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At 08:28 AM 4/16/98 -0400,>Norm Ichiyen wrote: >A fellow support group member is trying to appeal a decision in Canada for >getting a disability pension for her husband who has PD.=A0 She needs >referenceable material that relates to the length of time that symptoms can >be present before a formal diagnosis is made. =20 SNIP Hello Norm, I've been hanging out in Medline collecting info about the epidemiology of= PD, and I=20 did a quick search on"pre-clinical phase". There are many abstracts dealing with this subject. If you have a browser, go to : <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed>http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ and begin searching. If you don't have a browser let me know and I'll send you more abstracts. For example,=20 1/ Int J Neurosci 1989 Jan;44(1-2):135-142=20 Hypothalamic compensatory mechanisms in Parkinson's disease. Sandyk R Department of Neurology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85724.=20 Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with loss of dopaminergic neurons of the nigrostriatal bundle and to a lesser extent of the mesolimbic and hypothalamic dopaminergic systems. Frank symptoms of the disease usually emerge when=20 at least 70-80% of striatal dopamine (DA) content have been reduced,=20 raising the possibility that the preclinical phase of the disease might be= due to=20 compensatory changes that permit residual dopaminergic neurons to subserve= =20 functions previously carried out by the entire projection. SNIP 2/ Arch Neurol 1984 Aug;41(8):856-861=20 Neurochemical compensation after nigrostriatal bundle injury in an animal model of=20 preclinical parkinsonism. Zigmond MJ, Acheson AL, Stachowiak MK, Stricker EM Parkinson's disease usually involves a lengthy preclinical period during= which few=20 neurological symptoms are observed despite extensive damage to the dopaminergic nigrostriatal bundle.=20 SNIP PMID: 6147127, UI: 84279547=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- 3/ Adv Exp Med Biol 1977;90:255-266=20 CNS compensation to dopamine neuron loss in Parkinson's disease. Lloyd KG Postmortem studies in brains from parkinsonian patients consistently reveal= a minimum=20 loss of 75% of the nigrostriatal dopamine neurons. This indicates that over= a prolonged=20 period, before Parkinson's disease is clinically evident, there is a physiological=20 compensation for the slow loss of dopamine neurons (i.e. compensated stage= of=20 Parkinson's disease). Only when the dopamine neuron loss is sufficiently severe (greater=20 than 75% of nigrostriatal dopamine neurons) does the disease become= clinically evident=20 SNIP Good Luck, Margaret BTW, if there are people out in Parkinsn Land who enjoy searching, reading= and organizing=20 the data -- DO I HAVE A JOB FOR YOU!!!! I need a few dozen more hands, eyes and=20 brains. Our arguments to the Legislators would be much more meaningful if= we could back up our very valid demands with NUMBERS. Please write to me directly= if you have time and interest.=20 [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] DOB: 1941/Dx: 1980/Cured:ASAP Slogans wont do it/Hard work will