^^^^^^WARM GREETINGS FROM^^^^^^^^^^ Ivan Suzman 48/10 [log in to unmask] Portland, Maine land of lighthouses 56 deg F Viva El-Nin~o!! *********************************************************** On Sat, 28 Feb 1998 10:58:58 -0500 Judith Richards <[log in to unmask]> writes: "WASHINGTON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - German researchers said on Friday they had found a second gene linked with Parkinson's disease, a serious and incurable brain illness." (SNIP)...... Dear LIstmembers, I have always felt that true Young-Onset Parkinson's is very likely of GENETIC origin. I have felt that it could be due either to (1) the concurrent appearance of two recessive and rare genes, one from the mother and one from the father, in the affected individual, or due (2) to the appearance of a rare recessive gene on an X-chromosome, and would tend to appear therefore more frequently in males, or (3) due to an increased gene frequency, for whatever reason, in the localized, or somewhat isolated, human breeding population, that includes the recent ancestors of the person living with Young-Onset Parkinson's. In my way of thinking, there is a possibility that a DIFFERENT causative gene or set of genes may be involved in "Usual-Onset Parkinson's." Much later in life, when Usual-Onset Parkinson's rears its ugly head, Parkinson's could be caused by a gene or by several genes, that have something to do with the normal aging process of the human brain's dopamine-producing and transmitting cells. . Like the Contursi family's celebrated genetic MUTATION, the one that President Clinton's advisors must have thought (incorrectly) was "the Parkinson's Gene," and which was the subject of many of our posts to the list in January, and the basis of my February letter to him, today's announcement on this German study, I feel, may possibly highlight another instance of a rare MUTATION. That mutation might have created, at a particularly vulnerable spot on human chromosome #2, a newly-dominant gene, which might then be inherited, and passed along the generations of a family. The idea that a Parkinson's-like condition might also be brought on by trauma (like ANESTHESIA), or by chemical poisoning (as is certainly the situation in the MPTP-induced "Parkinson's" in drug-users), raises the interesting question, to me, of whether there are TWO BASIC CAUSES of Young-Onset Parkinson's. One might be genetic, and result in both an elevated frequency of dopamine/adrenaline/insulin-related blood-sugar disorders, in the immediate family of the person with Young-Onset Parkinson's, as well as in dopamine-related Parkinson's-like symptoms,or actual full-blown, recognizable dopamine-deficient Parkinson's disease, in these younger persons. The second type of Young-Onset Parkinson's, and also, Parkinson's-like disorders, might be caused by either toxic, or by traumatic influences from a person's environment, and would not be of genetic origins. Perhaps this trauma-induced "Parkinson's" causes instantaneous destruction of "controlling" genes that would normally regulate the body's chemical processes that are dopamine-dependent, Anyway, enough musings on the genetics of Parkinson's. I'm just one amateur observer of the world of Parkinson's. Fellow listmembers, just IMAGINE what a group of GENETICS RESEARCH TEAMS could do with MILLIONS and MILLIONS of UDALL dollars, or francs or pounds or lira or yen...all over the world. We might not have to wait painfully and nearly endlessly for genetic screening tests, blood tests, family counseling, much-improved drug treatments, and much, much more! I believe that an infusion of research on the "Genetic Factors" would yield ASTOUNDING results. Hmm...$100,000,000.00 to spend on research.....hmmmm...Ivan's thinking cap working overtime ....hmmmm... Well, folks, thank you for following this ramble to its current conlusion...WHAT DO YOU THINK?? As always, Ivan Suzman 48/10