[Parkinson's disease as seen by a patient with this disease]. / La enfermedad de Parkinson vista por un afectado.

INTRODUCTION: The idea of writing this paper stemmed from the interest shown by Dr Francisco Javier Jiménez-Jiménez in giving a firsthand description of the experiences of a patient suffering from Parkinson's disease, as a complement to the scientific view. The author is not a member of the medical profession. DEVELOPMENT: This study is based on the analysis of the disease as seen by the person actually suffering from it. From this biography we analyze the possible causes that could have exerted an influence on the development of the disease, and the physical causes are also outlined. We analyze the drugs that are administered as therapy and we establish the relations that exist between the symptoms presented by the author and the possible deterioration of the governing centres of the brain which should control them but, due to the degeneration brought about by the disease, do not. The effects produced by the medication are studied and we also describe how help can be obtained from the outside by employing other types of medicine that are not strictly allopathic. In the final part of the paper the relations between the patient and the people around them are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: It becomes clear that there is a void in our knowledge about this disease due to our not knowing what exactly causes it. This means that therapies are directed towards palliating the symptoms rather than fighting the causes. Something that must be highlighted is the important role played by the patient's will to fight against the disease.

Highly emissive supramolecular oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) dendrimers.

pi-Conjugated oligo(p-phenylene vinylene) (OPV) guest molecules for interaction with dendritic hosts were synthesized and fully characterized by NMR spectroscopy, MALDI-TOF-MS, elemental analysis and optical measurements. The binding properties of the five different OPV guests to a N,N-bis[(3-adamantyl ureido) propyl] methylamine host have been investigated. The guests that contained an aryl urea glycine spacer were bound with the highest association constant. Subsequently, an adamantyl urea modified fifth generation poly(propylene imine) dendrimer was synthesized as a multivalent host which contains 32 N,N-bis[(3-adamantyl ureido) propyl] amine binding sites. Size exclusion chromatography showed that 32 of the OPV guests strongly bind to the fifth generation adamantyl functionalized dendritic host. In the case of the supramolecular dendritic host/guest system smooth homogeneous thin films could be obtained by spin coating. The dendritic guest-host complexes showed a significantly higher emission upon binding then that of the individual molecules due to the three-dimensional orientation of the OPV guest molecules. In the solid state, this enhancement in luminescence was a factor of 10. The pi-conjugated oligomers are less aggregated in the supramolecular assemblies presumably because of a shielding effect of the bulky adamantyl units present in the hosts.

La enfermedad de Parkinson vista por un afectado / Parkinson´s disease as seen by a patient

Introducción. Este artículo se debe al interés del Dr. Francisco Javier Jiménez-Jiménez por dar una visión de primera mano, complementaria de la científica, de las vivencias de un paciente que sufre la enfermedad de Parkinson. El autor no es médico. Desarrollo. Se basa en el análisis de la enfermedad desde el punto de vista de la persona que la vive; de esta biografía se analizan las posibles causas que pudieran haber tenido influencia en el desarrollo de la enfermedad, y se esbozan las causas físicas. Se analizan los fármacos que se administran como terapia y se establecen las relaciones entre los síntomas que presenta el autor y el posible deterioro de los centros rectores del cerebro que los deberían controlar, pero que no controlan debido a la degeneración provocada por la enfermedad. Se estudian los efectos que producen los medicamentos y se describen las ayudas que, desde el exterior, prestan las medicinas no estrictamente alópatas. Hacia el final se explican las relaciones entre el enfermo y quienes lo rodean. Conclusiones. Se deduce que existe ante esta enfermedad, al desconocerse las causas que la motivan, un vacío de conocimientos. Esto hace que las terapias se encaminen a paliar los síntomas y no a combatir las causas. Es de destacar la importancia del enfermo en lo relativo al espíritu de lucha contra la enfermedad (AU)

Introduction. The idea of writing this paper stemmed from the interest shown by Dr Francisco Javier Jiménez-Jiménez in giving a firsthand description of the experiences of a patient suffering from Parkinson’s disease, as a complement to the scientific view. The author is not a member of the medical profession. Development. This study is based on the analysis of the disease as seen by the person actually suffering from it. From this biography we analyze the possible causes that could have exerted an influence on the development of the disease, and the physical causes are also outlined. We analyze the drugs that are administered as therapy and we establish the relations that exist between the symptoms presented by the author and the possible deterioration of the governing centres of the brain which should control them but, due to the degeneration brought about by the disease, do not. The effects produced by the medication are studied and we also describe how help can be obtained from the outside by employing other types of medicine that are not strictly allopathic. In the final part of the paper the relations between the patient and the people around them are discussed. Conclusions. It becomes clear that there is a void in our knowledge about this disease due to our not knowing what exactly causes it. This means that therapies are directed towards palliating the symptoms rather than fighting the causes. Something that must be highlighted is the important role played by the patient’s will to fight against the disease (AU)

Synthesis, characterization, and optical response of dipolar and non-dipolar poly(phenylenevinylene) dendrimers.

New dipolar and non-dipolar poly(phenylenevinylene) dendrimers bearing electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups have been efficiently synthesized using Heck and Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reactions. The photoluminescence of these systems may be tuned in the blue zone by choosing the appropriate peripheral groups. Despite the meta-substitution pattern, large Stokes shifts can be observed when pi-donor and pi-acceptor groups are connected by a m-phenylenevinylene system.