April 27, 2008 by mike.

last updated: 11 April 2008 A surge of Parkinson’s disease linked to rapidly ageing populations worldwide will severely tax health care systems in coming decades, experts warned ahead of World Parkinson’s Disease Day.

AdvertisementThe burden of Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases that strike later in life will be amplified, experts say, by breakdown of informal, home-based care networks that are already strained.

“In many countries, overdependence on voluntary care is a key issue caused by lack of appropriate, consistent and affordable institutional resources,” said Mary Baker, president of the European Parkinson’s Disease Society.

“With an ever-increasing elderly global population, the cost to nations will be astronomical if action is not taken now, at the beginning of the 21st century,” she said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) forecasts a 20 percent jump from 2007 to 2030 in the number of “disability-adjusted life years” (DALYs) attributable to Parkinson’s.

DALYs is a measure that combines years of life lost due to a disability, and years of healthy life lost.

The rate of increase over the same period for Alzheimer’s and other progressive neurological disorders that typically emerge in old age is even higher at 66 percent.

Myths and misconceptions about Parkinson’s
For 2008, World Parkinson’s Disease Day is seeking to overturn myths and misconceptions about the condition, which affects 6.5 million people around the world.

Sufferers of what James Parkinson, the English doctor who first diagnosed the disease, called “the shaking palsy” are sometimes shunned due to awkward and uncontrolled movements, or mistaken for persons under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Symptoms include muscular rigidity, difficulty with initiating movements, lack of balance, and slowness of voluntary actions.

“In today’s world, it is necessary to move fast, and to communicate through body language and emotions,” commented French Psychiatrist Philippe Nuss of Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris. “Parkinson’s attacks exactly these three areas.”

For Marie Vidhaillet, a neurologist at Pitie Salpetriere Hospital, living with the disease is like the fickle weather of March, with an unpredictable sequence of good days and bad days.

“You have to learn to live with it without succumbing to it,” she added.

Death of brain neurons
Parkinson’s is caused by the death of neurons in the brain that produce dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter that regulates, among other things, bodily movement.

Several medications compensate for the lack of dopamine that triggers symptoms, but only imperfectly. Neurosurgical treatments also exist, but are only appropriate in five percent of cases.

Among the misconceptions surrounding Parkinson’s is the idea that it is “an old person’s disease,” said Vidhaillet.

At least 10 percent of patients in France are under 45, but “most doctors don’t think of Parkinson’s if a patient is 40 years old.”

“In our society, where one does not have the right to get old, the disease is doubly stigmatising,” she said. ?(Marlowe Hood/Sapa)

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April 27, 2008 by mike.

Scientists in Finland believe they have found a protein that can prevent the degeneration of cells that produce dopamine. In a patient with Parkinson’s, these nerve cells, which produce dopamine, are destroyed.

The scientists believe this chemical may lead the way to treatment which would encourage the damaged cells to recover. Drugs today do not prevent the degeneration of nerve cells.

You can read about this study in the journal Nature.

In this study, scientists injected the protein - CDNF (dopamine neurotrophic factor) - into rats with symptoms of Parkinson’s. The rats’ symptoms improved; 96% of their nerve cells were protected from degeneration.

Previous studies had focused on another protein, GDNF. As GDNF raised serious safety concerns, they decided to examine CDNF, a related protein (a growth factor). CDNF was found to be better tolerated.

The researchers discovered that CDNF is specific to brain nerve cells. This is not the case with other similar growth factors.

In a further study, the researchers allowed the rats’ Parkinson’s to progress further. Their aim was to see whether CDNF might help repair damaged nerves. The mice were at a stage similar to a human with Parkinson’s who has lost 70% of his/her ability to produce dopamine. After administering CDNF to these rats, they found that 58% of the dopamine-producing cells were alive, compared to 26% in a control group.

Dr Mart Saarma, team leader, University of Helsinki, said “Our new protein has great potential to be developed as drug for Parkinson’s disease, but we need to do more animal experiments and also toxicology studies before we can start clinical trials.”

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April 13, 2008 by mike.

A new study reports that when Parkinson’s patients took tango classes, their balance improved. Problems with walking and balance are common among people with the disease.

For the study, 19 Parkinson’s patients were given either 20 tango classes or 20 exercise classes. The exercise class consisted of one hour of movement, either in chairs or using chairs for support. The tango class was more vigorous, and focused on stretching, balance, footwork and timing.

Both groups demonstrated improvement, but only the tango students appeared to improve their balance.

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April 13, 2008 by mike.

New Results Mark Successful Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Pharr, TX, United States, 02/20/2008 - Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive movement disorder marked by tremors, rigidity, slow movements (bradykinesia), and posture instability. It occurs when cells in one of the movement-control centers of the brain begin to die for unknown reasons.

PD was first noted by British physician James Parkinson in the early 1800s.

Usually beginning in a person’s late fifties or early sixties, Parkinson disease causes a progressive decline in movement control, affecting the ability to control initiation, speed, and smoothness of motion. Symptoms of PD are seen in up to 15% of those ages 65–74, and almost 30% of those ages 75–84.

Most cases of PD are sporadic. This means that there is a spontaneous and permanent change in nucleotide sequences (the building blocks of genes). Sporadic mutations also involve unknown environmental factors in combination with genetic defects. The abnormal gene (mutated gene) will form an altered end-product or protein. This will cause abnormalities in specific areas in the body where the protein is used. Some evidence suggests that the disease is transmitted by autosomal dominant inheritance. This implies that an affected parent has a 50% chance of transmitting the disease to any child. This type of inheritance is not commonly observed. The most recent evidence is linking PD with a gene that codes for a protein called alpha-synuclein. Further research is attempting to fully understand the relationship with this protein and nerve cell degeneration.

Tim Donahoe has been a patient of Dr. Omar Gonzalez since April of 2007.

Background: Tim was employed by a home medical equipment company. He was the face for his employer with approximately 70 doctors. On a visit with a rural GP, he noticed a twitch in one of his fingers. His GP sent me to the motor function clinic at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. where he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Seeking a second opinion and in denial Tim went a year without treatment. That was July of 2001. He was 46 years old and at the top of his health and conditioning. He played mandolin and guitar in two bands, competed in track and field at a national level, and strength trained for his competitions. At this time Tim was bench pressing 245 lbs, deadlifted 445 lbs, and squat of 405 lbs.

After Tim’s first year of denial, he finally accepted help and was prescribed Sinamet, Requip, and Amantadine. He began a world wide search for a cure. One was a Dr. in LA. He had harvested unmarked stem cells from his patient, marked the cells as neurons and after 8 months of lab cultivation, transplanted the cells back into the patients brain. Nearly 10 years later he shows no symptoms. Tim decided then that he wanted stem cells in his life. He found Dr. Gonzalez at the Integrative Medicine Center. Dr. Gonzalez had developed an exciting therapy imported from Europe. He has administered this treatment since 1989. The therapy involves a simple, yet powerful procedure.

The fact that PST (placenta / stem cell therapy) is very non-specific in nature makes it look like it is the “new panacea” about healing with the lack of credibility it involves. BUT as the very well documented :
• exercise ,
• good nutrition
• taking anti-oxidants

are also non- specific and are recommended for many different conditions, because they impact the most basic systems in our body:
• the immune system
• hormonal system
• circulation systems

the Placenta Stem cell Therapy optimizes those systems and can be used for many conditions.

Tim accepted treatment in April of 2007. Within a week his voice had improved…he was losing it and had surgery that pushed his vocal cords together. In about 2 weeks after treatment there was a HUGE difference in energy and stamina. His small motor control returned. Tim Donahoe started playing music again. And he started lifting and running. Tim won’t tell you he’s not 100 % of what he was (he is 53 now) nor will he tell you he is cured. What Tim will tell you is that he is as close to normal as he can hope to be. All of his symptoms are improved much more than they were prior to treatment.

Tim states “My path of greatness is flowing again. I would like to be drug free but that’s not going to happen…yet. I plan to keep seeing Dr. Gonzalez until a cure is found.

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April 13, 2008 by mike.

An unusually serious one, this. Research shows that tango can actually be good for people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, a degenerative disease of the nervous system.

Researchers Gammon M. Earhart, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical therapy, and Madeleine E. Hackney, a predoctoral trainee in movement science, compared the effects of Argentine tango dance classes to exercise classes on functional mobility in 19 patients with Parkinson’s disease. The participants in the dance program showed significant improvement in several standard tests for patients with Parkinson’s disease

Tango is often viewed as one of the more challenging dances to become good at, rather than merely proficient. I can’t help wondering if it’s that quality of concentration and co-ordination that helps in this situation.

The researchers said that while dance in general may be beneficial for patients with Parkinson’s disease, tango uses several aspects of movement that my be especially relevant for these patients including dynamic balance, turning, initiation of movement, moving at a variety of speeds and walking backward.

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