created to expand current knowledge of how listening, performing and creating music could be harnessed for health and wellness. Francis S. Collins, director of the NIH, said: “We know that the beat of a metronome can steady the gait of someone with Parkinson’s disease, for example, but we don’t fully understand how that happens. “If we can pinpoint in the brain how music therapy works through the use of imaging and biomarkers, the hope is that we can improve its effectiveness and apply it more broadly to improve the lives of millions of people.”

Researchers develop automated system to diagnose Parkinson’s

In an international study, researchers from the US, Germany and Austria have used a non-invasive MRI method to develop an automated system that can diagnose Parkinson’s. As part of the study – published in medical journal ‘The Lancet Digital Health’ – researchers worked with 1,002 patients and used an imaging method that measures how water molecules diffuse in the brain. This helped them to identify where neurodegeneration is occurring. Researchers hope this will help improve the accuracy of early Parkinson’s diagnoses – which they estimate to be around 58%. Dr David Vaillancourt, who led the study, said: “Our method may help to reduce the number of misdiagnosed cases in the future. Since these diseases require unique treatment plans and different medications, and clinical trials testing new medications require the correct diagnosis, getting it right is important for patient care.”

MJFF announces $10 million competition for Parkinson’s

The Michael J Fox Foundation has launched the ‘Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition’ – a US $10 million programme aiming to develop a game-changing tool for Parkinson’s research. As part of the competition, participating teams will compete in a scientific race to build a device that is able to identify alpha-synuclein – a protein closely associated with Parkinson’s. Although almost everyone diagnosed with Parkinson’s has clumps of alpha-synuclein in the brain, these are currently only visible when analysing tissue during autopsies. The competition is named after Ken Griffin, CEO of US investment firm Citadel who has given US $7.5 million funding to the programme. Griffin – whose father has Parkinson’s – said: “If we have the imaging capability to observe the pathology that arises from protein-misfolding in real time, and understand how drugs are impacting people in real time, that would be a major advance.”

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Carers Week launches in UK

Carers' Corner

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 10 June 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

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Neurologists should be ‘guides not gods’ – Part 1

Advances

Waking up to the impact of sleep disruption

Perspectives

VIDEO: People with Parkinson’s freeze for ‘mannequin challenge’

Musical therapy study to receive $20 million in funding

Researchers develop automated system to diagnose Parkinson’s

MJFF announces $10 million competition for Parkinson’s

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Carers Week launches in UK

Carers' Corner

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 10 June 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

Last Month

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Share this story

Comments

Related articles

Special reports

Neurologists should be ‘guides not gods’ – Part 1

Advances

Waking up to the impact of sleep disruption

Perspectives

VIDEO: People with Parkinson’s freeze for ‘mannequin challenge’

Musical therapy study to receive $20 million in funding

Researchers develop automated system to diagnose Parkinson’s

MJFF announces $10 million competition for Parkinson’s

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