In other news… a few key Parkinson's headlines of late
NewsSmartwatches as a future screening tool for Parkinson's
There is future potential to use smartwatches as a screening tool for possible Parkinson's. A study published in Nature Medicine on 3rd July found that, by tracking people's movement consistently over a single week, they could predict that person's likelihood of developing Parkinson's up to seven years in the future.
'Not only could these participants be distinguished from healthy controls in the study, but the researchers then extended this to show that the AI could be used to identify individuals who would later develop Parkinson’s in the general population. They found that this was more accurate than any other risk factor or other recognised early sign of the disease in predicting whether someone would develop Parkinson’s disease. The model was also able to predict time to diagnosis.'
taken from a review of the study by the UK Dementia Research Institute, one on the research partners
The researchers highlight that, as a relatively cheap screening tool which up to 30% of the UK population already possess, this could be a low cost, low impact means on screening for Parkinson's, offering opportunities for earlier diagnosis and identify samples for neuroprotective clinical trials.
Parkinson's and gut health
Over the past several years, there has been growing interest in the gut-brain axis, and this has been particularly relevant in Parkinson's, where there is suggestion that one form of Parkinson's begins in the gut thanks to Braak's hypothesis that pathogens swallowed into the gut can enter the brain via the vagus verve (Rietdijk 2017; Horsager 2020).
Since then, several studies have been delving into the role of the gut in Parkinson's and have found other areas of interest regarding the gut; almost 30% of the gut microbiome found in people with Parkinson's is different to people without Parkinson's including higher levels of harmful bacteria including e-coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae (can cause pneumonia), as well as a bacteria called desulfovibrio (Wallen 2022).
The latter has been found to increase alpha-synuclein aggregation in mouse models (Huynh 2023) and another study found an overabundance of this same bacteria in those with Parkinson's and REM sleep behaviour disorder (Huang 2023). (Aggregated and misfolded alpha-synuclein is implicated in the development of Lewy bodies found in Lewy body dementia and Parkinson's disease dementia (Kim 2014), and a current area of research for Parkinson's disease modifying therapies (Fields 2019).)
Medical News Today's June podcast 'In conversation' features a deep-dive conversation into the current research, evidence base, and hypotheses around the gut and Parkinson's across these areas and more. You can listen to the podcast or read their summary here.
Inspirational story post-diagnosis
The BBC have shared the story of a former journalist and musician who, after being diagnosed with Parkinson's at 44, found new levels of creativity and community, and has recorded an album with a host of Grammy-award-winning musicians who were touched by his story. The album, released on 28th June, is called 'In the Springtime' and will raise funds for Parkinson's UK.
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'The things you can't get from the books'
Parkinson's Academy, our original and longest running Academy, houses 20 years of inspirational projects, resources, and evidence for improving outcomes for people with Parkinson's. Led by co-founder and educational director Dr Peter Fletcher, the Academy has a truly collegiate feel and prides itself on delivering 'the things you can't get from books' - a practical learning model which inspires all Neurology Academy courses.