Word: parkinsonism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...BLOWS Last week researchers reported that coffee might help prevent Parkinson's disease. So is the caffeine bean good for you or not? Over the years, studies haven't exactly been clear...
...that's just the beginning. Someday, scientists hope to use cells like these to cure diabetes, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis, as well as to reverse congestive heart failure and heal spinal-cord injuries. But there are some aspects of this story that are brave new world-ish. Known scientifically as stem cells, Pedersen's marvelously pliable cells are derived from seven-day-old human embryos, which are destroyed in the process. Although not all stem cells are produced this way, embryonic stem cells seem for now to have the greatest potential for medical miracles...
There's much more to learn, of course, and many pitfalls to avoid. Consider the case of a 52-year-old American athlete with Parkinson's disease, who in 1989--before human stem cells had been isolated from the brain--traveled to China for a fetal-cell transplant. The goal was to replace some of the diseased neurons in his brain with newly differentiated fetal nerve tissue. While that approach has been at least partly successful in hundreds of other cases, something went dreadfully wrong this time. About two years later, the man suddenly developed trouble breathing and died...
...years, it is our responsibility to do everything possible to protect the quality of life of the present and future generations. A critical factor will be what we do with human embryonic stem cells. These cells have the potential to cure diseases and conditions ranging from Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis to diabetes and heart disease, Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease, even spinal-cord injuries like my own. They have been called the body's self-repair...
...Despite a long battle with Parkinson's disease, Vorenberg taught criminal law and legal ethics at Harvard until the time of his death...