I thought I'd share some of the results from the work that my company has done to date in developing a quick, non-invasive test for Parkinson's. This first post is our "Vision". We'd love to hear your comments.

Steve

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Our Vision: The 3-Line Test
February 13, 2008

Much of nature displays patterns that are recognizable to us in a "comforting" way. There is a rhythm to life that we take for granted.

Please pause for a moment and think about it? Whether you believe in God or not some observations seem appropriate.

Maple leaves have five fingers. We have five fingers. Clouds form shapes that once intrigued us as children. Most animals have heads, eyes, ears, four limbs and a rear end that is often adorned with a tail. Cracks in pavement look like the Grand Canyon viewed from space. Humans, animals and plants are "born", live, die and depend upon reproduction to insure survival of their genes.

Have you ever wondered why everyone's handwriting is different? Why do we have a head? Couldn't the brain be spread around to other places? But wait... the head might be considered as support for our eyes, ears, and mouth. Those are the things that keep us alive. Not our brains. Perhaps the brain exists to act as a resource for those senses. Would you argue that bacteria live because of their heads? Good luck with that.

Patterns. Why does the body shake when confronted with danger? Or perhaps the question is, “Why does the body ALWAYS have a tremor?” Hands, tapping feet, eyes blinking, pupils contracting, heart beat, breathing... hmmm. To some people the clouds make music. Why do we LOVE the thump, thump of a bass drum? Did you ever wonder why the rhythm is often around 70 beats a second? Like a heart beat. Familiar and comfortable.

Our bodies are a complex mechanism of a thousand-fold interacting systems that are kept in harmony by a master drummer. It keeps time. The rhythmic signatures of all of our body's mechanisms playing as an orchestra show up as a mild tremor in our hands. It’s a complicated engine that "hums" when in tune and sounds "wrong" when a piston slaps.

The 3-Line Test tries to break that "hum" down into its constituent signals so that one day a doctor might diagnose illness from a patient’s handwriting.

That's our vision.

Steve
3LT, Livonia, Michigan

Over the past 3 years we've spent a lot of time ensuring that the 3LT test is statistically valid, repeatable and reliable. We standardized on the Genius pen 4 x 5.5" graphics tablet not only because it was inexpensive but also because that is the minimum size that would allow for the quantity of data that met our minimum data size needs. Any graphics tablet of at least that size should work fine. In addition to the Genius, the software we developed has also been validated on a Wacom.

Although the software will allow input from any device that follows the mouse X,Y signal protocol, those options all suffer from being too insensitive to pick up a slight Parkinson's signal.

The choice of a pen as the input device makes use of the fact that the "pill rolling" symptom (and hence, data) between the thumb and index finger is greatly magnified by having the patient hold a pen.

Steve

I have no idea what either of you are talking about!

Dianna, in short it means that it appears possible to diagnose for Parkinson's Disease by analyzing the lines that a person draws using a pen.

The difference is that instead of having him/her use an ink pen and a piece of paper, we substitute a computer graphics tablet and pen. We've developed software that analyzes the tremor in his/her fingers while holding and drawing with the pen.

It's similar to hand writing analysis except that it uses mathematics developed using a new science called Chaos Theory.

Does that clear it up any? :-)

Steve

I guess I would have to know and understand more about your test. The only thing that I can see that you could detect at the moment is micrographia. While micrographia is a symptom of PD, there are other etiologies where micrographia is present.

comments? personally have no comment on a business nor do i think it's appropriate for this board.

are you donating this product to the NPF or the MJFF?

i've seen 2factor authentication using typing patterns.

the earlier pd can be diagnosed the better.

It is our goal to make our findings freely available to the PD community. While we have accepted donations to help us fund our work, I have personally paid for the bulk of everything done to date.

It is our intent to be a free or nearly free service to the PD community.

We did apply to MJF but have not yet received a response.

The vitamin study that I posted earlier in this forum is an example of what we have done. MY member status does not allow me to include attachments at this time so I cannot include the full report. It provides an excellent description of how the test works.

Steve

I'd like to offer some insight into where I think mathematics and science should head in this country.

First, if you are the very rare individual who can see patterns in nature then I suggest you read the book "Chaos, Making a New Science" by James Gleick. It doesn't matter in the least if you have a PhD in Chaos Theory. If you can't see patterns then you will be very disappointed in what you will accomplish. If you CAN see patterns then you were born with a very rare and powerful advantage.

Second, read "Silent Spring" by Rachael Carson. It's still relevant.

Steve

"The vitamin study that I posted earlier in this forum is an example of what we have done"

am i missing something? i found a post of yours relating what seemed to be a personal experience, was there something else?

Here's the link to a generalized conclusion I posted about the vitamin study that was done using me as the guinea pig:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread180778.html

What you don't see there is the data we generated before we drew those conclusions. Yes, those results are based upon a one-person sample.

As soon as I gain the rights to attach the report that was prepared for my neurologist I'll post it.

Steve