Journal of the neurological sciences
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Olfactory dysfunction and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) are recognized as pre-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cognitive dysfunction is observed at a high rate even in the early stages of PD as an important non-motor symptom. PD has been classified in different subtypes and it is unknown if olfactory dysfunction and RBD occur more often in one particular subtype. We investigated the relationship between olfactory impairment, RBD, initial cognitive performance and motor phenotype in PD. ⋯ Olfactory dysfunction and RBD differed according to the motor phenotypes of PD. This suggests that olfactory dysfunction and RBD might relate to prognosis in patients with PD. Patients who have both hyposmia and RBD were more likely to exhibit cognitive dysfunction.
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Intracranial bleeding and inflammatory reactions are common consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), an iron-handling and acute phase protein, may participate in the pathogenesis of TBI. Therefore, we hypothesize that NGAL may be of high diagnostic and therapeutic relevance in the prognosis of TBI. ⋯ NGAL may be a novel biomarker reflecting TBI severity, which increased obviously and negatively correlated with GCS, TS, and RTS scores; additionally, this characteristic of NGAL may be helpful in guiding clinical TBI therapeutic strategies.
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Previous studies have shown that xenon-delayed postconditioning for up to 2h after reperfusion provides protection against spinal cord ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats. This study was designed to determine the roles of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)-Akt and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) in this neuroprotection. The rats were randomly assigned to the following nine groups (n=16∗9): 1) I/R+N2 group, 2) I/R+Xe group, 3) I/R+PD98059+N2 group (ERK blocking agent), 4) I/R+wortmannin+N2 group (PI3K-Akt blocking agent), 5) I/R+PD98059+Xe group, 6) I/R+wortmannin+Xe group, 7) I/R+DMSO+Xe group (dimethyl sulfoxide, vehicle control), 8) I/R+DMSO+N2 group, and 9) sham group (no spinal cord ischemia and no xenon). ⋯ Compared with the I/R group, rats in the I/R+Xe group had higher neurological scores, more normal motor neurons, fewer apoptotic neurons and significantly higher levels of p-Akt and p-ERK at each time point (P<0.05). Compared with the I/R+Xe group, the I/R+PD98059+Xe and I/R+wortmannin+Xe groups showed worse neurological outcomes and less p-Akt and p-ERK at each time point (P<0.05). These results suggest that xenon-delayed postconditioning improves neurological outcomes to spinal cord I/R injury in rats through the activation of the AKT and ERK signaling pathways.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) share common clinical, genetic and neuropathological features. Some ALS patients have behavioral/personality changes, which could result in significant obstacles in the care provided by family members and caregivers. An easy screening tool would contribute greatly to the evaluation of these symptoms. ⋯ However, correlations were moderate with anxiety/depression and low with cognitive scales, in contrast to the original report, i.e. a moderate correlation with cognition and a low correlation with anxiety/depression. The ALS-FTD-Q-J discriminated ALS patients from (ALS-)bvFTD patients and controls. Thus, the ALS-FTD-Q-J is useful for evaluating Japanese ALS/FTD patients.