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An interesting proposal or is it that far? would the game be like Monopoly with drug companies owning a new drug instead of Park Placeand buying the rights for a drug in china instead of hotels. Or would it be like Snakes and Ladders --- a good vision report----- go up the Ladder to square 22. OR----- Constipation strikes again------Go down the snake to square 9. Anne On Sat, 22 May 1999, Hans van der Genugten wrote: > Hi all, > > This article is dated in 1995/96!! > Anyone ever heard of this video game before ?? > Is this still being developed/researched ?? > Who can tell more about this video game ?? > > Hans. > > > Parkinson's Video Game > > REPORT: TB:TC #1018 > > A SHAKY ENDING: Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, degenerative disorder that > causes progressive damage to nerve cells in the brain. These destroyed nerve > cells once produced a chemical called dopamine. Without the presence of > dopamine in the brain, the body’s movement, speech, swallowing, even > breathing can be affected. One common symptom of Parkinson’s disease is > uncontrollable tremors in the hands and face. The disease most commonly > strikes people over the page of fifty and affects about three of every 100 > individuals over age sixty. There is no cure for Parkinson’s but if it is > caught early, drug therapy can slow the progression of the disease. > According to Erwin Montgomery, M.D., director of the Movement Disorders > Program at University of Arizona College of Medicine, “.if we can diagnose > Parkinson’s very early, before any symptoms are present, and treat these > patients with new medications available, we may be able to prevent or delay > them from ever becoming disabled.” > > WARNING SIGNS THAT SHOULD BE FOLLOWED UP BY A PHYSICIAN: > > * Impaired sense of smell > * Unexplained depression > * A slight tremor in one hand, arm or leg, especially at rest. > > PAC MAN AND PARKINSON’S: A neurologist at the University of Arizona in > Tucson has developed a battery of tests that may soon provide a simple, > low-cost, objective approach to diagnosing Parkinson’s disease. The series > of screenings include a questionnaire that measures depression, a > scratch-and-sniff test that measures sense of smell and a new video game > that measures wrist movement. The first two tests can diagnose Parkinson’s > with 80 percent accuracy. The addition of the new video game boosts the > accuracy rate to over 90 percent. Although many diseases can affect a person > ’s motor function, sense of smell or mood, Parkinson’s disease may be the > only disorder that produces abnormalities in all three tests. Scores can > range between 0-1. A person with Parkinson’s disease will score.5 or under. > A normal individual will score closer to 1. > > NOT AVAILABLE IN VIDEO STORES YET: Dr. Erwin Montgomery, creator of the > Parkinson’s video game and a national authority on Parkinson’s disease, says > the tests are probably about two years away from becoming widely available. > They plan to conduct further testing on normal individuals to confirm > earlier results. So far, the UA study has tested 67 individuals without > Parkinson’s disease; 33 with mild or newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease; > seven patients with visible tremors and several other patients with rare > forms of Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. A second > study, at the University of Kansas Medical Center, will include 150 > participants. Dr. Montgomery envisions his battery of tests being as routine > during an annual physical exam as a mammogram or cholesterol check. He > estimates his series of tests would cost about $50. > > FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: > University of Arizona > College of Medicine > 1501 North Campbell Avenue > Tucson, Arizona >