• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Parkinson’s Test

Parkinson’s Test

January 31, 2013
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/130131_sciup_test.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

Finally, a test for Parkinson’s.  I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

As of now, Parkinson’s Disease can only be truly diagnosed by looking at brain tissue in an autopsy.  But a new technique may change that.  It’s being studied by neurologist Charles Adler, of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona.  Previously, his team found that the salivary glands of deceased Parkinson’s patients were packed with the same abnormal protein found in their brain tissue.  In the latest study, they took biopsies from the salivary glands of living patients, and looked for the protein.

CHARLES ADLER (Mayo Clinic College of Medicine):

And we were able to find that in 9 of the 11 cases that we had enough tissue to study.

HIRSHON:
Adler notes that currently, autopsies of patients who had been treated for Parkinson’s sometimes show that they didn’t really have the disease.  If the salivary biopsy proves effective, that could change significantly.  I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.

Until now, Parkinson's disease could not be definitively diagnosed until after death. But physicians have relied on certain characteristic signs of the disease, such as posture. A man with Parkinson's disease displaying a flexed walking posture pictured in 1892. Photo appeared in Nouvelle Iconographie de la Salpètrière, vol. 5. (Albert Londe 1858-1917/Wikipedia)
Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Aging, Biology, Brain Science, Medicine & Health, Microbiology, Social & Behavioral Sciences
Previous Post:China’s Only Children
Next Post:Cancer Stress Roundup

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Cat Video
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • NASA
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Image of computer screen depicting an orange cat with a variety of alphanumeric scientific data superimposed on the the screen.
Spotted skunk performing handstand to threaten predators

Copyright © 2025 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos