Parkinson’s is a neurodegenerative disease that affects, according to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology (Sen), to some 160,000 people In Spain. Its early detection is essential to improve the quality of life of those who suffer from it and that can help the invention that a group of researchers has presented through a study published in Nature. It’s about A pen that can detect the characteristic movements that people with Parkinson’s when writing.
The device uses A flexible magnetic tip and ferromagnetic ink that transform the movement into Magnetic field fluctuationstaking advantage of the so -called elastic magneto effect. This is a physical phenomenon by which a soft magnetic material changes its magnetic status when mechanically deforms and vice versa: it suffers a deformation when a magnetic field is applied that magnetic flux generates An electric current in a conductive coil integrated into the body of the pen.
In a reduced pilot study, with 16 participants, the pen recorded precise He successfully distinguished Parkinson’s patients with a accuracy of 96.22 %.
Since the device can detect small and high frequency movements, it is Ideal to analyze the tremors of the handhe explains Gary Chenmain author of the study and doctorate at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Most authors belong to the bioengineering group that directs Jun Chen and investigates the applications of the elastic magneto effect for five years.
‘We see it as a very promising technology’says Gary Chen. However, he acknowledges that the current study presents important limitations. Mainly that it is necessary to carry out broader studies and with a more diverse sample.
In addition to confirming these preliminary results, future investigations could determine if the pen can Distinguish Parkinson from other diseases who also present tremors in those who suffer from them or if they are capable of Identify different stages of Parkinson’s own.
How the pen works
The tip of the pen is composed of Small neodymium magnets mixed with ECOFLEXa flexible silicone usually used in prostheses and special effects. Inside the pen A ferromagnetic ink tank surrounded by A cylinder that contains a thread coil.
When the user draws or writes, Punta deformations modify the magnetic field And the movement of the ink makes the pen Sensitive to accelerations on both a surface and in the air. The tiny magnetic fluctuations induce a current in the coil And it is these changes, not written on paper, which were analyzed by algorithms.
The participants performed several tasks, such as drawing or writing letters. With the data, different automatic learning models were used, being the most precise a unidimensional convolutionary neuronal networkwhich was the one that reached a success of more than 96 % identifying patients with Parkinson’s. During the tests, current variations were sometimes lower than a microamperium.
A study published earlier this year estimates that there are some 12 million people With Parkinson around the world, a figure that could double in 2050.
Chen insists on the importance of conducting large -scale studies to evaluate the usefulness of the device: ‘recognize that need does not weaken the potential of this technology, ”he says,” although They could spend many years, or even decades, until it is available in a generalized way‘.