Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s Disease is a disorder of the central nervous system that affects movement, often including tremors.
Nerve cell damage in the brain causes dopamine levels to drop, leading to the symptoms of Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s often starts with a tremor in one hand. Other symptoms are slow movement, stiffness, and loss of balance.
Medications can help control the symptoms of Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s Disease is a progressive disease of the nervous system marked by tremor, muscular rigidity, and slow, imprecise movement, chiefly affecting middle-aged and elderly people. It is associated with degeneration of the basal ganglia of the brain and a deficiency of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Symptoms:

People may experience:
Tremor: can occur at rest, in the hands, limbs, or can be postural
Muscular: stiff muscles, difficulty standing, difficulty walking, difficulty with bodily movements, involuntary movements, muscle rigidity, problems with coordination, rhythmic muscle contractions, slow bodily movement, or slow shuffling gait
Sleep: early awakening, nightmares, restless sleep, or sleep disturbances
Whole body: fatigue, dizziness, poor balance, or restlessness
Cognitive: amnesia, confusion in the evening hours, dementia, or difficulty thinking and understanding
Speech: difficulty speaking, soft speech, or voice box spasms
Nasal: distorted sense of smell or loss of smell
Urinary: dribbling of urine or leaking of urine
Mood: anxiety or apathy
Facial: jaw stiffness or reduced facial expression
Also common: blank stare, constipation, depression, difficulty swallowing, drooling, falling, fear of falling, loss in contrast sensitivity, neck tightness, small handwriting, trembling, unintentional writhing, or weight loss

Cluster Number:
Wiki Number: PW153
Diagnosis: Parkinson’s Disease (Very complex; please read the Wikipedia article.)
US Patients: 2-6X likelihood of dementia
World Patients: 6.2Mil&117,400 Deaths (2015)
Sex Ratio:
Age Onset: Over 60, usually; unless “early-onset Parkinson’s”
Brain Area: Cell deaths among the subantia nigra leads to dopamine deficits; Cells die from proteins into Lewy bodies in the neurons
Symptoms: tremor, slowness(bradykinesia), stiffness(excessive muscle contraction) and postural instability(10% fall weekly)
Progression: As it progresses, poor decision-making, less impulse control, impaired recall, less control of attention
Causes: genetics, injuries, pesticides;brain lesions from strokes;alpha-synuclein protein in the brain buildup; 50% have hallucinations
Medications: L-DOPA; deep brain stimulation by microelectrodes reduces muscular symptoms;
Therapies: Imaging by MRI, T2* and SW;, neuromelanin-MRI; Diffusion, MRI; PET; SPECT; DaTSCAN is the only FDA approved way to distinguish.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE

Youtube Video: Parkinson’s Disease: Adversity or Adventure?

Amazon or Library Book:

 

                 Parkinson’s Disease – Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

Click the book to link or buy from Amazon.

Support Group: parkinsons.org; 800-473-4636

(Parkinson’s Disease Foundation)

Support Group:michaeljfox.org; (Primarily designed to find a cure for Parkinson’s Disease. It may also have support groups.)

Contact your local Social Security office for possible Disability Benefits through their Disability Determination Services,

Section 12.02.

4 CURRENT ARTICLES
FROM PUBMED

The world-wide medical research
reports chosen for each diagnosis 

Clicking each title opens the
PubMed article’s summary-abstract.

  • Pimavanserin Treatment for Psychosis in Patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies: A Case Series
    by Kasia Gustaw Rothenberg on September 30, 2023

    BACKGROUND Many patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) experience cholinesterase inhibitor- and antipsychotic-resistant psychosis. The new second-generation antipsychotic pimavanserin has been used with some success in the treatment of psychosis in other forms of dementia, including Alzheimer disease and Parkinson disease dementia. It is possible that pimavanserin may also be useful in the treatment of psychosis in DLB. We sought to describe the disease course and treatment of psychosis...

  • Pathogenic mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets for Parkinson disease revealed by bioinformatic analysis of necroptosis and immune cell infiltration
    by Zilong Lin on September 29, 2023

    Parkinson disease (PD) is an age-dependent neurodegenerative disease with very high prevalence by age 80 years. Necroptosis is a newly identified form of programmed cell death implicated in neurodegenerative diseases, but has not yet been conclusively associated with PD. This study examined the contributions of necroptosis to PD using bioinformatics analysis. Datasets GSE26927, GSE49036, and GSE54536 from the gene expression omnibus database were analyzed for differentially expressed genes...

  • Impact of subthalamic nucleus stimulation on urinary dysfunction and constipation in Parkinson's disease
    by Asra Askari on September 29, 2023

    CONCLUSIONS: Anterior active contact location was associated with improvement in constipation in PD patients after STN DBS. PD patients with greater GCA scores before surgery were more likely to experience urinary deterioration after DBS.

  • Dopamine control of downstream motor centers
    by Dimitri Ryczko on September 29, 2023

    The role of dopamine in the control of movement is traditionally associated with ascending projections to the basal ganglia. However, more recently descending dopaminergic pathways projecting to downstream brainstem motor circuits were discovered. In lampreys, salamanders, and rodents, these include projections to the downstream Mesencephalic Locomotor Region (MLR), a brainstem region controlling locomotion. Such descending dopaminergic projections could prime brainstem networks controlling...