dyer@spdcc.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (02/19/86)
I urge anyone who missed this Nova episode (it aired this evening, Tuesday,
2/18 in Boston) to make a point of catching it later in the week on reruns,
for it is simply one of the best scientific/medical programs for the educated
layperson I've ever seen.
It deals with the mysterious phenomena first noticed in 1982, when a
number of heroin addicts in California were found literally 'frozen',
no longer able to move voluntarily, with symptoms clinically
indistinguishable from severe Parkinson's Disease. The program
provides a fascinating glimpse into the fields of medicinal chemistry,
pharmacology and neurology, and how, through this tragic accident
of a designer drug gone awry, the treatment of people with ideopathic
(that is, cause-unknown) Parkinsonism might be revolutionized and
its cause possibly discovered.
The narration is extraordinarily lucid, and, together with excellent
graphics, conveys the essence of these unfamiliar subjects.
--
Steve Dyer
dyer@harvard.HARVARD.EDU
{bbncca,bbnccv,harvard}!spdcc!dyer