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A common basis for Alzheimers, Parkinsons & Huntingtons!
The phospho-protein ELK-1 was found to be toxic to neurons, and to be present in the protein tangles from human brain tissue in all three major neuro-degenerative diseases (work at the Univ. of PA). This is a hot lead to researchers because ELK-1 is in a family of gene expression controls, so its primary role could be a key to the fundamental biology of neurons. Since only the modified form seems to be toxic in three diseases, it increases the chances that this is purposeful or causative, rather than coincidentally trapped on the protein trash pile. IMO. [4 Feb 10]

Review of PD Medicare patient epidemiology
A review by Willis et al. of 450,000 Medicare records per year analyzed 98% of the US population over age 65 for incidence and prevalence of Parkinson's. Previous smaller studies provide confusing results, so this county-by-county view across the US presents a new, authoritative perspective. As reported in Neuroepidemiology, a "hot zone" covered the industrial Northeast and Midwest, and pesticide usage did NOT match the disease pattern. (People move!) Results were also filtered by sex, race, and age. The authors acknowledge that YOPD is excluded from the analysis. This is a landmark study of normal-onset PD, but regional detail and additional patient history data would add some color to this framework. IMO [4 Feb 2010]

YOPD 2nd Regional Conference to be in California
The second YOPD regional conference will be in Sacramento, California on 12-13 March 2010. This follows the first meeting in Texas last Fall. There will be five meetings total. This is the first time NPF and APDA have collaborated.

The link should appear on the next line;
http://www.youngparkinsons.org/userfiles/Conference.bmp

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