Keystroke data could lead to earlier Parkinson’s diagnoses
 

Preliminary results from a study of about two dozen Parkinson’s patients suggest that the patterns the algorithm detects can distinguish people who have the disease from those who don’t. If the findings are validated in larger studies, the researchers believe, this approach could lead to much earlier diagnosis for Parkinson’s and aid in the development of better treatments.

http://www.technologyreview.com/arti...6/typing-test/

Neuro-QWERTY
 

The team that performed the research cited above is now running a crowdsourced study to characterize the normal typing signal in the general population and people with Parkinson's. It's open for participation. More information at:

https://www.neuroqwerty.com/en/index.php

This is good, practical research, which should give useful results quickly.

The main way it differs from what I've been doing with the side to side tap test is that I measure the rate at which keys are pressed, whereas they measure other features, such as key down time. Also, they take their measurements while the person is doing normal work on the computer, whereas I require the person to take a test.

To see the power of digitography [1], if you take levodopa, do the tap test every 10 minutes starting from 30 minutes before your first dose of the day and for a further 3 hours. If you graph the results, you will be able to see how the effect of a dose changes with time.

http://www.parkinsonsmeasurement.org...eToSideTap.htm

The weakness of my approach is that it requires the engagement of the PwP. A better approach is to measure things that happen automatically, such as heart beat.

Reference

[1] Mov Disord. 2000 Jan;15(1):36-47.
"Quantitative digitography (QDG): a sensitive measure of digital motor control in idiopathic Parkinson's disease."
Bronte-Stewart HM1, Ding L, Alexander C, Zhou Y, Moore GP
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10634240

John

One of the machinist toys I built some years ago was a "finger treadle" Simple toy that has a place for a finger to press, connecting rod, and little 3" diameter flywheel.

I couldn't keep the rhythm to keep it spinning. My wife and kids didn't have any problem, but I would "miss a beat" on timing...

I can not post links at the moment, but google "Finger Treadle"

When I start wearing off my hands have a very difficult time typing, or controlling a mouse. When that happens I'll use microsoft voice recognition for email.

TexasTom,

I agree that there's probably a connection between PD and the ability to work a finger treadle. Observations like that are useful because they can allow you to estimate when you "got" PD.

I went on a paragliding course 10 years before diagnosis, but was slower than almost everyone else at disentangling the lines, whereas 25 years before diagnosis I'd mountaineered without any problem with the rope work.

You mention typing problems. You may like to add your experiences to the "Typing tips for PwP" thread:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread180800.html

As an aside 1, the fact that this forum has a sense of history, with threads sometimes running over many years, makes this one of the better forums, since threads turn into useful resources.

As an aside 2, yet we still have a sense of community, where we go off topic enough to build up a picture of our coforumites (?!). For instance, I've been trying for years to build a Sterling engine. But my machining skills aren't up to standard.

John

never thought about the typing button speed. but i guess if i pay attention i will notice that my left hand types faster than my right hand, almost to the point where my left hand will type the letter before the right hand pushes its button. wearing the backspace button out.

For me two things stick out:
Started using a typewriter at age 7, as it was "painful to write". My hand/wrist/arm twisted badly when I tried to write by hand (last year was first time I had heard the word Dystonia).

At age 20, friends in college still remember me for arms that never swung when walking, and the oddest gait in how I walked.

I built the finger treadle in 1995, but always thought it was odd as sometimes I could (kind of) get it to work, and other times just couldn't make it go at all!