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In article "J.R. Newbrough" <[log in to unmask]> writes: >Many thanks to John Cottingham for doing the literature searches on cognitive >functioning, iron/aluminum, and environmental factors. That is a real >service to me. > Cognitive functioning is very important to me since I am in the >teaching business. I had thought that Sinemet medication had really improved >my functioning subsequent to diagnosis. This sounds like it may not have, and >what improvements that I experience was due to other factors such as lifting >my depression. It makes me realize that I am going to have to ask others to >watch me and give me feedback when they see deficits. I suspect that I am >largely unaware of the progressive decline. Those of us who now find that we can't answer spur of the moment questions, place a name with a face, find our keys, find that piece of paper with an important address or telephone number, tend to use that phrase, "I don't know more often as a defense mechanism. As our cognitive functioning slows down, things such as instant, short term recall takes more time as we mentally play the game of substituting remembered words or sounds to form an answer that sounds to us as plausible. President Reagan was an excellent orator as long as he could read the cue card. In retrospect, when reporters were peppering him with questions as he would enter his limo, you could see in his eyes that the process of devising an plausible answer would take longer than he had to think about the question. He would answer with a wave and a smile. Perhaps, this is something we share with our Alzheimer's brothers and sisters. > The presence of iron and aluminum in the CNS is very interesting. Help >from those of you knowledgeable out there--what are the practical implications >of this? Does that mean less intake of such elements? I am taking a capsule >of iron every day with my vitamins, should I be concerned about that? Or is >the eldepryl going to be doing some shielding? The iron that is manifesting itself in the striatum, is thought to be caused by cell death rather than coming from outside the blood/brain barrier. This appearance is found in the compacta zona or zona compacta, "there I go again", an area whose location is still disputed. This is observed in some MRIs of Parkinson's patients. The quantity of iron is thought to be related to the duration of PD. > I am glad to see the findings from environmental findings. Those of >us with significant exposures certainly believe that some of that has to be >implicated. My exposure on the farm was to pesticides, not herbicides-- >mainly 2,4-D. I got a pretty good dose of that about 15 years ago while fighting dandelions. My symptoms at that time, as I recall, were a tic and visual disturbances. 2,4-D is a herbicide and it was also a component in "Agent Orange". Normalization of relations between Vietnam and the U.S. will open up the laboratory, so to speak, where the decendents live for study. In another 15 years, the smoking gun may be found that caused our ailment. > I got to attend the National Conference in Chicago. I saw the notice >here on the network and since I was going to another meeting there I phoned >APDA and got a spot. It was very impressive to me, the technology and the >number of people in attendance. It was a great public showing for us PDers. >I found it very informative, but nothing really new. We are getting the new >information here on the net and in the various newsletters. But it did help >me understand my situation better. It was an exercise in excess by an organization that could counter all the good encouraged by the PAN activism for passage of the Udall Bill. The hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on the technology, glitter and glitz will not available for support activities or research. One of APDAs strong suits, is support. What happens now? > I would have liked to have seen an articulate PDer or two on the >panel for there needs to be someone who actually is experiencing this disease >to be part of this; perhaps a physician or researcher who also is experiencing >it. Looking down the list through moderators of the various sites, most of them are actively involved in Parkinson's research. > I would also have liked much more emphasis on diet, nuitrition, >exercise, and alternative therapies. Organized medicine has always opposed "alternative" anything. Scientists recently also met in New England and complained that current subjective thinking was questioning scientific conclusions. The Parkinsn List is also somehow an "alternative" something. It was much more global that it needed >to be for what is now known. Maybe these topics can be taken up in a later >session. It was a limited time and for a first one, was quite good. My >thanks to APDA and the sponsoring companies for putting it on. Next time >there needs to be a wider coverage to local groups. When the information finally gets out to where it is needed, all of us will be eternally grateful (for now anyway<g>). Hindsight, which costs nothing, indicates that the 5 P's (Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance) were thrown out the window in favor of the technology running amok, glitz and glitter. Bob, thank you for going! John Cottingham [log in to unmask] OR [log in to unmask]