Scientists at the Melbourne-based Florey Neuroscience Institute, Australia's largest brain research institute, have developed a wristwatch device that continuously monitors the health status of Parkinson's disease sufferers.
The Victorian State Minister for Innovation, Gavin Jennings, introduced the prototype wristwatch at the recent BIO2009 in Atlanta.
The new monitoring device will assist doctors treating Parkinson's patients by recording their symptoms throughout the day, and in the longer term will assist researchers in developing new drugs for the disease.
"The right dosage and correct timing of dosing has an enormous impact on the wellbeing of a person with Parkinson's disease," said Mr Jennings. "Currently, neurologists can only check dosage and timing by observing the patient during consultations, which may be at six to eight week intervals."
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the brain that often affects speech and the body's movements. Some 80,000 people have this disease in Australia, with one in five diagnosed before the age of 50. In the US, Parkinson's is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, affecting around two per cent of the population.
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