Parkinson's Disease Analysis

PD is the second most common neurodegenerative disease featured pathologically by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The typical symptoms of PD include slowness of movements (bradykinesia), muscle stiffness (rigidity), tremor, and balance disturbance. Etiopathologically, PD is considered to be caused by the significant loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta and the subsequent dopamine depletion at the striatum. To date, there are only symptomatic treatments available for PD, particularly in the early stages of the disease. No therapy has been found that can cure or halt the progression of the disease.

Parkinson's Disease is a literally crippling neurodegenerative disorder, manifested in about 1% of the aged population. People who have Parkinson's Disease gradually lose control of their movements; specific symptoms include, "tremor, slowness of movement, stiffness, difficulty in walking, and loss of balance." (1) Evidence strongly suggests that Parkinson's Disease is the result of severe cell loss in the substantia nigra. This brain structure is principally involved in the production of dopamine. (2) Dopamine, among other functions, is the neurotransmitter involved in initiation of movement. Hence, the link between dopaminergic cell loss and cessation of voluntary movement, as manifested

Parkinson Disease’s (PD) is defined as progressive loss of pigmented neurons or cells in the substantia nigra of the brain. These cells manufacture the molecule dopamine, a chemical responsible for regulating purposeful movements. Moreover, when the dopamine level in the brain depletes by 80 percent, the patient will begin experiencing symptoms of PD. Genetics also play a vital role in Parkinson’s development--mutations in the Leucine-Repeat Kinase 2 are its greatest contributors. Furthermore, dopamine levels progressively drop in patients with the disease; therefore, their symptoms gradually become severe as they age. Parkinson’s symptoms are categorized into primary, secondary, motor, and nonmotor. (Fallon & Cataldo, 2013)

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder characterized by degeneration and cell loss of the substantia nigra, which causes disturbances of voluntary motor control [5]. It impairs ones ability to produce movements and is commonly associated with difficulties of daily living. Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects approximately 1.5% to 2.0% of the population over the age of sixty years old [2] and “… it is estimated that 6 million individuals worldwide are currently living with PD,” [7] (pg323). Parkinson’s sufferers often experience physical distress and an altered quality of life.

Parkinson’s is a disease where patients do not have enough dopamine, because some of their nerve cells have died in the brain. Dopamine controls the movement in the body, and without it movement becomes slow. Treatments for Parkinson’s are used to control the symptoms. This disease is not well known because patients do not generally die from Parkinson’s. As Parkinson’s progresses the symptoms get worse and can cause other health issues. I used current research papers and information found pertaining to different Parkinson’s organizations to argue the point that Parkinson’s does not have enough awareness and funding for scientists to find a cure.

Parkinson’s disease is known as one of the neurogenerative diseases which mostly occurs in people older than 60 years. According to a research of Lynn (2012), it is related to the fall of dopamine levels in either side

Parkinson’s disease, is distinguished by the loss of dopaminergic cells within the brain. This dopaminergic degeneration is accompanied by severe symptoms, which significantly affects individuals and those around them. The rate at which this degradation; and therefore the rate at which the corresponding symptoms arises, varies among individuals. Often these symptoms do not worsen until the affected individual has reached the age of 60 to 65 years old, when the dopaminergic depletion has become significant. Before this point, it is difficult to diagnose an individual with the disease. Furthermore, a clinical approach is needed to diagnosis the disease and has made it difficult to diagnose the disease early in its progression. Recently new diagnostic methods, focused on detecting symptoms unique to the disease to eliminate this obstacle.

Parkinson’s disease is a motor system disorder. (5) The human motor system is an incredibly complex functional morphology that encompasses neural elements, muscular elements, bony elements, joints, and sensory elements. (4) This disease is brought upon from insufficient production of dopamine in the body/brain. The insufficient production of dopamine is caused by the death of cells in the substania nigra. The exact cause of for what is causing the cells in the substania nigra to die is remains to be unknown. What is understood is that the cell death in the substantia nigra involves the build up of lewy bodies, a type of abnormal protein. (10) The progression of the disease varies person to person, but symptoms tend to develop gradually. Typical symptoms consist of tremors, trembling hands, arms legs,

Parkinson’s disease is a “progressive, degenerative neurological condition that affects a person’s control of their body movements. It is not contagious and not fatal. It is thought to be genetic in a very small percentage of cases.” (Better Health Channel, 2015) There are approximately 80,000 Australians living with Parkinson’s today. The average age of diagnosis is around 65 years of age, however, younger people can be diagnosed with Parkinson’s as well. This is known as Young Onset Parkinson’s which is usually due to genetics. It is quite difficult to diagnose Parkinson’s. There are no laboratory tests so it is important that the diagnosis is made by a specialist like a neurologist (Parkinsons.org.au, 2015).

Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects your movement. It is gradual and sometimes starts with a tremor that is barely noticeable in just a hand. A tremor is the usual sign of Parkinson's disease, but Parkinson’s can also causes stiffness or slowing of movement.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most frequent neurodegenerative diseases, falling second to Alzheimer’s disease. It is stated that there are roughly 5 million individuals worldwide and 1 million individuals in the U.S. that suffer from PD. PD arises from the lack of dopamine in the brain along with the degradation of dopaminergic neurons, particularly in the substantia nigra pars compacta.1 The degradation of the dopamine neurons increases the number of free radicals in the substantia nigra which in turn increase oxidative stress.2 In the brain, Lewy bodies can be seen in different locations, based on the progression of PD. As the knowledge of PD pathophysiology evolved, the etiology of the disease has yet to be determined but genetic and environmental factors being studied.

In the second most commonly occurring neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson’s disease (PD), it is characterized by the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (Zhang et al. 2012) area in the mid brain, also by the formation of inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm of the neuronal cells, termed Lewy bodies (Elbaz and Tranchant, 2007). Lewy bodies are formed by aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein. The direct effect of the increase formation of Lewy bodies on the dopaminergic cells is not known, but there is a positive correlation between the increased number of Lewy bodies and the prevalence of neuronal cell death (Yuan et al. 2014). The death of these cells causes four specific motor symptoms in PD: bradykinesia, resting tremors, muscle rigidity, and postural instability. Motor symptoms are not visible in Parkinson’s patients until there is 60% of dopaminergic cell loss (Hassan et al. 2015; Dauer and Przedborski, 2003). PD currently affects approximately one million Americans (Gao et al. 2014) and is more commonly found in males. The likelihood of developing this disease increases with age, with onset usually occurring around 50-60 years of age (Hassan et al. 2015). Statistics shows an increase to around 120/100,000 people by the age 70 with PD (Dauer and Przedborski, 2003) and in rare

Parkinson’s disease is a slow progressive degenerative condition characterized by resting tremor, expressionless (mask-like) face, muscular rigidity, flexed posture, slow movements, and moderate to severe progressive dysarthria (Bhatnagar, 2002). Degenerative parkinsonian disorders can be inherited or sporadic, but are all distinguished by a loss in selective populations of vulnerable neurons. The common factor for all degenerative parkinsonian disorders is loss of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra that project to the putamen (Dickson, 2012). It is most prevalent in over one percent of the elderly population and is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease (Benninger, 2013). However, Parkinson’s disease may also occur in younger adults and can affect both men and women (Medline).

In the United States there is an estimated 1 million people living with Parkinson’s disease, with the worldwide numbers reaching an estimated 10 million people (American Parkinson’s Disease Association, 2017). Parkinson’s disease, commonly referred to as Parkinson’s, is a neurodegenerative disorder that slowly and progressively deteriorates the central nervous system (Falvo, 2014). This progressive deterioration occurs mostly in the basal ganglia, a structure in the brain composed of grey matter that contributes to complex movement. As a result, the production of dopamine produced by the basal ganglia is reduced. The cause of Parkinson’s is unknown, but both genetic and environmental factors are considered to contribute to its onset. The extreme

Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized mainly by physical and psychological disabilities. This disorder was named after James Parkinson, an English physician who first described it as shaking palsy in 1817 (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). Jean- Martin Charcot, who was a French neurologist, then progressed and further refined the description of the disease and identified other clinical features of PD (Goetz, Factr, and Weiner, 2002). PD involves the loss of cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine in a part of the brain stem called the substansia nigra, which results in several signs and symptoms (Byrd, Marks, and Starr, 2000). It is manifested clinically by tremor,