$10k to fight Parkinson's
The Rotary Club of Gore has made a donation to the tune of $10,000 for Parkinson's research, hoping the grand gesture will go a long way.
Treasurer Graeme Lynn said the club had a bit in the coffer after selling cattle raised by Rotary members, as well as pea straw and potatoes, and wanted it to go to a good cause.
"I suppose we didn't want to accumulate a lot of funds, and our president Russell [Welsh] saw a need there because he had friends with Parkinson's.
"We knew of people in the community who had Parkinson's. It's quite a condition and it just seems to sneak up on people," he said.
Where the money would go was a different question, as the club felt just handing over $10,000 towards any charity may not be the best use of such a sum.
Mr Lynn said a member of the club came to the rescue, with a meaningful place for the money to make a difference.
"Suddenly out of the blue one of our members suggested giving money for research, meaningful research, and then we heard about Louise [Parr-Brownlie]," he said.
The money was presented to Prof Louise Parr-Brownlie from the University of Otago, an internationally recognised researcher who looks into the condition.
The club was impressed by Prof Parr-Brownlie's work in the field, as well as her PhD and New Zealand Order of Merit, and felt it was the right call.
Prof Parr-Brownlie's work at the university uses animal models to understand brain activity, exploring the link between the human brain and the gut by using compounds and dietary changes to explore Parkinson's further.
Prof Parr-Brownlie was extremely appreciative of the club for the donation.
"It makes a huge difference. I cannot explain how much the money helps. It helps us perform the parts of the experiments we can't really afford to do.
"I would just like to say thank you.
"The opportunity came out of the blue. It's just very, very valuable," she said.
gerrit.doppenberg@alliedpress.co.nz
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
9 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Wastewater more reliable: prof
University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker. Photo: file With another wave of Covid-19 on the horizon, wastewater testing has become a more reliable sign of community infection than self-reporting, a Dunedin expert has said. University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker said since last week, wastewater testing in Dunedin and across the country showed a "consistent sharp spike" in detection of SARS-CoV-2, or the Covid-19 virus. "This rise suggests we are seeing the beginning of a new wave of Covid-19 infection across New Zealand." In the past week, the Southern district recorded 96 new cases of Covid-19, tied for second-most in the country with Canterbury and behind Waitematā (141). However, an apparent strong decrease in testing and self-reporting across New Zealand meant wastewater was a more useful indication of infection in the community, Prof Baker said. "A lot more people will be walking around not knowing they've got the infection and not able to take preventive measures to infect other people. "So it has weakened our support for preventing transmission." Otago Primary Principals' Association president Kim Blackwood said while schools were seeing plenty of general illness, few cases were confirmed to be Covid-19. "They've got one or two cases, but it's not impacting majorly at this point." As Covid-19 tests were no longer free, "the question that has to be asked is whether people are testing". "Because I'm not sure that they are." Prof Baker appeared to agree. Removing government support for Covid-related sick leave in 2023 contributed to a "sharp drop" in testing. "That's when the wastewater [virus detection] line stayed fairly high, and the self-reported line started to dip. "And then, of course, a year later, we removed the free [rapid antigen tests], and I think there was also an even bigger divergence between those two lines." While it appeared another Covid-19 wave was emerging "we don't know how big or how prolonged it'll be", Prof Baker said. Now was the time for people to get a booster vaccine, "particularly if you're over 65 or have underlying illnesses, or pregnant". Recent hospitalisations due to Covid-19 were not immediately available.
Otago Daily Times
9 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Migraine treatment ‘lagging'
University of Otago public health senior research fellow and Migraine Foundation co-founder Dr Fiona Imlach says New Zealand is lagging behind other countries when it comes to treating migraines. PHOTO: SUPPLIED When it comes to funding and accessing migraine prevention medication and other therapies, New Zealand is "lagging behind" other countries. University of Otago (Wellington) researchers examined the use of supplements and complementary therapies by 530 Kiwis with migraine disease, and found about half of them turned to treatments other than medication in an attempt to ease their symptoms. The participants were asked about supplements such as magnesium, riboflavin (vitamin B2) and coenzyme Q10 and complementary therapies including acupuncture, biofeedback, neuromodulation devices, meditation, yoga and massage. Study co-author, public health senior research fellow and Migraine Foundation co-founder Dr Fiona Imlach, said many people with migraine did not take medication to prevent migraine attacks, but non-pharmacological approaches could help. "No previous research has looked at the use of these approaches in Aotearoa, so it's a new finding that about half of the 530 survey respondents were currently using a supplement, and even more, 58%, were using complementary therapy." Although most non-pharmacological treatments were considered safe or low risk, the quality of evidence for their effectiveness could be low, Dr Imlach said. The survey focused on treatments that were included in international guidelines on migraine management, including those not easily accessed in New Zealand such as neuromodulation devices, which worked by stimulating nerves in order to change the way pain signals in the brain were processed. However, access to neuromodulation devices was limited and costly and previous distributors had pulled out of the New Zealand market, Dr Imlach said. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES "Neuromodulation devices and other therapies could be beneficial for both patients and for workplaces, by decreasing the number of days people are affected by migraine, improving quality of life and people's ability to work. "These approaches can also be a good option for people who can't or don't want to take medication, such as during pregnancy. "So even though people said they would like to try non-medication treatments as part of their migraine management plan, they can be expensive and hard to find information about," she said. The survey also confirmed there was no single approach to migraine prevention that was universally effective, so people had to use trial and error in the hope of finding relief. "For all of the treatments we asked about, there were many people who had tried them, but they didn't work or had side effects. "There were also those who hadn't tried them before but wanted to. "All of this speaks to the huge need for more effective migraine treatments, both medication and non-medication. "New Zealand is lagging behind other countries with regards to funding and access to migraine-prevention medication and other therapies."
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Study reveals high rates of opioid use in NZ pregnancies
Photo: Unsplash In unexpected findings New Zealand has one of the highest rates of prescribed opioid use during pregnancy, according to new research. The data comes from a study led by the University of New South Wales, which tracked prescribed opioid use across 13 countries since the year 2000. Of the countries - which included Australia, Canada, the US, Denmark and the UK - New Zealand had the third-highest rate. Almost 8 per cent of pregnancies in New Zealand were exposed to an opioid, compared to only 4 per cent in Canada and 0.4 per cent in the UK. Co-author of the research is Dr Sarah Donald, of the University of Otago.
