Parkinsonism & related disorders
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Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. · Apr 2016
Observational StudyNeuropsychiatric symptoms are very common in premanifest and early stage Huntington's Disease.
Neuropsychiatric symptoms are common features of Huntington's disease (HD). Whereas most studies have focused on cognitive and neuroimaging markers of disease progression, little is known about the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in premanifest mutation carriers far-from and close-to disease onset. ⋯ Neuropsychiatric symptoms are highly prevalent in HD, already in the premanifest stage, with increasing prevalence of irritability, apathy and executive dysfunction closer to onset. Compared to controls, HD mutation carriers have the highest probability to develop apathy, with an increasing prevalence along disease stages. Our findings confirm the high prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in HD, already many years before the onset of motor symptoms, with apathy as an early manifestation and core neuropsychiatric feature of the disease.
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Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. · Apr 2016
Observational StudyOlfactory impairment predicts cognitive decline in early Parkinson's disease.
To evaluate the association between baseline olfaction and both cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive assessments, motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms (NMS), and CSF biomarkers in early Parkinson's disease (PD). ⋯ Worse baseline olfaction is associated with long-term cognitive decline. The addition of AD CSF biomarkers to olfactory testing may increase the likelihood of identifying those at highest risk for cognitive decline and progression to MCI.
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Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. · Mar 2016
Effect of olfactory impairment and white matter hyperintensities on cognition in Parkinson's disease.
Although white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and olfactory dysfunction are independently associated with the cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease (PD), the effects of simultaneous presence of these abnormalities remain unknown. Thus, we investigated the different effects of deep WMH and periventricular WMH on olfactory and cognitive performance and evaluated the additive effects of the concurrent presence of WMH and olfactory dysfunction on cognitive performance in PD. ⋯ These data indicate that deep WMH was closely coupled with olfactory impairments and cognitive decline in PD. Moreover, the concurrent presence of severe deep WMH and olfactory impairments has a greater influence on semantic fluency.
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Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. · Mar 2016
Quantitative Sensory Testing in adults with Tourette syndrome.
Abnormal sensory perceptions, for instance hypersensitivity to certain external stimuli or premonitory urges preceding tics, are core features in Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (GTS). Aberrant awareness of externally applied stimuli in terms of altered sensory perception thresholds might contribute to these sensory phenomena in GTS. ⋯ Our data show that the perceptual threshold detection of externally applied sensory stimuli is normal in adults with GTS. This indicates that other perceptual mechanisms, such as abnormal central sensorimotor processing and/or aberrant interoceptive awareness might underlie the clinically significant sensory abnormalities in GTS.
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Parkinsonism Relat. Disord. · Feb 2016
ReviewEnvironmental risk factors and Parkinson's disease: An umbrella review of meta-analyses.
Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder with complex pathogenesis implicating both environmental and genetic factors. We aimed to summarise the environmental risk factors that have been studied for potential association with Parkinson's disease, assess the presence of diverse biases, and identify the risk factors with the strongest support. ⋯ Many environmental factors have substantial evidence of association with Parkinson's disease, but several, perhaps most, of them may reflect reverse causation, residual confounding, information bias, sponsor conflicts or other caveats.