HOUSTONâJustin Friendâs parents have doctoral degrees and have worked as university lecturers and researchers. So Mr. Friend might have been expected to head for a university after graduating from high school in Bryan, Texas, five years ago. Instead, he attended Texas State Technical College in Waco, and received a two-year degree in welding.
A flurry of emergent research has linked mitochondrial dysfunction to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Mitochondrial dysfunction results in impaired ATP generation, loss of cellular repair mechanisms, and cellular inefficiency.
In most cases, an affected person has one parent with the condition. If the PARK2, PARK7, or PINK1 gene is involved, Parkinson disease is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. This type of inheritance means that two copies of the gene in each cell are altered.Most often, the parents of an individual with autosomal recessive Parkinson disease each carry one copy of the altered gene but do not show signs and symptoms of the disorder.When genetic alterations modify the risk of developing Parkinson disease, the inheritance pattern is usually unknown.ther characteristic symptoms of Parkinson disease include rigidity or stiffness of the limbs and torso, slow movement (bradykinesia) or an inability to move (akinesia), and impaired balance and coordination (postural instability).