Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Jan 2018
Serotonin transporter binding and anxiety symptoms in Parkinson's disease.
Anxiety is a common neuropsychiatric symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD), yet the neural mechanisms have been scarcely investigated. Disturbances in dopaminergic and serotonergic signalling may play a role in its pathophysiology. 123I-N-ω-fluoropropyl-2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)nortropane (123I-FP-CIT) is a single-photon emission CT radiotracer, and its binding in striatal and extrastriatal subcortical brain areas represents predominant binding to the presynaptic dopamine transporter (DAT) and the serotonin transporter (SERT), respectively. Availability of DAT and SERT may thus provide an in vivo measure for the integrity of both dopamine and serotonin neurons. ⋯ This study shows that higher levels of anxiety in patients with PD are associated with lower thalamic 123I-FP-CIT binding, pointing towards a contribution of serotonergic degeneration to anxiety symptoms in PD.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Jan 2018
Corticostriatal signatures of schadenfreude: evidence from Huntington's disease.
Schadenfreude-pleasure at others' misfortunes-is a multidetermined social emotion which involves reward processing, mentalising and perspective-taking abilities. Patients with Huntington's disease (HD) exhibit reductions of this experience, suggesting a role of striatal degeneration in such impairment. However, no study has directly assessed the relationship between regional brain atrophy in HD and reduced schadenfreude. ⋯ While both groups showed similar ratings of envy, patients with HD reported lower schadenfreude. The latter pattern was related to atrophy in regions of the reward system (ventral striatum) and the mentalising network (precuneus and superior parietal lobule). Our results shed light on the intertwining of reward and socioemotional processes in schadenfreude, while offering novel evidence about their neural correlates.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Jan 2018
MRI in sarcoglycanopathies: a large international cohort study.
To characterise the pattern and spectrum of involvement on muscle MRI in a large cohort of patients with sarcoglycanopathies, which are limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMD2C-2F) caused by mutations in one of the four genes coding for muscle sarcoglycans. ⋯ Muscle involvement on MRI is consistent in patients with LGMD2C-F and can be helpful in distinguishing sarcoglycanopathies from other LGMDs or dystrophinopathies, which represent the most common differential diagnoses. Our data provide evidence about selective susceptibility or resistance to degeneration of specific muscles when one of the sarcoglycans is deficient, as well as preliminary information about progressive involvement of the different muscles over time.