Parkinson's disease: Research papers
- Tai Chi and Postural Stability in Patients with Parkinson's Disease
Conclusions: Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson's disease, with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls.
09 February 2012
- Parkin controls dopamine utilization in human midbrain dopaminergic neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells
The results suggest that parkin controls dopamine utilization in human midbrain DA neurons by enhancing the precision of DA neurotransmission and suppressing dopamine oxidation. Thus, the study provides novel targets and a physiologically relevant screening platform for disease-modifying therapies of PD.
07 February 2012
- Levodopa influences striatal activity but does not affect cortical hyper-activity in Parkinson's disease
Results suggest that dopamine replacement therapy has a non-task-specific effect on motor corticostriatal regions, and support the hypothesis that increases and decreases in cortical activity in PD are related to the mesocortical dopamine pathway imbalance.
03 February 2012
- Apathy and impulse control disorders in Parkinson's disease: A direct comparison
Conclusion: Apathy and ICDs may be on a common behavioral spectrum in PD. Both are associated with significant psychiatric morbidity supporting shared underlying pathology.
01 February 2012
- Deep brain stimulation in early stage Parkinson's disease: operative experience from a prospective randomised clinical trial
The perioperative adverse events in this trial of subjects with early stage PD are comparable with those reported for STN-DBS in advanced PD. The active contact position used in early PD is not significantly different from that used in late stage disease.
01 February 2012
- Grey matter atrophy in cognitively impaired Parkinson's disease
Marked grey matter atrophy occurs in PD with dementia but far less extensive changes are evident in PD-MCI. Some grey matter atrophy precedes the development of dementia but may be accelerated once frank dementia begins.
01 February 2012
- Subthalamic deep brain stimulation with a constant-current device in Parkinson's disease: an open-label randomised controlled tr
Interpretation: Constant-current DBS of the subthalamic nucleus produced significant improvements in good quality on time when compared with a control group without stimulation. Future trials should compare the effects of constant-current DBS with those of voltage-controlled stimulation.
01 February 2012
- Complaints about impairments in executive functions in Parkinson's disease: The association with neuropsychological assessment
PD patients were aware of problems with executive functions in daily life and reported considerably more problems than healthy controls. These problems were however not reflected by neuropsychological tests and may indicate a lack of ecological validity of neuropsychological assessment.
01 February 2012
- Appreciation of humor is decreased among patients with Parkinson's disease
Conclusions: Patients with PD have a decreased sense of humor compared to healthy controls. Utilizing audio methods of presentation and humor in an obvious mode appears to be the preferred approach for eliciting responses to humor in a PD population.
01 February 2012
- Neurocognitive and atrophic patterns in Parkinson's disease based on subjective memory complaints
Study data demonstrated that Parkinson's disease patients with subjective memory complaints showed a poorer performance on tasks related to verbal fluency and attention with more severe cortical atrophy compared to those without subjective memory complaints, suggesting that subjective memory complaints in patients with Parkinson's disease may represent an early manifestation of underlying Parkinson's disease-related pathological changes.
31 January 2012
- An exploratory study of activity in veterans with Parkinson's disease
Veterans with PD primarily expended daily energy on ADL, TV viewing, and light intensity activities. Television viewing time may have been under reported. Movement disorder specialists can be more proactive in referring patients to physical therapy and encouraging their participation in community exercise and support groups.
31 January 2012
- Rivastigmine as alternative treatment for refractory REM behavior disorder in Parkinson's disease
Results: Rivastigmine was well tolerated in most patients, with minor side effects, mainly related to peripheral cholinergic action, and significantly reduced the mean frequency of RBD episodes during the observation time.
30 January 2012
- Nigral iron deposition occurs across motor phenotypes of Parkinson's disease
Conclusions: These findings suggest that nigral iron deposition, correlating with decreased serum ceruloplasmin levels, is a risk factor in Parkinson's disease across multiple motor phenotypic expressions.
30 January 2012
- Parkinson's disease and risk of hip fracture: An 8-year follow-up study in Taiwan
Conclusion: The hip fracture rate was as high as 10.4% in PD patients during 8 years follow-up period. While assessing the risk of hip fracture, PD should be taken into consideration. For those very high risk patients (elderly women with PD, osteoporosis, diabetes and diabetic neuropathy), many efforts should be made to prevent fracture.
30 January 2012
- Apomorphine injections: Predictors of initial common adverse events and long term tolerability
Conclusion: A previous history of nausea and hypotension, and older age should not dissuade a trial of apomorphine if clinically justified. A three day pre-treatment dose of trimethobenzamide, as recommended in the United States, does not reduce nausea.
26 January 2012
- RGS4 Is Required for Dopaminergic Control of Striatal LTD and Susceptibility to Parkinsonian Motor Deficits
This study identified regulator of G protein signaling 4 (RGS4) as a key link between D2/A2A signaling and eCB mobilization pathways. In contrast to wild-type mice, RGS4/ mice exhibited normal eCB-LTD after dopamine depletion and were significantly less impaired in the 6-OHDA model of Parkinson's disease. Taken together, these results suggest that inhibition of RGS4 may be an effective nondopaminergic strategy for treating Parkinson's disease.
26 January 2012
- Nonmotor manifestations of Parkinson's disease
In addition, a number of nonmotor manifestations can precede the onset of motor symptoms in PD and can be used as screening tools allowing for early disease identification and for trials of possible disease-modifying interventions. This article reviews depression, sleep, and autonomic dysfunction in PD.
25 January 2012
- Penetrance of Parkinson disease in glucocerebrosidase gene mutation carriers
The relatively high penetrance estimate in GBA carriers obtained in this study should lead to consideration of GBA as a dominant causal gene with reduced penetrance and should be taken into account for genetic counseling in relatives of patients with GD and patients with GBA-associated PD.
25 January 2012
- Polyneuropathy while on duodenal levodopa infusion in Parkinson's disease patients: we must be alert
Vitamin B12 supplementation may need to be considered in PD patients on duodenal levodopa infusion therapy. Vitamin B12 deficiency in patients on duodenal levodopa infusion therapy may be more frequent than the published data suggest. We must be alert.
24 January 2012
- Paradoxical worsening of gait with levodopa in Parkinson disease
While there are many "nondopaminergic" features of PD that do not improve with levodopa, PD motor symptoms generally improve with dopaminergic medications. However, not all the motor manifestations of PD are improved to the same extent and some may not respond at all to levodopa. Tremor is often less responsive to levodopa than bradykinesia.
18 January 2012
