Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the nervous system. It is one of the major areas of scientists’ focus these days. The Reason? Well, it is the second most common brain disorder after Alzheimer’s. When you see the statistics of this disease, the concern about this rises understandably. Globally, 10 Million people are affected by it. In the US alone, 60,000 people are diagnosed with this disease each year.
Parkinson’s affects many parts of the nervous system. It also negatively impacts different neurons as well. However, most of the research is focused on the neurons in the brain region, especially substantia nigra pars compacta- a region of the midbrain.
Why Parkinson’s Disease develops :
In Parkinson’s, the brain cells that make Dopamine dies or stop performing their function. Dopamine is necessary for signaling chemicals that help in the coordination of movements and positive feelings. When these Dopamine cells die, this disease develops. But why do these Dopamine cells die? Honestly, even the scientists don’t know.
But they think it could be due to two reasons:
1) Genetics
2) Environment
Genetics:
The mutation in the gene pool can give rise to this disorder. Similarly, if this disease runs in your family (Your father, mother, or Grandfather has it), then chances are you will get it too.
Environment:
Pesticides and herbicides are thought to be environmental reasons to develop this disease. Moreover, head injuries can also be a cause of this disease.
Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease:
There are two types of symptoms:
●Motor symptoms
●Non-motor symptoms
Motor symptoms:
These are the disease symptoms having relation with movement. Following are the motor symptoms:
These are:
1) Slowness of movement
2) Muscle rigidity
3) Condition of tremors at rest
Non-motor symptoms:
These are the disease symptoms with no relation to movement. Following are the non-motor symptoms:
1) Depression
2) Anxiety
3) Loss of smell
4) Cardiovascular diseases
5) Constipation
The risk of this disease increase with the increase of age. Thus, older people are more prone to it than Younger people. The average age to get this disease is 60 years. However, it can also develop at 50 or even less.
Treatment:
There is no complete treatment of Parkinson’s disease as of yet. However, doctors follow a combination of these:
1) Use of Medicines:
Use medicines to ease your symptoms so that you can do daily routine work. These medicines increase Dopamine in the body which helps in the movement of the body. One example of such medication is Levodopa.
Why Dopamine is important?
Dopamine is important for the normal functionalization of the brain. Dopamine acts as a neurotransmitter that coordinates movement. High levels of Dopamine mean you can move easily while low levels of Dopamine mean you will have a tough time moving your arms or legs. Thus, Dopamine is important to reduce the severity of symptoms.
2) Consult a Movement Disorder Specialist:
See Movement disorder Specialist. What can Movement disorder specialists do? They can optimize your disease care, provide you the latest research about this disease, and direct you to clinical trials.
3) Live a Healthy lifestyle:
Living a healthy lifestyle is necessary to stay fit. Eat healthy foods, exercise, drink plenty of water, and try not to think about the difficulties in your life. In addition to that, stay in touch with people close to you.
4) Surgery:
Surgery is another treatment. For this disease, the commonly performed procedure is “Deep Brain Stimulation.” In this, a device called Neurostimulator is implanted which sends electrical impulses to specific parts of the brain. Thus, this device controls brain functions to ease symptoms.
Recent Incredible advancement in detecting Parkinson’s Disease:
A new tool is developed by the University of Cordoba, in collaboration with the Nuclear Medicine Unit at the hospital Reina Sofia, that combines Artificial Intelligence with 3D images of the Brain to diagnose degrees of Parkinson’s disease. This tool has made the detection of various degrees of PD easy, With the help of 3D Images, you or healthcare personnel can view your brain condition easily. It causes a loss of the density of Proteins responsible for transporting dopamine. 3D images show the density of such proteins. From this, we can also diagnose the severity of the disease.
Artificial Intelligence’s role is to detect the severity of this disease as well. How? By analysing neuron damage.
In this tool, the specific algorithm scans the brain areas and locates those areas on which specialized personnel should focus to confirm the diagnosis. Hence, the detection of severely affected areas becomes easy.
New Tool automatically produces such results. Thus, the initial diagnosis of PD will become easy.
Bottom line:
It is the second most common brain disorder after Alzheimer’s and is affecting millions of lives globally. Its symptoms get worse with age. No 100 percent efficient tool is developed to diagnose it. A new tool has now been developed that uses 3D images and Artificial Intelligence to detect it. But how effective and reliable it will be is yet to be seen. There is no proper treatment of this disease as of yet. The combination of medicines, exercise, eating healthy foods, consultation with experts, and surgery when necessary is important to curb the symptoms. These don’t fully cure the disease. But with the advancement in the fields of Genetics and Artificial Intelligence; the Proper cure of this disease is not far.
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