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Stephan, > By the bye, this all changes West of Perth. > Now, do you feel smarter? I don't! Never felt smarter in my life - which is a real cause for concern. Following on your revelation concerning the situation to the west of Perth, I applied to move there. Unfortunately my application was refused on medical grounds. A Dr.D. Olphin informs me that they have more than enough PWP (porpoises with Parkinsons?) among their existing mammal population without importing more. I suspect I am the victim of speciesism but am unsure as to what I can do about it. But seriously folks. > I have heard at seminars and read in reports that the > symptoms of Parkinson's disease BECOME NOTICEABLE > when the levels of dopamine in the striatum are decreased by > 70% to 80%. which is not the same as saying that we have lost 70% to 80% of the substantia nigra, though it does imply it. It also answers my original question in favour of the "when symptoms are first noticed by the PWP" option. I suppose what really worries me is that we as a community use variations of the following statements as if they were interchangeable: 1. "The symptoms of Parkinson's become apparent when the level of dopamine in the brain drops by 80%." 2. "The symptoms of Parkinson's become apparent when we lose 80% of our substantia nigra" 3. "By the time we are diagnosed we have lost 80% of our substantia nigra". 4. "By the time we are diagnosed dopamine levels in the brain have dropped by 80% ". It may well be that in practical terms the difference is meaningless, but given the amount still to be discovered about this disease it would take a braver man than I am to state that catagorically. Besides which it seems to me that if a fact is known it behoves those of us who presume to speak out on the subject to at least get it right. Based on your information I shall henceforth use version 1 in my own presentations. Thanks Dennis. ************************************************** Dennis Greene 48/11 [log in to unmask] http://members.networx.net.au/~dennisg/ **************************************************