Side note: We've just heard that findings regarding...

Side note: We've just heard that findings regarding midkine/pleiotrophin in the context of Parkinson and alcohol abuse were presented at the Midkine Symposium this month. We know that this has been worked on quite a while, see

Targeting midkine andpleiotrophin signalling pathways in addiction and neurodegenerative disorders: recent progress and perspectives (from 2013)
https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/bph.12312

The connection between Parkinson and alcohol consumption is quite interesting.

Another interesting link of Parkinson is with Autism. There was an interesting article published in September 2015 that mentions a connection between autism and Parkinson that is still not being understood at all.

The Autistic spectrum and Parkinson’s disease
https://scienceofparkinsons.com/2016/05/22/the-autistic-spectrum-and-parkinsons-disease/

Study finds high rate of Parkinson’s disease among adults with autism
https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/study-finds-high-rate-parkinson’s-disease-among-adults-autism

By the way, Cellmid's Muramatsu et al also linked Midkine with Alzheimer, as early as 1993:

Midkine, a Novel Neurotrophic Factor, Is Present in Senile Plaques of Alzheimer Disease (1993)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X83714063

Later studies found further connections:

Increased midkine levels in sera from patients with Alzheimer's disease. (2005)
Quote: "The demonstration of elevated MK levels in sera of patients with AD may contribute toward an understanding the pathophysiology of this disease, and provide a novel potential therapeutic strategy for decreasing neuronal damages in patients with AD. We found that serum MK levels in patients with AD were increased in comparison with those of normal controls."
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15866365

Midkine as a factor to counteract the deposition of amyloid β-peptide plaques: in vitro analysis and examination in knockout mice (2011)
Quote: "Therefore, midkine is likely to inhibit the process leading to the onset of Alzheimer's disease."
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3024247/

Further read:
Midkine:  A  Promising  Molecule  for  Drug  Development  to  Treat  Diseases  of  the Central Nervous System
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a10d/079153fcffce7be354236e638b06422fe2be.pdf

This all suggests that the role of midkine in several indications of the "neuro" space has quite some potential as a therapeutic target.

Lyramid:
http://www.cellmid.com.au/content_common/pg-lyramid.seo