Radio Shows | Google Parkinson's | mp3 … wma … wav

I could go on and on about the downsides of living in a celebrity obsessed culture but – here's a positive. They can bring attention to worthy issues like, Parkinson's Disease.

Katherine Hepburn had it. So does Michael J. Fox and now internet giant, Google, is connected.

Before we explain, let's first define Parkinson's Disease which basically impairs our ability to move. This happens when nerve cells stop making dopamine, a chemical that carries signals between nerve cells to allow the brain control of movement.

Without dopamine, hands can tremble, as well as the arms, legs, jaw and face. Balance, posture, and coordination are all impaired. These symptoms worsen with time, though fortunately, usually over many years.

Up to two percent of people over 65 get Parkinson's disease. Patients are given drugs to replenish dopamine in the brain and those who don't respond, turn to surgery.

Doctors implant electrodes in the brain which shoot electrical pulses to try weakening the symptoms. One way people get Parkinson's is through inheriting, in particular, mutations in a gene on chromosome 12. The most common of these mutations called G2019S varies among ethnic groups and geographic origins.

East Asians have less than point-one-percent chance of having the mutation while it's two percent among European descendants. And amazingly, Ashkenazi Jews as well as North African Arabs have up to 15 to forty percent chance of having the mutation.

So how does Google figure into this? Recently its co-founder, Sergey Brin, learned he has the mutation.

Though not everyone with the mutation develops Parkinsons, the odds go up by 30 to 75 percent. That's why Brin has launched a 50 million dollar effort to speed up the development of new treatments or even a cure should he develop Parkinson's in his lifetime.

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