Pesticide exposure and risk of Parkinson's disease: a family-based case-control study.

Background: Pesticides and correlated lifestyle factors (e.g., exposure to well-water and farming) are repeatedly reported risk factors for Parkinson's disease (PD), but few family-based studies have examined these relationships.

Smoking, caffeine, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in families with Parkinson disease.

Objective: To assess associations between Parkinson disease (PD) and putatively protective factors-smoking, caffeine (coffee, tea, and soft drinks), and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen).

Design: Family-based case-control study.

Setting: Academic medical center clinic.

NOS2A and the modulating effect of cigarette smoking in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Inducible nitric oxide synthase, a protein product of NOS2A, generates nitric oxide as a defense mechanism, but excessive levels threaten cellular survival. NOS2A is a candidate gene for Parkinson's disease (PD) that potentially interacts with cigarette smoking. We examined NOS2A for association with PD risk and age at onset (AAO) and for interaction with smoking.

Genomic convergence to identify candidate genes for Parkinson disease: SAGE analysis of the substantia nigra.

Genomic convergence is a multistep approach that combines gene expression with genomic linkage to identify and prioritize susceptibility genes for complex disease. As a first step, we previously performed linkage analysis on 174 multiplex Parkinson's disease (PD) families, identifying five peaks for PD risk and two for genes affecting age at onset (AAO) in PD [Hauser et al., Hum Mol Genet 2003;12:671-677].

Expression profiling of substantia nigra in Parkinson disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Genes contributing to rare mendelian forms of PD have been identified, but the genes involved in the more common idiopathic PD are not well understood.

Objectives: To identify genes important to PD pathogenesis using microarrays and to investigate their potential to aid in diagnosing parkinsonism.