Kinetics Foundation and National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) Announce their Partnership to Evaluate Objective Parkinson's Disease Measurement System

--Part of NPF's Quality Improvement Initiative--

MIAMI, June 23, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Parkinson Foundation (NPF) and the Kinetics Foundation are pleased to announce their partnership to evaluate Kinetic's Objective Parkinson's Disease Measurement (OPDM) system as a tool for more accurately measuring the symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD).  The evaluation will take place at six NPF Centers of Excellence enrolled in NPF's groundbreaking Quality Improvement Initiative (QII).

"It is our hope that our OPDM system can help more accurately measure the results of treatments than the rating scales the medical community has been commonly using up until today," said Ken Kubota, program director of the Kinetics Foundation.

NPF will integrate the OPDM system into QII, the largest prospective study of PD in history with over 4,000 patients enrolled at 19 centers in four countries. The study aims to reveal current patterns in clinical practice, drive quality improvement in PD care and spawn comparative effectiveness research.  Data collection covers key areas necessary to identify and improve care quality such as comorbidities, medications and exercise. The evaluation is expected to be completed in early 2012.

"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to evaluate these devices," said Peter N. Schmidt, PhD, NPF's VP of programs and CIO. "We hope that the rich information provided by the sensors will give additional insight into the motor symptoms of PD and help us to understand the benefits of different clinical approaches."

The OPDM system is comprised of both dexterity and mobility measurement devices, which communicate to a central server via the Internet. Researchers access the data on this central server through a web interface. The OPDM system is likely to emerge as the first to measure PD patient symptoms objectively, rather than subjectively. The OPDM system consists of two devices that measure dexterity, using keyboard and peg-board tests, and mobility, tracking arm, leg and torso movement as the person being tested rises from a chair, walks across a room and returns.

"The Quality Improvement Initiative is the first program of its kind to systematically evaluate the current standard of care," commented James McNames, Professor and Chair of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Portland State University and Chief Executive Officer of APDM, Inc., who is not affiliated with the study. "This is a great opportunity to help clinicians and patients improve the effectiveness of their therapy and quality of life."

NPF's Quality Improvement Initiative is a consortium of leading experts in PD working together to identify best practices by systematically tracking their patients' therapies and outcomes over time. QII aims to create and share models of excellent care so that every Parkinson's patient receives the most effective treatment options available, whether they are seen by a specialist at an NPF Center of Excellence, a general neurologist or their primary care physician.

About Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's with an estimated one million people with the disease in the United States and four to six million worldwide. At present, there is no cure for Parkinson's disease and 50-60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States.

About the National Parkinson Foundation
The National Parkinson Foundation supports a strong network of 43 centers of excellence dedicated to excellence in research and providing comprehensive, interdisciplinary care to more than 50,000 Parkinson's patients and their families worldwide. Founded in 1957, the National Parkinson Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of care for people with Parkinson's disease through research, education, and outreach. Since 1982, NPF has funded more than $155 million in care, research and support services.

About the Kinetics Foundation
The Kinetics Foundation is a philanthropic foundation endeavoring to accelerate treatments and cures for Parkinson's disease focusing on: brain infusion techniques for neurotropic factors and the Objective Parkinson's Disease Measurement (OPDM) system.  OPDM is comprised of both dexterity and mobility measurement devices and a centralized server. For more information, visit www.kineticsfoundation.org.

For more information about Parkinson's disease or the National Parkinson Foundation, please visit www.parkinson.org or call 1-800-4PD-INFO (473-4636).

SOURCE National Parkinson Foundation