1,721,017 research outputs found
Mild cognitive impairment in De Novo Parkinson's disease according to movement disorder guidelines.
No full textLitvan and colleagues recently proposed the Movement Disorder Society Task Force diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD-MCI). These criteria were needed to overcome the heterogeneity of criteria adopted in previous studies, with a mean MCI prevalence
of 27% (range, 19%–38%) reported in nondemented Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients2; MCI may already be present at the time of the clinical diagnosis of PD, with prevalence ranging from 18.9% to 36% reported in newly diagnosed drug-naive patients. n a recent study4 we examined a cohort of 121 newly diagnosed drug-naive PD patients (mean age, 66.6 +-7.3 years; mean education, 9.2 +- 4.1 years; mean disease duration, 13.9 +- 11.3 months; mean UPDRS II score, 5.2 +- 3.3; mean UPDRS III score, 16.9 +- 8.4) adopting recently proposed preliminary MCI research criteria. All patients fulfilled research diagnostic criteria for idiopathic PD; atypical parkinsonian disorders such as multiple system atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, and corticobasal degeneration and other neurological or major medical conditions were considered exclusion criteria. A 1.5T MRI was performed on all patients to evaluate radiological signs of atypical parkinsonisms, neoplastic lesions, hydrocephalus, or extensive vascular damage, and a 123IFP-CIT
SPECT was performed to confirm nigrostriatal degeneration. All patients received an L-dopa challenge to evaluate acute dopaminergic treatment efficacy; only patients with a consistent (>30%) improvement in tapping test were considered eligible. Furthermore, 100 age-matched subjects enrolled from among patients’ family members served as healthy controls (HCs; mean age, 66.8 +- 6.3 years; mean education, 9.2 +- 4.2 years); these subjects were free from parkinsonism, dementia, major depression, and psychosis
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MR imaging of the substantia nigra for the diagnosis of Parkinson disease. [Radiology. 2014]
MR imaging of the substantia nigra at 7 T enables diagnosis of Parkinson disease. [Radiology. 2014
Symptomatic orthostatic tremor associated with Graves' disease.
No full textOrthostatic tremor (OT) is a rare disorder defined as highfrequency
tremor affecting lower limbs and unsteadiness
on standing with remission during sitting or lying.
According to few case series reported in literature, this
disorder is often under/misdiagnosed and diagnosis can
take years since the onset of symptoms, because brain
imaging and most investigations are usually normal
Nigral involvement in atypical parkinsonisms: evidence from a pilot study with ultra-high field MRI
No full textTen healthy subjects (HS) and 15 patients with atypical parkinsonisms underwent 7-T susceptibility-weighted-imaging MR to evaluate substantia nigra (SN). All HS were judged “normal”. Twelve out of 15 patients exhibited bilateral abnormal SN while three patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD) showed bilateral normal aspect of SN. Anatomical changes of SN at 7 T occur in multiple system atrophy and progressive supranuclear palsy as previously reported in Parkinson’s disease. Preserved SN in CBD confirms the pathological heterogeneity of this disease
Current treatment and future prospects of dopa-induced dyskinesias.
No full textLevodopa-induced dyskinesias (LID) are one of the main
issues in the management of Parkinson’s disease (PD);
once these dyskinesias are established treatment becomes
difficult, so preventive strategies should be first evaluated.
Although levodopa (LD) treatment has recently been related
as risk factor for LID, the main strategy to delay LID is to
start PD treatment with dopamine agonists, adding LD at
low doses. After LID onset, approaches include reducing
single LD doses, reducing or discontinuing monoamine
oxidase type B/catechol O-methyltransferase (MAOB/
COMT) inhibitors and extended-release (ER) LD.
Amantadine represents the best antidyskinetic tool, and
ER amantadine is the most promising upcoming antidyskinetic
drug. New LD formulations such as IPX-066 (able
to provide continuous dopaminergic stimulation) also represent
promising new approaches. The involvement of a
nondopaminergic system in the pathogenesis of LID suggests
that the modulation of glutamate, serotonin and
adenosine could have potential as new upcoming drug
targets, but the role of such drugs will still need to be confirmed
in randomized controlled trials
Neuroimaging in Parkinsonʼs disease: focus on substantia nigra and nigro-striatal projection
No full textPURPOSE OF REVIEW: The diagnosis of Parkinson disease is based on clinical features; however, unmet need is an imaging signature for Parkinson disease and the early differential diagnosis with atypical parkinsonisms. A summary of the molecular imaging and MRI recent evidences for Parkinson disease diagnosis will be presented in this review. RECENT FINDINGS: The nigro-striatal dysfunction explored by dopamine transporter imaging is not a mandatory diagnostic criterion for Parkinson disease, recent evidence supported its utility as in-vivo proof of degenerative parkinsonisms, and there might be compensatory mechanisms leading to an early overestimation. The visualization of abnormalities in substantia nigra by MRI has been recently described as sensitive and specific tool for Parkinson disease diagnosis, even in preclinical conditions, whereas it is not useful for distinguishing between Parkinson disease and atypical parkinsonisms. The relationship between the nigral anatomical changes, evaluated as structural alterations or neuromelanin signal decrease and the dopaminergic nigro-striatal function needs to be further clarified. SUMMARY: With the hopeful advent of potential neuroprotective drugs for PD, it is crucial to have imaging measures that are able to detect at risk subjects. Moreover it is desirable to increase the knowledge about which measure better predicts the probability and the time of clinical conversion to PD
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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