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Introducing three genes corrects motor defects in monkeys.A potential gene therapy for Parkinson's disease can correct motor deficits in monkeys without causing the jerky, involuntary movements that often accompany long-term treatments for the disease. The approach is undergoing preliminary testing in a handful of human patients, who have all shown promising signs of improvement.At present, the most common remedy for Parkinson's disease involves replacing dopamine — the neurotransmitter that is depleted in patients with the disease — by administering the dopamine precursor levodopa, or L-DOPA. Most patients initially regain near-normal motor control, but after several years on L-DOPA the majority...

Can an over-the-counter vitamin-like substance slow the progression of Parkinson's disease? Rush University Medical Center is participating in a large-scale, multi-center clinical trial in the U.S. and Canada to determine whether a vitamin-like substance, in high doses, can slow the progression of Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder that affects about one million people in the United States. "At present, the very best therapies we have for Parkinson's can only mask the symptoms – they do not alter the underlying disease," said neurologist Dr. Katie Kompoliti, a specialist in movement disorders. "Finding a treatment that can slow the degenerative course of...

Enlarge ImageTrouble spots. In mice infected with the H5N1 virus, deposits of phosphorylated alpha-synuclein (arrows) in dopamine neurons may be a sign of neurodegeneration. Credit: H. Jang et al., PNAS Early Edition (2009) Decades after the 1918 influenza pandemic, epidemiologists noted an uptick in the number of people with diminished mobility and other neurological symptoms reminiscent of Parkinson's disease. But despite this and other hints, the idea that viruses can trigger neurodegenerative disease has remained controversial. Now researchers report new evidence for such a link: Mice infected with the H5N1 avian influenza virus lose the same dopamine-releasing neurons that...

ScienceDaily (Aug. 18, 2008) — A new study conducted by researchers at Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland shows that a century-old drug, methylene blue, may be able to slow or even cure Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Used at a very low concentration – about the equivalent of a few raindrops in four Olympic-sized swimming pools of water – the drug slows cellular aging and enhances mitochondrial function, potentially allowing those with the diseases to live longer, healthier lives. A paper on the methylene blue study, conducted by Hani Atamna, PhD, and a his team at Children's, was published in...

The games console, which simulates sport and other physical activities like dancing and guitar hero, could potentially improve symptoms of the degenerative illness, experts say. As well as helping with coordination and reflexes - Parkinson's impairs motor skills - medics think that the Wii has other benefits as well...such as lifting depression and increasing energy levels in patients. Doctors at the Medical College of Georgia piloted an eight-week study where they asked 20 Parkinson's sufferers to spend an hour the Wii three times a week for four weeks. The patients, all in a stage of the disease where both body...

Here’s Josh Brahm explaining this “Oprah” spot, in which Dr. Oz comes out against embryonic stem-cell research on scientific grounds (Warning: In it he handles, pokes and slices a real human brain).  Catholics remember sadly that Michael J. Fox was a huge proponent of clone-and-kill stem-cell research. How ironic that President Obama, who claims to want to “follow science” is funding precisely the kind of research that the medical community is abandoning. See Josh Brahm’s essay “9 Things the Media Messed Up About the Obama Stem Cell Story.”On the “Oprah” show, Dr. Mehmet Oz handles the brain of a 50-year-old...

External magnetic fields or spine implants could provide alternatives to invasive brain surgery. Movement and motor skills can be at least partially restored by either stimulating or inhibiting particular regions of the rats' Parkinson's-like brains with light.Karl Deisseroth The symptoms of Parkinson's disease could one day be relieved by indirect electrical stimulation of the brain, via the spinal cord or even through the surface of the skull, according to two studies on rodents.Parkinson's disease is a severe neurological disorder characterized by tremors, rigid limbs and difficulty in moving. Some patients who do not respond to drug treatment undergo deep brain...

For the past few years, Udall has lain ill with Parkinson's disease in a veterans hospital in Northeast Washington, which is where we were heading. Every few weeks, McCain drives over to pay his respects. These days the trip is a ceremony, like going to church, only less pleasant. Udall is seldom conscious, and even then he shows no sign of recognition. McCain brings with him a stack of newspaper clips on Udall's favorite subjects: local politics in Arizona, environmental legislation, Native American land disputes... ...Beneath a torn gray blanket on a narrow hospital cot, Udall lay twisted and disfigured....

Study finds Parkinson’s patients are more commonly lacking in the vitamin than Alzheimer’s patients or healthy peopleA vitamin D shortage is more likely to show up in people with Parkinson’s disease than in healthy people or those with Alzheimer’s disease, scientists report in the October Archives of Neurology. The study is the most recent contribution to a torrent of findings linking vitamin D deficiency with health risks. It’s well documented that such a deficiency can cause osteoporosis. Studies in recent years have also implicated a shortage of vitamin D in heart disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, cancer and even respiratory problems....

With the 6.20 (classic & GPU) and 6.22 (SMP) clients out, we (Dr. Pande and the F@H team) can start looking forward to the next steps in client development. We still have some last bits of work to completely unify the clients, but the hard part is already completed there for the most part. The 6.2x series introduces several new features for donors, but in time, the clients have been getting gradually more and more complex to use. The Win/SMP and multi-gpu setups are examples of very challenging setups. Our primary plans for the future are to make setup much...

Australian scientists have discovered that stem cells found in the back of a patient's nose can produce the chemical which is missing in people with Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's disease occurs when the brain cells that produce the chemical dopamine stop working.  Without dopamine, nerve cells cannot function, leading to muscle problems. Researchers from Griffith University and the University of Queensland harvested adult stem cells from the noses of Parkinson's disease patients.  They found that once the nose cells were cultured and infused into animals with Parkinson's disease, the cells began to produce dopamine.  Professor Peter Silburn from the University of...

Adult stem cell research, for the pro-life community, is ethically superior to embryonic stem cell research because it doesn't involve the destruction of human life. Scientists at Griffith University in Australia are advancing the notion that its effectiveness is superior as well. The researchers published an article on Friday in the medical journal Stem Cells showing that the use of adult stem cells may be getting closer to a cure, or at least an effective treatment, for Parkinson's. Their new studies show adult stem cells from a patient's own nose could treat their condition. The paper showed the finding that...

Breakthrough: Adult Stem Cells & Parkinson’s Great - and, for anyone following the stunning medical advances being made thanks to ADULT Stem Cell Research - unsurprising news on the Parkinson’s front. Just as numerous spinal cord injuries are being successfully treated with ASC taken from nasal cavities, it looks there sufferers of Parkinson’s Disease may be helped, too.Scientists Say Cure for Parkinson's Disease Right under Their Noses SYDNEY, Australia, June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New research on stem-cell therapy shows scientists have found that the cure for Parkinson’s disease may lie right under one’s nose - or rather, in it....

Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has developed a novel stem cell therapy to treat Parkinson's Disease - using a patient's own bone marrow stem cells to produce the missing chemical that enables restoration of motor movement. The process - which successfully alleviated symptoms of Parkinson's in rats - will be tested on monkeys next year, with human clinical trials scheduled for the following year. About 1.5 million Americans have been diagnosed with Parkinson's, a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disease. Parkinson's affects those brain cells responsible for production of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that directs motor movement. Insufficient dopamine levels result in tremor, rigidity, slowness...

SYDNEY, Australia, June 12, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New research on stem-cell therapy shows scientists have found that the cure for Parkinson's disease may lie right under one's nose - or rather, in it. Researchers from Griffith University have published a study in the journal Stem Cells that has found adult stem-cells harvested from the noses of Parkinson's patients developed into dopamine-producing brain cells upon being transplanted into the brain of a lab rat. Professor Alan Mackay-Sim said researchers simulated Parkinson's symptoms in rats by creating lesions on one side of the rat's brain to imitate the damage Parkinson's disease wreaks...

In the near future, we will be releasing some new projects which require a very rapid turn-around time. These are peptide fragment simulations which we are interested in simulating for a time-sensitive collaborative project involving protein structure prediction. These WUs will go directly to the classic clients running with -advmethods. Non-classic clients (eg SMP, GPU, PS3) will not be affected, as all of these calculations will be run via the AMBER core and only the classic client supports the AMBER core. To reward users for participating in this exciting project, we will be giving a x1.5 bonus in the points...

Researchers at Memorial-Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) have announced a very promising development in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. They’ve used a process called somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in laboratory mice, which led to neurological improvement deemed successful in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The research team expressed hope for further studies that might lead to similar cures in humans and in other diseases that affect other organ systems. SCNT works in mice with Parkinson’s diseaseSCNT, also known as therapeutic cloning, involves a process of manipulating the nucleus of a cell and transplanting it back into the subject, thereby bypassing the...

*** New PS3 client *** Sony has released an upgraded client for the PS3. Check out Noam Rimon's (he's the lead developer at Sony) post: Hello, Starting today a new version of Folding is available. This version is a minor fix to the previous 1.3 version and adds a better tuned algorithm that handles peak performance hours of Folding@home network, by acting differently to certain network errors if those occur. It is recommended that you update to the new version by quitting the application and restarting it. Your current WU will not be damaged in any way, in-fact Folding will...

To my post about "McCain's Health" I have received responses by many who think I am trying to smear McCain and spread a rumor. Considering the timing, I can understand why they would think my intent was less than altruistic so I am not going to counter the assertions to that effect. I will admit that his supposed rise in the polls was indeed the catalyst for my bringing it up. I did make this point to my wife about 6 months or so ago when I noticed the fact that he's always holding the rolled up paper in the...

The identification of a new marker is making it possible to track brain stem cells for the first time, U.S. researchers report. The achievement is already opening doors to new research into depression, early childhood development and multiple sclerosis, the team's senior author said. "This is a way to detect these cells in the brain, so that you can track them in certain conditions where we suspect that these cells play a certain role," explained Dr. Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, an assistant professor of neurology at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. "This is also very applicable for situations where...

Memories help construct lives and life experiences—without them, living life would be nearly impossible. Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases are debilitating illnesses capable of ruining victims’ lives and inflicting pain and sadness on their families. Recent findings at UC Irvine show that the use of stem cells can reverse memory loss after brain injuries and diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. “This study can very well benefit people with diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as physical brain injuries and neuron loss, if it becomes transferable to humans,” said Debbie Morisette, a stereologist working on the study. “But as of right...

I've been under a lot of stress in the last couple weeks - I'm not sure what I can say - the other night I got so upset I just wanted to leave FR - I thought I was strong but at the moment I'm really distraught - My father has been sick for a while - he has Parkinson's and something wrong with his liver I'm not sure what it is - a couple weeks ago my mother sent me an email and said they had to call 911 because he was "bleeding from his esophageal varises" and having...

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas TX are seeking patients to participate in medical studies for Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and low-back pain. All clinical trials are approved by UT Southwestern’s Institutional Review Board, which reviews them for benefits, risks, side effects and informed consent. Parkinson’s UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers are enrolling patients with Parkinson’s disease to determine if creatine, normally used as a nutritional supplement, can slow the progression of the disease. Study participants will receive either creatine or a placebo and must not take creatine outside the study during the trial. The investigators will measure...

14 July 2007 Hope for new Parkinson's therapy Scientists have discovered a protein which may help to slow, or even reverse symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's destroys nerve cells that produce the brain chemical dopamine, causing movement and balance problems. Finnish researchers found the new molecule can prevent degeneration of these cells - and help damaged cells start to recover. Their paper, featured in Nature, showed symptoms eased in rats given injections of the protein. Current anti-Parkinson's drugs do not stop nerve cells from degenerating and dying, and their effects can be patchy and short-lived. The researchers, from the...

AP SCIENCE WRITER NEW YORK -- An experimental treatment for Parkinson's disease seemed to improve symptoms - dramatically so, for one 59-year-old man - without causing side effects in an early study of a dozen patients. The gene therapy treatment involved slipping billions of copies of a gene into the brain to calm overactive brain circuitry. The small study focused on testing the safety of the procedure rather than its effectiveness, and experts cautioned it's too soon to draw conclusions about how well it works. But they called the results promising and said the approach merits further studies. "We still...

A new study adds to the previously reported evidence that cigarette smoking protects against Parkinson's disease. Specifically, the new research shows a temporal relationship between smoking and reduced risk of Parkinson's disease. That is, the protective effect wanes after smokers quit. "It is not our intent to promote smoking as a protective measure against Parkinson's disease," Evan L. Thacker from Harvard School of Public Health emphasized in comments to Reuters Health. "Obviously smoking has a multitude of negative consequences. Rather, we did this study to try to encourage other scientists...to consider the possibility that neuroprotective chemicals may be present in...

OK, new thread for the next week, celebrating 100,000 Work Units! First, a big shout out to the SETI and BOINC members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0. Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 1040 processors and 420 user names. We now have 29 members who have contributed at least 100,000 points each. Woo-Hoo! Even more impressive, our team now boasts 342 members who have folded at least 1,000 points. That is more than the entire number of folders for our erstwhile left-wing environazi competitors! Free Republic Folding@Home...

Source: Society of Chemical Industry Date: January 18, 2007 New Study To Test Statin-Parkinson's Link Science Daily — Researchers are sufficiently worried by new study results that they are planning clinical trials involving thousands of people to examine the possible link between Parkinson's disease and statins, the world biggest selling drugs, reports Patrick Walter in Chemistry & Industry, the magazine of the SCI. Suggestions of a statin link are not new, but the results of a recent study linking low LDL cholesterol to Parkinson's provide the strongest evidence to date that it could be real, because statins work by reducing...

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y., May 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The results of a study published in the April issue of Stem Cells and Development suggest that human stem cells derived from bone marrow are predisposed to develop into a variety of nerve cell types, supporting the promise of developing stem cell-based therapies to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis. Stem Cells and Development, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., carries the paper, entitled "Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Express Neural Genes, Suggesting a Neural Predisposition." (online here http://www.liebertpub.com/scd)The surprising results lend a new perspective...

Brain cells derived from human embryonic stem cells improved the condition of rats with Parkinson's-like symptoms dramatically, but the treatment caused a significant problem - the appearance of brain tumors - that scientists are now working to solve. The study is featured on the cover of the November issue of Nature Medicine. The work was reported by neurologist Steven Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and chief of its Division of Cell and Gene Therapy, and Neeta Roy, Ph.D., assistant professor of Neurology at Cornell's Weill Medical College. "The results are a real...

My name is Michel Lévesque, and I am a physician, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon based at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. I am Associate Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at the UCLA School of Medicine and member of the UCLA Brain Research Institute. I am also the founder of NeuroGeneration, a biotechnology company pioneering autologous neural stem cell therapies, and Chairman of the Foundation for Neural Repair, a not-for-profit foundation, sponsoring translational research to accelerate human trials using neural stem cells. Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee, I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today on our...

Thank you, Chairman Brownback, for your interest in Parkinson’s Disease, in my treatment by Dr. Levesque, and in my hopes and concerns for the future. For fourteen years I’ve had Parkinson’s Disease. This irreversible disease involves the slow destruction of specialized cells in the brain, called Dopamine Neurons. By early 1991 I suffered extreme shaking of the right side of my body, stiffness in my gait and movements. After some years of medication, I developed fluctuation and poor response to Sinemet. This made daily activities needing the coordinated use of both hands hard or impossible, such as putting in contact...

With increasing frequency, American citizens and others from around the globe are experiencing newfound freedom from disease, affliction, and infirmity. Individuals' lives are forever changed with the strengthened faith and renewed hope that arise from healed bodies and physical restoration. These seemingly miraculous cures are the result of adult stem cell treatments. Yet the debates in the popular media tend to ignore and obscure the medical breakthroughs made by adult stem cell research--success that has conspicuously eluded embryonic stem cell treatments.[1]  Adult stem cells (or, more accurately, tissue stem cells) are regenerative cells of the human body that possess the...

Scientists at Harvard University have developed a computer model that, for the first time, can fully map and predict how small proteins fold into three-dimensional, biologically active shapes. The work could help researchers better understand the abnormal protein aggregation underlying some devastating diseases, as well as how natural proteins evolved and how proteins recognize correct biochemical partners within living cells. The technique, which can track protein folding for some 10 microseconds -- about as long as some proteins take to assume their biologically stable configuration, and at least a thousand times longer than previous methods -- is described this week...

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. — Michael J. Fox hopes that research on human embryos will help him overcome Parkinson’s disease, but new scientific findings may give him pause. As controversy raged over the actor’s TV ads promoting Senate candidates who back the embryo-killing research, scientists came out with new findings — research using human embryonic stem cells to treat Parkinson’s disease produce tumors in research animals. Dr. Steven Goldman and a University of Rochester Medical Center team, in a study released Oct. 22, showed that symptoms of the disease decreased, but tumors grew in the animals’ brains, according to the report...

Re: Oct. 28 editorial cartoon, showing Rush Limbaugh shouting into a radio microphone, with a technician saying, "He must be off his meds." There is no doubt that the U.S. radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh's direct style and his own past medication issues make him an inviting target. And although he was, in all probability, technically inaccurate in accusing Michael J. Fox of "acting" in his recent political TV ad supporting a Democratic senatorial candidate, Mr. Limbaugh may have been very close to the mark. As a neurologist with a large number of Parkinson's disease patients, my impression of the...

Plain talk: Limbaugh should be ashamed, but isn't By Dave Zweifel October 27, 2006 Rush Limbaugh may not be this country's most disgusting human being, but he surely ranks among the top 10. You're undoubtedly familiar with his latest outrageousness - claiming that Michael J. Fox was really faking those Parkinson's disease palsied shakes when he cut campaign ads for candidates who, like Wisconsin's Jim Doyle, favor embryonic stem cell research. Fox, who came down with Parkinson's about 15 years ago and was forced to essentially retire from his acting career, thus became the latest victim of the well-honed Republican...

When politicians or activists start talking about science, proceed with caution. Often emotion or their desired political ends taint, distort or completely neglect solid scientific scholarship. For example, consider when Ron Reagan Jr. and his mother Nancy came out supporting embryonic stem cell research after President Reagan’s death due to Alzheimer’s Disease. While others who were close to the former President Reagan, including his other son Michael, claimed the former President would have never supported embryonic stem cell research, even if it would had saved his life. So what is going on here? Pardon Me, What Are Stem Cells? Simplified,...

NEW YORK - In a response to charges by conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, Michael J. Fox defended his appearance in recent political campaign ads, saying he was neither acting nor off his medication for Parkinson's disease. On the contrary, he had been overmedicated, the actor said during an interview aired on Thursday's "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric." "The irony of it is that I was too medicated," Fox told Couric, adding that his jumpy condition as he spoke to her reflected "a dearth of medication — not by design. I just take it, and it kicks in when...

Do you think Rush Limbaugh went too far in accusing Michael J. Fox of exaggerating the effects of Parkinson's disease? * 115743 VOTE HERE!!! Yes. 84%No. 14%I don't know. 1.6% I had to look into this one because the way the media reported it, it sounded like Rush did go too far. But then you find out that this is a tactic of Michael J. Fox that he has previously admitted using to enhance sympathy for his cause. Well, then that makes Rush's comment 100% accurate.

Actor Fox stars in campaign ad for Doyle A television ad for Democratic Governor Jim Doyle is the latest done by actor Michael J. Fox, who's backing candidates across the country who support embryonic stem cell research. Fox has Parkinson's disease and has recorded other ads on behalf of candidates supporting the research. The issue may have more potency here because University of Wisconsin scientists have been pioneers in the field. Fox speaks directly into the camera, with his Parkinson tremors evident, is asking voters to re-elect Doyle. Fox says Doyle's Republican opponent, Mark Green, has stood in the way...

This is a well written and informative article, Michael. I am 64 and have had PD for about two years. I shared emotions you expressed, especially denial. But now I have come to accept it and am tryiing to make the best of my life. I have avoided medications for as long as possible but started a newly approved medication yesterday, called Azilect. It presumably slows down the disease, but, as you indicated, everyone is different regarding how they are affected by Parkinson's. I have read the Michael J. Fox book too and found it interesting. He appeared recently in...

The race in Missouri between Jim Talent and Claire McCaskill took a disturbing turn last night. In the St. Louis market during the World Series, Michael J. Fox shot an ad on behalf of Claire McCaskill on the sole issue of stem cells. The ad, which will probably now embolden the cut and run conservatives to run in droves to the polls, was both exploitative and manipulative. The ad was perhaps too clever for McCaskill. It is an issue seen by many voters as being personal and non-political. Yet, McCaskill and the left have repeatedly pulled the issue into gutter...

Stem Cells Not the Priority for Alzheimer'sNewsMax.com WiresFriday, June 11, 2004 NEW YORK – Despite the high profile that Nancy Reagan and others have given the idea of using embryonic stem cells to treat Alzheimer's disease, advances are likely to come faster from other approaches. Experts cite other more promising efforts that in five to 10 years may be used to fight the disease that led to President Reagan's death. "I just think everybody feels there are higher priorities for seeking effective treatments for Alzheimer's disease and for identifying preventive strategies," said Marilyn Albert, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who...

Embryonic stem cells have not cured or successfully treated a single patient. Contrast that with the more than 70 conditions that are treatable using non-embryonic stem cell therapies. One of the hottest debates in bioethics today surrounds research using stem cells taken from either in vitro fertilization or cloned human embryos. From state legislatures and the halls of Congress to the United Nation, the controversy over whether to ban (or fund) such research rages. Human cloning for embryonic stem cell research creates human embryos virtually identical to a patient’s genetic composition. The embryo’s stem cells are then harvested — a...

Scientists Create Brain Cells, Predict Possible Rapid Development of Treatments for Alzheimers and Parkinson's WASHINGTON, June 14, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - American researchers have found a method of growing batches, or lines, of fully mature brain cells. This has often been predicted as the end of such neurological diseases as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s. The ethical new technique mimics the brain’s own natural process of changing stem cells into neurons. For the moment, the research has been confined to mice, but the researchers are hopeful that their work can soon be transferred to human patients. Bjorn Scheffler, a neuroscientist at Florida...

Newswise — University of Florida researchers have shown ordinary human brain cells may share the prized qualities of self-renewal and adaptability normally associated with stem cells. Writing in an upcoming edition of Development, scientists from UF’s McKnight Brain Institute describe how they used mature human brain cells taken from epilepsy patients to generate new brain tissue in mice. Furthermore, they can coax these pedestrian human cells to produce large amounts of new brain cells in culture, with one cell theoretically able to begin a cycle of cell division that does not stop until the cells number about 10 to the...

An enzyme known to be critical for the repair of damaged cells and the maintenance of cellular energy may be a useful target for new strategies to treat Huntington's disease (HD) and other disorders characterized by low cellular energy levels. In the August issue of Chemistry & Biology, a research team from the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease (MIND) describes their discovery of a novel inhibitor of Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP1) and their findings that PARP1 inhibitors can protect HD-affected cells from damage in laboratory assays. "While PARP1 is essential for the repair of damaged DNA, we also know that,...

Like NASA before the first moon landing, I have been soliciting advice about what to say when I wake up from brain surgery. That's right, brain surgery—it's a real conversation stopper, isn't it? There aren't many things you can say these days that retain their shock value, but that is one of them. "So, Mike—got any summer plans?" "Why, yes, next Tuesday I'm having brain surgery. How about you?" In the age of angioplasty and Lipitor, even the heart has lost much of its metaphorical power, at least in the medical context. People are willing to accept it as a...

CLEVELAND - A jury on Tuesday found makers of welding rods were not liable for the health problems of a former civilian worker at a Navy base in a ruling that could influence thousands of other cases that allege welding fumes cause neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease. Ernesto G. Solis, 57, claims years of exposure to welding fumes at his job at a Navy base in Corpus Christi, Texas, damaged his health because of exposure to manganese within welding rods. Scientific research has been at odds over whether such exposure can lead to Parkinson's, which diminishes movement and speech....