You sure hit the nail on the head when you said how difficult it is to make any sense out of PD research. The biochemical mechanisms that control the syndrome are "WAY OUT THERE". Not something as simple as a virus that causes a certain disease, something that can be pinned down and logic applied to countering it's action (like reverse transcriptase of RNA did so much to halt AIDS in it's tracks).
The causes of PD are a biochemical universe unto itself. Nothing is simple. Most of whats out there (a virtual library of Alexandria) concerning PD etiology is "grasping at straws" and "hand waving". No doubt, there IS an answer, but that answer can't be distilled into anything less than thousands of possibilities. The scope of "our" disease is devilishly frustrating to all those who attempt to explain the various specific aspects of PD. What should be "simple things" like why some of us shake like leaves in the wind, or some of us being rock solid are at present just impossible to tease out from the overall syndrome. I've perused so many research papers that take forever to get through because i have to hit the books at every corner to learn the science that i'm not familiar with; and then dream what Einstein called "thought experiments" that more often turn out to be exactly that, more silly dream than logic. This disease is still going to take decades to figure out, but figure it out we must, because that's the first step to finding a cure. Answering pivotal questions such as "will stem cell research work"; is there any hope to small molecule therapy"; is PD a response to toxins (endogenous or exogenous); are genetic mutations involved; is it related to lifestyle preferences; is it a lack of neccessary enzymes or their cofactors that lead to the syndrome? WHAT? WHAT causes PD. There are so many trees to bark up at. WE know some things, and can apply Rumsfeld logic to the things we know, the things we don't know, and the things we know we don't know, but to date, this has still not bourne fruit.
Well, I'll just keep my mouth shut untill i can read your latest contributions and can reply with more than the fluff that I have in this post.
Keep on reading!!! It's the only way to get step one over with. Remember, all of you out there who have some form of PD; researchers can find things that they can speculate to work for us, but it is ONLY US who can tell them for sure if they are on the right track.
At this point, i consider myself dispensable, and would be the first to swallow any new pill, be injected with any substance, and be a big white rat for any idea that I believed in, if i thought that it would really benefit those who have yet to travel this road. And lets not forget that right now , there are many many "soldiers in the war against PD" who have already given of themselves just to get us where we are today (you know who you are). This is a disease on the scale and effects of such things as cancer, AIDS, MS, Lou Gehrigs and a whole spectrum of diseases that are the bane and the misery of mankind. IT's sufferer's deserve at least the best that the best can do for them. Amen! cs