Saturday, November 27, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
STEM CELL RESEARCH @ SCRIPPS/ ON THE CUTTING EDGE
FROM A RECENT SCRIPPS NEWSLETTER:
Dear Howard,
We are at the cusp of a truly historic innovation in stem cell research.
Last year, Scripps Research rising star Kristin Baldwin made headlines when her lab successfully created live mice from mouse skin cells. If Dr. Baldwin's cell reprogramming techniques can be replicated in humans, scientists believe they will be able to grow replacement organs such as hearts and livers, or develop healthy replacement cells to treat damage done by Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Disease.
Not only is this a major scientific breakthrough, but Dr. Baldwin's method of reprogramming cells circumvents the political and moral issues of stem cell research because it does not use embryonic stem cells. And, since the cells would be derived directly from the patient, the rejection problems that plague conventional transplant therapies would be eliminated.
Dear Howard,
We are at the cusp of a truly historic innovation in stem cell research.
Last year, Scripps Research rising star Kristin Baldwin made headlines when her lab successfully created live mice from mouse skin cells. If Dr. Baldwin's cell reprogramming techniques can be replicated in humans, scientists believe they will be able to grow replacement organs such as hearts and livers, or develop healthy replacement cells to treat damage done by Alzheimer's or Parkinson's Disease.
Not only is this a major scientific breakthrough, but Dr. Baldwin's method of reprogramming cells circumvents the political and moral issues of stem cell research because it does not use embryonic stem cells. And, since the cells would be derived directly from the patient, the rejection problems that plague conventional transplant therapies would be eliminated.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Paul Greengard does it again and again and again.
This article appears in the New York Times of September 2, 2010.
In a year when news about Alzheimer’s disease seems to whipsaw between encouraging and disheartening, a new discovery by an 84-year-old scientist has illuminated a new direction.
The scientist, Paul Greengard, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on signaling in brain cells, still works in his Rockefeller University lab in New York City seven days a week, walking there from his apartment two blocks away, taking his aging Bernese mountain dog, Alpha.
He got interested in Alzheimer’s about 25 years ago when his wife’s father developed it, and his research is now supported by a philanthropic foundation that was started solely to allow him to study the disease.
It was mostly these funds and federal government grants that allowed him to find a new protein that is needed to make beta amyloid, which makes up the telltale plaque that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The finding, to be published Thursday in the journal Nature, reveals a new potential drug target that, according to the prevailing hypothesis of the genesis of Alzheimer’s, could slow or halt the devastating effects of this now untreatable disease.
The work involves laboratory experiments and studies with mice — it is far from ready for the doctor’s office. But researchers, still reeling from the announcement two weeks ago by Eli Lilly that its experimental drug turned out to make Alzheimer’s worse, not better, were encouraged.
“This really is a new approach,” said Dr. Paul Aisen, of the University of California, San Diego. “The work is very strong and it is very convincing.” Dr. Aisen directs a program financed by the National Institute on Aging to conduct clinical trials of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
Over the past few years, research on Alzheimer’s has exploded. Now, Dr. Aisen said, there are about 200 papers on the subject published each week. There are new scans and other tests, like spinal taps, to find signs of the disease early, enabling researchers to think of testing drugs before patients’ brains are so ravaged. And companies are testing about 100 experimental drugs that, they hope, will fundamentally alter the course of Alzheimer’s disease.
Most of the new drugs target an enzyme, gamma secretase, that snips a big protein to produce beta amyloid. The problem in Alzheimer’s is thought to be an overproduction of beta amyloid — the protein is made in healthy brains but, it is thought, in smaller quantities. Its normal role is not certain, but researchers recently found that beta amyloid can kill microbes, indicating it might help fight infections.
But gamma secretase has crucial roles in the body in addition to making beta amyloid. It removes stubs of proteins left behind on the surface of nerve cells and it also is needed to make other proteins, so completely blocking it would be problematic. Many scientists think that was what went wrong with the Eli Lilly drug, which, researchers say, took a sledgehammer to gamma secretase, stopping all of its functions. Other companies say their experimental drugs are more subtle and targeted, but they may still affect the enzyme’s other targets.
Dr. Greengard found, though, that before gamma secretase can even get started, the protein he discovered, which he calls gamma secretase activating protein, must tell the enzyme to make beta amyloid. And since that newly discovered protein is used by the enzyme only for beta amyloid production, blocking it has no effect on the other gamma secretase activities.
It turns out that the cancer drug Gleevec, already on the market to treat some types of leukemia and a rare cancer of the digestive system, blocks that newly found protein. As a consequence, it blocks production of beta amyloid. But Gleevec cannot be used to treat Alzheimer’s because it is pumped out of the brain as fast as it comes in. Nonetheless, researchers say, it should be possible to find Gleevec-like drugs that stay in the brain.
“You could use Gleevec as a starting molecule,” said Rudolph Tanzi, a neurology professor and Alzheimer’s researcher at Harvard Medical School. “You could change the structure a little bit and try analogs until you get one that does what Gleevec does and does not get kicked out of the brain. That’s possible.”
On a clear, cool summer day last week, Dr. Greengard told the story of his discovery. He sat in a brown chair in his office on the ninth floor of an old stone building on the meticulously landscaped grounds of the university, wearing a soft yellow V-neck sweater and thick-soled black shoes. Alpha lay quietly at his feet.
Dr. Greengard’s assistant ordered lunch — cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto; ravioli filled with pears, mascarpone and pecorino Romano; cherries; and cookies. But Dr. Greengard, caught up in the tale of his science, asked her to hold off bringing in the food.
“I thought, this is just a horrible disease and maybe there is something I can do about it,” he said.
About a decade ago, Dr. Greengard and his postdoctoral students made their first discovery on the path to finding the new protein — they got a hint that certain types of drugs might block beta amyloid production. So they did an extensive screen of drugs that met their criteria and found that one of them, Gleevec, worked. It completely stopped beta amyloid production.
That was exciting — until Dr. Greengard discovered that Gleevec was pumped out of the brain. Still, he found that if he infused Gleevec directly into the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s genes, beta amyloid went away.
“We spent the next six years or so trying to figure out how Gleevec worked” on gamma secretase, Dr. Greengard said. He knew, though, that he was on to something important.
“I had very little doubt about it,” he said. “If I have an idea, I have faith in it, that it must be right.”
The system he discovered — the gamma secretase activating protein — made sense, Dr. Greengard said.
“Gamma secretase belongs to a family of proteins called proteases,” he explained. Proteases chop proteins into smaller molecules. But often proteases are not very specific. They can attack many different proteins. “Obviously, you can’t have that kind of promiscuity in a cell,” Dr. Greengard said. There has to be some sort of control over which proteins are cleaved, and when.
So, Dr. Greengard said, “what evolved is that proteases invariably have targeting proteins that help them decide which proteins to go after.”
That was what he had found: a targeting protein that sets in motion the activity of gamma secretase, which makes beta amyloid. To further test the discovery, he genetically engineered a strain of mice that had a gene for Alzheimer’s, but he blocked the gene for the gamma secretase activating protein. The animals appeared to be perfectly healthy. And they did not develop plaques in their brains.
For Sangram S. Sisodia, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Chicago, that mouse experiment was critical.
“That was the proof of concept,” he said. It meant that Dr. Greengard was correct — the newly discovered protein, when blocked, does not seem to interfere with other crucial functions of gamma secretase.
“That is good news,” Dr. Sisodia said.
As for Dr. Greengard, he said, “I couldn’t be more excited.”
“I am sure there will be a fervor in the field.”
Finding Suggests New Aim for Alzheimer’s Drugs
By GINA KOLATA
The scientist, Paul Greengard, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2000 for his work on signaling in brain cells, still works in his Rockefeller University lab in New York City seven days a week, walking there from his apartment two blocks away, taking his aging Bernese mountain dog, Alpha.
He got interested in Alzheimer’s about 25 years ago when his wife’s father developed it, and his research is now supported by a philanthropic foundation that was started solely to allow him to study the disease.
It was mostly these funds and federal government grants that allowed him to find a new protein that is needed to make beta amyloid, which makes up the telltale plaque that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s.
The finding, to be published Thursday in the journal Nature, reveals a new potential drug target that, according to the prevailing hypothesis of the genesis of Alzheimer’s, could slow or halt the devastating effects of this now untreatable disease.
The work involves laboratory experiments and studies with mice — it is far from ready for the doctor’s office. But researchers, still reeling from the announcement two weeks ago by Eli Lilly that its experimental drug turned out to make Alzheimer’s worse, not better, were encouraged.
“This really is a new approach,” said Dr. Paul Aisen, of the University of California, San Diego. “The work is very strong and it is very convincing.” Dr. Aisen directs a program financed by the National Institute on Aging to conduct clinical trials of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.
Over the past few years, research on Alzheimer’s has exploded. Now, Dr. Aisen said, there are about 200 papers on the subject published each week. There are new scans and other tests, like spinal taps, to find signs of the disease early, enabling researchers to think of testing drugs before patients’ brains are so ravaged. And companies are testing about 100 experimental drugs that, they hope, will fundamentally alter the course of Alzheimer’s disease.
Most of the new drugs target an enzyme, gamma secretase, that snips a big protein to produce beta amyloid. The problem in Alzheimer’s is thought to be an overproduction of beta amyloid — the protein is made in healthy brains but, it is thought, in smaller quantities. Its normal role is not certain, but researchers recently found that beta amyloid can kill microbes, indicating it might help fight infections.
But gamma secretase has crucial roles in the body in addition to making beta amyloid. It removes stubs of proteins left behind on the surface of nerve cells and it also is needed to make other proteins, so completely blocking it would be problematic. Many scientists think that was what went wrong with the Eli Lilly drug, which, researchers say, took a sledgehammer to gamma secretase, stopping all of its functions. Other companies say their experimental drugs are more subtle and targeted, but they may still affect the enzyme’s other targets.
Dr. Greengard found, though, that before gamma secretase can even get started, the protein he discovered, which he calls gamma secretase activating protein, must tell the enzyme to make beta amyloid. And since that newly discovered protein is used by the enzyme only for beta amyloid production, blocking it has no effect on the other gamma secretase activities.
It turns out that the cancer drug Gleevec, already on the market to treat some types of leukemia and a rare cancer of the digestive system, blocks that newly found protein. As a consequence, it blocks production of beta amyloid. But Gleevec cannot be used to treat Alzheimer’s because it is pumped out of the brain as fast as it comes in. Nonetheless, researchers say, it should be possible to find Gleevec-like drugs that stay in the brain.
“You could use Gleevec as a starting molecule,” said Rudolph Tanzi, a neurology professor and Alzheimer’s researcher at Harvard Medical School. “You could change the structure a little bit and try analogs until you get one that does what Gleevec does and does not get kicked out of the brain. That’s possible.”
On a clear, cool summer day last week, Dr. Greengard told the story of his discovery. He sat in a brown chair in his office on the ninth floor of an old stone building on the meticulously landscaped grounds of the university, wearing a soft yellow V-neck sweater and thick-soled black shoes. Alpha lay quietly at his feet.
Dr. Greengard’s assistant ordered lunch — cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto; ravioli filled with pears, mascarpone and pecorino Romano; cherries; and cookies. But Dr. Greengard, caught up in the tale of his science, asked her to hold off bringing in the food.
“I thought, this is just a horrible disease and maybe there is something I can do about it,” he said.
About a decade ago, Dr. Greengard and his postdoctoral students made their first discovery on the path to finding the new protein — they got a hint that certain types of drugs might block beta amyloid production. So they did an extensive screen of drugs that met their criteria and found that one of them, Gleevec, worked. It completely stopped beta amyloid production.
That was exciting — until Dr. Greengard discovered that Gleevec was pumped out of the brain. Still, he found that if he infused Gleevec directly into the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s genes, beta amyloid went away.
“We spent the next six years or so trying to figure out how Gleevec worked” on gamma secretase, Dr. Greengard said. He knew, though, that he was on to something important.
“I had very little doubt about it,” he said. “If I have an idea, I have faith in it, that it must be right.”
The system he discovered — the gamma secretase activating protein — made sense, Dr. Greengard said.
“Gamma secretase belongs to a family of proteins called proteases,” he explained. Proteases chop proteins into smaller molecules. But often proteases are not very specific. They can attack many different proteins. “Obviously, you can’t have that kind of promiscuity in a cell,” Dr. Greengard said. There has to be some sort of control over which proteins are cleaved, and when.
So, Dr. Greengard said, “what evolved is that proteases invariably have targeting proteins that help them decide which proteins to go after.”
That was what he had found: a targeting protein that sets in motion the activity of gamma secretase, which makes beta amyloid. To further test the discovery, he genetically engineered a strain of mice that had a gene for Alzheimer’s, but he blocked the gene for the gamma secretase activating protein. The animals appeared to be perfectly healthy. And they did not develop plaques in their brains.
For Sangram S. Sisodia, an Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Chicago, that mouse experiment was critical.
“That was the proof of concept,” he said. It meant that Dr. Greengard was correct — the newly discovered protein, when blocked, does not seem to interfere with other crucial functions of gamma secretase.
“That is good news,” Dr. Sisodia said.
As for Dr. Greengard, he said, “I couldn’t be more excited.”
“I am sure there will be a fervor in the field.”
Thursday, May 27, 2010
GOOD DAYS AND BAD DAYS WITH PD
Just a fleeting thought, my wife and I have devised a food and restaurant rating that we use from time to time.
Perhaps it is time to institute a PD guide for our good days and bad days. We could save a lot of time and energy by using a day rating code. Just to communicate to whomever and the world how we feel on any particular day. We could keep a log and chart our feelings, sort of a doctor visit sheet. "Hi, GG" or " Hi, GB "
P. D GOOD DAYS/BAD. DAYS RATING SYSTEM
GG GOOD GOOD DAY
AG ACCEPTABLE GOOD DAY
IG IMPROVING GOOD DAY
BG BAD GOOD DAY
BB BAD BAD DAY
AB ACCEPTABLE BAD DAY
IB IMPROVING BAD DAY
GB GOOD BAD DAY
I hope it is GG for you today.
Perhaps it is time to institute a PD guide for our good days and bad days. We could save a lot of time and energy by using a day rating code. Just to communicate to whomever and the world how we feel on any particular day. We could keep a log and chart our feelings, sort of a doctor visit sheet. "Hi, GG" or " Hi, GB "
P. D GOOD DAYS/BAD. DAYS RATING SYSTEM
GG GOOD GOOD DAY
AG ACCEPTABLE GOOD DAY
IG IMPROVING GOOD DAY
BG BAD GOOD DAY
BB BAD BAD DAY
AB ACCEPTABLE BAD DAY
IB IMPROVING BAD DAY
GB GOOD BAD DAY
I hope it is GG for you today.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/EMPATHY
I got a call a few days ago from a friend of an old friend of mine. It seems this ladie's husband has had PD for ten years.
He is not doing well and the rate of progression is of a concern. He cannot walk by himself anymore and has other advanced problems associated with PD.
His only treatment is Carbadopa/Levadopa 25/100 four times a day. He is depressed and cannot find himself in an upbeat mood anymore.
I am not a doctor just a PD patient with 13 year on the journey and not offering medical advice, just my observation.
As I understand the situation as described via the telephone, this person's neurologist thinks he is overmedicated.
April is Parkinson's awareness month.
With all the advancement in treatments in the last few years, you might wonder why so many PWP are not aware of the various alternatives and do not get that comprehensive and all inclusive care that is so vital to the quality of life of the whole person. Parkinson's is a fickel disease, ever changing with many surprises. Those who provide medical care should be addressing the whole person and learn from their patients how and when changes occur. There is ample research to show and share, teaching us that PD affects us in different ways and cannot be treated with a rubber stamp philosophy.
I have empathy for the person I first mentioned.
Hoping for better days ahead.
He is not doing well and the rate of progression is of a concern. He cannot walk by himself anymore and has other advanced problems associated with PD.
His only treatment is Carbadopa/Levadopa 25/100 four times a day. He is depressed and cannot find himself in an upbeat mood anymore.
I am not a doctor just a PD patient with 13 year on the journey and not offering medical advice, just my observation.
As I understand the situation as described via the telephone, this person's neurologist thinks he is overmedicated.
April is Parkinson's awareness month.
With all the advancement in treatments in the last few years, you might wonder why so many PWP are not aware of the various alternatives and do not get that comprehensive and all inclusive care that is so vital to the quality of life of the whole person. Parkinson's is a fickel disease, ever changing with many surprises. Those who provide medical care should be addressing the whole person and learn from their patients how and when changes occur. There is ample research to show and share, teaching us that PD affects us in different ways and cannot be treated with a rubber stamp philosophy.
I have empathy for the person I first mentioned.
Hoping for better days ahead.
Friday, April 16, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/NEW VOICE TEST
ARE YOU HALFWAY AWARE OF P.D. ???
Now, a voice test to predict Parkinson's!
Now, a voice test to predict Parkinson's! (Getty Images)
View ImagesParkinson's is normally only diagnosed once symptoms show -- meaning it's already at an advanced stage and patients have lost a significant number of brain cells. Now, an Israeli team has devised a test to predict the neurological disorder.
In their research, the team from Haifa University have discovered that by measuring tiny changes in speech patterns, undetectable to human ear, they can tell whether a seemingly healthy person is a sufferer.
Accordingly, they developed a computer programme that can identify a Parkinson's "voice", which they claim could be used for screening those who are at the hereditary risk of the disease or as part of a national screening programme, British newspaper the Daily Mail reported.
Speech is affected by the disorder because it causes a deterioration of muscles in the neck and mouth -- giving some sufferers a husky voice. But the change is apparent to human ear after the disease has been diagnosed through symptoms such as rigid muscles, tremors, slow movement, and loss of balance.
The new test needs only a couple of sentences from patients, say the scientists.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/A COMMUNITY
NOT JUST FOR PD
Understanding and support from those who know.....
A place to know, 'cause you never know.
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© 2005-2010 PatientsLikeMe. Information on PatientsLikeMe.com does not constitute medical advice.
Understanding and support from those who know.....
A place to know, 'cause you never know.
“ ...PatientsLikeMe is the most empowering place I could ever imagine, giving us all not just information, but courage enough to be proactive rather than sit back and hope the doctor is doing the right thing... ”
—Multiple Sclerosis Community Member Find a patient like you now
Current Disease Communities
Prevalent Diseases
ALS/MND
Epilepsy
Fibromyalgia
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME
HIV/AIDS
Mood Conditions
Anxiety
Bipolar
Depression
OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
MS (Multiple Sclerosis)
Parkinson’s Disease
Transplants (Beta)
Rare Diseases
CBD (Corticobasal Degeneration)
Devic’s Neuromyelitis Optica
MSA (Multiple System Atrophy)
PLS (Primary Lateral Sclerosis)
PMA (Progressive Muscular Atrophy)
PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy)
Don’t see your condition?
Request a community.
It could be in the works.
See how PatientsLikeMe can help you take control of your health:
Share your health data
Answer simple questions to create a shared health profile to see how you’re doing over time.
Find patients like you
Search by gender, age, treatments, symptoms, and time since diagnosis to easily connect with patients like you.
Learn from others
Learn from real-world treatment and symptom reports, forum discussions, health profiles, one-on-one conversations and more.
Want to know more about PatientsLikeMe?
Learn all about us. Ask us anything. Why do we embrace openness, and what about your privacy? How do we make money and who are our partners? Take a moment to read this and find out.
Work in the healthcare industry for a pharmaceutical, insurance or other company?
Looking for more innovative ways to learn from real-world patient experiences? You can find out more about our products and services on our partners site »
About Us
Careers
Report Website Problem
Privacy
Openness
User Agreement
Blog
Crisis
© 2005-2010 PatientsLikeMe. Information on PatientsLikeMe.com does not constitute medical advice.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/ APATHY
Apathy in people with Parkinson's 'shows the condition is getting worse'
Healthcare News09/04/2010
Apathy among people with Parkinson's disease is a sign that the condition is getting worse, claims a new scientific study.
A new scientific study suggests that apathy shown by a person with Parkinson's disease is a sign that the condition is worsening.
Research published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry suggest that apathy can be caused by changes in the brain resulting from the condition, Parkinson's UK reports.
The Norwegian study followed a group of 79 people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease over a four-year period.
Commenting on the findings, Parkinson's UK's director of research Dr Kieron Breen said: "This is an important study that helps increase our knowledge and understanding of one of the common non-movement related symptoms of Parkinson's."
He went on to say that the charity's own research had found apathy to be a common symptom, while understanding why people with the condition may be apathetic may help carers.
One in every 500 people in the UK has Parkinson's disease, equating to around 120,000 people living with the condition, according to Parkinson's UK.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/ COLD-HOT
BE AWARE:
If it is not one thing it is just another. At least that is how I find it. Cold is bad for many PWP and now we have a quick swing into summer ( and it's only April) so I am now working my way through the 88 degree heat. The swing only brings stress and as I''ve said before, Stress is a Mess. Hoping for a less messy day tomorrow, but as we know PD is fickle and sometimes unpredictable.
Just so you know.
If it is not one thing it is just another. At least that is how I find it. Cold is bad for many PWP and now we have a quick swing into summer ( and it's only April) so I am now working my way through the 88 degree heat. The swing only brings stress and as I''ve said before, Stress is a Mess. Hoping for a less messy day tomorrow, but as we know PD is fickle and sometimes unpredictable.
Just so you know.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH/ VOCAL CORD CHECK
Well to all the followers of this journey, I must report today was a first for this PWP.
My P.A.D.R.E.C.C. Doctor has taken the time to order an audiology testing and an appointment with a speech pathologist. Both testing and consultations are completed. In the process they had scheduled me to see an ENT specialist..that was today's experience. I have been cleared to get state of the art hearing aids ( I have a symmetrical hearing loss) and then the nice Doctor proceeded to let me know the next procedure to view my vocal cords. A little numbing spray up the nose and down goes a lighted minicam through the nostrils to target.Thank goodness my cords are clear. Now I can look forward to a long course of therapy to overcome the effect of PD on my voice and speech.
I continue to be thankful for such a comprehensive approach to patients with Parkinson's.
THIS IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH.
My P.A.D.R.E.C.C. Doctor has taken the time to order an audiology testing and an appointment with a speech pathologist. Both testing and consultations are completed. In the process they had scheduled me to see an ENT specialist..that was today's experience. I have been cleared to get state of the art hearing aids ( I have a symmetrical hearing loss) and then the nice Doctor proceeded to let me know the next procedure to view my vocal cords. A little numbing spray up the nose and down goes a lighted minicam through the nostrils to target.Thank goodness my cords are clear. Now I can look forward to a long course of therapy to overcome the effect of PD on my voice and speech.
I continue to be thankful for such a comprehensive approach to patients with Parkinson's.
THIS IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
APRIL IS PARKINSON'S AWARENESS MONTH
ARE YOU AWARE?
DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT?
DID YOU HAVE YOUR HEAD IN THE SAND?
BE AWARE.
LOOK ME IN THE EYE AND PROMISE TO BECOME INFORMED
IT IS SOMETHING YOU MIGHT ENCOUNTER, OLD OR YOUNG
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
A PD VACCINE? WHO KNOWS?
UNMC researchers make progress on Parkinson's vaccine
(3/02/2010) KHAS-TV - Parkinson's Disease affects a million Americans. And, there is no cure. But researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center are making progress.
Researchers are developing a vaccine that slows the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain that link to motor activity.
Early results in mice show improvement in damaged cells. The findings may give researchers more insight into what causes Parkinson's and a possible cure.
"This is not a vaccine that will cure it. This is a vaccine that will halt its progression," said Dr. Howard Gendelman.
It is unknown if long time sufferers would benefit from these findings. The vaccine is being tested on humans and will be tested at UNMC within the next month. FDA approval of any vaccine is still a few years away.
(3/02/2010) KHAS-TV - Parkinson's Disease affects a million Americans. And, there is no cure. But researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center are making progress.
Researchers are developing a vaccine that slows the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain that link to motor activity.
Early results in mice show improvement in damaged cells. The findings may give researchers more insight into what causes Parkinson's and a possible cure.
"This is not a vaccine that will cure it. This is a vaccine that will halt its progression," said Dr. Howard Gendelman.
It is unknown if long time sufferers would benefit from these findings. The vaccine is being tested on humans and will be tested at UNMC within the next month. FDA approval of any vaccine is still a few years away.
Friday, February 26, 2010
WINTER WONDERLAND or A WEEKEND TO WONDER
I WONDER IF THIS IS NOT ENOUGH SNOW YET?
I WONDER IF MY NEW PHYSICAL THERAPY REGIMEN WILL IMPROVE MY POSTURE AND P.D. SYMPTOMS?
I WONDER IF WE WILL GET GOOD NEWS ON MY WIFE'S ULTRA SOUND GUIDED CORE TISSUE SAMPLES ?
I WONDER WHEN THE WALL STREET/BANKING CHICANERY WILL REALLY COME TO AN END?
I WONDER WHAT CHANGE HAS TAKEN PLACE ?
I WONDER WHY I WONDER ?
I WONDER IF I AM THE LUCKY ONE ?
PD IS NOT CANCER AND THAT I DON'T WONDER ABOUT.
Friday, February 19, 2010
INSTANT CATARACTS or MY NEWEST PD CONCERN
NUMBNESS, TINGLING & BURNING SENSATION OR INSTANT CATARACTS.
Many years ago my wife and I dined at a now defunct but most wonderful Mexican restaurant in New York. We were served our Margharitas and they were the best. Without ordering a second drink, our host arrived with what seemed to be a sink sized drink for each of us. We took our time and enjoyed our freebie. We had ordered our food when we placed the original drink order and about an hour had passed since then. We were finally served and found out the freebie and long wait was due to the Immigration Service raid on the kitchen help left the restaurant without any help with the exception of our host and his partner.
We didn't seem to mind since we were half looped by the tub sized drinks.
The next morning I was wakened by my wife's agitated cries for help.....
She had developed INSTANT CATARACTS overnight.
All ended well, she forgot to remove her contact lenses (thanks to the tub sized drink).
What has this to do with PD and me, well it seems I have developed instant and painful numbness and a burning tingling in my right arm and hand. It had occurred every so often in the past and I was told it had to do with a pinched nerve in the neck. It seems we PWP have neck issues.
For the last three days it has not subsided nor lessened in the pain factor. I had a stressful 12 days of traveling in the storms (ice/snow), exhibiting in a less than productive show, driving back in ice/snow, shoveling out my car from under 20+ inches of snow and keeping our aging Molly dog from freaking out at the depth of snow where she normally "goes".
I don't know now if this is the result of a pinched nerve or if something else is going on. I don't recall all the side effects of my meds, but somewhere I remember seeing something on the subject of numbness.
I will contact my MDS about this. I have already had a neck and upper spinal MRI and she saw nothing to be alarmed at. The normal aging process, arthritis,etc.
Has any one out experienced this???
Many years ago my wife and I dined at a now defunct but most wonderful Mexican restaurant in New York. We were served our Margharitas and they were the best. Without ordering a second drink, our host arrived with what seemed to be a sink sized drink for each of us. We took our time and enjoyed our freebie. We had ordered our food when we placed the original drink order and about an hour had passed since then. We were finally served and found out the freebie and long wait was due to the Immigration Service raid on the kitchen help left the restaurant without any help with the exception of our host and his partner.
We didn't seem to mind since we were half looped by the tub sized drinks.
The next morning I was wakened by my wife's agitated cries for help.....
She had developed INSTANT CATARACTS overnight.
All ended well, she forgot to remove her contact lenses (thanks to the tub sized drink).
What has this to do with PD and me, well it seems I have developed instant and painful numbness and a burning tingling in my right arm and hand. It had occurred every so often in the past and I was told it had to do with a pinched nerve in the neck. It seems we PWP have neck issues.
For the last three days it has not subsided nor lessened in the pain factor. I had a stressful 12 days of traveling in the storms (ice/snow), exhibiting in a less than productive show, driving back in ice/snow, shoveling out my car from under 20+ inches of snow and keeping our aging Molly dog from freaking out at the depth of snow where she normally "goes".
I don't know now if this is the result of a pinched nerve or if something else is going on. I don't recall all the side effects of my meds, but somewhere I remember seeing something on the subject of numbness.
I will contact my MDS about this. I have already had a neck and upper spinal MRI and she saw nothing to be alarmed at. The normal aging process, arthritis,etc.
Has any one out experienced this???
Monday, February 15, 2010
WILL THE FAT LADY SING ? THAT IS THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.
The show is over. The anxiety of the trip to Nashville and the setup has passed. The shorter show schedule this year leaves us wondering who might have returned on Sunday (as is the custom at this show) to make their purchase. So, We ask will the fat lady sing? Time will tell.
While waiting for the answer we have new challenges. An unwanted but needed truck repair and a new winter storm to travel home with. Neither one is without tension and stress.
So goes the way of this President's day holiday.
The journey continues.
While waiting for the answer we have new challenges. An unwanted but needed truck repair and a new winter storm to travel home with. Neither one is without tension and stress.
So goes the way of this President's day holiday.
The journey continues.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
FYI A PROBLEM FOR MANY.
Parkinson's disease research uncovers social barrier
Science Centric (3 Feb 2010 12:04 GMT) - People with Parkinson's disease suffer social difficulties simply because of the way they talk, a McGill University researcher has discovered. Marc Pell, at McGill's School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has learned that many people develop negative impressions about individuals with Parkinson's disease, based solely on how they communicate. These perceptions limit opportunities for social interaction and full participation in society for those with the disease, reducing their quality of life. Pell's research offers the public a better understanding of the difficulties these patients face - as well as an opportunity to promote greater inclusiveness... [full story]
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
LIFE AND TIME
January 27, 2010
EDITORIAL | APPRECIATIONS
A Responsible Man
By ROBERT B. SEMPLE Jr.
The news that Charles “Mac” Mathias had died at 87 of Parkinson’s disease aroused fond memories of a
slightly round and rumpled man who drove a battered blue station wagon to his Senate office and
sometimes brought his black Labrador retriever with him.
It also brought back memories of a time when legislative combat could be as fierce as it is now but when
there seemed to be more room for independent judgment — or, more accurately, when there were more
legislators willing to ignore their party’s disciplinarians and demagogues and act on principle alone. Mr.
Mathias, a Republican variously described as moderate or liberal, was just such a person. He represented
Maryland for 26 years in Congress, eight in the House and 18 in the Senate, before retiring in 1987.
Though he never considered leaving the Republican Party and supported Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972,
he was one of President Nixon’s most nettlesome opponents on legislation and the Vietnam War. He was an
early champion of campaign finance reform (never accepting a contribution, after Watergate, of more than
$100) and opposed the death penalty.
His signature issue was civil rights. It is not much remembered, but when President John F. Kennedy failed
to submit a promised civil rights bill, three Republicans introduced one of their own. This inspired Mr.
Kennedy to deliver on his promise, and it built Republican support for what became the Civil Rights Act of
1964. The three were Representatives William McCullough, John Lindsay and Mr. Mathias.
The lofty way to describe him would be to say that he voted his conscience. But as he saw it, he was simply
voting for things that everyone of conscience ought to support: respect for constitutional rights, respect for
the environment, respect for the balance of powers.
He once told The Times’s Tom Wicker that the senators he most admired were Democrats J. William
Fulbright, Mike Mansfield and Philip Hart, and Republicans John Sherman Cooper, Jacob Javits, George
Aiken and Clifford Case.
Why these? “Individual responsibility,” he answered. “Each one of these people would take an issue on his
own responsibility. They wouldn’t have to have the cover of some ideology. They’d simply come to the
conclusion that this was the right thing for the country.” That describes Mac Mathias.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
EDITORIAL | APPRECIATIONS
A Responsible Man
By ROBERT B. SEMPLE Jr.
The news that Charles “Mac” Mathias had died at 87 of Parkinson’s disease aroused fond memories of a
slightly round and rumpled man who drove a battered blue station wagon to his Senate office and
sometimes brought his black Labrador retriever with him.
It also brought back memories of a time when legislative combat could be as fierce as it is now but when
there seemed to be more room for independent judgment — or, more accurately, when there were more
legislators willing to ignore their party’s disciplinarians and demagogues and act on principle alone. Mr.
Mathias, a Republican variously described as moderate or liberal, was just such a person. He represented
Maryland for 26 years in Congress, eight in the House and 18 in the Senate, before retiring in 1987.
Though he never considered leaving the Republican Party and supported Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972,
he was one of President Nixon’s most nettlesome opponents on legislation and the Vietnam War. He was an
early champion of campaign finance reform (never accepting a contribution, after Watergate, of more than
$100) and opposed the death penalty.
His signature issue was civil rights. It is not much remembered, but when President John F. Kennedy failed
to submit a promised civil rights bill, three Republicans introduced one of their own. This inspired Mr.
Kennedy to deliver on his promise, and it built Republican support for what became the Civil Rights Act of
1964. The three were Representatives William McCullough, John Lindsay and Mr. Mathias.
The lofty way to describe him would be to say that he voted his conscience. But as he saw it, he was simply
voting for things that everyone of conscience ought to support: respect for constitutional rights, respect for
the environment, respect for the balance of powers.
He once told The Times’s Tom Wicker that the senators he most admired were Democrats J. William
Fulbright, Mike Mansfield and Philip Hart, and Republicans John Sherman Cooper, Jacob Javits, George
Aiken and Clifford Case.
Why these? “Individual responsibility,” he answered. “Each one of these people would take an issue on his
own responsibility. They wouldn’t have to have the cover of some ideology. They’d simply come to the
conclusion that this was the right thing for the country.” That describes Mac Mathias.
Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
LIFE AND TIME
Taco Bell Founder Dies at 86
Glen W. Bell Jr. opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962.
By Courtney Rubin
Inc.'s Small Business Success Newsletter
Inspiring profiles and best practices for savvy business owners.
Glen W. Bell Jr., whose inspiration to put tacos on the drive-in menu created the 5,600-unit Taco Bell chain, died Sunday, the company announced on its website.
The entrepreneur was 86, and had suffered from Parkinson's disease since 1985. No cause of death was released.
Bell—who spent his childhood peddling produce—decided he wanted his own food stand after spending a summer in high school in Washington working with a great aunt, learning how to bake blackberry pies and then selling them as Mrs. Dye's Homemade Pies. (He took home half of the $3,000 profit.)
After studying the successful McDonald's restaurants, in 1948 Bell opened Bell's Drive-In in San Bernardino, California. He began by serving the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, then in 1951 added a twist: Mexican food, namely 19-cent tacos. He also worked on other fastfood ventures, among them the first Der Weinerschnitzel hot dog stand, with his employee John Galardi. Galardi later turned the concept into his own 400-unit chain. Ed Hackbarth, another employee, left to open a competing drive-in that became the Del Taco chain.
With $4,000 raised from family and friends—no bank would give him a loan—Bell's first Taco Bell started serving in Downey, Calif., in 1962. He quickly opened another eight restaurants, fulfilling a craving for Mexican food (or at least a fastfood version of it) people didn't know they had. When the first Taco Bell in Florida opened November 29, 1967, for example, residents were so clueless about the cuisine that Bell had to run advertisements defining menu tems and showing how to pronounce them. ("Yo quiero Taco Bell" and that now-famous Chihuahua didn't arrive until 1997.) In 2008, the singer Fergie gave the chain perhaps the ultimate shout-out, writing the lyrics "I'm no queen...I still go to Taco Bell, drive through" in her hit song "Glamorous."
"I always smile when I hear people say that they never had a taco until Taco Bell came to town," Bell told Nation's Restaurant News in 2008, when the trade publication honored him with its Pioneer Award. "We changed the eating habits of the entire country."
Bell sold his first Taco Bell franchise in 1964 and sold the parent company to PepsiCo for $130 million in 1978. At the time of the acquisition, Taco Bell had 868 stores. The brand is now owned by Pepsi spinoff Yum Foods, the world's largest restaurant holding company.
"With Glen Bell's passing, we've lost one of our country's great entrepreneurs and innovators, but his legacy lives on in our people and our brand," Greg Creed, Taco Bell's president and chief concept officer, said in a statement on the company's web site.
Bell also leaves behind a personal business philosophy, which he enumerated in his 1999 biography Taco Titan as part of a list of 60 Recipes for Success that touched on the personal as well as the practical considerations of running a business. Among them: No. 10. When you overextend yourself financially, it's twice as hard to get ahead, No. 21 Don't sell everything customers ask for, and No. 52: Your quality of life depends on your attitude.
Reprint from INC magazine article. Copywrited 2010 INC.
Glen W. Bell Jr. opened the first Taco Bell in Downey, California, in 1962.
By Courtney Rubin
Inc.'s Small Business Success Newsletter
Inspiring profiles and best practices for savvy business owners.
Glen W. Bell Jr., whose inspiration to put tacos on the drive-in menu created the 5,600-unit Taco Bell chain, died Sunday, the company announced on its website.
The entrepreneur was 86, and had suffered from Parkinson's disease since 1985. No cause of death was released.
Bell—who spent his childhood peddling produce—decided he wanted his own food stand after spending a summer in high school in Washington working with a great aunt, learning how to bake blackberry pies and then selling them as Mrs. Dye's Homemade Pies. (He took home half of the $3,000 profit.)
After studying the successful McDonald's restaurants, in 1948 Bell opened Bell's Drive-In in San Bernardino, California. He began by serving the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, then in 1951 added a twist: Mexican food, namely 19-cent tacos. He also worked on other fastfood ventures, among them the first Der Weinerschnitzel hot dog stand, with his employee John Galardi. Galardi later turned the concept into his own 400-unit chain. Ed Hackbarth, another employee, left to open a competing drive-in that became the Del Taco chain.
With $4,000 raised from family and friends—no bank would give him a loan—Bell's first Taco Bell started serving in Downey, Calif., in 1962. He quickly opened another eight restaurants, fulfilling a craving for Mexican food (or at least a fastfood version of it) people didn't know they had. When the first Taco Bell in Florida opened November 29, 1967, for example, residents were so clueless about the cuisine that Bell had to run advertisements defining menu tems and showing how to pronounce them. ("Yo quiero Taco Bell" and that now-famous Chihuahua didn't arrive until 1997.) In 2008, the singer Fergie gave the chain perhaps the ultimate shout-out, writing the lyrics "I'm no queen...I still go to Taco Bell, drive through" in her hit song "Glamorous."
"I always smile when I hear people say that they never had a taco until Taco Bell came to town," Bell told Nation's Restaurant News in 2008, when the trade publication honored him with its Pioneer Award. "We changed the eating habits of the entire country."
Bell sold his first Taco Bell franchise in 1964 and sold the parent company to PepsiCo for $130 million in 1978. At the time of the acquisition, Taco Bell had 868 stores. The brand is now owned by Pepsi spinoff Yum Foods, the world's largest restaurant holding company.
"With Glen Bell's passing, we've lost one of our country's great entrepreneurs and innovators, but his legacy lives on in our people and our brand," Greg Creed, Taco Bell's president and chief concept officer, said in a statement on the company's web site.
Bell also leaves behind a personal business philosophy, which he enumerated in his 1999 biography Taco Titan as part of a list of 60 Recipes for Success that touched on the personal as well as the practical considerations of running a business. Among them: No. 10. When you overextend yourself financially, it's twice as hard to get ahead, No. 21 Don't sell everything customers ask for, and No. 52: Your quality of life depends on your attitude.
Reprint from INC magazine article. Copywrited 2010 INC.
THE PASSAGE OF TIME AND LIFE
'Love Story' author Erich Segal dies at 72
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 20, 2010; B05
Erich Segal, a onetime classics professor who collaborated with the Beatles on a movie and whose sentimental 1970 screenplay and novel, "Love Story," became a pop-culture phenomenon, died Jan. 17 of a heart attack at his home in London. He was 72 and had battled Parkinson's disease for 25 years.
Mr. Segal, who taught Greek and Roman literature at Yale University, might have been an unlikely author of a heart-tugging tale of doomed romance, but his story captured the spirit of the time, and its signature line became a catch phrase: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
Mr. Segal dabbled in screenplays for years, and he said his writing credit on the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" in 1968 elicited open-eyed admiration from students and professors alike.
He had originally written "Love Story" as a screenplay about the star-crossed love between a working-class Italian girl from Radcliffe and a Harvard boy from an old family. The 1970 film, which starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal and became a huge hit, was in production before Mr. Segal reworked it as a novel. When "Love Story" was released in paperback, it had the largest print order in the publishing history at the time, with 4,325,000 copies.
Although Mr. Segal's work resonated with the public, critics almost uniformly lambasted it. The judges for the National Book Award threatened to resign unless "Love Story" was withdrawn from nomination.
"It is a banal book which simply doesn't qualify as literature," said novelist William Styron, the head judge of the fiction panel. "Simply by being on the list it would have demeaned the other books."
Mr. Segal was thrust from the life of a scholar to that of a jet-setting star. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson four times in four weeks, was a judge at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay. He made weekend jaunts to Paris and London, returning to Yale for his classes on classical civilization, which filled a 600-seat auditorium and were among the most popular at the university.
"I'm kind of a folk hero there -- the closest thing they have to a Beatle," he told The Washington Post in 1970.
Mr. Segal also parlayed his love of running and knowledge of ancient Greece into a job as an ABC TV commentator for the Olympic Games.
Yale decided that Mr. Segal's extracurricular assignments were taking too much time away from his academic work and denied him tenure in 1972, a blow that took years to overcome. He continued to lead his intellectual double life as a popular novelist and serious scholar, publishing best-selling novels and works on ancient literature, but he remained puzzled at the mockery and anger of the literary elite.
While jogging in New York's Central Park, Mr. Segal once recalled, he saw novelist Philip Roth and said, "I admire your work."
"And I admire your running," Roth replied.
Mr. Segal said that he got swept up in the glamour and adulation of his "Love Story" fame.
"That kind of early success really turns your head," he told the Chicago Tribune in 1985. "You think you're invincible, you're infallible and that your star will shine forever, when in fact they'll be looking for somebody else next week."
Erich Wolf Segal was born June 16, 1937, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was the son of a rabbi. He studied Hebrew and other languages from an early age and became fluent in German and French, as well as Latin and Greek.
At Harvard, he received a bachelor's degree in 1958, a master's degree in classics in 1959 and a doctorate in comparative literature in 1965. He published books on the Greek tragedian Euripides and the comic Roman playwright Plautus before writing "Love Story."
Mr. Segal's academic works received better reviews than his fiction, and he continued to write about classical literature for decades. His long-awaited history of comedy from ancient Greece to the modern era, "The Death of Comedy," appeared in 2001. After being denied tenure at Yale, Mr. Segal settled in England, where he became a fellow at Oxford University's Wolfson College.
He began running the Boston Marathon in 1955 and once completed the course in 2 hours, 56 minutes, 30 seconds. He ran 10 miles every day and played piano quite well before he was stricken by Parkinson's disease in the mid-1980s.
Mr. Segal never recaptured the level of success he had with "Love Story," although several of his later novels, including "Oliver's Story" (1977), "Man, Woman, and Child" (1983), "The Class" (1985) and "Doctors" (1987), were bestsellers, and several were made into movies.
In 1997, he disputed a rumor that "Love Story" was based on the college romance between Al and Tipper Gore. He did acknowledge that he had known Al Gore and his Harvard roommate, actor Tommy Lee Jones, in 1968 and drew on their lives for the central male character of "Love Story," Oliver Barrett IV.
Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Karen James, and two daughters.
"When I find myself feeling guilty for all that success and thinking 'Love Story' was overrated," Mr. Segal said in 1988, "I pull out my Encyclopedia Britannica and see myself listed as writing in the tradition of the classic sentimental novelists, and then my ego relights.
"It was my little Camelot and it can't be taken away. It was my idyll."
© 2010 The Washington Post Company
By Matt Schudel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 20, 2010; B05
Erich Segal, a onetime classics professor who collaborated with the Beatles on a movie and whose sentimental 1970 screenplay and novel, "Love Story," became a pop-culture phenomenon, died Jan. 17 of a heart attack at his home in London. He was 72 and had battled Parkinson's disease for 25 years.
Mr. Segal, who taught Greek and Roman literature at Yale University, might have been an unlikely author of a heart-tugging tale of doomed romance, but his story captured the spirit of the time, and its signature line became a catch phrase: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."
Mr. Segal dabbled in screenplays for years, and he said his writing credit on the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" in 1968 elicited open-eyed admiration from students and professors alike.
He had originally written "Love Story" as a screenplay about the star-crossed love between a working-class Italian girl from Radcliffe and a Harvard boy from an old family. The 1970 film, which starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal and became a huge hit, was in production before Mr. Segal reworked it as a novel. When "Love Story" was released in paperback, it had the largest print order in the publishing history at the time, with 4,325,000 copies.
Although Mr. Segal's work resonated with the public, critics almost uniformly lambasted it. The judges for the National Book Award threatened to resign unless "Love Story" was withdrawn from nomination.
"It is a banal book which simply doesn't qualify as literature," said novelist William Styron, the head judge of the fiction panel. "Simply by being on the list it would have demeaned the other books."
Mr. Segal was thrust from the life of a scholar to that of a jet-setting star. He appeared on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson four times in four weeks, was a judge at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award for best screenplay. He made weekend jaunts to Paris and London, returning to Yale for his classes on classical civilization, which filled a 600-seat auditorium and were among the most popular at the university.
"I'm kind of a folk hero there -- the closest thing they have to a Beatle," he told The Washington Post in 1970.
Mr. Segal also parlayed his love of running and knowledge of ancient Greece into a job as an ABC TV commentator for the Olympic Games.
Yale decided that Mr. Segal's extracurricular assignments were taking too much time away from his academic work and denied him tenure in 1972, a blow that took years to overcome. He continued to lead his intellectual double life as a popular novelist and serious scholar, publishing best-selling novels and works on ancient literature, but he remained puzzled at the mockery and anger of the literary elite.
While jogging in New York's Central Park, Mr. Segal once recalled, he saw novelist Philip Roth and said, "I admire your work."
"And I admire your running," Roth replied.
Mr. Segal said that he got swept up in the glamour and adulation of his "Love Story" fame.
"That kind of early success really turns your head," he told the Chicago Tribune in 1985. "You think you're invincible, you're infallible and that your star will shine forever, when in fact they'll be looking for somebody else next week."
Erich Wolf Segal was born June 16, 1937, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was the son of a rabbi. He studied Hebrew and other languages from an early age and became fluent in German and French, as well as Latin and Greek.
At Harvard, he received a bachelor's degree in 1958, a master's degree in classics in 1959 and a doctorate in comparative literature in 1965. He published books on the Greek tragedian Euripides and the comic Roman playwright Plautus before writing "Love Story."
Mr. Segal's academic works received better reviews than his fiction, and he continued to write about classical literature for decades. His long-awaited history of comedy from ancient Greece to the modern era, "The Death of Comedy," appeared in 2001. After being denied tenure at Yale, Mr. Segal settled in England, where he became a fellow at Oxford University's Wolfson College.
He began running the Boston Marathon in 1955 and once completed the course in 2 hours, 56 minutes, 30 seconds. He ran 10 miles every day and played piano quite well before he was stricken by Parkinson's disease in the mid-1980s.
Mr. Segal never recaptured the level of success he had with "Love Story," although several of his later novels, including "Oliver's Story" (1977), "Man, Woman, and Child" (1983), "The Class" (1985) and "Doctors" (1987), were bestsellers, and several were made into movies.
In 1997, he disputed a rumor that "Love Story" was based on the college romance between Al and Tipper Gore. He did acknowledge that he had known Al Gore and his Harvard roommate, actor Tommy Lee Jones, in 1968 and drew on their lives for the central male character of "Love Story," Oliver Barrett IV.
Survivors include his wife of 34 years, Karen James, and two daughters.
"When I find myself feeling guilty for all that success and thinking 'Love Story' was overrated," Mr. Segal said in 1988, "I pull out my Encyclopedia Britannica and see myself listed as writing in the tradition of the classic sentimental novelists, and then my ego relights.
"It was my little Camelot and it can't be taken away. It was my idyll."
© 2010 The Washington Post Company
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
THE DOPAMINE FACTOR RE-VISITED
BBC NEWS
Mind chemical 'controls choice'
Dopamine, a chemical with a key role in setting people's moods, could have a much wider-ranging impact on their everyday lives, research suggests.
Experiments show that altering levels of the chemical in the brain influences the decisions people make.
One expert said the results showed the relative importance of "gut feeling" over analytical decision making.
The Current Biology study could help understand how expectation of pleasure can go awry, for example in addiction.
It follows previous research by the University College London team, which, using imaging techniques, detected a signal in the brain linked to how much someone enjoyed an experience. They found that signal could in turn predict the choices a person made.
With the suspicion that the signal was dopamine, the researchers set up a study to test how people make complex decisions when their dopamine system has been tampered with.
The 61 participants were given a list of 80 holiday destinations, from Greece to Thailand, and asked to rate them on a scale of one to six.
“ Dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events ”
Tali Sharot Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging
They were then given a sugar pill and asked to imagine themselves in each of 40 of the destinations.
Researchers then administered L-Dopa, a drug used in Parkinson's disease to increase dopamine concentrations in the brain, before asking them to imagine the other holidays.
They rated all the destinations again, and a day later they were asked where they would prefer to go, out of paired lists of holidays.
The extra dopamine gave people higher expectations when rating holiday options.
And that translated into the choice of trip they made a day later.
Study leader Dr Tali Sharot, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging at UCL, said humans made far more complex decisions than other animals, such as what job to take and whether to start a family, and it seemed dopamine played an important part in that.
“ It is a sort of shortcut in our thinking ”
Professor John Maule Leeds University
She said they had been surprised at the strength of the effect they had seen.
"Our results indicate that when we consider alternative options when making real-life decisions, dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events.
"We then use that signal to make our choices."
Dr Sharot added that addicts overestimated the pleasure they would gain from something, be it heroin or gambling, because their dopamine system was dysfunctional, and the latest research underpinned that the choices they made would be influenced by that.
Gut instinct
She added: "For many conditions we have medication which changes dopamine function, so knowing we may be changing people's expectations and their decision making might change how we think about giving these types of medications."
Professor John Maule, an expert in decision making, at Leeds University Business School, said that in recent years people had begun to realise emotional or "gut instinct" decision making was just as important in human choices as analytical decision making.
"At any one time you will have both these processes going on, so it's not surprising to see these results, especially when it comes to emotionally based decisions, such as holidays.
"It is a sort of shortcut in our thinking."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8357739.stm
Published: 2010/01/08 17:16:11 GMT
© BBC MMX
Mind chemical 'controls choice'
Dopamine, a chemical with a key role in setting people's moods, could have a much wider-ranging impact on their everyday lives, research suggests.
Experiments show that altering levels of the chemical in the brain influences the decisions people make.
One expert said the results showed the relative importance of "gut feeling" over analytical decision making.
The Current Biology study could help understand how expectation of pleasure can go awry, for example in addiction.
It follows previous research by the University College London team, which, using imaging techniques, detected a signal in the brain linked to how much someone enjoyed an experience. They found that signal could in turn predict the choices a person made.
With the suspicion that the signal was dopamine, the researchers set up a study to test how people make complex decisions when their dopamine system has been tampered with.
The 61 participants were given a list of 80 holiday destinations, from Greece to Thailand, and asked to rate them on a scale of one to six.
“ Dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events ”
Tali Sharot Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging
They were then given a sugar pill and asked to imagine themselves in each of 40 of the destinations.
Researchers then administered L-Dopa, a drug used in Parkinson's disease to increase dopamine concentrations in the brain, before asking them to imagine the other holidays.
They rated all the destinations again, and a day later they were asked where they would prefer to go, out of paired lists of holidays.
The extra dopamine gave people higher expectations when rating holiday options.
And that translated into the choice of trip they made a day later.
Study leader Dr Tali Sharot, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging at UCL, said humans made far more complex decisions than other animals, such as what job to take and whether to start a family, and it seemed dopamine played an important part in that.
“ It is a sort of shortcut in our thinking ”
Professor John Maule Leeds University
She said they had been surprised at the strength of the effect they had seen.
"Our results indicate that when we consider alternative options when making real-life decisions, dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events.
"We then use that signal to make our choices."
Dr Sharot added that addicts overestimated the pleasure they would gain from something, be it heroin or gambling, because their dopamine system was dysfunctional, and the latest research underpinned that the choices they made would be influenced by that.
Gut instinct
She added: "For many conditions we have medication which changes dopamine function, so knowing we may be changing people's expectations and their decision making might change how we think about giving these types of medications."
Professor John Maule, an expert in decision making, at Leeds University Business School, said that in recent years people had begun to realise emotional or "gut instinct" decision making was just as important in human choices as analytical decision making.
"At any one time you will have both these processes going on, so it's not surprising to see these results, especially when it comes to emotionally based decisions, such as holidays.
"It is a sort of shortcut in our thinking."
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/8357739.stm
Published: 2010/01/08 17:16:11 GMT
© BBC MMX
WHAT'S AHEAD IN HEALTH ???
HERE IS WHAT ONE PERSON THINKS.
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on
obesity.
BY CHRIS ZDEB, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE JANUARY 5, 2010
You might call Dr. Axel Meisen a fortune teller.
As the chairman of foresight with the Alberta Research Council, he has the task of
predicting issues of importance to the province 20 to 30 years down the road. And when it comes to medicine, Meisen sees changes ahead. Here he lists the 10 health trends we're most likely to see by the end of 2019.
"This all sounds really magical and (like) far-out medicine," Meisen says, "but I think it's coming and is within reach."
More birthdays
Most people now live into their 80s, but within 10 years, average life expectancy will begin
to approach 95 to 100 years. Reputable physicians say there's nothing much stopping us
from living to be 130 or 140, Meisen says, adding increased longevity will be mainly due to
better lifestyle choices.
More genetically caused diseases
Living longer means we're going to see more genetically influenced diseases typically
associated with longevity, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Meisen says. Thanks to
the mapping of the human genome (the complete set of human genetic information), we're
getting closer all the time to understanding the causes of those diseases.
The overweight and obese will become the new smokers
With smokers dwindling in number, health advocates will turn their attention to whittling the
number of overweight and obese people, who further tax a health-care system groaning
under the weight of skyrocketing costs. More evidence will emerge that an unhealthy
weight is as bad for your health as smoking.
We'll start eating better
More people, including aging baby boomers, are aware of the link between good nutrition
and good health. Realizing much of the control rests in their hands, they're trying to eat
better and be more active, Meisen says, especially since they're going to live longer and
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on obesity.
they don't want to spend the last years of their lives bedridden and riddled with disease.
Hardware will replace healing hands
Today's tele-health or tele-medicine, (delivering health-related services and information via
telephone, e-mail or video) is just the beginning. Gradually, doctors, nurses and other
health-care providers will be replaced by hardware and software, Meisen says.
Instead of a doctor poking and prodding at a patient, a machine will make an initial
diagnosis by measuring blood pressure, heart rate and weight, and maybe taking an
internal image of the body. By the end of the decade, most patients will be diagnosed by
physicians who aren't in the same room. This won't reduce the number of physicians
needed, but will free more of them to study data collected by advanced technology to
make a better diagnosis and decision about treatment, Meisen says.
Improved personal hygiene
We're already seeing a stronger link between handwashing and health, Meisen says.
Many infectious diseases are caused by poor hygiene in food preparation or in the home,
and more people will become aware of that, and improve their cleaning routines
accordingly.
On a public health level, this issue is already being addressed by removing the main doors
on public washrooms and having water, soap and hand towels or dryers triggered by
motion sensors.
Attention will now turn to making buses and LRT less hands-on, Meisen says.
Enhanced surgical procedures
Continued improvements to surgical procedures mean smaller incisions that require
shorter hospital stays and less time to heal. With robots, doctors can do things on a "micro
scale" that even the best physicians with the best hands and eyesight would have trouble
doing, Meisen says.
Today, open-heart surgery is still a very complicated, protracted procedure, but he expects
it to be shortened and simplified over the next 10 years because of new technology.
Cure for cancer possible
A cure for cancer depends on a breakthrough, which is extremely difficult to predict, but
the odds improve the more people work on it, Meisen says, and there are a lot of people
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on obesity.
working on it.
More body parts replaced
Meisen expects significant advances in the development of replacement parts for the
body. We can already do simple replacements, for skin to treat burn victims, for example.
But we'll probably be able to replace tissue, muscle and some simple organs by the end of
the decade, reducing dependence on finding perfectly matched donor organs for
transplant, Meisen says.
The promise lies in research on stem cells and use of substrate (developing artificial body
parts or implants) into which you can grow things like muscle and skin, he explains. By
2019, we should be able to grow bone, eliminating the need to use metal pieces for repair.
We might also be able to develop an artificial kidney that is not a machine.
Into the mind
Sophisticated imaging techniques such as the functional MRI allow researchers to map
the way the mind works. Being able to study the living brain in action provides researchers
with information about depression, brain cancer, autism and memory disorders, bringing
them a step closer to figuring out how to possibly rewire it, though this is not likely to be
achieved in the next 10 years.
Edmonton Journal
czdeb@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on
obesity.
BY CHRIS ZDEB, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE JANUARY 5, 2010
You might call Dr. Axel Meisen a fortune teller.
As the chairman of foresight with the Alberta Research Council, he has the task of
predicting issues of importance to the province 20 to 30 years down the road. And when it comes to medicine, Meisen sees changes ahead. Here he lists the 10 health trends we're most likely to see by the end of 2019.
"This all sounds really magical and (like) far-out medicine," Meisen says, "but I think it's coming and is within reach."
More birthdays
Most people now live into their 80s, but within 10 years, average life expectancy will begin
to approach 95 to 100 years. Reputable physicians say there's nothing much stopping us
from living to be 130 or 140, Meisen says, adding increased longevity will be mainly due to
better lifestyle choices.
More genetically caused diseases
Living longer means we're going to see more genetically influenced diseases typically
associated with longevity, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Meisen says. Thanks to
the mapping of the human genome (the complete set of human genetic information), we're
getting closer all the time to understanding the causes of those diseases.
The overweight and obese will become the new smokers
With smokers dwindling in number, health advocates will turn their attention to whittling the
number of overweight and obese people, who further tax a health-care system groaning
under the weight of skyrocketing costs. More evidence will emerge that an unhealthy
weight is as bad for your health as smoking.
We'll start eating better
More people, including aging baby boomers, are aware of the link between good nutrition
and good health. Realizing much of the control rests in their hands, they're trying to eat
better and be more active, Meisen says, especially since they're going to live longer and
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on obesity.
they don't want to spend the last years of their lives bedridden and riddled with disease.
Hardware will replace healing hands
Today's tele-health or tele-medicine, (delivering health-related services and information via
telephone, e-mail or video) is just the beginning. Gradually, doctors, nurses and other
health-care providers will be replaced by hardware and software, Meisen says.
Instead of a doctor poking and prodding at a patient, a machine will make an initial
diagnosis by measuring blood pressure, heart rate and weight, and maybe taking an
internal image of the body. By the end of the decade, most patients will be diagnosed by
physicians who aren't in the same room. This won't reduce the number of physicians
needed, but will free more of them to study data collected by advanced technology to
make a better diagnosis and decision about treatment, Meisen says.
Improved personal hygiene
We're already seeing a stronger link between handwashing and health, Meisen says.
Many infectious diseases are caused by poor hygiene in food preparation or in the home,
and more people will become aware of that, and improve their cleaning routines
accordingly.
On a public health level, this issue is already being addressed by removing the main doors
on public washrooms and having water, soap and hand towels or dryers triggered by
motion sensors.
Attention will now turn to making buses and LRT less hands-on, Meisen says.
Enhanced surgical procedures
Continued improvements to surgical procedures mean smaller incisions that require
shorter hospital stays and less time to heal. With robots, doctors can do things on a "micro
scale" that even the best physicians with the best hands and eyesight would have trouble
doing, Meisen says.
Today, open-heart surgery is still a very complicated, protracted procedure, but he expects
it to be shortened and simplified over the next 10 years because of new technology.
Cure for cancer possible
A cure for cancer depends on a breakthrough, which is extremely difficult to predict, but
the odds improve the more people work on it, Meisen says, and there are a lot of people
What's ahead in health? Longer lives, focus on obesity.
working on it.
More body parts replaced
Meisen expects significant advances in the development of replacement parts for the
body. We can already do simple replacements, for skin to treat burn victims, for example.
But we'll probably be able to replace tissue, muscle and some simple organs by the end of
the decade, reducing dependence on finding perfectly matched donor organs for
transplant, Meisen says.
The promise lies in research on stem cells and use of substrate (developing artificial body
parts or implants) into which you can grow things like muscle and skin, he explains. By
2019, we should be able to grow bone, eliminating the need to use metal pieces for repair.
We might also be able to develop an artificial kidney that is not a machine.
Into the mind
Sophisticated imaging techniques such as the functional MRI allow researchers to map
the way the mind works. Being able to study the living brain in action provides researchers
with information about depression, brain cancer, autism and memory disorders, bringing
them a step closer to figuring out how to possibly rewire it, though this is not likely to be
achieved in the next 10 years.
Edmonton Journal
czdeb@thejournal.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
Friday, January 8, 2010
COLORED LIGHTS AND PARKINSON'S
How about this?
Scientists Use Colored Lights to Program Brain Activity
Jessica Berman | Washington 07 January 2010
Scientists in the United States have developed a powerful new method to help calm
the abnormal brain activity associated with diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's.
The technique involves the use of laser light stimulation of special proteins implanted in
key areas of the brain.
So-called neural "super silencers," were developed by scientists at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology from two genes found in fungi and bacteria. The genes, called
Arch (ARK) and Mac, are responsible for making light-sensitive proteins that help the
organisms convert light into energy.
But when those genes are inserted into the brain, neurons can be engineered to
express the proteins, making it possible to manipulate them with a laser beam and calm
irritated nerve cells that are responsible for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and chronic
pain syndromes.
Ed Boyden is a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT. He is the lead author of
a study that showed how neurons containing the genes could be turned on and off
with pulses of laser-beam light. "If you could turn off those neurons that are behaving
inappropriately just for the right amount of time, that allows you to cancel out the
aberrant neural dynamics with fewer side effects than if you were to bathe the entire
brain in a pharmacological agent," he said.
Boyden says the laser light activates the genetically modified brain cells, lowering the
voltage in the neurons and stopping them from firing inappropriately.
"We've shown in the current paper that we could express these molecules from fungus
and archi-bacteria and so on and they would express just fine for months in mice. And
we also showed we could get safe and effective optical silencing of these neurons.
When we turned the light off, the neurons just go back to their normal activity," he said.
Scientists are now trying to develop a neural feedback system that would become
Scientists Use Colored Lights to Program Brain Activity | S... http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&t...
1 of 2 1/8/10 7:25 AM
active when brain cells start to become over-stimulated, as in the case of epilepsy. "So,
for example, one of the things we are working on is can we detect a certain brain state
using electrodes the same way that it's been done for almost a hundred years and use
it to monitor the brain and then deliver a pulse of light just at the right time to shut down
a pathological state in the brain," Boyden said.
With the new tools, Boyden says researchers may someday be able to identify and
correct complex neural networks that lead to disease by engineering different neurons
to respond to different colors of light.
For example, in the study, researchers found that brain cells implanted with the Arch
gene were silenced by yellow light, while neurons modified by the Mac gene were
silenced by blue light.
"We're screening even more species now to try to broaden our ecological biodiversity
screen. But we're also starting to do longer and longer measurements of the safety and
efficacy in more clinically interesting scenarios," he said.
Boyden's team has begun experimenting with light-sensing proteins to calm the brains
of non-human primates.
While the use of light tools to treat human brain diseases is still a long way off, Boyden
says other researchers are starting to use the technology to develop new and improved
drugs.
Ed Boyden and colleagues describe their work programming brain activity with lightsensing
genes this week in the journal Nature.
Find this article at:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Scientists-Use-Colored-Lights-to-Program-Brain-Activity-80964302.html
Scientists Use Colored Lights to Program Brain Activity
Jessica Berman | Washington 07 January 2010
Scientists in the United States have developed a powerful new method to help calm
the abnormal brain activity associated with diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's.
The technique involves the use of laser light stimulation of special proteins implanted in
key areas of the brain.
So-called neural "super silencers," were developed by scientists at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology from two genes found in fungi and bacteria. The genes, called
Arch (ARK) and Mac, are responsible for making light-sensitive proteins that help the
organisms convert light into energy.
But when those genes are inserted into the brain, neurons can be engineered to
express the proteins, making it possible to manipulate them with a laser beam and calm
irritated nerve cells that are responsible for epilepsy, Parkinson's disease and chronic
pain syndromes.
Ed Boyden is a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT. He is the lead author of
a study that showed how neurons containing the genes could be turned on and off
with pulses of laser-beam light. "If you could turn off those neurons that are behaving
inappropriately just for the right amount of time, that allows you to cancel out the
aberrant neural dynamics with fewer side effects than if you were to bathe the entire
brain in a pharmacological agent," he said.
Boyden says the laser light activates the genetically modified brain cells, lowering the
voltage in the neurons and stopping them from firing inappropriately.
"We've shown in the current paper that we could express these molecules from fungus
and archi-bacteria and so on and they would express just fine for months in mice. And
we also showed we could get safe and effective optical silencing of these neurons.
When we turned the light off, the neurons just go back to their normal activity," he said.
Scientists are now trying to develop a neural feedback system that would become
Scientists Use Colored Lights to Program Brain Activity | S... http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&t...
1 of 2 1/8/10 7:25 AM
active when brain cells start to become over-stimulated, as in the case of epilepsy. "So,
for example, one of the things we are working on is can we detect a certain brain state
using electrodes the same way that it's been done for almost a hundred years and use
it to monitor the brain and then deliver a pulse of light just at the right time to shut down
a pathological state in the brain," Boyden said.
With the new tools, Boyden says researchers may someday be able to identify and
correct complex neural networks that lead to disease by engineering different neurons
to respond to different colors of light.
For example, in the study, researchers found that brain cells implanted with the Arch
gene were silenced by yellow light, while neurons modified by the Mac gene were
silenced by blue light.
"We're screening even more species now to try to broaden our ecological biodiversity
screen. But we're also starting to do longer and longer measurements of the safety and
efficacy in more clinically interesting scenarios," he said.
Boyden's team has begun experimenting with light-sensing proteins to calm the brains
of non-human primates.
While the use of light tools to treat human brain diseases is still a long way off, Boyden
says other researchers are starting to use the technology to develop new and improved
drugs.
Ed Boyden and colleagues describe their work programming brain activity with lightsensing
genes this week in the journal Nature.
Find this article at:
http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/science-technology/Scientists-Use-Colored-Lights-to-Program-Brain-Activity-80964302.html
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