It's hard to know with Ethiopia. However, the Bulgarian Gypsy's life expectancy is not much less than that of other Bulgarians. Yet their prevalence of Parkinson's Disease is only one tenth of that of other Bulgarians despite the far easier lifestyle that other Bulgarians have.

The life expectancy in Korea is quite high. Korea has been subjected to harsh dictatorship and famines in the North, military dictatorships and constant threat of war in the South. Yet Korea's prevalence of Parkinson's Disease is not much above that of Ethiopia.

The Faeroe Islands has almost the highest prevalence of Parkinson's Disease in Europe and the World, yet is certainly not renowned for its high stress levels, or high incidence of stress related disorders.

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.

The primary problem in Parkinson's Disease is insufficient dopamine. Stress can at most exploit low dopamine levels by exacerbating symptoms. However, it can not in itself reduce dopamine levels in the dopaminergic neurons.

This can be verified by checking the enzyme studies for the two enzymes involved in dopamine formation (tyrosine 3-monooxygenase and L-aromatic amno acid decarboxylase). Their activity has been found not to be regulated by stress via adrenaline levels.

The intereraction between acteylcholine and dopamine regulating muscle contraction certainly isn't history. It's biochemical fact. That is why the major drug types for Parkinson's Disease are based on this fact by being either dopaminergic or anti-cholinergic.

If you ask most people whether they had stress during their childhood they will say yes. Those with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Epilepsy, Diabetes, the Common Cold, just about anyone. That doesn't mean that stress causes them.

For a sceintific theory to be correct, it must be consistent with the facts. Stress causing Parkinson's Disease simply doesn't do that. Stress at most can merely exacerbate Parkinson's Disease symptoms when Parkinson's Disease already exists.

If there was any one attributable cause of PD it would have been identified & addressed by now. We're all different & have our own histories, sensitivities & tolerances.
I do believe stress may trigger or exacerbate PD & almost any other health condition. The more objective line of diagnosis is logical to me (graduate Biologist & Education many yrs ago).
I had a happy, relatively stress-free childhood in industrial East Manchester UK. I believe I am a victim of organo-phosphate poisoning having married a farmer in the 70s.
I manage PD using all available approaches - conventional medicine/therapy, Yoga, acupuncture, relaxation, visualisation etc.
Hint of the day:
"There's more to life than Parkinson's"
Angela

There are people reading this who are newly diagnosed and hanging on to the high stress life that is killing them. There are those of us who are further along who could benefit greatly from knowing of the work cited.

My hovercraft is full of eels.

.... On this one. Every human being is stressed out. Life is not easy for anyone, monied or not, there is a dearth of confidence in everyone's mind. We all have to worry about the future, and life is so short, we don't have a lot of time to "succeed".
PD is a physiological disease, and my own particular knowledge of biochemistry (no big ego here, please, i'm not in this to look like i know something that i don't) is vast, and I totally agree with KB that PD is an enzymatic loss of function, with a lot of secondary metabolic functional screw ups that we don't have a handle on yet, simply due to the complexity of the systems that we are dealing with. One day we will understand what REALLY causes PD. I don't think that we are close yet, because secondary messenger systems are a lot more mysterious than primary ones. IF it was as simple as primary biosynthesis of neurotransmitter synthesis, than l-dopa would work better for a longer time. There are changes that occur in many of the "support systems" and "cascade results" of the dopamine and other catecholamine neurotransmitters (as well as closely related neurotransmitters) that lumped together result in "Parkinsonism".
The final cure for PD lies in the understanding of the etiology of these complex changes and the prevention of them from ever occurring. Thus, those of us who have PD now, will never be cured; it is the next generations of people predisposed to PD that will be found to exhibit these changes, long before they manifest themselves as an obvious problem. Thus the cure lies in prevention rather than treatment of the already advanced state of disease recognition. cs

Tevia, in the musical, "Fiddler in the Roof," proclaims of his older daughter's marriage to a tailor, "they're so happy they do not know how miserable they are!" The Bulgarian gypsies have chosen to practice their customs because they are unaware of a better life out there, as their government allows no information to be exchanged with the outside world. I also like Charlie's comment, about their life expectancy.

Should I start making jello?

Vicky

Stressful event kills brain cells

A single episode of severe stress can be enough to kill off new nerve cells in the brain, research suggests.
Rosalind Franklin University researchers believe their finding may give new insights into the development of depression.

Working on rats, they found that cells were lost in the hippocampus, an area of the brain which processes learning, memory and emotion.

The study features in the Journal of Neuroscience.


We want to determine if anti-depressant medications might be able to keep these vulnerable new neurons alive
Dr Daniel Peterson
Rosalind Franklin University

The researchers found that in young rats, the stress of encountering aggressive, older rats did not stop the generation of new nerve cells in the hippocampus.

However, it did prevent the cells from surviving - leaving fewer new neurons for processing feelings and emotions.

The hippocampus is one of two regions of the brain that continues to develop new nerve cells throughout life, in both rats and humans.

Treatment hope

The researchers believe the loss of cells could be one cause of depression.

However, their work also raises hope of possible treatments to stop acute stress from contributing to mood problems.

They found that cells tended to die not immediately following a stressful situation, but after a delay of 24 hours or more.

In principle, they argue it could eventually be possible to administer treatment during this time to prevent cells being lost.

The researchers put each young rat in a cage with two older rats for 20 minutes.

The older rats quickly pinned down, and in many cases, bit the intruder.

The young rats had stress hormone levels six times as high as those who were not caged with older animals.

Microscope analysis

However, microscopic analysis of brain tissue showed that their ability to generate new cells in the hippocampus remained undimmed.


The rule of thumb seems to be; a little stress is good for you but severe/unpredictable stress is bad
Professor David Kendall
University of Nottingham

This seemed to disprove a previous theory that stress hormones put a brake on the generation of new cells.

A week after the encounter, however, only a third of the new cells had survived.

Long-term survival of nerve cells was also compromised.

In another part of their study, the researchers marked newborn cells in the hippocampus, and subjected rats to stress a week later.

At the end of the month they counted a third fewer fully developed nerve cells.

Lead researcher Dr Daniel Peterson said the next step was to understand how stress reduced cell survival.

Mixed results

Professor David Kendall, from the University of Nottingham, said previous research had shown that longer-term, unpredictable mild stress could depress nerve cell generation in the hippocampus.

That study suggested the key seemed to be a reduction in production of a hormone that helps keep brain cells alive.

However, Professor Kendall said there was also evidence to suggest that mild stress could be protective.

"You might remember the issue of London cabbies allegedly having bigger hippocampi related to the stress of acquiring "The Knowledge".

"The rule of thumb seems to be; a little stress is good for you but severe/unpredictable stress is bad."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...th/6442001.stm

Published: 2007/03/14 00:50:47 GMT

© BBC MMVII

one more link - is stress the missing link that starts illness?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4216732.stm

I did the search but their could be several *********in the world. How can one be sure it is the Daffy Duck, Moderators, I have sent a private e-mail requesting that thought be given to putting a halt to the personal fighting going on on this thread. Rick, are you entitled to smear a forum member by revealing their identity? Daffy Duck do you have to take a discussion of another view as a personal attack? Time to put this thread to rest. It is getting way to personal.

Vicky