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Thank you Ray and Linda for your information concerning the Barrow Neurological Institute's data base and the California Parkinson's Disease Registry. While I am not familiar with California's registry, I am participating in the Barrow database program and have twice now filled out their questionnaire. I believe the first time I completed their questionnaire was about 6 months ago. I just completed and submitted their most recent questionnaire a few days ago. while I feel that the Barrow's questionnaire serves a purpose in gathering data that is pertinent to people living with Parkinson's disease I feel that it falls very short in asking personal history questions that could determine a link between environmental/genetic causes of Parkinson's. Upon completing the 'first round' questionnaire, I notified the staff at Barrow's that I thought their survey was lacking in this respect. They responded that they were attempting to refine and improve their project and it would take some time to make needed changes. Upon completing the 'second round' questionnaire (which I thought was an improvement over the first) my comments to Barrow's were that I still think that the survey questions lean toward information gathering that better serves pharmaceutical/physician interest over PD cause/cure interest. I've printed a copy of my completed questionnaire and will keep it on file so that I will have a reference to future questionnaires. I am hoping that, in time, we will be seeing questions on the survey that will pertain to lifelong personal history data gathering such as a) chemicals that you've been exposed to/or worked with. b) trauma to the head (any incidents that have occurred since infancy) and any serious symptoms as a result of the injury. c) viral or bacterial infections since infancy (herpes infection, whooping cough, polio, encephalitis, etc.) d) family members who have/have had neurological disorders (Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Huntington's disease, etc.) e) age at which symptoms of Parkinson's disease presented and factors that influenced your life prior to/or at the time the symptoms presented. ( stress, trauma (either emotional or physical) menopause, illness, surgical or medical procedure which involved anesthetics, work or leisure activities that involved use of pesticides or chemical agents. I'm sure this list could be expanded greatly by experts in the field of Parkinson's research and I feel that these are the type of questions we should be addressing rather than "Does your pharmaceutical health plan cover generic or brand name drugs?" "What is your co-pay?" "What is your yearly income?" "How far do you travel to attend aquatics classes?" I hope that this post does not sound cynical or unappreciative. This type of research is very important to the Parkinson's community and I am grateful for its implementation. I just think that there is room for improvement and that this tool can have immense power in answering important questions about Parkinson's disease if it is used to its fullest potential. Dee ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn