^^^^^^GREETINGS FROM^^^^^^^^^^
Ivan Suzman 47/10 [log in to unmask]
Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 54 deg. F red tulips and lilacs
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Hello from the twilight zone--my e-mail has come back on-line. WHEW!!
I am publishing the results of our totally non-scientific sample of
102 listmembers who are eithe PWP's or responded for a PWP, hoping that
the patterns that emerge would perhaps signal the way to more serious
study.
Before I post parts 7 and 8 separately, let me ask the BIOCHEMISTS,
the GENETICISTS and all those interested to comment on this idea of mine:
1.Dopamine, which we PWP's seem to be missing, breaks down to
noradrenaline, which in turn breaks down to adrenaline.
2.Adrenaline is the "inhibitor" of insulin.
So, if a GENE or GENES regulates , or at least, is involved in
controlling the manufacture or use of the enzymes involved in this
DOPAMINE to ADRENALINE biochemical pathway, I wonder if diabetes, or at
least some form of abnormal glucose tolerance, would be produced in
relatives of the PWP who inherit the same mutated genetic make-up.
What I am getting at is that I am suggesting that a gene that
disrupts the pathway at the point of dopamine conversion from L-DOPA, and
therefore causes Parkinson's, might ALSO, by destabilizing the adrenaline
supply, cause diabetes, or at least, blood-sugar abnormalities in
relatives of the PWP.
If so, the fact that there may be, in a TRULY SCIENTIFIC STUDY funded
appropriately, a higher than expected incidence of diabetic realtives of
PWP's than in the general population, would bolster my little genetic
theory about the related, GENETIC ORIGIN of both Parkinson's and
DIabetes.
In my own Parkinson's support group, BY THE WAY, 17 of 21 of us have a
diabetic member of the family.
The incidence of diabetes in Maine is 5% of the populatio,.according to
the local chapter of the American Diabetes Association (66,000 out of
1.25 million residents of Maine).
Yet, our 83% support group incidence of diabetic relatives is STRIKINGLY
high.
Lastly, wasn't there a post last year about a British study that showed
in 1995 that 50 to 80% of British PWP's have abnormal glucose tolerance
test results??
Comments???
