HEALTH REPORT - Drugs for Parkinson's Disease Linked to Urge

HEALTH REPORT - Drugs for Parkinson's Disease Linked to Urges to Gamble¹
By Cynthia Kirk

Broadcast: Wednesday, August 10, 2005

I'm Shep O'Neal with the VOA Special English Health Report.

 
 

Parkinson disease is a brain disorder². It usually develops after the age of sixty-five. Among the signs are shaking, slowed movement and muscle stiffness³. Others include depression and reduced mental ability.

With Parkinson's disease, nerve cells die in an area called the substantia nigra. This area is in the middle of the brain. The name is Latin for "black substance."

The nerve cells that die are neurons. They produce the chemical dopamine. Dopamine carries signals to the part of the brain that controls movement and balance. Dopamine is also linked to pleasure and reward centers in the brain.

There is no cure for Parkinson's disease. Mostly it is treated with drugs to increase the amount of dopamine in the brain. The drugs are called dopamine agonists. They are designed to control the movement problems.

Yet scientists have found that a new group of Parkinson's drugs can have strange effects. Some people develop uncontrollable urges to gamble. These include people with little or no history of interest in games of chance. Others have had an increased desire for sex, food and alcohol.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, did a study of eleven people on dopamine agonists. All eleven patients said they developed gambling⁴ urges within three years of when they started treatment. They began to gamble between two thousand two and two thousand four. One person reportedly lost as much as two hundred thousand dollars.

Nine of the patients took a drug called pramipexole, also known as Mirapex. The other two took ropinirole, sold under the trade name Requip.

Researchers say the gambling urge appeared to stop when the medicine was discontinued.

Doctor Maryellen Dodd led the study. She says fourteen other Mayo Clinic patients have since been found with the same problem.

Still, experts say the drugs are effective treatments. They say the unusual effects are uncommon⁵.

The study is to appear in the Archives of Neurology in September.

Several new medicines are being studied that may slow the progression of Parkinson's. The National Parkinson Foundation estimates that one and one-half million Americans have the disease.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia Kirk.  I'm Shep O'Neal.

1 gamble   

n.冒险；v.赌博，孤注一掷

参考例句：

• Setting up this business was a bit of a gamble.开办这样的公司有点冒险。
• Drive carefully and don't gamble with your life.小心驾驶，别拿你的生命冒险。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 stiffness   

n.硬度

参考例句：

• You may want to boil out some of the stiffness. 你也许想烫掉一些浆性。
• The stiffness and self-consciousness soon disappeared. 那种不自然和害羞的感觉不久便消失了。

4 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

5 uncommon   

adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的

参考例句：

• Such attitudes were not at all uncommon thirty years ago.这些看法在30年前很常见。
• Phil has uncommon intelligence.菲尔智力超群。