Lancashire folk help study into nerve disease
A group of people from Preston are helping scientists develop a test for Parkinsons Disease (PD).
Two hundred people from Preston, Lancaster and Morecambe have agreed to take part in a study by researchers at Lancaster University to develop a blood test to detect the onset of the degenerative disease, which attacks the central nervous system.
The test would indicate levels of a particular protein in the blood to identify if the disease is present and would also map the progress of PD.
Dr Penny Foulds, who is working with Professor David Allsop's group at the university, which studies a wide range of brain diseases, including Alzheimer's and motor neurone disease, said: "The tests have been developed in theory, we just need to test them on blood samples.
"The Medical Research Council has funded a study on people to give blood samples every six months. It's a quick and simple test for the protein to see if it correlates with the progression of the disease.
"There are certain families in which Parkinson's Disease is more inherited and it would be useful to do the test because it would lead to early therapies to guard against brain damage."
There is no cure for the disease, but its symptoms can be controlled by drugs. The profile of the disease has been raised in recent years after Hollywood star Michael J Fox revealed he suffered from PD.
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Weather for Preston
Thursday 29 July 2010
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 15 C to 17 C
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