This may not be news to all but I believe it to be a worthy contribution. New Imaging Agent For Parkinson's Disease Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new imaging agent for Parkinson's disease that could allow clinicians to diagnose the disease more accurately and earlier in its progression than is currently possible, as well as to utilize imaging technologies that are cheaper, faster and widely available. In four articles to be published in the June Synapse, scientists describe how the imaging agent Altropane visualized the degree of nerve loss in the brains of people in different stages of Parkinson's. The scientists suggest that the chemical, in addition to facilitating definitive diagnoses, could help researchers track the success of experimental treatments and possibly identify presymptomatic patients to use in studies of this common, but poorly understood neurodegenerative disease. Medical Breakthroughs reported by Ivanhoe Broadcast News First To Know Bulletin from President Marjorie Bekaert Thomas Week of May 4 - May 10, 1998 http://www.ivanhoe.com Phone: 407-740-0789 * Fax: 407-740-5320 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Jay Henkelman