Michael J. Fox sits down with the Globe and Mail to talk about Parkinson Disease and his research foundation.
The foundation demands that scientists share results and tools, and it closely monitors their work. But it also encourages them to take risks, devoting roughly $2-million a year to a rapid-response fund that gets money quickly into the hands of scientists who come up with new ideas.
In less than six weeks, a scientist can have the seed money to test out a hypothesis and see if it is worth pursuing. Most of the time, it doesn’t pan out, which is why government funding agencies prefer to support research that will lead to steady but incremental advances.
Read the whole interview here…
Together with Tyler’s Hope for a Dystonia Cure, the UFMDC invites you to view our new dystonia website dedicated to our Comprehensive Dystonia Care Center. Our team includes specialized physicians, a physician assistant, nurses, physical therapists, speech therapists, psychologists, researchers as well as other interdisciplinary specialists.
The new pages detail what is available at our Dystonia Center including information on becoming a patient, treatment options and details about our Dystonia team.
Check out the site here…
Please read the complete article here. Excerpts follow:
Together, the findings suggest that gene therapy to enable the brain to retain its ability to produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that falls in critically short supply in Parkinson’s patients, could be safely attempted during earlier stages of the disease with an added likelihood of success.
…
“We have worked every day for 10 years to design a construct to the gene delivery vector that enhances the safety profile of gene transfer for Parkinson’s disease,” said Ronald Mandel, a professor of neuroscience at UF’s McKnight Brain Institute and the Powell Gene Therapy Center. “With that added measure of safety, we believe we can intervene with gene transfer in patients at earlier stages of the disease. We strongly believe that trials to save dopamine-producing connections in patients with Parkinson’s disease have failed because the therapy went into patients who were in the late stages of the disease and who had too few remaining dopamine-producing connections.”
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“With this technique, you could adjust the therapy in the patient,” said Fredric P. Manfredsson, a postdoctoral associate in UF’s department of neuroscience. “That would be extremely helpful because no one is really certain yet what dosage is required for a protective effect in humans. The process is also much more sensitive than we had imagined it would be. GDNF production can be shut down completely with a dose of doxycycline that is much smaller than what is commonly prescribed.”
Driving is one of the biggest issues facing a Parkinson patient as their disease progresses. Our friends at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston put together a video for the National Parkinson Foundation about this struggle with advice for patients and caregivers. Watch it at the NPF website here.
At our center, Dr. Sherrilene Classen and her team can advise patients and caregivers on what to consider.
The Okuns’ 2nd child, a daughter, entered the world this morning and mother and daughter are doing well! Congratulations to them on a beautiful girl!
Answer: Because the UFMDC has one of the largest interdisciplinary teams
in the world dedicated to making sure your deep brain stimulation device
is placed correctly.
You will see a fellowship trained movement disorders neurologist, a
fellowship trained movement disorders neurosurgeon, and you will receive
the best possible medical optimization. Additionally, you will have access
to a complete interdisciplinary team of experts in every area (speech,
voice, walking, balance, memory, depression/anxiety disorders, rehabilitation,
driving, occupational therapy, etc.) who specialize in the care of Parkinson's
and Movement Disorder Patients.
We will ensure you are the right candidate,
and discuss with you in detail what symptoms we think you can expect
to improve with a deep brain stimulation surgical therapy. Your case
will be discussed in detail with the interdisciplinary team prior to
any surgical intervention. In addition we will provide a top-notch operating
room experience with a neurologist, microelectrode multiple pass mapping,
and careful imaging and guidance for the proper placement of your device.
After it is implanted you will have full access to a dedicated staff
for programming and followup of your medication and DBS needs. Should
you have any problems we are always available to help you.
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