In William Shakespeare’s comedy Merchant of Venice, the play’s heroine Portia sings: Tell me where is fancy bred, Or in the heart or in the head. If you look at Valentine’s Day cards, it’s clear fancy is bred in the heart and not in the head; all the cards have red hearts on them. But they’re all wrong. Love does, in fact, live […]
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A team of researchers from Neuroscience Research Australia has received a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Shake It Up Australia Foundation for Parkinson’s Research to test smart garment technologies to help prevent falls in people with Parkinson’s disease. Falls are a common and often devastating event in the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease. They […]
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Dr Sean Rourke is a scientist with the Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. Dr Sean Rourke from the University of Toronto and Dr Lucette Cysique from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) are leading an international taskforce to update the classification of neurologic complications from HIV. He sat down with to […]
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Researchers from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and UNSW Sydney have released a new study in PLOS One on the proprioceptive measurements of perceived hand position using pointing and verbal localisation tasks. The study has the potential to assist researchers in understanding brain-to-hand communication in Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis (MS) and people who have had strokes. Previous studies revealed that healthy individuals consistently misjudge the size […]
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12. Associate Professor Tony Roscioli Elusive genes could reassure parents of cleft lip and palate babies Sydney Morning Herald Cleft lip and palate are some of the most common birth defects globally, affecting one in 800 children. Roughly 250 Australian children are born with the conditions each year. A team of Australian and international scientists led by NeuRA’s Associate Professor […]
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Members of NeuRA’s Falls, Balance and Injury Research Centre (FBIRC) attended the Australian and New Zealand Falls Prevention Conference in Hobart from 18 to 20 November. The conference aims to unite researchers, clinicians, health promotion practitioners, policy makers and consumers on their quest to improve the lives of older people and their families and friends across the spectrum of physical […]
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More than 80,000 people are living with Parkinson’s disease in Australia, and of these, approximately two thirds will fall each year. Ensuing injuries, hospitalisations, fear of falling and caregiver burden are devastating, widespread and costly. As the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease will double between 2010 and 2040, the associated human and economic burden will also grow. Innovative therapies to improve […]
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Sleep disruption is a very common feature and directly contributes to poor quality of life in people with Parkinson’s disease. Sleep disorders have been reported to occur in as many as 97 per cent of people with Parkinson’s disease. In addition to REM behaviour disorder, sleep disordered breathing, including obstructive sleep apnoea, is present in 40-60 per cent of people […]
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It all started around the kitchen table! Four passionate scientists, Professors Ian McCloskey, Erica Potter, David Burke and Simon Gandevia, founded the Prince of Wales Medical Research Institute back in 1991. For a few years, we had asked ourselves the right way to establish a new research centre where we could dedicate our efforts to medical research. It was the focus […]
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In Australia, there are 350 cases of traumatic spinal cord injury each year. More than half of these injuries will be to the cervical area of the spine (neck), leading to a condition called quadriplegia. While quadriplegia is commonly associated with paralysis of all four limbs, paralysis also affects the major respiratory muscles. This reduces cough strength, which can lead […]
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