Parkinson's Disease Tulip


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Old 05-24-2014, 01:51 AM #11
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A recent paper by Willis et al. [1] casts doubts on the conclusions drawn by Romeo et al. (see Post 1 of this thread.)

Willis et al. write:
"Critical analysis of recent research suggesting that light pollution causes Parkinson's disease (PD) reveals that such a hypothesis is unsustainable in the context of therapeutic use of light in treating various neuropsychiatric conditions. Reinterpretation of their findings suggests that retinal damage caused by prolonged light exposure may have contributed to the observed enhancement of experimental PD."

Reference

[1] "Parkinson's Disease, Lights and Melanocytes: Looking Beyond the Retina"
Gregory L. Willis, Cleo Moore & Stuart Maxwell Armstrong
Nature Scientific Reports, January 2014
http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/1401...srep03921.html

John
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Born 1955. Diagnosed PD 2005.
Meds 2010-Nov 2016: Stalevo(75 mg) x 4, ropinirole xl 16 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
Current meds: Stalevo(75 mg) x 5, ropinirole xl 8 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
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Old 05-27-2014, 12:58 AM #12
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Default I hope you will be amused by my story !!

In May 2013, I was making eye test in order change my glasses when it was suggested to me that I would make a routine eye test. I agreed reluctantly as I had no complain from my eyes. This test lead to more tests which "confirmed" that I had uveal malonoma in my right eye and radiation treatment (eye plaque brachytherapy) was scheduled to take place on 22 July at a hospital in Edmonton which is at few hours drive from where I reside. We made all the elaborate preparations for the treatment including two days trip to Edmonten to do tests required by the hospital. But as fate wished, we were told that the treatment had to be cancelled because the surgeon who was to perform the therapy had an accident and he needs about two months to recoverer. Subsequently, we were told that the treatment should be done in Toronto and all arrangements and costs would be covered. However, I did not like the idea. My primary eye oncologist was a very likeable man in his late forties and as he noticed my reluctance, he told me that the tumor has not changed in size since first diagnosis about three months earlier and if I was ready to take the chance to wait other three months to repeat the test to check if the tumor is active or dormant. Since that time I have done tests every 3 months which indicated that my eye malonoma is dormant and may have been there many years earlier doing no harm.
My wife tells me every thing happens for a reason not understood by us and it is futile to put your faith only in logic and science!
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Old 07-23-2014, 08:18 PM #13
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The team that wrote the paper mentioned in Post 1 of this thread have written a follow-up paper. They hypothesize a link between light and occupation and PD [1].

"... even though the global intensity of light emitted by a computer display is relatively low compared to a fluorescent lamp, we observed that the light emitted at 706 nm by a CRT monitor was nearly one-third of the light emitted by a fluorescent lamp. Given that the average person may work or look at a computer display for hours on a daily basis, it is possible that some light could reach the substantia nigra. As a matter of fact, computer programmers tend to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at a younger age compared to other patients, and risk of diagnosis in patient 50 years old or younger is greater in computer programmers".

Reference

[1] The Scientific World Journal, 2014
"Eyes as Gateways for Environmental Light to the Substantia Nigra: Relevance in Parkinson’s Disease"
Stefania Romeo,1 Daniela Di Camillo,2 Alessandra Splendiani,1 Marta Capannolo,1 Cristina Rocchi,1 Gabriella Aloisi,1 Irene Fasciani,1 Giovanni U. Corsini,3 Eugenio Scarnati,1 Luca Lozzi,2 and Roberto Maggio1
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2014/317879/

John
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Born 1955. Diagnosed PD 2005.
Meds 2010-Nov 2016: Stalevo(75 mg) x 4, ropinirole xl 16 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
Current meds: Stalevo(75 mg) x 5, ropinirole xl 8 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
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Old 01-07-2019, 08:53 PM #14
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This thread started in 2013 and it was updated in 2014. I'd like to bounce it up. Does anyone know whether research in this area continues?

To set the scene:

Romeo et al. wrote [1]:

"In the human subject analysed, this passage between the eye surface and the substantia nigra ... was 79.78 mm long ... . Within this length, 22.66 mm was comprised of the light transparent tissues of the eye (lens and vitreous humour) and 23.35 mm of liquid behind the superior orbital fissure inside the skull ... . ... [P]art of the remaining path could be inside the CSF around the optic nerve (9.73 mm). Taken together, the light transparent portion of this path could be as long as 55.74 mm, meaning that at some angle, only 24.04 mm of biological tissue stands between the external light environment and the substantia nigra in this patient."

and:

"[W]e have recently shown that continuous (three months) bright light exposure of rats induces formation of neuromelanin and reduces tyrosine hydroxylase positive neurons in the substantia nigra".

Wikipedia states [2]:

"Tyrosine hydroxylase or tyrosine 3-monooxygenase is the enzyme responsible for catalyzing the conversion of the amino acid L-tyrosine to L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA)."

PwP partially avoid this constraint because of the drugs that we take provide levodopa. But, many of us will be still producing endogenous levodopa and will need the TH for this.

I can (13 years post-diagnosis) still go overnight without drugs, and several hours in the morning before I need to take them. I've always thought of this being due to having reserves of levodopa, which build up during the night.

As a final point, if light does prove to reach the SN, it would suggest that wearing sunglasses, perhaps with lenses chosen to stop harmful frequencies of light, might be a partial therapy for PD.

References:

[1] "Eyes as Gateways for Environmental Light to the Substantia Nigra: Relevance in Parkinson's Disease"
Stefania Romeo, 1 Daniela Di Camillo, 2 Alessandra Splendiani, 1 Marta Capannolo, 1 Cristina Rocchi, 1 Gabriella Aloisi, 1 Irene Fasciani, 1 Giovanni U. Corsini, 3 Eugenio Scarnati, 1 Luca Lozzi, 2 and Roberto Maggio
ScientificWorldJournal 2014
Eyes as Gateways for Environmental Light to the Substantia Nigra: Relevance in Parkinson's Disease

[2] Wikipedia
Tyrosine hydroxylase - Wikipedia

John
__________________
Born 1955. Diagnosed PD 2005.
Meds 2010-Nov 2016: Stalevo(75 mg) x 4, ropinirole xl 16 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
Current meds: Stalevo(75 mg) x 5, ropinirole xl 8 mg, rasagiline 1 mg
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dopamine neurons, epidemiology, light, light pollution

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