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Washington, Apr 3 (ANI): Thanks to scientists at the University of Cincinnati, discovering olfactory disorders that could be an early warning of neurological diseases may soon be just a whiff away. Professors Robert Frank and Emeritus Robert Gesteland have developed a new medical device called the Sniff Magnitude Test (SMT) that could offer an early warning of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other problems outside the typical sensory loss associated with aging. “The whole test is based on the very simple observation that when you sniff and you detect a smell, you take a smaller sniff than if you inhaled and didn’t detect a smell,” said Frank, a UC Psychology Professor. “For someone with normal sense of smell, the size of the sniff when detecting an odor is cut in half. For someone who cannot detect odor, the size of the sniff for just air and the size of the sniff for an odor are the same,” he added. According to Prof Frank, in humans the sense of smell is one of our less robust senses, and is more susceptible to harm because there is less neurological machinery in the brain devoted to processing the sense of smell. “So, that’s the reason it might be acting a little bit like the canary in the mineshaft. Because it’s more fragile, when you have insult to the brain, it may be sensitive to loss earlier in the disease process,” he said. Because smells don’t have to be identified as part of the Sniff Magnitude Test, the test can be used on adults as well as children (who may be too young to link a smell with a name) and people representing international cultures (who are unfamiliar with some common odors in the U.S.). “What’s also unique about this test is that it does not require a good memory, which is an issue in testing people with Alzheimer’s or some other dementia-related diseases. For instance, other tests ask, ‘Does this smell like garlic?’ or, ‘Does this smell like tar, or roses?’ Once there’s a problem with memory, this kind of test would be difficult,” he said. He added that if people, either adult or child, failed the test, then there was a good indication that there is something wrong with their olfactory senses. “If they fail our test, that’s a pretty good indication that there’s something wrong with their sense of smell. Maybe there’s an obstruction – a deviated septum or polyps. Perhaps the olfactory nerve has been damaged due to a head injury or a viral infection,” he said. The device is now under further development with the WR Medical Electronics Company in Stillwater, Minn. An earlier model of it is currently, being tested in a high-profile clinic in Germany as well as at the University of Pennsylvania. (ANI) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn