Introduction
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- Parkinson's disease is a motor disorder of
the nervous system that affects muscle control. It is
namedfor the physician James Parkinson, who was the first
to discribe the disease in 1817.
- It occurs in patients around the world,
and is not race or gender specific. However, incidences
of the disease appear more frequently in caucasians and
males.
- 50,000 people in the United States and
Canada are diagnosed each year. Estimating how many
people have the disease is difficult, however, because
symptoms are often mistaken for the normal effects of
aging.
- The disease develops as the substantia
nigra in the brain degenerates. This reduces the dopamine
within the body, and without adequate dopamine, the nerve
cells activate improperly, which impairs a person's
ability to control their movement.
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