Under this title the documentary in which Euronews showcases our research into the early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease was broadcast. Although the hours of film material have been cut down to only four and a halve minutes, the main goal of our research – to provide patients with a probable diagnosis as early as possible in the course of the disease – is made clear perfectly.
André Aleman and I wrote a letter to NRC (a Dutch newspaper) in response to an opinion piece by Prof. Jacintha Ellers. Our point was that, in contrast to Prof. Ellers’ opinion, Open Access publishing does not endanger scientific quality and allows access to scientific results for all.
A two-man television crew (Spanish journalist Julian from France and English cameraman Terry from Luxemburg) spent all day at our department to gather material for a documentary on research into Parkinson’s disease. It was very fascinating to have an inside look at the professional making of a documentary. Hours of material were gathered of the DiPAR team in a meeting, of an interview with Rutger Zietsma (Manus Neurodynamica, DiPAR coordinator), of an interview with Nico Leenders (UMCG, neurologist specialized in movement disorders), of data recording performed by Esther Smits (UMCG, PhD student) in a healthy subject and in a patient with Parkinson‘s disease, of an interview with the patient and finally, of an interview with me as coordinator of all DiPAR research taking place at the UMCG. I am looking forward to the final product, which will summarize all of this in 3 or 4 minutes! Check this website in a few weeks for a link to the documentary.
On Wednesday February 29th, a Euronews camera film crew will visit my group to shoot material for a documentary on our research in the FP7 DiPAR project (Diagnosing Parkinson’s disease using neuromuscular function evaluation). Some of our partners (Manus, VTT, University of Glasgow, Hispafuentes) will join us on this day to be interviewed and one patient and one healthy control subject will also be filmed and interviewed. These shots will be part of a documentary on research into Parkinson’s disease in the EU on the occasion of World Parkinson day on April 11. Last year on World Parkinson day, the movement disorders group of the UMCG presented all research into Parkinson’s disease on the National Parkinson Exhibition in Utrecht and this event provides another opportunity to generate attention for research into this disabling disease that affects so many people.
Today our site essentieletremor.nl was launched. The site is intended to draw attention to our study of essential tremor, employing EMG-fMRI, together with the AMC in Amsterdam and financed by the Prinses Beatrix Fonds. We have already included the first patients with essential tremor, but we still need more participants. In addition our site provides some basic information on the disease. We will also update the general public on news and results from the study through this site, so add it to your favorites!
I have been announcing it for a while, and now my book ‘From Neurology to Methodology and back: an introduction to clinical neuroengineering’ can finally be ordered directly from the Springer website and from many online bookstores. I have ordered a few copies myself and the book has really turned out nice: it is bound in a hard cover and includes more than a hundred large figures of which most are in full colour. I hope many of you will be enthusiastic about it and use it to expand your own knowledge or to teach your students. Let me know what you think! I am working on a set of exam questions now, which will be available in a couple of months from this website for teachers/professors only.
Today I received the cover of my book ‘From neurology to methodology and back: an introduction to clinical neuroengineering’. Early birds can already preorder from the Springer site or several other online bookstores. I expect the proofs early September and if everything goes well, the book will be available by the end of September or early October. Also check out the Springer site for scope and contents: this book is exclusive in its translational approach to clinical neuroengineering. Each chapter is based on a unique case study. Diseases presented range from epilepsy, brain tumors and cerebrovascular diseases to tremor, MS and neuromuscular diseases.
The Department of Neurology of the University Medical Center Groningen invites applicants at the MA level for a two-year research position in Clinical Neuroengineering with the possibility to extend the position to a four-year PhD project.
The closing date for application is: December 15, 2010. The position will start as soon as possible.
Further information: download this pdf
On june 18, 2009 we celebrated the 60 year anniversary of the department of Clinical Neurophysiology in Groningen with a scientific symposium that was attended by almost 200 people. The symposium was centered around the increasing role of clinical neurophysiology in the academic hospital of today and the near future, with talks by Mart van Lieburg, Dennis Mc Farland, Machiel Zwarts, Michiel Staal, Jan Willem Pott, Andre Aleman, John Rothwell and myself. Furthermore, in 8 hands-on workshops attendants got a chance to get acquainted with state-of-the-art techniques such as intra-operative neuromonitoring, nerve and 3D vascular ultrasound and polysomnography.
Additionally, we presented our book on the history of clinical neurophysiology in Groningen 'Signalen van prikkeling' and premiered the new promotional movie of our department. This day was a great success.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have succeeded in making a small portable nuclear magnetic resonance probe, which is made and marketed by the New-Zealand based company Magritek (Technisch Weekblad, 19-07-08). The diameter of the probe is 17 cm and the earth's magnetic field is used to generate a polarising field of 18.8 mT, allowing for applications in material science and food and nutrition (as long as the sample is maximally 7.5 cm in diameter). Magritek itself promotes the system as a hands-on teaching and training tool for MRI and NMR. They provide an interestingbrochure showing that the Terranova-MRI system allows a range of experiments using spin echo, gradient echo or projection reconstruction methods in 1D, 2D and 3D. If the system comes at a reasonable price it would be great for introductory MRI courses.
Surface renderings of a mandarin (32 x 32 x 32 pixels) with 2D cross-sections shown to the right. Total imaging time was four hours with an isotropic FOV of 110 mm