Date: Thu, 22 Jun 1995 09:55:49 -0700
From: Robert Fink <[log in to unmask]>
To: Barbara Patterson <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Delmarva Parkinson Newsletter
 
PARKINSON'S  NEWSLETTER  of the Delmarva Chapter, American
Parkinson Disease Association  June 1995  -  4049 Oakland School
Road  Salisbury, Maryland 21801-2716  1-410-543-0110
 
+--------FAX (410)749-1034 -----------PRODIGY PNFX85A-----------+
+----------------------A O L  W I L L M M S J
             MEETING TUESDAY JUNE 27, AT 1:00 ATLANTIC GENERAL
HOSPITAL, BERLIN, MARYLAND
CHANGES IN A.P.D.A. NATIONAL LEADERS
Dr. Abraham Lieberman, M.D., has announced his resignation as
Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board of the American Parkinson
Disease Association, the top medical position in the organization.
There are other well qualified Parkinson's disease specialists on
the Medical Advisory Board of the A.P.D.A.  No announcement of a
successor has been made. It is rumored that Dr. Lieberman has
joined with the National Parkinson Foundation, but we have received
no official confirmation.
Last month Mr. Frank Williams resigned his post as executive
secretary of the A.P.D.A., the most influential paid position in
the association.  Early this year Mr. Williams and Dr. Lieberman
both wrote letters to a major leader of another national
organization [with copies to A.P.D.A. chapter presidents] which
were emotional and extremely divisive. They were so strong that it
could make cooperation between the national organizations
difficult. The changes in leadership may heal some old animosities
and lead to greater cooperation among the various national
Parkinson's groups. Movement toward cooperation among the various
national Parkinson's organizations has already begun.
 
WE ARE GUESTS OF ATLANTIC GENERAL
Our next meeting will be held in the education / conference room of
Atlantic General Hospital in Berlin, Maryland.
Many of our group drive to Salisbury from Ocean City, Berlin, or
south-eastern Delaware to attend our meetings. It seemed only right
that we should have a meeting in the eastern part of the area we
serve. Atlantic General is the new hospital in our area, and we
should make ourselves aware of where it is and what it has to
offer.
Our meeting this month will be a support group type meeting. There
is also news about changes at the national office and changes in
the availability of neurologists in our area, and there is more
news about surgical treatment of Parkinson's.
A brief guided tour of the hospital facilities will follow. We
should be through about 2:15 to 2:30.
There is a pleasant small cafeteria known as the A.G.H. Cafe [Where
the elite meetS to eat] next to the room we will use. The food is
good and reasonably priced. Be sure you know how to stop the frozen
yogurt machine, or you may have far more yogurt than you really
want.
1995 WALK-A-THON $3,683.59
The annual Walk-A-Thon is a success. The receipts for the 1995
Walk-A-Thon are $3,683.59 so far, and our expenses are zero. It is
not too late to make your 1995 Walk-A-Thon pledge. I still have a
few pledges to solicit and a few to collect. Get your pledges in as
soon as you can. we still have a few 1995 Walk-A-Thon T-shirts to
give away in any size you want _  so long as the size you want is
extra large.
 
BRUCE LOBAR, M.D. MOVES TO VIRGINIA
Dr. Bruce Lobar, one of the four general neurologists in
Salisbury, is moving to Staunton in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of
Virginia. He saw his last patient in Salisbury June 12, but his
office has remained open to allow patients to pick up their
records.
This creates a definite shortage of neurologists. Drs. Bird,
Baumann, and Peet will have to put in many extra hours to absorb
his patients. There is no automatic referral of Dr. Lobar's
patients to any other neurologist, so each of his patients will
have to make his or her own arrangements to see another
neurologist. Dr. Baumann says there is little chance of having
another neurologist move into Salisbury before summer of 1996 in
spite of the fact that a new neurologist could just walk into a
going practice.  Usually a doctor who leaves a one-man medical
practice will be able to sell the practice to a new M.D. coming in
or at least collect a percentage of the first year or two's
billings. Dr. Lobar's office is simply closing.  If you are one of
Dr. Lobar's patients, you should arrange to get your records from
his office for the next neurologist you use. Your next visit to a
neurologist may last longer and therefore cost more since you will
be a _new patient_ again.
Maryland's lower Eastern Shore needs another neurologist and at
least one more doctor in internal medicine or family practice.
NOTES ON SIGHT FROM THE APRIL MEETING
Our April meeting featured Dr. Gary Rubin, Ph.D. and associate
professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Clinic in
Baltimore.
Dr. Rubin brought and demonstrated some testing materials not
usually used by our local ophthalmologists but used in the SEE
[Salisbury Eye Evaluation] program.
Recently several medical journal articles have reported that
Parkinson's patients score low on spatial contrast sensitivity
tests. Clinical testing for contrast sensitivity is made with a
brilliant white eye chart which has large very black dots at the
top, less black dots in the center, and, I am told, dimmer grey
dots near the bottom. The one-page chart seems simple and
over-priced at several hundred dollars per chart, but the printing
process required to produce precise black density is not easy There
is no _cure_ for lack of contrast sensitivity.
Another test shown was for detecting _eye dominance_ and stereo
vision which is used for depth perception. A decrease in depth
perception can make accident avoidance more difficult when driving
or walking.
Test pages for color blindness were demonstrated, and there was
just the right number of color blind males in our audience to
indicate that we are probably no different from the general
population in the area of color blindness, but we do score low in
the number of colors we can detect.
Double vision, particularly double vision when looking at an object
within a few inches of the eyes, difficulty reading at a fixed
speed, and trouble moving the eyes from the end of one line of type
to the beginning of the next are probably the result of decreased
muscle control which may result from Parkinson's disease.
The meeting was supposed to end at 2:00, but the questions for Dr.
Rubin kept coming till almost 2:45.
Johns Hopkins hopes that the SEE program will become the standard
for senior eye evaluation by which all other eye programs in the
world will be measured.
 
SLOWING THE AGING CLOCK
Findings on Melatonin
by Ed Shaner, D.D.S. of Ocean City, MD
If you are interested in slowing your aging clock and the
prevention of cancer, read THE AGING CLOCK, the l993 proceedings of
the Stromboli Conference on Aging which investigated current means
of slowing the aging process and preventing cancer.
Fifteen new papers were presented that suggested the hormone
melatonin may be the single most important component of a life
extension and cancer prevention program. Unfortunately, U.S.doctors
show little interest in melatonin as a therapeutic agent, whereas
it is well known and used in Europe.
Melatonin is a hormone secreted by the tiny pineal gland located at
the base of the brain. It governs the diurnal cycle of the body,
indicating when we should sleep and when we should _get up and go._
Neuroscience professor Richard Wurtman of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology reports that test subjects dropped off into
deep sleep after taking small doses of melatonin. Sleep scientist
Mark Roseland of the NASA Ames Research Center at Mountain View,
California, states: _Our volunteers fall asleep in five or six
minutes, while those on a placebo take much longer._
ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTIES_Most antioxidants have difficulty passing
through cell membranes and sub-cellular compartments. Melatonin, on
the other hand, passes through these with ease. It seems to be a
very specific scavenger of the damaging hydroxyl free radical. As
a protectant, it should prevent cell damage and extend longevity.
ANTI-AGING_In a study done on mice, significant increases in immune
function occurred in both young and old mice when melatonin was
administered. Anti-oxidants are thought to protect the tolomeres
(ends of chromosomes) from damage and thereby protect genes located
on the  chromosomes. Strong immune systems promote longevity .
Treated mice lived longer.
ANTI-CANCER_Melatonin plays a well documented role in the
prevention and treatment of breast tumors whether or not they are
estrogen dependent. In a brand new study, men with prostate cancer
were found to have no circadian rhythm from melatonin. In a second
study, men with prostate cancer showed a 65% reduction of overall
blood serum levels of melatonin, compared to matched controls.
Since melatonin declines drastically as we age, it has been
recommended we take it as a supplement.
According to The Life Extension Foundation,melatonin may be one of
the most important life extension therapies available, and one of
the least expensive. Melatonin is a natural product of your pineal
gland and as such is safe for healthy persons to take as a
supplement. However, there are contra-indications for certain
stages and types of cancer, so cancer patients should consult their
physicians for advice.
The strategy to achieve longevity is to raise hormone levels to
those we enjoyed during youth when aches, pains, and degenerative
conditions were absent. While aging cannot be reversed, perhaps the
experiments with mice indicate THE EFFECTS OF AGING can be avoided
or minimized and healthy longevity extended.
 
The book FINDINGS ON MELATONIN (proceedings from the Stromboli
Conference) can be ordered from the ANNALS OF THE NEW YORK ACADEMY
OF SCIENCES.
 
Compiled by  Edward Shaner, D.D.S. and Parkinsonian, May l995.
 
This is the first of several invited columns to appear in this
newsletter. There is a tendency, according to a recent thus far
unpublished study of Parkinson's patients, for Parkinsonians to
concentrate heavily on their Parkinson's problem and ignore other
health problems. Melatonin as a sleep aid helps some Parkinson's
patients. There have been many postings about melatonin on the
PARKNSON [not misspelled] list server on the Internet. Melatonin is
considered to be a holistic medicine and is available in health
food retail and mail order stores. W.J.[Editor]
TO GET TO ATLANTIC GENERAL HOSPITAL
>From the east or west, take US50 to Route 113 South <to Snow Hill,
not to Berlin!> and get into the left lane immediately. At the
traffic light turn left [Do not make a U-turn!] onto East MD 346.
[If you are coming from the north or south on 113, this is the
first road south of US50] Turn left into the street going to Berlin
Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The hospital and its parking
lots are at the end of the road. After parking, go to the hospital
main entrance and when inside go to the left. The conference /
education room they have for us is between the administrative
office and the cafeteria.
 
HOW MANY OF US ARE THERE?
According to most sources, there are about one million of us _ plus
or minus + million _ in the United States. Low estimates go as low
as 400,000 and high estimates go over 2 million. Lobbying for the
Morris K. Udall bill might be easier if we knew how many of us
there are.
Parkinson's is not a reportable disease, that is a diagnosing
doctor is not required to make any report to a central authority as
is the case with certain infectious diseases such as typhus,
smallpox, polio, or some _social diseases._ Most Parkinson's
disease never requires hospitalization for treatment for itself.
I am not aware of any recent studies on the prevalence of PD in the
U.S. A few attempts have been made to extrapolate a Minnesota study
near Mayo Clinic, a study in east Baltimore, and a study in a rural
Mississippi county into national PD prevalence, but the results are
_suspect_ at best.
Since Sinemet is almost the universally prescribed primary PD
medication, I thought it would be relatively easy to estimate with
greater accuracy than a million or maybe half that many or maybe
half again that many. DuPont Pharma has refused to release unit
sales of Sinemet. Mr. J. Irr, the Sinemet product manager for
DuPont, has promised to send _something I might find interesting,_
but it has not arrived yet. With the variation in amount of Sinemet
from patient to patient, there would be problems, but an estimate
better than _a million give or take a half million_ should emerge.
The June 1995 issue of Life Extension Magazine reports that 130,000
PD patients have taken Eldepryl since 1989. The source of the
number was not given, but the numbers must be available
somewhere... Any advice would be appreciated.
 
NO SCHEDULED MEETINGS FOR JULY & AUGUST
With summer vacations, visits to and from friends and families, and
just plain hot weather, there are no scheduled support group
meetings for July or August. We will probably lose our last Tuesday
of the month at 1:00 meeting place at the Salisbury Mall. Look for
a change in October.
 
SEPTEMBER 19 DINNER WITH MORT KONDRACKE
Current plans call for our September meeting to be a Tuesday dinner
at Salisbury State University with syndicated columnist Morton
Kondracke as our speaker. Mr. Kondracke appears on the editorial
page of the Daily Times most Saturdays and on The McLaughlin Group
on Washington channel 4 and Maryland Public Television. Mr. and
Mrs. Kondracke are strong proponents of our working together to
find the cause and cure for Parkinson's disease. Details of the
dinner are not worked out. This is to be a fund raiser for us and
probably for the Parkinson's Action Network.  We will be looking
for sponsors. Details will follow.
 Will Johnston
At the suggestion of the new APDA Director of Chapter Operations:
The information and reference material contained herein concerning
research being done in the field of Parkinson's disease and answers
to readers' questions are solely for the information of the reader.
It should not be used for treatment purposes, but rather for
discussion with the patient's own physician. According to a senior
citizen on his 100th birthday, _I attribute my longevity on this
earth to being a non-smoker. I quit last year._
Have a good summer!
NOTE: The May issue was mailed via snail mail only and only to the
Delaware-Maryland-Virginia area.