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Hello to All: Has anyone seen the 1/2/96, NY Times article, "Variant Gene Tied to a Love of New Thrills"? Apparently the new issue of Nature Genetics reports on a dicovery "that novelty seekers tend to have a particular variant of a gene that allows the brain to respond to dopamine, an essential chemical communication signal. The gene encodes the instructions to the so called D4 dopamine receptor, one of the five receptors known to play a role in the brain's response to dopamine. As it turns out, novelty seekers possess a version of the D4 receptor gene that is slightly longer than the receptor of more reserved and deliberate individuals.....Dopamine is only one of many so-called neurotransmitters found coursing through the brain, ...and is the chemical most strongly linked to pleasure and sensation seeking... .. People with Parkinson's disease, in which the dopamine-producing cells of the brain gradually degenerate, have been shown to be unusually low in novelty seeking behavior...The new report of the genetic link is the first clear evidence of a connection between the neurotransmitter and the personality type." Dr.Richard P. Ebstein, et al from Herzog Memorial Hospital in Jerusalem and at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheva, Israel wrote one of the papers. The other comes from Dr. Jonathan Benjamin, Dr. Dean H. Hamer , et al at the National Institutes of Health. Not only did the two groups find the same correlation between receptor length and novelty seeking behavior, but they found it in different ethnic groups, i.e., Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews of both sexes and the U.S. group made up mainly of white American men. Perhaps we should amend our 900+ Survey to include hobbies and activities, such as sky-diving, bungie jumping, rock climbing, etc??? Do you feel that our individual and collective PD personality traits mirror these findings? Are there other traits that are indicative of PD personalities? Regards, Margaret Tuchman [log in to unmask]