GPS shoes for Alzheimer's patients

News.com.au, From correspondents in Washington, Agence France-Presse, June 06, 2009 01:32pm
http://www.news.com.au/technology/st...014239,00.html

• Footwear to track wandering sufferers
• Dressing one of last memory types retained
• Technology news: Latest gadgets, reviews

A shoe-maker and a technology company are teaming up to develop footwear with a built-in GPS device that could help track down "wandering" seniors suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

"The technology will provide the location of the individual wearing the shoes within 9m (30 feet), anywhere on the planet," said Andrew Carle, an assistant professor at George Mason University who served as an advisor on the project.


Seeing the future for Parkinson's patients

OregonLive.com, by John Nutt, guest opinion, Friday June 05, 2009, 1:00 PM
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/in..._parkinso.html
John Nutt is a physician and director of the Parkinson Center of Oregon at OHSU.

The recent news that former Portland Trail Blazer Brian Grant suffers from Parkinson's disease caught many of us off guard. It was the same kind of shock we experienced upon learning that actor Michael J. Fox and former Attorney General Janet Reno also suffer from the disease.
Why were we so surprised? For one reason, Parkinson's, like Lou Gehrig's disease and Alzheimer's, is considered a disease of aging, and in a way this is true. Parkinson's typically strikes those older than 60. But as illustrated by Brian Grant, the young are not spared.


Memantine in patients with Parkinson's disease dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial

The Lancet Neurology, Early Online Publication, 10 June 2009
doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(09)70146-2 Cite or Link Using DOI
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/la...146-2/fulltext

Editors' note: Overactive glutamatergic transmission might underlie some neuropsychiatric symptoms in both Parkinson’s disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Randomised placebo-controlled trials in patients with Lewy body dementias have tested antipsychotics or cholinesterase inhibitors; the cholinesterase inhibitor rivastigmine is the only drug approved to treat PDD, although it provides only modest benefits. This report of a phase II trial of memantine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, indicates that the antiglutamatergic drug is safe and might be beneficial for the treatment of PDD and DLB; however, these findings need to be confirmed in a phase III study.



PhRMA Launches Campaign to Raise Awareness of Success of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit

Wed Jun 10, 9:20 am ET, To: POLITICAL EDITORS, Contact: Greg Lopes of PhRMA
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/2009061...I0NDY3MDcxMQ--

WASHINGTON, June 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- With the debate over comprehensive healthcare reform now in full swing, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is launching a new national broadcast advertising campaign touting the importance and success of free-market initiatives such as the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D).


Paddling for Parkinson's

The Saline Reporter, By Jana Miller, Staff Writer, PUBLISHED: June 11, 2009
http://www.salinereporter.com/storie...90611014.shtml

He planned a 3,900-mile solo kayaking trip, which he began June 1. Forrester plans to paddle the full length of the Missouri and Mississippi river system, the fourth-longest river system in the world.
But his motivations run even deeper, because one of Joe's mentors, his own grandfather, was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2005.

"Throughout my whole life, many people have gone to extraordinary lengths to help me achieve my personal, academic and adventure goals," he said. "My parents, extended family and friends have all been extremely supportive. I knew that this trip needed to be about more than a river trip. It needed to have a greater impact.


http://www.paddlingforparkinsons.com/pfp/index.aspx


Bluesman Harry Manx among performers featured at Sue Richards' benefit

The Record, Canada, June 11, 2009, RECORD STAFF
http://news.therecord.com/article/551769

A prominent Canadian singer/songwriter is playing a benefit concert [‘Love and Other Drugfs’] to help a prominent supporter of the arts in Guelph. West Coast bluesman Harry Manx will share the stage with area musicians to raise funds to assist Sue Richards, who is battling Parkinson's disease.

Harry Helps Sue takes place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Guelph Little Theatre, 176 Morris Street. Tickets are $30.


Appeal record for Parkinson's Disease Society

PF/Professional Fundraising
http://www.professionalfundraising.c...828&pg=2&cat=2

The Parkinson’s Disease Society (PDS) has recorded its most successful direct mail appeal, exceeding targets by more than a third.

During Parkinson’s Awareness Week at the end of April, the charity launched a direct mail campaign focusing on the fact that scientific research into the disease is entering a critical stage.
The appeal, titled ‘The Time Is Now’ has already surpassed its target by 34 per cent and more responses are expected.

New director of fundraising Paul Jackson-Clark said: “The original income target for the direct mail appeal was £54,000 with an average donation of £15 and a response rate of 8 per cent. To date the appeal has made £72,338 with a 9 per cent response.“


Tesla Delivers 500th Roadster to New Jersey Philanthropist

http://www.futurecars.com/blog/gener...philanthropist

His name is Martin Tuchman, a New Jersey philanthropist. Tuchman worked as an automotive engineer for the Railrod Express Agency in the 1960s before co-founding Interpool, a container and leasing corporation that would ultimately make him very wealthy.

Technically he's retired, but it's an active retirement. He's a member of several prestigious boards and councils, but the reason his name caught my eye is because I personally know it well. He's the Chairman of the Board of The Parkinson Alliance, the umbrella organization responsible for the Parkinson's Unity Walk, the largest single-day fundraising event for the Parkinson’s community.

The Unity Walk—and more specifically, Parkinson's Disease—is what connects me to this newest Roadster owner. Martin Tuchman's wife Margaret has had PD since her diagnosis in 1981, which explains his enormously influential involvement in the search for a cure for Parkinson's. My father, Alan Bonander, was diagnosed with PD in 1984…


Energizer "Just Keep Going" finalists making a difference

KBVC/Las Vegas, NV
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=10495491

Two people in our valley are being recognized for their "just keep going" spirit.
It's an award for people who live life like the Energizer bunny; they keep going and going and going - no matter what. News 3's Angela Martin reports that their stories were picked out of thousands to be in the top 100.

Five years ago, Robert Cochrane and his father, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, traveled 20,000 miles in 60 days to see a baseball game at all 30 major league parks. They turned their trip into a documentary called "The Boys of Summer."


EPDA Life With Parkinson's Campaign Launches in Ten Languages to Improve Knowledge of Parkinson's Disease Across Europe

Survey Reveals Most Europeans Know so Little About Parkinson's They Would be Unlikely to Recognise its Early Symptoms and See Their Doctor for Prompt Diagnosis and Treatment

By: PR Newswire, Jun. 8, 2009 03:00 AM
http://uk.sys-con.com/node/992639

A recent survey of over 5,000 members of the general public from across Europe has highlighted why the Life with Parkinson's campaign is sorely needed. Supported by a Teva Pharmaceuticals Limited and H. Lundbeck A/S, the results of the survey paint a troubling picture of the lack of knowledge and understanding of Parkinson's. Over half of Europeans did not correctly identify Parkinson's as a neurological condition that affects movement and 77% did not recognise the inability to move - one of the cardinal symptoms - as being a problem for people with of Parkinson's.


Interim Results of Phase II Trial for the Treatment of Sialorrhea to be Presented at Movement Disorder Society International Congress June 11th

PR Leap, NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS June 09, 2009
http://www.prleap.com/pr/136855/

Newton, Massachusetts – June 9, 2009 – NeuroHealing Pharmaceuticals, a private, clinical stage company developing innovative drug treatments for specialty indications based on repositioning neurologically active compounds, announces the presentation of pre-planned interim clinical results of a phase II trial with NH004 for the treatment of sialorrhea (uncontrolled drooling) in Parkinson’s disease patients at the MDS 13th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (June 7-11, 2009 in Paris).


ICPDMD: Early Entacapone Doesn't Delay Dyskinesias in Parkinson's

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today. Published: June 09, 2009
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurolog...sDisease/14626

PARIS, June 9 -- Adding entacapone (Comtan) to levodopa early in Parkinson's disease does not delay onset of dyskinesias, researchers said here.

Instead, and contrary to expectations, early entacapone hastened onset of dyskinesias, lead author C. Warren Olanow, M.D., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, told attendees at the International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.


Clinical Pharmacology Study With AZILECT(R) (Rasagiline Tablets) Demonstrated It Does Not Increase Tyramine Sensitivity

PD Newswire
http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-car...9062009-1.html

Study Indicated Rasagiline Selectivity for Inhibiting MAO-B at Maximum Approved Dose

KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Teva Neuroscience, Inc. today presented results from a clinical pharmacology study in which AZILECT(R) (rasagiline tablets) did not increase the risk of tyramine sensitivity at the maximum approved dose of 1 mg. The presentation was made during the 13th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders in Paris, France. This study assessed the potential risk of hypertensive crisis due to the interaction between high doses of oral tyramine and therapeutic doses of rasagiline, which is indicated both as monotherapy in patients with early Parkinson's disease (PD) and as adjunctive treatment in patients receiving levodopa. The study supported the selectivity of rasagiline for inhibition of MAO-B at currently approved doses.

"We are pleased with the results, which met our primary objectives," said Jon Congleton, general manager of Teva Neuroscience. "This study provides continuing evidence of the value of AZILECT. The results demonstrated a low potential for MAO-A and therefore a selectivity for MAO-B inhibition."


Colorado Stem Cell Awareness Rally to Take Place in Denver, Colorado on June 13th, 2009

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayRe...5041562&EDATE=

DENVER, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on the momentum of their previous events, the Stem Cell Awareness Association (http://www.stemcellaware.com) will hold the sixth Stem Cell Awareness Rally in Denver, Colorado on June 13th, 2009. The group's last event, in Punta Gorda, Florida, drew past and prospective patients, news media, U.S. physicians and specialists, as well as members of the public interested in learning more about stem cell treatment.

Carol Peterson (see http://www.cameronsmiracleofsight.com), who launched the association at the first event in July of 2007, summarized the mission of the association in four simple words, "Educated Freedom of Choice." Carol explained, "Our group is mainly made up of patients who have experienced what is really available in other countries and while we don't want to exert influence over other patients' decisions, we do want to make them aware that what is available in the U.S. is not representative of what is available throughout the world."


ThermoGenesis nabs NIH grant for stem cell delivery

Sacramento Business Journal, Wednesday, June 10, 2009, 10:05am PDT
http://www.bizjournals.com/sacrament...8/daily41.html

The two-year grant is a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant. ThermoGenesis can apply for a Phase II grant after the two years are up. The Rancho Cordova-company will collaborate with the University of California Davis on the study.


Bioenergy Life Project Announces Community Event to Document Benefits of Bioenergy on Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis

Send2Press Newswire, Wed, 10 Jun 2009, 19:52:55 EDT
http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2...0610-004.shtml

LOS ANGELES, Calif., June 10 (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) -- The Bioenergy Life Project announces the first community event to document the benefits of Bioenergy therapy on Parkinson's Disease and Multiple Sclerosis. The event will last from July 13th to 16th 2009 at the Marina Del Rey Hotel, Marina Del Rey, Calif.


Pesticides and Parkinson's: More scientific studies point to a link between Parkinson's disease and popular pesticides.

Wed, Jun 10 2009 at 1:27 PM EST
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/health/...and-parkinsons

Why are farm residents more likely to get Parkinson’s disease? That question, writes Robin Marantz Henig in the National Resources Defense Council’s magazine On Earth, is one epidemiologists started asking in the 1970s.


Donepezil [Aricept] Treatment Reduces the Risk of Falls in Patients With Parkinson's Disease: Presented at MDS

PeerView Media Bar, By Jenny Powers
http://www.docguide.com/news/content...2575D1006A0918
PARIS -- June 10, 2009 -- Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) treated with donepezil have as much as a 50% reduction in falls, thus enhancing their quality of life, according to researchers here at the Movement Disorder Society's (MDS) 13th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders.


L-type Calcium Channel Blockers May Reduce Risk of Parkinson’s Disease

Health News, By: Madeline Ellis, Published: Wednesday, 10 June 2009
http://www.healthnews.com/medical-up...ease-3265.html

It develops subtly and gradually—perhaps with a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand, trouble getting out of a chair, soft or mumbled speech, losing track of thoughts, or feeling tired and irritable for no apparent reason. It occurs when the dopamine-producing cells in the brain begin to die for unknown reasons. Messages from the brain telling the body how and when to move are therefore delivered more slowly, leaving a person incapable of initiating and controlling movements in a normal way. It is called Parkinson’s disease (PD) for which there is, at present, no known cure and no treatment to slow its course.


New Data on Once-Daily Extended Release Pramipexole [Mirapex] Presented at 13th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (MDS)

Data indicates pramipexole extended release is comparable to the immediate release formulation

June 10, 2009 01:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...48&newsLang=en

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New data presented today at the Movement Disorder Society’s 13th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders (MDS) suggest that pramipexole once-daily, extended release (ER) formulation is comparable to pramipexole immediate release (IR) formulation in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). These data support the results from a previous trial that assessed the efficacy, safety and tolerability of the once-daily ER formulation in the treatment of early PD after 18 weeks, and non-inferiority between pramipexole ER and pramipexole IR after 33 weeks, as presented for the first time today at the MDS.

The randomized, placebo-controlled trial assessed the efficacy and safety of a once-daily, ER formulation of pramipexole - administered as adjunctive therapy in advanced PD - compared to its IR formulation when administered under the same therapeutic conditions. Both the primary and the key secondary endpoints were met in the study as measured by the change from baseline in UPDRS* II+III and percentage of off-time, the period of reduced motor functioning at the end of the dosing interval, during waking hours.