Early detection of Parkinson’s Disease can help manage the disease better as treatment / therapies can be started sooner. Last month, there have been several publications that highlighted various techniques related to early detection of disease.
An interesting research described how a person acting out dreams especially during the REM-sleep phase is at a very high risk of developing the disease. Another research revolved around early detection of disease using the speech sample. Author claims very high level of accuracy in detecting the disease through altered speech.
Another research found a non-invasive technique for early detection of disease through checking for alpha-synuclein in the stools.
One article covers early detection of the disease through non-invasive observable symptoms.
Following are the details:
1)
Acting out the dreams can be an early sign
People who tend to act out their dreams during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase of sleep are likely to have a disorder called RBD, which is REM sleep disorder. While it may be hazardous, it may be an early indication of Neuro-degenerative disease, where the rogue protein alpha-synuclein may form toxic clumps in the brain. Other movements like Sleep walking or sleep talking occurs during non-REM sleep. Also, not all synucleinopathy can be attributed to RBD though, since in same cases it may be triggered due to some anti-depressant drugs or some other underlying condition like brain stem tumor or narcolepsy.
Following is the link to the original article:
2)
Altered Speech can be an early sign as well
Research has shown that early signs of Parkinson’s Disease could also manifest as speech deficits. In fact, researchers have also developed models that can predict if a voice sample belongs to a person who may have symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease with 80-90% accuracy.
For building such a model, voice samples of 22 patients of Parkinson’s Disease and 28 normal healthy people were taken.
Following is the link to the original source:
3)
Genome sequencing for Early detection of PD
Highly innovative European company is developing a therapy to slow down the progression of Parkinson’s Disease especially for patients under the age of 50. If there are missing genes it is almost sure that the patient will develop Parkinson’s Disease before the age of 45. This therapy is able to replace missing genes in these potential patients so as to be able to stop the progression of Parkinson’s Disease.
Following is the link to original article:
4)
Early indicators in stool sample
As per researchers, 70% of PD originates in the central nervous system, while 30% of PD originates in the enteric nervous system. The second type is also called as body-first PD and aggregates of alpha-synuclein protein are formed on the neurons in the intestine. This results in isolated REM-sleep behavior disorder. Research suggests that elevated levels of alpha-synuclein is found in the stool sample. This may result in a non-invasive diagnostic tool for this disease even before it shows any other symptom.
Following is the link to the original article:
5) Early warnings of PD
In Parkinson’s Disease, symptoms develop gradually. While there are motor symptoms, there also are other non-motor symptoms that appear early on. Following are some of the symptoms that one needs to watch out for:
· Loss of smell: Inability to smell pickle or banana
· Constipation: Trouble moving bowels without straining
· Trouble sleeping: Moving a lot during sleep
· Tremor: Shaking of hand on shin
· Small handwriting: Noticeable smaller handwriting than before
· Trouble moving or walking: Feeling stiffness in arms than remains even during walking
· A soft of low voice: A change in voice
· Masked face: Looking serious, depressed when you are not
· Dizziness or fainting: Feeling dizzy due to BP fluctuation
· Stooping over or hunching: No longer standing straight
Following is the link to the original article:
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