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>At 10:45 AM 1/2/98 -0500, Bruce Warr wrote: >>I hate to rain on another researchers parade, but I doubt that the >>experiment with the rats can be replicated in humans. Empirical data >>(i.e. this list) indicate that most people with Parkinsons are >>intelligent and well educated. Even all the people on this list have not been fortunate enough to have been "well" educated. Fortunately, it does not prevent them sharing their experiences, wisdom, joys and sorrows with us. Also, don't forget, their are a lot of "lurkers" out there, who read the list, but don't write for various reasons. But even if a person *is* well educated, mental exercises can be of benefit. In one research project undertaken by our group, this one relating to "stroke" or CVA victims, it was found that not only did mental stimulation exercises help their long- and short-term memory, but also assisted greatly in alleviating depression. We have not evaluated mental exercises in our current project, researching the epidemiology of PWPs in a selected area, but will undoubtedly be doing so as part of a follow-on project. We must tread more carefully here than in the CVA project, because for a number of reasons, not least the chemical association between levodopa and epinephrine (adrenalin), depression can easily be triggered in PD sufferers. Our data to date appears to show a distinct link between any form of stress, "good" as with a birthday or a favourite team's win, or "bad", as with debt or discouragement, and dyskinesia from moderate to severe. This would, to a large degree, affect the construction of any mental exercise program. I doubt that laboratory rats would be affected to the same degree, since they would already be about as stressed as they were likely to get! Stress, and the resultant production of epinephrine/norepinephrine compounds, and the effects of tri-cyclic anti-depressants on PD medication, are areas that have been largely neglected in PD research, much to my dismay. Jim