(UFU - 2019 - 2 FASE)This Woman Can Smell Parkinso

(UFU - 2019 - 2ª FASE)

This Woman Can Smell Parkinson’s. It Might Help Lead To Earlier Treatment

Parkinson’s disease stinks. Figuratively. But according to new research, it literally stinks too — to those who have a heightened sense of smell. Thanks to the help of one of these “super-smellers,” a team of scientists has identified subtle volatile compounds produced by Parkinson’s sufferers. These compounds could be used to make much easier, and earlier, diagnostics for the disease.

There is no cure. Diagnosis is tricky, too: There’s no simple test. Once a patient has started to express some of the physical symptoms, it takes complicated brain imaging to confirm that certain brain cells — the neurons that produce dopamine — have been damaged or destroyed. But a much simpler test might be on the way, according to recent research in ACS Science. Volatile compounds in sebum — the oily substance produced on your face and back — might soon be used to identify the disease.

Lead author on the study, Perdita Barran, says she first learned about the “woman who can smell Parkinson’s” from her colleague Tito Kunath at the University of Edinburgh. They tracked her down. She was Joy Milne, a retired nurse living in Perth, a town near Edinburgh. Decades earlier, Milne had noticed a sudden onset of a strange odor in her now-late husband. He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease many years later. Milne is what’s known as a “super smeller,” a person with exceptional sense of smell.

In the end, they were able to separate and identify the compounds found in sebum using what’s called gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS). They used Milne’s abilities to confirm the right combination of chemicals which, on a background of sebum-smell, make up “the smell of Parkinson’s.”

The team is now working on training dogs to home in on the scents, as well as developing machinated diagnostic tests that could identify the presence of the tell-tale compounds, called biomarkers. Whether a new diagnostic test from the biomarkers comes from canines, super-smelling nurses or laboratory machines, the scientists’ goal is the same: Diagnose Parkinson’s earlier — possibly years earlier than current methods.[...]

Disponível em: <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com>. Acesso: 21 mar. 2019. Slightly edited.

RESPONDA A QUESTÃ O EM INGLÊS. RESPOSTAS EM PORTUGUÊS NÃ O SERÃ O ACEITAS.

Based on the text, answer the following questions.

A) How did Joy Milne contribute to this research on Parkinson’s?

B) What are some of the possible ways Parkinson’s disease may be detected in the future?