Parkinson’s Disease Discussion Paper . Watch the video, My Father, My Brother, and Me; Understanding Parkinson’s a Frontline presentation. After viewing the video, read through the PBS Frequently Asked Questions.…
Title: Age-associated decreased activities of mitochondrial electron transport chain complexes in heart and skeletal muscle: role of L-carnitine…
Grilly (2002) found that patients who suffered from Parkinson’s and took the drug L-dopa, which increases dopamine…
In this study, they had 136 drug-naïve patients who had early Parkinson’s Disease, and 50 who were normal, and the people who had the disease were divided into different subtypes: tremor dominant, which don’t show as aggressive symptoms than the other subtype, non-tremor dominant do. They compared their relationship of non-motor symptoms with their quality of life between the people who didn’t have this disease and the people who did have this…
There are many different things in the environment that prevent us from aging in a healthy way. Medical research reveals that environmental factors play a major role in the majority of cases of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Diet, exercise, and exposure to toxic chemicals and other environmental pollutants, and socioeconomic stress can alter biochemical pathways influencing the risk of these diseases and other chronic illnesses…
Parkinson’s disease, a chronic disease with unknown causes, attacks brain cells, specifically the ones that control body movement. This causes shaking, stiff limbs, and poor coordination. Because of this, Professor Trond Riise and colleagues Anders Engeland and Kjetil Bjørnevik started the painstaking work of analyzing over 100 million prescriptions in Norway. Their research started in 2004 and continues to this day. In their study, the medicines that were most associated with the treatment of Parkinson’s were asthma medicine, the use of which halves the risk of getting the disease. (Inversely, one type of high blood pressure medicine doubles the risk.) These new discoveries, according to the article…
2. parkinson’s disease effect the substantia nigra in the brain which produces the dopamine cells. The substantia nigra would normally produce dopamine in the correct manner. parkinson’s disease causes the dopamine deficiency.…
Nerve cells use a brain chemical called dopamine to help control muscle movement. Parkinson 's disease occurs when the nerve cells in the brain that make dopamine are slowly destroyed. Without dopamine, the nerve cells in that part of the brain cannot properly send messages. This leads to the loss of…
Parkinson’s disease, also known as idiopathic or primary Parkinsonism, hypokinetic rigid syndrome/HRS, or paralysis agitans is a problem in the nerve cells. According to the Parkinson’s disease Foundation the nerve cells start to break down and die, which leads to the loss of neurons that produce a chemical messenger in the brain called dopamine. When the dopamine is gone it causes abnormal brain activity, which leads to Parkinson’s. Dopamine sends signals to the part of the brain that controls movement. It lets your muscles move smoothly and do what you want them to do. When you have Parkinson’s, these nerve cells break down causing an individual to have trouble moving the way they want to.…
Although Parkinson’s is a major illness, not many are aware of the effects on the people diagnosed, or that there have been major medical breakthroughs in the study of Parkinson’s.…
Currently there are accessible pharmacological and surgical treatments that alleviate motor symptoms, but do not stop the eventual progression of Parkinson’s disease. Thereupon, I am really engrossed in researching therapeutic medicine for neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s. After learning more about the substantia nigra and its role in Parkinson’s, I would like to examine what environmental factors may cause Parkinson’s disease in genetically susceptible individuals through overstimulation or inflammation. Specifically, I am interested in the role of environmental factors such as psychiatric drugs, exposure to pesticides, chemical solvents, and others that…
Parkinson’s disease which is one of the most common movement disorders, was first described in 1817 and affects up to 1 million people in the United States. This well understood movement disorder is caused by the deficiency of a single neurotransmitter, dopamine. It is characterized by tremors, increased muscular tone, mask like facial expressions, flexed posture, rigidity, hypokinesia (paucity), and bradykinesia (slowness of…
Your doctor will also likely order blood tests such as a CMP (comprehensive metabolic panel), CBC (complete blood cell count), vitamin B12 level, and thyroid hormones. They will also usually check your cholesterol levels and screen for diabetes.…
Parkinson disease is a gradually progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Parkinson disease belongs to a group of conditions called movement disorders. There are four characteristic problems caused by Parkinson disease, including tremor at rest, balance problems, stiffness, and slowness of movement. Parkinson disease occurs when areas of the brain, including an area called the substantia nigra, is slowly destroyed. The exact reason for this destruction is not completely known. In some patients, it may be due to genetic, environmental, or a combination of both causes. The end result is a deprivation in the brain of an important neurochemical, called dopamine. Dopamine helps regulate movement, and its loss leads to increased tone, rigidity, and slowness of movement. Lack of dopamine results in the symptoms associated with Parkinson disease .Approximately 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson disease every year. 95% of those diagnosed are over 50 years old. At any given time, about 500,000 people, or 1% of those over age 50 in the US are struggling with this condition. Diagnosis of Parkinson disease is a clinical one, based on history and physical examination. There are no lab tests to definitively diagnose the condition. Your doctor will ask about your medical history and perform a thorough physical exam. A systematic neurological exam will include testing your reflexes and observing things like muscle strength throughout your body, coordination, balance, and other details of movement, including:…
Free radicals are substances responsible for breaking down food, fixing injuries, and producing proteins. Many theorists believe an excess number of free radicals gather in the substantia nigra, and these radicals attack and cause the dopamine cells to disintegrate. Another theory is environmental toxins. Studies have shown that people heavily exposed to copper, lead, manganese, zinc, herbicides,and pesticides have a higher risk of developing PD than people not exposed. Another environmental toxin recently linked to Parkinson’s Disease is the synthetic drug MPTP. MPTP poisons the mitochondria, resulting in decreased energy production and cell death.…