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Despite major research breakthroughs there are still no treatments that can slow stop
or reverse the progression of Parkinson's disease the Monument trust discovery award
at the University of Oxford is the largest ever research grant given by Parkinson's UK
the UK’s largest research and support charity for people affected by Parkinson's this ground
breaking project launched the Oxford Parkinson's disease Centre bring together a world class
team of researchers to better understand Parkinson’s to allow everyone to live free from the symptoms
of the condition working together we’re now closer than ever to our goal At the moment
we don't have any definitive test to make the diagnosis of Parkinson's and we don't
have any way to identify people who might be at risk of developing Parkinson's in the
future we currently are recruiting people with Parkinson's who’ve have had a diagnosis
in the last three years and also brothers or sisters of people with Parkinson's from
a population base in the Thames Valley we are currently running research clinics in
eleven hospital sites across the Thames Valley and cover a population in total of two point
nine million the aim is that if you live in the Thames Valley you won’t have to travel
very far to get your local district hospital and get involved with our research subtle
differences in brain imaging and from samples of blood and other bodily samples will enable
us to diagnose Parkinson's at a much earlier stage and also with a better degree of accuracy
so by developing test that will enable us to make the diagnosis earlier and monitor
response to treatment I truly believe we have the best chance of ultimately coming up with
a cure for Parkinson's I heard about the study through the newsletter from Parkinson's UK
website it looked very interesting and local to me so I thought I’d follow up on What’s
involved in taking part? there are a few simple tests and questions You have a questionnaire
before you come and are asked another set of questions then you do various tests - the
smell test ah the pegboard test memory tests can you remember three words ten seconds later
sometimes I can and sometimes I can’t there are more advanced tests that they ask you
if you would be willing to do such as some blood tests but with all of these if you don't
like the test you can say no I think is important to take part in the study because you have
a duty to your fellow man to try and develop knowledge to help find a cure ultimately for
Parkinson's It’s a no risk option come and join the study and if you don’t like it,
if there’s something you are uncomfortable about you are in full control you can say
no I don’t want to do that so there's absolutely no fear factor ah and its just a nice couple
of hours spent finding out a little bit more about Parkinson's The University of Oxford
is a world leader in brain imaging we’re using a variety of techniques to assess how
the brain is affected in Parkinson's this will help us to understand why individuals
vary in the way they’re affected by Parkinson's and how best to track changes and response
to treatment using magnetic resonance imaging we can also look at how brain function goes
wrong in Parkinson's these pictures from our pilot study of twenty people with early Parkinson's
show significant reductions in brain function that improve when the same individuals are
given medication to treat their symptoms Involvement in this research just simply means that you
come to the hospital and do some various tests and to be honest with you most of them are
really quite amusing a general clinical examination um what else did I have? general walking about
to see what my gait was and so forth I think the most important thing that I find is that
working alongside these people who are enjoying what they are doing and are excited by what
they are doing It’s finger on the pulse stuff really I have a very much a have a go
attitude in a way - Not foolhardily nothing about what I've done here is um painful in
anyway or intrusive in any way I was aware very fully of what was expected of me and
what participation I could take part so to some degree there is some optional activities
you can have - so you can say no I don’t really want to do that I’m doing my upmost
really to play my part in trying to make sure this condition does at some point stop or
is treatable and I don’t pass it on - not that I personally pass it on but that its
not passed on to generation and generation the discovery project is a fantastic example
of clinicians and researchers working together to bring our basic research findings forward
- Parkinson's UK is delighted to be funding an international research centre with expertise
in both basic research and clinical research I think what we’ve managed to do here in
Oxford with the Parkinson disease Centre is bring together the clinician's work in the
hospital and the scientists work in the laboratory to focus on better studying and ultimately
treating Parkinson's and one key step in that is the study of stem cells from Parkinson's
patients we’re able to take a simple skin biopsy in the hospital bring that back in
the laboratory re programme the skin cells into stem cells and then we can turn the stem
cells into dopamine neurons a type of brain cell that dies off in Parkinson's and by studying
those dopamine neurons from patients in the laboratory we can better understand the disease
ultimately work towards a cure so if you've been diagnosed with Parkinson's in the last
three years or a brother or sister of someone with Parkinson's and are willing to travel
to one of our study centres please consider taking part you can find out more about the
discovery project by calling your local Dendron Research team