Comments by J. C. Spencer

Delaying, preventing, or curing movement disorders in Huntington�s and Parkinson�s patients is the quest of neurologists and clinicians.� I believe the pathway for improving neurodegenerative diseases is improved brain function through glycomics.� We have discovered that specific sugars can delay, perhaps prevent, and we are hopeful that future studies will reveal that indeed that these life dehabilitating challenges can be cured. Evidence based nutrition or evidence based medicine is our focus.

While the Mission Statement at The Endowment for Medical Research is to improve brain function in children and adults without drugs or harmful side effects, our two follow up statements are DO NO HARM and WHAT EVER WORKS.� That is why we want to keep you informed about what others are doing.� Our website at www,endowmentmed.org/ is part of our educational thrust for physicians and the general public.

Here is today�s report.

Main Category: Neurology / Neuroscience

Also Included In: Parkinson's Disease

Article Date: 21 Jun 2008 - 23:00 PDT

Leading neurologists and other clinicians from Rush University Medical Center are presenting new basic and clinical research findings at the Movement Disorder Society's 12th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders meeting in Chicago, June 22-26.

Highlights from the sessions led by experts from the Movement Disorders Center at Rush as well as guided poster tours and poster presentations to be made by physicians from Rush include:

Dr. Christopher Goetz - director of the Movement Disorders Center at Rush and co-chair of the Congress Scientific Program Committee

Poster session: Historical underpinnings of the term "essential tremor" in the late nineteenth century, Tuesday, June 24, 12:30 p.m.

Guided poster tour presentation: Unified dyskinesia rating scale: Presentation and clinimetric profile, Wednesday, June 25, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: Objective at-home testing measures as predictors of UPDRS change in early Parkinson's disease, Thursday, June 26, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: The essential tremor rating assessment scales (TETRAS), Thursday, June 26, 12:30 p.m.

Plenary session: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.

Skills Workshop: The MDS-UPDRS: How to apply the new UPDRS in practice and research settings. Dr. Glenn Stebbins, associate professor of neurological sciences and psychology at Rush also is presenting on the application of MDS-UPDRS.

Dr. Cynthia Comella - neurologist at Rush and co-chair of the congress local organizing committee

Opening symposium: Restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movements in sleep: Diagnosis, co-morbidities, basic science and treatment.

Plenary session: Hot topics in sleep and movement disorders.

Poster session: High resolution diffusion tensor imaging in the caudal portion of the substantia nigra of de novo Parkinson's disease, Tuesday June 24, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: Performance on the mini-mental state exam in carriers and non-carriers of parkin mutations, Tuesday, June 24, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: Lateralization of Parkinson's disease and agenisis of the corpus callosum, Tuesday, June 24, 12:30 p.m. Dr. Leo Verhagen and Dr. Roy Bakay are co-investigators.

Poster session: Assessment of a pilot voice recording screening tool for spasmodic dysphonia (SD), Thursday, June 26, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: EMG patterns: A potential neurophysiological marker of Parkinson's disease, Thursday, June 26, 12:30 p.m.

Dr. Kathleen Shannon, neurologist at Rush and co-chair of the congress local organizing committee

Plenary session: From bench to bedside: What's new in hyperkinetic disorders

Poster session: Risk Factors for falls in Huntington's disease, Wednesday, June 25, 12:30 p.m. Jean Jaglin, nurse at Rush is co-investigator.

Dr. Leo Verhagen, neurologist at Rush

Guided poster tour session: AAV-2 neuturin (CERE-120) for Parkinson's disease: 24-month follow-up from the phase I clinical trial, Tuesday June 24, 12:30 p.m.

Poster session: Autopsy-proven progressive supranuclear palsy mimicking tremor-predominant idiopathic Parkinson's disease during life: A case report, Thursday, June 26.

Skills workshop: Recognizing, understanding and managing side effects of deep brain stimulation.

Dr. Aikatelini Kompoliti, neurologist at Rush

Video session: Movement disorders look-alikes: The great pretenders - Video session

Dr. Emily Wang, associate professor of communication disorders and sciences at Rush

Parallel session: Speech and swallowing disorders in Parkinson's disease chaired by Dr. Wang. Recent findings on pharmacological and surgical management of Parkinson's disease on speech motor function.

Guided poster tour session: Treating festinating speech with altered auditory feedback in Parkinson's disease - the first report of a clinical trial. Dr. Leo Verhagen was a co-investigator, Tuesday, June 24 at 12:30 p.m.

Jean A. Jaglin, RN - registered nurse from the movement disorders program at Rush

Parallel session: Nursing roles in movement disorders: New horizon.

About the Movement Disorders Center at Rus

The Movement Disorders Center at Rush has been in existence since 1970. Its focus is to conduct research into the causes and treatment of movement disorders and to provide state-of-art care for movement disorder patients. Patients range in age from small children to the elderly. The physicians and staff of the center have three main areas of focus: patient care, education and research.

As clinical researchers, the Movement Disorders Center team at Rush not only brings the latest innovations in medicine to their patients. They also spark those innovations by bringing their problems to the lab, where Rush researchers focus on uncovering novel ways to treat and prevent movement disorders. Rush researchers are currently investigating the implantation of retinal cells to protect the brain from deterioration caused by Parkinson's disease, and the preliminary results have been promising. Several Rush studies are zeroing in on preventing the progression of Parkinson's disease in its early stages. The objective: to halt or slow down the disease.

Rush University Medical Center

www.rush.edu