The aim of this study was to examine metamemory in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with different dominant motor symptoms. This is a prospective case-control study. Fifty-five PD patients [25 patients with tremor-dominant (TD) motor symptoms and 30 patients with akinetic and rigidity-dominant (ARD) motor symptoms] and 30 normal controls ...

Although previous studies showed that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have low bone mineral density (BMD), there is little data on factors predisposing PD patients to low BMD. We compared the BMD of 108 PD patients (58 females) with an average age of 68 (range 42-83) years with that of ...

This study examines the clinical accuracy of movement disorder specialists in distinguishing tremor dominant Parkinson's disease (TDPD) from other tremulous movement disorders by the use of standardised patient videos. Two movement disorder specialists were asked to distinguish TDPD from patients with atypical tremor and dystonic tremor, who had no evidence ...

OBJECTIVE: Transcranial sonography (TCS) shows characteristic hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra (SN) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Although this feature is well established, sufficient observer reliability and diagnostic accuracy are prerequisites for advancements of this method. METHODS: The authors investigated both aspects in a cross-sectional study with four blinded ...

One of the challenges in neuroscience is the detection of directionality between signals reflecting neural activity. To reveal the directionality of coupling and time delays between interacting multi-scale signals, we use a combination of a data-driven technique called empirical mode decomposition (EMD) and partial directed coherence (PDC) together with the ...

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by parkinsonism (MSA-P), cerebellar and autonomic deficits. In Parkinson's disease (PD), an impaired modulation of motor cortical mu and beta range oscillations may be related to the pathophysiology of bradykinesia. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) of these oscillations occur for 1-2 s preceding ...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether dopamine transport system imaging by FP-CIT single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) can be helpful to differentiate idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) from secondary Parkinsonism induced by amiodarone. METHODS: Twenty-two patients with Parkinsonism during amiodarone therapy were evaluated by clinical neurological examination and FP-CIT SPECT. Thereafter, amiodarone was ...

OBJECT: Parkinson disease (PD) is often accompanied by various postural abnormalities such as camptocormia (bent spine) or Pisa syndrome (lateral flexion). The authors studied the effect of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN DBS) on postural abnormality in patients with PD. METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed the clinical course of ...

INTRODUCTION: Patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) often develop motor complications including fluctuations and involuntary movements (dyskinesias). In Denmark, treatment has comprised Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) since the late 1990s, and as from 2002 use of a subcutaneous apomorphine pump. Monotherapy with continuous intestinal levodopa infusion to the duodenum (Duodopa) ...

BACKGROUND: Polyamines (PAs) are important modulators of physiological condition, and are associated with neurodegenerative disease. Thus, we investigated the change of PA concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). METHODS: CSF samples from patients with PD and MSA were examined ...

OBJECTIVE: To assess somatoform disorder (SFMD) prevalence and impact in Parkinson disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). METHODS: SFMD were assessed by direct observation of symptoms in the year coincident (+/-6 months) with definite diagnosis of PD, DLB, Alzheimer disease, multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, or frontotemporal ...

A correct balance between endocannabinoid and dopamine-dependent systems is believed to underlie physiological motor control. We measured the levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide in the cerebrospinal fluid of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Subjects were divided into three groups: newly diagnosed de novo patients, subjects undergoing drug withdrawal, and patients under ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the discriminative power of different nonmotor signs for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). Thirty patients with PD with <or=3 years of disease duration were compared with 30 healthy controls. Six deficit domains (DD) were defined: hyposmia, sleep abnormalities, dysautonomia, visual deficits, ...

Timed tests of motor function in Parkinson's disease (PD) may be useful for the diagnosis of bradykinesia or to monitor disease progression or treatment response. However, normal ranges have not been established. To define normal ranges of hand-tapping and timed walking tests in non-parkinsonian controls and compare with PD patients' ...

Peripheral metabolism of L-DOPA via enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the possible sources of homocysteine (HCY). The aim of this study was to assess plasma HCY levels in L-DOPA-treated Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and its influence by adding the inhibitor COMT (entacapone). Patients were divided into two groups: (1) ...

DNA variation at the FGF20 gene has been associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). In particular, SNP rs12720208 in the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) was linked to PD-risk through a mechanism that would implicate a differential binding to microRNA-433 (miR-433). The reduction of the affinity of miR-433 to the 3' ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the nature of parkinsonism associated with liver cirrhosis, which entails examination of the integrity of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system. METHODS: Consecutive patients who had concurrent liver cirrhosis and parkinsonism were investigated with MRI and dopamine transporter (DAT) single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) using iodine I 123 [(123)I]-radiolabeled ...

OBJECTIVE: Several impulse control disorders (ICDs) may develop in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to identify the frequency and phenomenology of ICDs in our PD population. METHODS: Among 554 PD patients examined in a 3-year period, we identified 33 patients with ICDs. Disease duration, gender, and age-matched 65 ...

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) manifests a wide spectrum of non-cerebellar system involvements. The objective of this study was to examine the presence of nigrostriatal dopaminergic system derangement in SCA6. Eight patients with SCA6 who underwent a regular follow-up for at least 2 years participated in this study. A detailed ...

OBJECTIVES: The aims of the present study were to investigate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (pk/pd) relationship of levodopa (l-dopa) in patients with advanced Parkinson disease (PD) and also to evaluate the effect of tolcapone on the pk/pd analysis of l-dopa in 1 patient with severe dyskinesias and fluctuations. METHODS: The ...

Gait festination (FE) can cause serious disability in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. It is argued that the center of pressure position (COP) and body center of mass (COM) are possibly implicated in FE pathogenesis. The relationship between them remains unclear. The goal of this study was to determine spatiotemporal relationships ...

A normoechogenic substantia nigra (SN) is a typical finding in transcranial sonography in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), whereas in patients with Parkinson's disease a hyperechogenic SN is characteristic. A recent classification scheme recommends the differentiation of PSP patients into those with Richardson's syndrome (RS) and those with PSP-Parkinsonism ...

To determine the level of HER-2/neu overexpression in vulvar Paget disease (PD) in order to assess the possibility of using HER-2/neu as a target for the treatment of Paget disease. A medical record search identified 39 patients with a histologically confirmed diagnosis of vulvar PD between 1986 and 2009. A ...

Approximately 10% of patients diagnosed clinically with early Parkinson's disease (PD) have normal dopaminergic functional imaging (Scans Without Evidence of Dopaminergic Deficit [SWEDDs]). An important subgroup of SWEDDs are those with asymmetric rest tremor resembling parkinsonian tremor. Clinical and pathophysiological features which could help to distinguish SWEDDs from PD have ...

Previous studies suggested that olfaction is normal in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). We applied the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) to 36 patients with PSP who scored more than 18 on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), 140 patients with nondemented Parkinson's disease (PD) and 126 controls. Mean ...

Explorative analysis of prosodic parameters in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and in healthy controls in correlation to gender, disease-specific parameters, and motor symptoms. Acoustical analysis was performed on 169 patients with PD and 64 age-matched healthy controls based on a four sentence-reading task. Assessment of motor impairment was performed ...

Recent cerebral blood flow (CBF) and glucose consumption (CMRglc) studies of Parkinson's disease (PD) revealed conflicting results. Using simulated data, we previously demonstrated that the often-reported subcortical hypermetabolism in PD could be explained as an artifact of biased global mean (GM) normalization, and that low-magnitude, extensive cortical hypometabolism is best ...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to compare the prevalence of idiopathic rhinorrhea in PD patients versus controls, to determine the correlation between rhinorrhea and anosmia, and the factors associated with rhinorrhea. SCOPE: A cohort of 61 PD patients and 51 age-matched controls completed a survey about rhinorrhea and ...

The idiopathic Parkinson disease (IPD) is traditionally diagnosed by motor signs, but non-motor symptoms and signs are frequent and may help in the clinical diagnosis. PURPOSE: To evaluate the olfactory function in Brazilian healthy subjects, patients with early-onset PD (EOPD) and late-onset PD (LOPD) using the Sniffin' Sticks odor-identification test ...

To investigate the effect of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-dopa) therapy on homocysteine (HC) concentration in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of total HC and methionine (Met) were compared between 18 patients with PD before and after treatment with L-dopa and 16 neurologically normal control patients. Concentrations ...

Parkinson's disease (PD), a chronic progressive neurodegenerative disorder, has a mainly unknown multifactorial etiology. Neuroinflammatory mechanisms might contribute to the cascade of events leading to neuronal degeneration. Toxoplasmosis can be associated with various neuropsychiatric disorders. The most commonly affected central nervous system (CNS) region in toxoplasmosis is the cerebral hemisphere, ...

There are various causes of halitosis, one of which is chronic renal failure. The objective of this study was to investigate halitosis levels in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients before and after peritoneal dialysis (PD) therapy. 42 subjects with ESRD were included in this study. The presence of halitosis was ...

"Punding" is the term used to describe a stereotyped motor behavior characterized by an intense fascination with repetitive purposeless movements, such as taking apart mechanical objects, handling common objects as if they were new and entertaining, constantly picking at oneself, etc. As a phenomenon with both impulsive and compulsive features, ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to investigate the microstructural integrity of brain regions functionally involved in the tremor loop in patients with familial essential tremor (FET), using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). METHODS: Twenty-five patients with FET, 15 patients with Parkinson disease (PD), and 15 healthy subjects were studied. ...

Pathological gambling (PG) represents a behavioral side effect of dopamine replacement therapy in a minority of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Using striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) with single photon emission tomography we assessed presynaptic dopaminergic function in 8 PD patients with PG, 21 matched PD control subjects, and 14 healthy ...

Whereas the left hemisphere is involved in regulating the parasympathetic nervous system, the right hemisphere regulates the sympathetic. Given the asymmetrical onset of motor symptoms and neuropathology in PD, differences in cardiovascular functions might be expected between PD patients with left hemibody onset (LHO) versus right hemibody onset (RHO). A ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of B-mode and power Doppler (PD) sonography in patients with active long-standing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) comparatively with clinical data. METHODS: In each of 7 patients being considered for a change in their RA treatment regimen, 7 healthcare professionals examined the 28 joints ...

The pathology of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not confined to the brainstem regions, but spreads to involve the neocortical areas. Using surface-based cortical thickness analysis, we studied the topographical distribution of cortical thinning in nondemented patients with mild PD. The high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were performed in 48 ...

OBJECTIVE: Impulse control disorders (ICDs) are mainly triggered by dopaminergic therapy in Parkinson's disease (PD). Previously, we failed to identify a relationship between the types of dopaminergic therapy and occurrence of ICDs in 33 PD patients. In this study, we aim to evaluate the outcome of ICD behaviors in the ...

OBJECTIVE: Examine the level of intra- and inter-limb coherency in non-dyskinetic and dyskinetic patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). PATIENTS & METHODS: Using a magnetic tracking system, whole-body 3D movements were assessed in 10 dyskinetic patients with clear monophasic peak-dose levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID), in 10 non-dyskinetic patients and in 10 control ...

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to assess frontal dysfunction in Turkish patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease (PD) by using frontal assessment battery (FAB), and to determine the relationship among FAB scores and education, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and severity of the disease. BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment in patients with ...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease causing hypokinetic dysarthria, associated with "blurred" or underarticulated speech, imprecise consonants, and, sometimes, irregular syllable trains. Within the past decade, deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has provided substantial benefit to PD patients. DBS treatment has largely been directed toward ...

BACKGROUND: Most pancreaticoduodenectomies (PDs) are performed to treat periampullary malignancies (PMs). Final pathologic analysis on these specimens does not always contain PMs. Our aim was to classify diseases that preoperatively mimic PMs. METHODS: A prospective database of PDs performed at a single institution was reviewed. Clinicopathologic data on patients without ...

We examined potential neurocognitive mechanisms of indirect speech in support of face management in 28 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 32 elderly controls with chronic disease. In experiment 1, we demonstrated automatic activation of indirect meanings of particularized implicatures in controls but not in PD patients. Failure to automatically ...

BACKGROUND: Residual renal function (RRF) impacts outcome of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Some PD fluids contain glucose degradation products (GDPs) which have been shown to affect cell systems and tissues. They may also act as precursors of advanced glycosylation endproducts (AGEs) both locally and systemically, potentially inflicting damage to the ...

OBJECTIVE: This investigation sought to examine the potential moderating influence of heightened anxiety on working memory in Parkinson disease (PD) patients. Further, we wanted to determine whether this moderating influence of anxiety differentially affects PD patients with left hemibody (LBH) versus right hemibody (RHB) onset of motor symptoms. BACKGROUND: Research ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the possible association of Parkinson disease (PD) and melanoma in North America. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: Thirty-one centers enrolled patients with idiopathic PD. At visit 1, a neurologist obtained a medical history. At visit 2, a dermatologist recorded melanoma risk factors, performed a whole-body examination, and performed ...

OBJECTIVE: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) provides protection against loss of dopaminergic neurons in animal models of Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to measure serum IGF-1 in patients with PD and assess its correlation with the clinical presentation. METHODS: Serum IGF-1 and growth hormone (GH) levels ...

The prevalence of panic disorder (PD) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is significantly higher than that in the general population. Comorbid anxiety disorders in COPD are associated with a number of worse outcomes, however little is known about the mechanisms by which PD affects patients with COPD. ...

To assess the spectrum of movement disorders, we reviewed video recordings and charts of 57 patients with Glut-1 deficiency. Eighty-nine percent of patients with Glut-1 deficiency syndrome had a disturbance of gait. The most frequent gait abnormalities were ataxic-spastic and ataxic. Action limb dystonia was observed in 86% of cases ...