Book contents
- Brain Fables
- Brain Fables
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface 1 – The Question
- Preface 2 – Enter Patient
- Acknowledgements
- Special Thanks from Benjamin Stecher
- Chapter 1 The Shaky Six and the “Second Reality”
- Chapter 2 Pieces of a Puzzle?
- Chapter 3 Disease “Redefinition”: A Tough Pill to Swallow
- Chapter 4 Disease Subtypes: The Promise and the Fallacy
- Chapter 5 Protein Paradox
- Chapter 6 The Fault in Our Models
- Chapter 7 Biomarkers: The Promise and the Fallacy
- Chapter 8 Lessons from Oncology
- Chapter 9 Symptomatic vs. Disease-Modifying Therapies
- Chapter 10 The Hypothesis That Refuses to Die
- Chapter 11 Our Living Dissonance
- Chapter 12 The Scientific and Lay Narratives
- Chapter 13 Challenges Viewed from Afar
- Chapter 14 The Moonshot: Population-Based Studies of Aging
- Chapter 15 Predictions for the 2020s and Beyond
- Epilogue
- Note Added at Press Time – Reviving LOF
- References
- Index
Chapter 2 - Pieces of a Puzzle?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2020
- Brain Fables
- Brain Fables
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface 1 – The Question
- Preface 2 – Enter Patient
- Acknowledgements
- Special Thanks from Benjamin Stecher
- Chapter 1 The Shaky Six and the “Second Reality”
- Chapter 2 Pieces of a Puzzle?
- Chapter 3 Disease “Redefinition”: A Tough Pill to Swallow
- Chapter 4 Disease Subtypes: The Promise and the Fallacy
- Chapter 5 Protein Paradox
- Chapter 6 The Fault in Our Models
- Chapter 7 Biomarkers: The Promise and the Fallacy
- Chapter 8 Lessons from Oncology
- Chapter 9 Symptomatic vs. Disease-Modifying Therapies
- Chapter 10 The Hypothesis That Refuses to Die
- Chapter 11 Our Living Dissonance
- Chapter 12 The Scientific and Lay Narratives
- Chapter 13 Challenges Viewed from Afar
- Chapter 14 The Moonshot: Population-Based Studies of Aging
- Chapter 15 Predictions for the 2020s and Beyond
- Epilogue
- Note Added at Press Time – Reviving LOF
- References
- Index
Summary
Levodopa is the closest thing we have to a miracle in modern medicine. When people with Parkinson’s disease start treatment with this molecule and its dose is titrated to an optimal level, many symptoms vanish – at least for the duration of its therapeutic action. The effect on the overall function of a patient affected by Parkinson’s symptoms is so marked that “response to levodopa” was enshrined as part of the clinical diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Lack of or poor response to levodopa raises the concern that the patient might not have Parkinson’s disease at all.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Brain FablesThe Hidden History of Neurodegenerative Diseases and a Blueprint to Conquer Them, pp. 11 - 24Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020