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Following are excerpts of just a few of the great notes taken by Parkinsons Advocate A.J. Conovaloff, Sun City Arizona from his attendance at last year's PAN Forum. I thought his mention of the book "THE FROZEN ADDICTS" deserves reposting - we have many newly diagosed that may not know of it. Thanks AJ, ya done good. mhd "The Case of the Frozen Addicts" How the solution of an extraordinary medical mystery spawned a revolution in the understanding and treatment of Parkinson's Disease. by J. William Lanston, MD, and Jon Palfreman. Inside dust cover: In the summer of 1982, hospital emergency rooms in the San Francisco Bay Area were suddenly confronted with mysteriously "frozen" patients -- young men and women who, through conscious, could neither movenor speak. Doctors were baffled, until neurologist J. William Langston,recognized the symptoms of advanced Parkinson's disease, administered L-dopa -- the only known effective treatment -- and "unfroze" his patient. Dr. Langston determined that this patient and five others had all used the same tainted batch of synthetic heroin, inadvertently laced with a toxin that had destroyed an area of their brains essential to normal movement. This same area, the substantia nigra, slowly deteriorates in Parkinson's disease. As scientists raced to capitalize on this breakthrough, Dr. Langston struggled to salvage the lives of his frozen patients, for whom L-dopa provided only short-term relief. The solution he found lay in the most daring area of research: fetal-tissue transplants. The astonishing recovery of two of his patients garnered worldwide press coverage, helped overturn federal restrictions on fetal-tissue research, and offered hope to millions suffering from Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and other degenerative brain disorders. This is the story behind the headline -- a spellbinding account that brings to life the intellectual excitement, ethical dilemmas, and fierce competitiveness of medical research. "The Case of the Frozen Addicts" illuminates how the solution to a baffling mystery of the brain's chemistry opened a new frontier in medicine and restored life to people without hope. J. WILLIAM LANGSTON, MD, is president of the Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, California, and director of its basic research programs. An internationally recognized authority on Parkinson's disease, Dr. Langstom is also the editor of the journal Neurodegeneration, and chairman of The Parkinson's Epidemiology Research Committee. JON PALFREMAN is an award-winning writer and producer of medical and scientific documentaries. He is a senior producer at WGBH television in Boston. Published by Pantheon Books, New York. ISBN 0-679-42465-2 (sugg retail: $25 USA, $35 Canada) Check your local bookstores and/or libraries. ----------------------------------------------------------NOTES: 1. Again typed by A.J. Conovaloff on Margaret Monty's and Bob Martone's laptops, posted by Bob (Board member, Houston, TX, Area Parkinson's Society). 2. A colorful PD informative computer presentation/slide show for MS-DOS has been prepared by Jim Cordy using PAN and other data, and the program Lotus Freelance. We showed the program on Margaret's and Bob's color laptops. The presentation is excellent for support group advocacy education. It can be viewed on a color computer, as overhead transparencies, color slides, on paper, and, we hope, on the WWW. Copies from ([log in to unmask]), or Jim Cordy, 412-521-9584 (PA). It helps if you'd send a blank disk and a return diskette envelope, or $2-3 to cover costs . ----------------------------------------------------------