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>Parkinson researchers, who would find a cure, would secure an upgrading of >their status, (which is very important to most of them), like that doctor >whose research object changed from influenza to AIDS. >>This makes me wonder why we are not flooded by solid and competing plans >from eager researchers, that map the route to a cure. Might it be that those solid plans simply do not yet exist? >> >>Ida Kamphuis ------------------------------------------------------------------- This problem is not as simple as it made to appear. The etiology or cause for the disappearance of dopamine in the Substantia Nigra is still largely unknown. It is most difficult to fight an enemy you can not see. Currently, there are a variety of palliative measures that alleviate some of the symptoms, like pallidotomy, but the only hint of a cure is either with fetal, human or xeno transplantation, or recombinant DNA technique for genetic therapy. The rest of today's therapy rely on a variety of drugs that relieve the dyskinesias, dystonia, tremors, ON and OFF phases, but all body functions deteriorate inexorably with time. In research, plans have to be made in fairly long terms, but even the best experimentation will often lead to naught, though I am hopeful as a care taker. The research is not performed just by doctors, but often by molecular biologists, microbiologists, biophysicists, biochemists, biostatisticians, etc. Yet, I see light at the other end of the tunnel, the problem though is that the tunnel can be dark and frightening, but with the light of knowledge one finds the path with greater ease. In the meantime, Carpe Diem. Michel Margosis