The increasing demand for innovative techniques arises from the lack of safe, effective, and patient-friendly therapies for neurodegenerative disorders. With this objective in mind, the chapters of the book are structured to offer a thorough insight into recent advancements in utilizing the zebrafish (ZF) as a model for studying Parkinson’s disease (PD). This book aims to present readers with a comprehensive understanding of the clinical application of the ZF model in treating PD, encompassing the latest developments, challenges, safety considerations, toxicity issues, regulatory aspects, future potential, and limitations. Individuals in academia, the scientific community, business, and education seeking a more effective approach to target the brain stand to benefit from this resource. Key Features Provides a comparative perspective of the zebrafish–Parkinson’s disease model Highlights the restrictions of available medicines Describes biochemical and histopathological characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of this model Emphasizes distinct facets of histopathology Presents advances and developments of the future potential perspectives

This comprehensive reference provides a detailed overview of current concepts regarding the cause of Parkinson's disease-emphasizing the issues involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of epidemiological studies of parkinsonism.

For many years, the need to develop valid tools to evaluate signs and symptoms of Parkinson Disease (PD) has been present. However the understanding of all intricacies of rating scales development was not widely available and the first attempts were relatively crude. In 2002, the Movement Disorders Society created a task force to systemize the measurement of Parkinson's Disease. Since then, the Task Force has produced and published several critiques to the available rating scales addressing both motor and non-motor domains of Parkinson Disease. Additionally the task force initiated a project to develop a new version of the UPDRS, the MDS-UPDRS. But none of this was made available in one convenient source. Until now. Rating Scales in Parkinson's Disease is written for researchers from the medical and social sciences, and for health professionals wishing to evaluate the progress of their patients suffering from Parkinson Disease. The book is both exhaustive in the description of the scales and informative on the advantages and limitations of each scale. As such, the text clearly guides readers on how to choose and use the instruments available. Extensive cross-referenced tables and charts closely integrate the parts of the book to facilitate readers in moving from one symptom domain to another.

This volume looks at major clinical trials for motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and covers important aspects, including trial design, sample selection, and outcome selection. Chapters in this book discuss topics such as toxin-based rodent or genetic models of PD; clinical trials for motor symptoms, L-DOPA related motor complications, and gait disorders; clinical trials for mood disorders, troubled sleep, autonomic dysfunction; and clinical trials for disease modifying therapies. In the Neuromethods series style, chapters include the kind of detail and key advice from the specialists needed to get successful results in your laboratory or research center. Cutting-edge and authoritative, Clinical Trials in Parkinson’s Disease is a valuable resource for clinicians and researchers who want to enhance their interpretation of results from clinical trials and to design their own high-quality trials.

Most biological pathways, physical and neurological properties are highly conserved between humans and Drosophila and nearly 75% of human disease-causing genes have a functional homologue in Drosophila. This volume provides recent advances in Drosophila models for various human diseases, with each chapter providing a review of studies involving Drosophila models, as well as detailed protocols commonly used in laboratories. Starting with a review of Drosophila’s value as a highly tractable model organism for studying human diseases, subsequent chapters present Drosophila models for specific human diseases. The book provides a useful resource for all scientists who are starting to use the Drosophila model in their studies, and for researchers working in the pharmaceutical industry and using new screening models to develop new medicines for various diseases.

In the summer of 1982, hospital emergency rooms in the San Francisco Bay Area were suddenly confronted with mysteriously “frozen” patients – young men and women who, though conscious, could neither move nor speak. Doctors were baffled, until neurologist J. William Langston, recognizing the symptoms of advanced Parkinson’s disease, administered L-dopa – the only known effective treatment – and “unfroze” his patient. Dr. Langston determined that this patient and five others had all used the same tainted batch of synthetic heroin, inadvertently laced with a toxin that had destroyed an area of their brains essential to normal movement. This same area, the substantia nigra, slowly deteriorates in Parkinson’s disease. As scientists raced to capitalize on this breakthrough, Dr. Langston struggled to salvage the lives of his frozen patients, for whom L-dopa provided only short-term relief. The solution he found lay in the most daring area of research: fetal-tissue transplants. The astonishing recovery of two of his patients garnered worldwide press coverage, helped overturn federal restrictions on fetal-tissue research, and offered hope to millions suffering from Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other degenerative brain disorders. This is the story behind the headline – a spellbinding account that brings to life the intellectual excitement, ethical dilemmas, and fierce competitiveness of medical research. This new updated edition of the classic neurological mystery tale, “The Case of the Frozen Addicts,” illuminates how the solution to a baffling mystery of the brain’s chemistry opened a new frontier in medicine and restored life to people without hope. “It begins with a series of quixotic discoveries, escalates to providing possible solutions for one of humanity’s most intractable medical problems, and then catapults the reader into the center of America’s hottest political arena – abortion and fetal sanctity. Bravo! A brilliant read.” – Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague “[Langston and Palfreman] weave a highly readable and spellbinding medical detective tale... It is as absorbing as a good mystery, as entertaining as an exciting novel, and as enlightening as a good biography.” – Stanley Fahn, New England Journal of Medicine “I could not put it down... it is the lives of the ‘frozen addicts’ themselves – and the fullness with which this is presented – which makes the whole thing overwhelming.” – Oliver Sacks