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I have had two very interesting days with RWEEDS of AOL BB. She is Rita Weeks of Lincoln, NE and has been in San Jose for her son's college graduation. Thuesday we spent with Tom Riess learning about visual cues that can be used to resolve freezing and other visual stimulus that can control dyskinesia. He uses virtual reality in his work. All is in a state of development. Tom will be featured on a Discovery Cable Channel special called "Next Step" that will air Tuesday June 14 at 9:30 PM. These times are PDT, so check your local listings for the time in your area. He has also been videod for a PBS program in the fall. Again I will keep you informed about what it is called and the air date. Yesterday, Rita, Margy Hansell and I had a tour of The Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale. This was formarly the Ca. Parkinson Foundation. It was fasinating seeing the animal research they are doing. I would like to add that Connie Saine of the MPTP group who appeared in the "Brain Transplant" as not getting a fetal tissue transplant has just returned from Sweden where she has had one. Now there are three of the original MPTP patients with this operation. Two very interesting developments came from the time spent with Rita. The first is that Rita has a freezing problem that is very interesting. She is perfectly normal walking in the shade. As soon as she enters warm Sun light she "turns OFF". Put her back in the shade and she "turns ON" again. The Sun light must be warm. If she takes the arm of someone, she is OK. The second interesting development was a story Rita told. She participated in a health fair in a small town near the border of Nebraska and Kansas. Two couples came to her booth. Both of the men showed typical symptoms of PD, tremor, slowness, stooped posture, etc. They picked up information and left. The two wifes keep coming back for more information and asking questions. Finally Rita asked them what their doctor said their husbands had. They replied, "Farmers Disease." Their doctor said "there was no cure or medications, they would just have to live with it." I can't tell you what all just the name implies. Now, maybe there is something called farmer's disease but if it is PD, think of what that means. How common is this? Unknown. I think I will leave it at this until Rita returns next week to tells us more. Regards, Alan Bonander ([log in to unmask]) PS: My newsletter is very long, should be out first part of next week.