“We need to move towards a fundamental change in medical culture”

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Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 8 April 2015

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The European Patients Forum (EPF) wants professionals to be trained in shared decision-making and in communicating effectively with patients about treatment choices and goals.

The EPF is proposing a change in attitude from ‘blaming the patient’ to ‘working with the patient for better health outcomes’ – along with a change in terminology from ‘compliance’ to ‘adherence’ – in order to promote what it describes as “a neutral description of patients’ medicine-taking behaviour.”

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Students develop wearable device to track Parkinson’s tremors

A wearable device has been developed to monitor Parkinson’s tremors and their severity through the tracking of body movements. The device – Tremor Tracker – was created by two students, Julie Gaudin and Elizabeth Hummel, at Louisiana Tech University, US, as part of a design class project. The students designed an algorithm using data recorded from volunteer participants at Rock Steady, a boxing programme for people with Parkinson’s. They then applied the algorithm to a GENEActiv, a wrist-worn device that has been scientifically validated for clinical research. Hummel, co-creator of the Tremor Tracker, said: “Through supervised machine learning, the device predicts whether a patient’s tremors are parkinsonian or non-parkinsonian, as well as the severity of these tremors. A quantitative analysis of parkinsonian tremors provides a more detailed disease state.”

Can awakening dormant neurons reverse Parkinson’s motor symptoms?

Reawakening dormant neurons could help reverse Parkinson’s motor symptoms, researchers in South Korea have found. While Parkinson’s is typically believed to be caused by neuronal death, a new study – published in ‘Current Biology’ journal – suggests that dormant neurons could be another cause. After completing an animal test – which treated the subjects with two compounds that block dopamine-producing neurons from becoming dormant – the researchers found these neurons to be “awakened”, allowing them to resume dopamine production. The researchers hope that this will lead to a disease-modifying treatment, especially for people in the early stages of Parkinson’s. Hoon Ryu, a senior author of the study and researcher at KIST Brain Science Institute, South Korea, said: “This research refutes the common belief that there is no disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s due to its basis on neuronal cell death.”

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“We need to move towards a fundamental change in medical culture”

News

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 8 April 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

Last Month

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Global update

Eight must-read books about Parkinson’s

Perspectives

Tonya’s trends: step-by-step guide to festive footwear with Parkinson’s

Interviews

“Not every day will be a day to create art”

‘Dopamine-boosting’ BT13 molecule could be used to slow Parkinson’s

Students develop wearable device to track Parkinson’s tremors

Can awakening dormant neurons reverse Parkinson’s motor symptoms?

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“We need to move towards a fundamental change in medical culture”

News

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 8 April 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

Last Month

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Share this story

Comments

Related articles

Global update

Eight must-read books about Parkinson’s

Perspectives

Tonya’s trends: step-by-step guide to festive footwear with Parkinson’s

Interviews

“Not every day will be a day to create art”

‘Dopamine-boosting’ BT13 molecule could be used to slow Parkinson’s

Students develop wearable device to track Parkinson’s tremors

Can awakening dormant neurons reverse Parkinson’s motor symptoms?

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