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Researchers all over the world have been working hard on immunotherapy approaches for treating Parkinson's disease.
The Irish biotech company Prothena announced that its vaccine to slow the progression of Parkinson's disease was safe and tolerable in a Phase I study. That marks a second vaccine milestone within the past year. Last July, an Austrian biotech company, AFFiRiS, funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation reported similarly promising results. According to a the Michael J. Fox Foundation blog, both vaccines take a similar approach, introducing an antibody against the protein alpha-synuclein. That protein clumps in the brain cells of people with Parkinson's Disease, leading researchers to believe that clearing out the clumps of alpha-synuclein will protect the brain cells from further degradation caused by Parkinson’s. While each of these therapies have only completed the first phase, further testing with Parkinson's patients is planned for early 2016. If you would like to read more articles like this, follow us on Facebook , on Twitter, or on LinkedIn
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While it was once thought that dementia sufferers did not always feel pain, research has concluded that this is not the case. However, sufferers of Alzheimer's disease and other dementia have limited ability to understand and communicate about what they are experiencing.
That makes it more important for in-home caregivers to look for non-verbal cues to detect pain. Alzheimer's Australia published a helpful Q&A that helps caregivers to assess and manage pain for Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers. Here are some non-verbal cues that the Q&A said to look for:
They point out that these can also be signs of other issues, pain should be considered as a potential cause. For more information about how to assess and manage pain for Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers, click here for the full report. If you would like to read more articles like this, follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. Movement problems experienced by people with Parkinson's disease are caused by a shortage of an important chemical messenger found in the brain called dopamine.
As a result, exercise can be an important part to producing good outcomes for Parkinson's patients. Exercise can improve gait, balance, tremor, flexibility, grip, and motor coordination. In addition, researchers at the University of Southern California (Fisher et al.) who, when looking at the brains of mice, found that while exercise didn't change either the amount of dopamine or the number of nerve cells in the animal's brains, the mice that had exercised had brain cells that were using more efficiently. Examples of people with Parkinson's that are deriving benefits are well documented, including these five inspiring people and people in Texas who take a ballet class specifically designed for people with Parkinson's. At Caring Hands Caregivers, we work with our clients to develop activity plans that suit their specific needs. If you or a loved one has Parkinson's disease, and would like to hear more about our services, send me an email. We can schedule a care options review at your convenience. When someone suffers a stroke or a traumatic brain injury, their lives change in an instant. While some brain function may return through healing and rehabilitation, many sufferers plateau, and never return to their former selves.
However, hope is on the horizon thanks to functional neurosurgeons like Jocelyn Bloch. In Dr. Bloch's recent TEDx talk in Zurich, she explains how she and her colleagues discovered a particular kind of cells that may enable brains to help heal themselves. Dr. Bloch and her colleagues have proven their theories through developing cell cultures using monkey brains, and reintroducing those cells. They did so with a monkey that didn't have any neurological issues, and discovered that the reintroduced cells disappeared. However, when the cells were reintroduced into a monkey that had damaged his brain, the cells remained. She and her colleagues believe that the cells remained to repair the damage. Moreover, they performed this same experiment with a monkey that had suffered neurological damage, and had rehabilitated until he plateaued. Prior to reintroducing the cells, they had the monkey take a motor skills test. Then, they reintroduced the cells, and two months later, had the monkey take the same test. His progress was clearly and remarkably better. Medical breakthroughs like this provide hope to those of us who care for sufferers of stroke or other brain injury. Caring Hands Caregivers is a family-owned and operated agency that takes great care of our clients, and our caregivers. We recognize that our caregivers are our heart and soul, so we treat them like family. In order to make sure our caregivers succeed at providing the best care possible, we provide on-boarding, and on-going communication and support.
In addition, we now have quarterly caregiver recognition program to show our appreciation for all that our caregivers do. Called the CARE award, eligible caregivers qualify to win recognition--and a nice gift card--based on the following CARE criteria:
We look forward to recognizing our great caregivers, and highlighting their stories. Look to this blog, or follow us on Facebook to hear about the latest winners. Or, if your a caregiver and want to work with us at Caring Hands Caregivers, please submit your application. |
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May 2022
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