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Joe Well said. I agree entirely. People getting info off of the WWW or other internet sources should evaluate the source carefully before accepting as truth what is there. The Internet is totally unregulated. That is both its strength and weakness. Beware of fantastic claims like someone has the cure for PD. Or claims that the same thing works for numerous diseases. Joe, thanks for your regular compilation of material from reliable (hopefully) sources. Charlie Joe Bruman wrote: > > Hi Kids, since I saw a couple of comments on Tony Schoonenberg's > posted website, I guess I'll add mine: The site content is very > professional, slick, and as someone else said, an ad for Dr Iacono. > Nothing wrong about that, and if you dig, there is lots of useful > info there, particularly the "links" to several other websites > dealing with PD, which I checked out briefly. Tony's site even has > several videos, mostly before-and-after clips of Dr. Don Berns, a > La Canada, CA preacher who was one of Iacono's first customers and > most devoted fan; but they take a long time to download and you > need also to download the necessary program QuickTime, so I didn't > bother to actually view them. Schoonenberg also is a grateful > Iacono pallidotomy recipient and serves as a full-time PR rep at > Loma Linda Med Ctr, where I understand Iacono left recently to open > a private practice, but still operates there. > > Mainly, however, my comment is not about Dr. Iacono or Loma Linda, > but about the WWW (WorldWide Web) as a source of information. PD > is a permanent chronic disorder, so patients and caregivers need > information that is above all durable and reliable. It's perfectly > OK to browse sources such as magazines, TV, or internet sites run > by amateurs who have "anecdotal" reports to offer, for casual fun > or learning, but don't rely on that where somebody's health is at > risk. The hundreds of scientific medical journals archived by U.S. > library sites such as Medline are at the other end of the scale: > They aren't quick with the latest news, and they do contain errors, > but are responsible. Self-regulated and highly competitive, the > successful ones have very high standards of editorial and peer > review to decide what gets into print. Such information, whether > direct or quoted in the news media, is generally dependable. > > Personally, I still prefer to get my info from paper and ink when > possible. I'm not a very disciplined reader and like to flip back > and forth between several pages, something hard to do on a screen > where you can only see one at a time. As a neophyte on the www, I > find also that looking up a particular item takes about ten times > longer there, if I can find it, than leafing through a printed > journal. At 75 with PD and living alone, my most valuable commodity > is TIME. Just keeping up with e-mail on the Parkinsn List takes > long enough (maybe an hour a day), and to slip into the seductive > quicksand of the www would be disastrous. Add that many listmembers > either don't have www access (like me until recently) or can't > spare the time (like me), and I think e-mail is here to stay. > Cheers, > Joe > -- > J. R. Bruman (818) 789-3694 > 3527 Cody Road > Sherman Oaks, CA 91403-5013 -- CHARLES T. MEYER, M.D. Middleton, WI [log in to unmask]