I think the article on Gould's work can take care of itself.

Oh, darn it, I can't help myself....
But first the idea is not that stress is the cause. Rather it is that stress is ONE of several factors. As the article makes clear, elevated cortisol prevents repair of the brain. As the work of others has shown, PWP have chronic elevated cortisol levels. Add in prenatal endotoxins and you pick up a lowered density of neurons in the substantia nigra and microglial activation destroying what neurons we have. Mix in a little rotenone or mercury with a bit more endotoxin for potentiation and more cell loss. And the stress response keeps the repair systems impotent.

It is true that stressed populations don't all develop PD. But it is also true that PD populations show unique stress profiles in both childhood experience and adult reaction. In fact, it seems that the stress vulnerability is one of the key features of PD, even though the current model barely recognizes it. In our own little community, 80% reported high stress childhoods. Stress knocks our legs out from under us daily. The Amsterdam poll of 500 last year showed stress response as the second most bothersome aspect of PD.

What other part of our symptoms are so much our own? Movement problems can be a result of half a dozen conditions as can cognitive and so on. But I haven't run across any other disorder where trying to get to a ringing phone in time can render the victim temporarily helpless.

As to the dopamine/acetylcholine theory, that is quickly becoming history. It is simply the ending symptom of the longer chain described above with added links for inflammation, toxins, BBB disruption, autoimmune factors, and others. Langston's paper "More Than a Movement Disorder" and P.M. Carvey's work on multiple factors and the NIH sponsored work of Liu Bin on inflammation are the current state of the art.

Anomolies abound, but it isn't like the earlier explanations had none. Nor is stress's role as villain a big surprise. Heck, it is killing half of western society.

And while I don't want to get into a game of "my citation is bigger than your citation," I wonder about Daffy's statement about enzyme levels and stress.

As to l-dopa and adrenaline- Adrenaline is at the heart of the stress response, but simply having a precursor present does not mean the body is going to start pumping it out. However, having a plentiful supply once the response is triggered could explain why some researchers see l-dopa as a mixed blessing in the long haul. Does it feed the flames?

The Facts are: that stress plays a role from the womb to the grave and that different people react differently to it. Chronic stress differs from acute. Other factors are present in a contributory role. And so on.

If you haven't done so, read the paper at the start of this. These are major league researchers. And their theories cured a PD rat in five weeks.

Now all that being said, I am going to try hard to ignore the sound of quacking so as to preserve the peace of the community.