Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Neuroimage Clin 2019 Feb 13;22:101720. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Service, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Institute of Neuroscience, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain; Institute of Biomedical Research August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Electronic address:

Background: Recent studies using resting-state functional connectivity and machine-learning to distinguish patients with neurodegenerative diseases from other groups of subjects show promising results. This approach has not been tested to discriminate between Parkinson's disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA) patients.

Objectives: Our first aim is to characterize possible abnormalities in resting-state functional connectivity between the cerebellum and a set of intrinsic-connectivity brain networks and between the cerebellum and different regions of the striatum in PD and MSA. Read More

ACS Chem Neurosci 2019 Feb 20. Epub 2019 Feb 20.

Histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) plays a key role in a variety of neurological disorders, which makes it attractive drug target for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson disease and memory/learning impairment. The selectivity of HDAC6 inhibitors (sHDAC6Is) are widely considered to be susceptible to their sizes of Cap group and their physicochemical properties of linker or zinc-binding group, which makes the discovery of new sHDAC6Is extremely difficult. With the discovery of the distinct selectivity between Trichostatin A (TSA) enantiomers, the chirality residing in the connective units between TSA's Cap and linker shows a great impact on its selectivity. Read More

J Am Geriatr Soc 2019 Feb 19. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

Department of Neurobiology, Neurology and Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Beijing, China.

Objectives: We sought to assess associations of postural tremor with gait and balance impairments among community-dwelling older people in both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses.

Design: A prospective cohort study.

Setting: Communities in Beijing, China. Read More

Exp Ther Med 2019 Mar 20;17(3):1771-1775. Epub 2018 Dec 20.

Department of Anesthesiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan 475000, P.R. China.

Effect of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway on the expression of JNK3 in Parkinsonian rats was investigated. A total of 200 rats were used for Parkinson's disease (PD) modeling and 180 models were successfully established. Rats were randomly divided into four groups including A, B, C, and D, 45 in each group. Read More

Exp Ther Med 2019 Mar 24;17(3):1611-1624. Epub 2018 Dec 24.

Department of Neurology, Hebei General Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050051, P.R. China.

Recently, several randomized controlled trials on the use of cholinesterase inhibitors or memantine as treatments for cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (CIND-PD), Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) were completed. The present study provided a meta-analysis of these studies to evaluate the efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine on CIND-PD, PDD and DLB. The Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched to retrieve eligible studies. Read More

Contemp Clin Trials 2019 Feb 16. Epub 2019 Feb 16.

Division of Neurology, University of Alberta, 11350-83 Avenue, 7-112 Clinical Sciences Building, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G3, Canada. Electronic address:

Patients with Parkinson's disease and related disorders (PDRD) and their families have considerable unmet needs including non-motor symptom management, caregiver support, spiritual wellbeing, advance care planning, and end-of-life care. There is increasing interest in applying palliative care (PC) models to better meet these needs. While PC has been shown to improve care and quality of life (QOL) for people with cancer and heart failure, few studies have evaluated the role of PC for people with PDRD. Read More

Hum Brain Mapp 2019 Feb 18. Epub 2019 Feb 18.

Department of Neurology, Rouen University Hospital and University of Rouen, Rouen, France.

Decline of verbal fluency (VF) performance is one of the most systematically reported neuropsychological adverse effects after subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS). It has been suggested that this worsening of VF may be related to a microlesion due to the electrode trajectories. We describe the disruption of surrounding white matter tracts following electrode implantation in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with STN-DBS and assess whether damage of fiber pathways is associated with VF impairment after surgery. Read More

Front Neurol 2018 19;9:741. Epub 2018 Sep 19.

The Bronowski Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, The Bronowski Clinic, Coliban Medical Centre, Kyneton, VIC, Australia.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disorder characterized by loss of dopamine (DA) in the nigro-striatal dopamine (NSD) system with the primary symptoms of bradykinaesia, rigidity, tremor, and altered gate. Secondary symptoms including depression, insomnia, involuntary movement, and psychiatric side effects are also commonly observed. While the treatment focus for the past 50 years has been aimed at replacing deficient DA, to relieve the primary symptoms, more recent studies have suggested that the circadian system plays a critical role in the etiology and treatment of this disorder. Read More

Front Neurol 2019 4;10:45. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Institute of Neuroscience, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.

Nat Rev Neurol 2019 Feb 18. Epub 2019 Feb 18.

Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences, University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.

The efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson disease (PD) is well established for up to 1 or 2 years, but long-term outcome data are still limited. In this Review, we critically discuss the evidence on the long-term outcomes of DBS and consider the clinical implications. Although many patients are lost to follow-up, the evidence indicates that subthalamic nucleus DBS improves motor function for up to 10 years, although the magnitude of improvement tends to decline over time. Read More

Radiology 2019 Feb 19:181042. Epub 2019 Feb 19.

From the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (Z.Z., M.M.K., J.Z., Y.S., X.J.Z.), Departments of Radiology (X.J.Z.), Neurosurgery (X.J.Z.), and Bioengineering (Z.Z., M.M.K., X.J.Z.), University of Illinois at Chicago, 2242 W Harrison St, Suite 103, Chicago, IL 60612; Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Professional Building, Chicago, Ill (D.M., J.G.G.); and Department of Radiology, Tongji Hospital, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China (J.Z.).

Background Motor symptoms in Parkinson disease (PD) have exhibited lateral asymmetry, suggesting asymmetric neuronal loss in the substantia nigra (SN). Diffusion MRI with diffusion imaging may be able to help confirm tissue microstructural alterations in the substantia nigra to probe for the presence of asymmetry. Purpose To investigate lateral asymmetry in the SN of patients with PD by using diffusion MRI with both Gaussian and non-Gaussian models. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 1. Epub 2019 Feb 1.

Department of Epidemiology, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Environmental Health, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Negative associations between smoking and Parkinson's disease (PD) are well documented. While common biases may not explain this association, some studies have suggested reverse causality and ease of quitting might be an early sign of PD, possibly related to a reduced nicotinic response. We investigated nicotinic receptor (nAChR) genetics to add to our understanding of possible biologic mechanisms underlying the smoking-PD relationship. Read More

Cortex 2019 Jan 29;115:99-111. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Neurology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA. Electronic address:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by dysfunction in frontal cortical and striatal networks that regulate action control. We investigated the pharmacological effect of dopamine agonist replacement therapy on frontal cortical activity and motor inhibition. Using Arterial Spin Labeling MRI, we examined 26 PD patients in the off- and on-dopamine agonist medication states to assess the effect of dopamine agonists on frontal cortical regional cerebral blood flow. Read More

Gene 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641114, India; Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative movement disorder that primarily results due to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra region. Studying gene expression in the substantia nigra region would potentially unravel disease-relevant protein-protein interactions.

Methods: In this study we have used network science approach to prioritize candidate genes by focussing on differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that interact with established PD associated-genes (PDAG). Read More

Mov Disord 2019 Feb 10;34(2):285-291. Epub 2018 Dec 10.

Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California, USA.

Background: Clinicians and researchers commonly use global cognitive assessments to screen for impairment. Currently there are no published studies directly comparing the sensitivity and specificity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 in PD. The objective of this study was to identify the relative sensitivity and specificity of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-2 in PD. Read More

Mov Disord 2019 Feb 17. Epub 2019 Feb 17.

Department of Neurology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

Background: While mechanistic links between tau abnormalities and neurodegeneration have been proven in frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 caused by MAPT mutations, variability of the tau pathogenesis and its relation to clinical progressions in the same MAPT mutation carriers are yet to be clarified.

Objectives: The present study aimed to analyze clinical profiles, tau accumulations, and their correlations in 3 kindreds with frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 attributed to the MAPT N279K mutation.

Methods: Four patients with N279K mutant frontotemporal dementia and parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17/MAPT underwent [ C]PBB3-PET to estimate regional tau loads. Read More

J Neurol Sci 2019 Feb 11;399:57-60. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Department of Neurology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.

Introduction: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, its effect in older patients is not extensively studied, as they are often excluded from DBS surgery due to concerns of complications or reduced benefit. We assessed clinical outcomes after subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS in older patients (age > 75 years) with PD. Read More

Sleep Med 2018 Dec 18;55:62-68. Epub 2018 Dec 18.

Department of Neurology, Hospital de Egas Moniz, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, Lisboa, Portugal; CEDOC, Chronic Diseases Research Center, NOVA Medical School, USA.

Introduction: Sleep dysfunction is frequent in Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), but polysomnographic (PSG) data is scarce. Our objectives were to: (1) compare PSG data between DLB patients and age normative values (NV), Parkinson's Disease (PD) and idiopathic REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) patients; (2) evaluate the relation between of OSA, Fluctuations and Hypersomnolence and PSG data.

Methods: We selected all consecutive patients with DLB, PD and iRBD that underwent video-PSG during a two year period. Read More

Exp Neurol 2019 Feb 14;315:72-81. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Laboratory of Neuroscience, Hospital Sírio-Libanês, São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes progressive dysfunction of dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neurons, generating motor and nonmotor signs and symptoms. Pain is reported as the most bothersome nonmotor symptom in PD; however, pain remains overlooked and poorly understood. In this study, we evaluated the nociceptive behavior and the descending analgesia circuitry in a rat model of PD. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 7. Epub 2019 Feb 7.

Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA. Electronic address:

Introduction: The aim of the study was to identify abnormalities of whole-brain network functional organization and their relation to clinical measures in a well-characterized, multi-site cohort of very early-stage, drug-naïve Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients.

Methods: Functional-MRI data for 16 healthy controls and 20 very early-stage, drug-naïve patients with PD were obtained from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database after controlling for strict inclusion/exclusion imaging criteria. Connectivity between regions of interest was estimated using Pearson's correlation between averaged time-series, and subsequently a connectivity matrix was obtained for each subject. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 8. Epub 2019 Feb 8.

Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany. Electronic address:

Introduction: Due to demographic change, an increase in the frequency of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients is expected in the future and, thus, the identification of modifiable risk factors is urgently needed. We aimed to examine the associations of body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) with incident PD.

Methods: In 13 of the 23 centers of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, a total of 734 incident cases of PD were identified between 1992 and 2012 with a mean follow-up of 12 years. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 5. Epub 2019 Feb 5.

Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biometry, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Comprehensive Heart Failure Center, University Würzburg, Clincial Trial Center Würzburg, University Hospital Würzburg, Germany.

Introduction: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a complex, invasive and cost-intensive therapy that requires a high level of expertise. To date, data on quality of DBS in clinical routine in the German health care system are lacking.

Methods: The development of evidence-based QIs for DBS in PD patients was performed following a standardized process by a multidisciplinary board between 2014 and 2016. Read More

J Am Pharm Assoc (2003) 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Objectives: To summarize select continuing pharmacy education (CPE) topics and hours related to geriatric care completed by community, hospital/clinic, and long-term care (LTC)/consultant pharmacists in the previous 12 months, whether pharmacy workplace influenced topic selection or completion, and to describe CPE sources used by community versus hospital/clinic pharmacists.

Design: Cross-sectional survey (2017).

Setting And Participants: Licensed pharmacists in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska with primary practice settings in community pharmacies, hospitals, or clinics or those practicing as consultant pharmacists. Read More

Mol Cell Neurosci 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal; UCIBIO, Departamento Ciências da Vida, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal. Electronic address:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder, mainly characterized by the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) and by the presence of intracellular inclusions, known as Lewy bodies. Despite SNpc being considered the primary affected region in PD, the neuropathological features are confined solely to the nigro-striatal axis. With disease progression other brain regions are also affected, namely the cerebral cortex, although the spreading of the neurologic damage to this region is still not completely unraveled. Read More

Methods Mol Biol 2019 ;1948:93-112

University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, European Research Institute for the Biology of Aging, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Caenorhabditis elegans is widely used to investigate biological processes related to health and disease. Multiple C. elegans models for human neurodegenerative diseases do exist, including those expressing human α-synuclein. Read More

Eur J Neurol 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

Philipps University, Marburg, Germany.

Background: Visualization of phosphorylated α-synuclein at serine 129 (p-syn) in skin nerves is a promising test for the in vivo diagnosis of synucleinopathies. Here we aimed to establish the intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility of quantification of intraneural p-syn immunoreactivity in two laboratories with a major expertise (Würzburg and Bologna).

Methods: We enrolled 43 patients affected by Parkinson's disease (PD: 21 patients), Dementia with Lewy Body (DLB: 1), REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD: 11), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA-P: 4) and small fiber neuropathy (SFN: 6). Read More

Neurology 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

From the Department of Neurology (A.V.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston; and Neuropsychology Section (L.M.), Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, University Hospital of Patras, University of Patras Medical School, Rio, Greece.

Neurology 2019 Feb 15. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

From Amsterdam UMC (S.R., C.V., J.H.S., E.J.W.v.S., A.W.H., O.A.v.d.H.), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience; Department of Research and Innovation (S.R., J.H.S., A.W.H., O.A.v.d.H.), GGZ InGeest; Amsterdam UMC (C.V., H.W.B., Y.D.v.d.W.), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences, Amsterdam Neuroscience; Amsterdam UMC (H.W.B.), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Neurology, Amsterdam Neuroscience; Department of Sleep and Cognition (E.J.W.v.S., Y.D.v.d.W.), Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience; Department of Integrative Neurophysiology (E.J.W.v.S.), Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research, Amsterdam Neuroscience, VU University; and Amsterdam UMC (J.W.T.), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of bright light therapy (BLT) in reducing depressive symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to a control light.

Methods: In this double-blind controlled trial, we randomized patients with PD and MDD to treatment with BLT (±10,000 lux) or a control light (±200 lux). Participants were treated for 3 months, followed by a 6-month naturalistic follow-up. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 4. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Center for Clinical Neurosciences, Department of Voice, Speech and Hearing Disorders, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany.

Background: This study evaluates the prevalence, characteristics, and predictors of the difficulty of swallowing medication in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: In this prospective controlled, cross-sectional cohort study, the ability to swallow four different placebos was assessed using flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) in 118 PD patients and 32 controls. The association between a patient's swallowing ability for each pill and water, patient characteristics and dopaminergic response was examined. Read More

Redox Biol 2019 Feb 5;22:101135. Epub 2019 Feb 5.

Institut de Biotecnologia i Biomedicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain. Electronic address:

The aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) into amyloid fibrils is a major pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other synucleinopathies. The mechanisms underlying the structural transition of soluble and innocuous α-syn to aggregated neurotoxic forms remains largely unknown. The disordered nature of α-syn has hampered the use of structure-based protein engineering approaches to elucidate the molecular determinants of this transition. Read More

Br J Pharmacol 2019 Feb 14. Epub 2019 Feb 14.

Neurogenic Inflammation Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive movement disorder resulting primarily from loss of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons. PD is characterized by the accumulation of protein aggregates and evidence suggests that aberrant protein deposition in dopaminergic neurons could be related to the dysregulation of the lysosomal autophagy pathway. The therapeutic potential of autophagy modulators has been reported in experimental models of PD. Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 4. Epub 2019 Feb 4.

Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA; Department of Neurology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA; Lerner Research Institute, Genomic Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH, USA. Electronic address:

Background: Mutations in the glucocerebrosidase (GBA) gene are an important risk factor for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, most GBA genetic studies in PD have been performed in patients of European origin and very few data are available in other populations.

Methods: We sequenced the entire GBA coding region in 602 PD patients and 319 controls from Colombia and Peru enrolled as part of the Latin American Research Consortium on the Genetics of Parkinson's disease (LARGE-PD). Read More

Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2019 Feb 5. Epub 2019 Feb 5.

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Movement Disorders and Neuromodulation Unit, Department of Neurology, Campus Virchow Klinikum and Campus Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10119, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address:

Introduction: Motor but also non-motor effects are modulated by dopamine (DA) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Impaired inhibition has been related to dopamine overdosing of the associative striatum. We compared effects of dopaminergic medication on inhibitory control in patients with young (age at onset <50 years, YOPD) and late onset PD (LOPD) and related them to nigrostriatal degeneration. Read More

Physiother Theory Pract 2019 Feb 15:1-4. Epub 2019 Feb 15.

a Department of Physical Therapy , College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Campbell University , Buies Creek , NC , USA.

Introduction: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility and informativeness of the Patient-Specific Functional Scale (PSFS) for identifying activities that persons with Parkinson disease (PD) self-identified as difficult.

Method: Informativeness was investigated by cross-referencing the identified activities with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF), the Movement Disorder Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), and Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39). Twenty-eight individuals with PD (Hoehn & Yahr stage 1-4) completed the PSFS. Read More

Diseases 2019 Feb 5;7(1). Epub 2019 Feb 5.

Department of Electrical, Electronic, and Information Engineering "Guglielmo Marconi", University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. Gait impairments are common among people with PD. Wearable sensor systems can be used for gait analysis by providing spatio-temporal parameters useful to investigate the progression of gait problems in Parkinson disease. Read More

Neuroimage Clin 2019 Feb 3;22:101708. Epub 2019 Feb 3.

Laboratory of Neurobiology and Experimental Neurology, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; Network Center for Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Spain. Electronic address:

The motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been linked to changes in the excitatory/inhibitory interactions of centers involved in the cortical-subcortical closed-loop circuits which connect basal ganglia (BG) and the brain cortex. This approach may explain some motor symptoms of PD but not others, which has driven the study of BG from new perspectives. Besides their cortical-subcortical linear circuits, BG have a number of subcortical circuits which directly or indirectly connect each BG with all the others. Read More

Neurobiol Dis 2019 Feb 11. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Exp. Neurology, Goethe University Medical School, 60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Electronic address:

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder in the old population. Among its monogenic variants, a frequent cause is a mutation in the Parkin gene (Prkn). Deficient function of Parkin triggers ubiquitous mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation in the brain, but it remains unclear how selective neural circuits become vulnerable and finally undergo atrophy. Read More

Neuropsychologia 2019 Feb 11;127:9-18. Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, University College London, UK.

The prolonged reaction times seen in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been linked to a dopaminergic-dependent deficit in using prior information to prepare responses, but also have been explained by an altered temporal processing. However, an underlying cognitive mechanism linking dopamine, temporal processing and response preparation remains elusive. To address this, we studied PD patients, with or without medication, and age-matched healthy individuals using a variable foreperiod task requiring speeded responses to a visual stimulus occurring at variable onset-times, with block-wise changes in the temporal predictability of visual stimuli. Read More

Neural Regen Res 2019 Jun;14(6):931-938

Department of Hand Surgery, the Second Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, China.

Common neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system are characterized by progressive damage to the function of neurons, even leading to the permanent loss of function. Gene therapy via gene replacement or gene correction provides the potential for transformative therapies to delay or possibly stop further progression of the neurodegenerative disease in affected patients. Adeno-associated virus has been the vector of choice in recent clinical trials of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases due to its safety and efficiency in mediating gene transfer to the central nervous system. Read More

Ann Neurol 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

Objective: LRRK2 mutations, the most common genetic cause of Parkinson's disease (PD) display incomplete penetrance, indicating the importance of other genetic and environmental influences on disease pathogenesis in LRRK2 mutation carriers. The present study investigates whether urate, an antioxidant, Nrf2 activator, and inverse risk factor for idiopathic PD, is one such candidate biomarker of PD risk modulation in pathogenic LRRK2 mutation carriers.

Methods: Banked plasma samples or urate levels were obtained for three cohorts of age- and sex-matched subjects with and without a known LRRK2 mutation in PD and unaffected controls to conduct a pilot study of 192 subjects from the LRRK2 Cohort Consortium (LCC) and two validation studies of 380 additional subjects from the LCC and of 922 subjects from the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative. Read More

Front Immunol 2019 29;10:80. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Laboratory for Neurobiology and Gene Therapy, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.

Innate immune activation and chronic neuroinflammation are characteristic features of many neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's disease (PD) and may contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease. The discovery of misfolded alpha-synuclein (αSYN) protein aggregates, which amplify in a "prion-like" fashion, has led us to consider that pathogenic αSYN might be hijacking the activation and mobilization mechanism of the peripheral immune system to reach and disseminate within the CNS. Furthermore, our lab and other groups have recently shown that αSYN can adopt distinct fibril conformations or "strains" with varying levels of pathogenic impact. Read More

Front Neurol 2019 30;10:48. Epub 2019 Jan 30.

Institute of Medical Informatics, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.

Parkinson's disease and Essential Tremor are two of the most common movement disorders and are still associated with high rates of misdiagnosis. Collected data by technology-based objective measures (TOMs) has the potential to provide new promising and highly accurate movement data for a better understanding of phenotypical characteristics and diagnostic support. A technology-based system called Smart Device System (SDS) is going to be implemented for multi-modal high-resolution acceleration measurement of patients with PD or ET within a clinical setting. Read More

Front Neurol 2019 29;10:35. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Institute of Neurology, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder that is known to be related to neuro-inflammation. Chemokines participate in this process usually through upregulation of expression levels, which are closely related to the polymorphisms in their genes. Recent studies have further revealed the association between these polymorphisms and the risk of PD in multiple populations, but not the Chinese Han population. Read More

Front Psychiatry 2018 29;9:769. Epub 2019 Jan 29.

Department of Radiology and Imaging Institute of Rehabilitation and Development of Brain Function, The Second Clinical Medical College of North Sichuan Medical College Nanchong Central Hospital, Nanchong, China.

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to determine the optimal rTMS parameters, such as the intensity, frequency and the delivered pattern of rTMS stimulation. EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, MEDLINE, and Cochrane data bases were researched for papers published before March 12, 2018. Studies investigating the anti-depression effects of rTMS over PFC in patients with PD were considered. Read More

Front Aging Neurosci 2019 30;11:13. Epub 2019 Jan 30.

Department of Neurology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.

variants have been demonstrated to have distinct distributions in different populations. However, researchers have thus far chosen to focus on relatively few variants, such as R1628P, G2019S, and G2385R. We therefore investigated the relationship between common variants and PD risk in various populations. Read More

Mov Disord 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Molecular Bioimaging and Physiology, National Research Council, Catanzaro, Italy.

Background: No prospective study of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) has investigated the appearance of vertical gaze abnormalities, a feature suggestive of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).

Objective: To identify, within a cohort of patients with an initial diagnosis of PD, those who developed vertical gaze abnormalities during a 4-year follow-up, and to investigate the performance of new imaging biomarkers in predicting vertical gaze abnormalities.

Methods: A total of 110 patients initially classified as PD and 74 controls were enrolled. Read More

Mov Disord 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Neurological Clinic, Department of Medicine, Hospital Santa Maria della Misericordia, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.

Objective: Spreading depolarization (SD) is a transient self-propagating wave of neuronal and glial depolarization coupled with large membrane ionic changes and a subsequent depression of neuronal activity. Spreading depolarization in the cortex is implicated in migraine, stroke, and epilepsy. Conversely, spreading depolarization in the striatum, a brain structure deeply involved in motor control and in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathophysiology, has been poorly investigated. Read More

J Neural Transm (Vienna) 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

Medical Journal of Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Dopamine is the principal transmitter of several central nervous system pathways originating in the midbrain and critically involved in motor activity, learning and motivation, disruptions of which have been implicated in a number of disorders, including Parkinson disease and schizophrenia. Dopamine played a particularly significant role in the history of neurochemistry. Following a series of investigations between 1957 and 1965, commencing in the laboratory and completed in the clinic, the significance of chemical neurotransmission for normal CNS function was first demonstrated in the case of dopamine. Read More

Autophagy 2019 Feb 13. Epub 2019 Feb 13.

a Department of Neurology , University of California at Los Angeles , Los Angeles , CA 90095.

The pathophysiology of most neurodegenerative diseases includes aberrant accumulation of protein aggregates. Recent evidence highlights the role of protein degradation pathways in neurodegeneration. Concurrently, genetic tools have been generated to enable zebrafish, Danio rerio, to be used as an animal model to study neurodegenerative processes. Read More

Cells 2019 Feb 11;8(2). Epub 2019 Feb 11.

Department of Neurology, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is currently the world's fastest-growing neurological disorder. It is characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms which progressively lead to significant clinical impairment, causing a high burden of disease. In addition to pharmacological therapies, various non-pharmacological treatment options are available. Read More