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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWoman amazes scientists with her ability to smell Parkinson's disease
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Woman-claims-she-can-smell-Parkinson-s-disease-6586682.phpJoy Milne lost her husband, Les, to the disease in June. She told the BBC he began to smell differently long before doctors identified him as a Parkinson's patient. Joy says his odor was subtle and she occasionally got whiffs of a musky smell.
She suspected his scent was associated with the disease when Les received his official diagnosis and the couple began socializing with other Parkinson's patients. She noticed they gave off the same smell as her husband.
Scientists at Edinburgh University were intrigued by Joy's observations and put her nose to the test and discovered that she seems to have the ability to sniff out Parkinson's.
Saphire
(2,437 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Amazing!
riversedge
(70,047 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Makes me wonder if lead atoms smell different than hydrogen atoms.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)Perhaps some can, similarly, detect or smell a molecule or enzyme. Maybe the sensitive nose has to be acquainted with the minute substance. Close contact could help create a "receptor."
Rex
(65,616 posts)Very fascinating.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Quantum/see_a_photon.html
Rex
(65,616 posts)I remember growing up and my grandmother telling me sunbeams are tiny particles that can be seen in a dusty room. She was right, you could really see the sunbeams. Or I guess a better term would be sun particles.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Sun particles would not be better term, what one is seeing is illuminated dust.
BadgerKid
(4,549 posts)that admits a receptor-ligand interaction which causes a signal to be sent to the brain. Such a mutation could be with you since birth or come into being at some point after.
olddots
(10,237 posts)this is open to some skepticism .
Electric Monk
(13,869 posts)This deserves further investigation
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Get some German Shepherds to attend the meetings and they will likely pick it out.
On a side note, a few nurses have told me they can smell a diabetic. They aren't always 100%, but they say they have a smell that makes them test said person immediately.
PatrickforO
(14,558 posts)biopsies. Really makes a lot of sense.
The medical community will never go for it though - they wouldn't be able to give us the old 'price gouge.'
Yep. We have to RATION healthcare here in the USA because we don't want no socialized medicine! So instead of a national system that can negotiate costs down, we have a bunch of insurance companies who run in direct conflict of interest with patients. The insurance companies want to collect premiums and not spend anything. The patients want the best care available.
THAT'S why our health care system is screwing us over.
Sorry for the rant. The dogs do make sense and it should be explored further
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I have heard of dogs who can detect illness in humans by scent. This could really be a groundbreaking discovery in diagnostics.
trof
(54,256 posts)A friend who graduated med school in Liverpool in the 60s bears witness.
And she could smell certain types of cancer in patients.
Some dogs can be trained to also.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Probably something subtle going on in the biochemistry that generates those odors.
But dogs have literally been trained to sniff for cancer.
I wouldn't be surprised if dogs could also be trained to sniff for Parkinsons.