P Barone

..We discuss possible pathogenetic mechanisms with regard to the literature and suggest the diagnosis of a striatonigral degeneration at an early stage...

..Noninferiority of sumanirole to ropinirole was established, with comparable tolerability profiles...

..The complex and time-consuming task of developing a new scale to measure depression specifically for patients with PD is currently not warranted...

..We conclude that dopamine agonists may be an alternative to antidepressants in Parkinson's disease...

..The development of agents that interact with several of the affected neurotransmission systems could prove invaluable for the treatment of this disease...

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..These data suggest that pramipexole might represent an alternative to antidepressant drugs to treat depressive symptoms in PD without adding the risk of antidepressant adverse events, and avoid polypharmacy...

..Our results suggest that D-penicillamine or a combination of D-penicillamine and zinc sulphate is a safe and effective long-term treatment in patients with WD...

..We focus on questions that should be addressed in future studies to achieve consensus on its characteristics and definition, pathophysiology, epidemiology, diagnosis and assessment, and treatment and management...

..1 on ADCS-CGIC, both P = ns); 16.7% and 10.3% rivastigmine- and placebo-treated patients discontinued because of AEs. Elevated homocysteine was associated with greater rivastigmine treatment differences than normal/low homocysteine...

..We suggest that stimulation of GH release with GHRH-Arg rather than clonidine could differentiate MSA from IPD and ILOCA, but this hypothesis would need to be confirmed by further investigations...

..Daytime sleepiness, depressive symptoms and disease severity correlate with sleep disturbances in Italian PD patients. The PDSS is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate sleep disturbances in Italian patients...

..To characterize brain metabolic changes associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in drug-naive patients with Parkinson disease (PD) using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and PET (FDG-PET)...

..At 3-month follow-up clinical improvements were largely maintained. A sustained improvement of motor skills in PD patients can be achieved with a long-term comprehensive rehabilitation program...

..In PD the unawareness seems to be inversely related with severity of dyskinesias, while in HD it is directly related to disease duration and severity...

..FOG is a troublesome symptom of PD. Despite growing evidence suggesting that FOG in PD may be associated with cognitive dysfunction, the relationship between regional brain atrophy and FOG has been poorly investigated...

..To investigate whether the presence of parkin gene mutations is associated with different nigrostriatal impairment than other early-onset parkinsonism...

..Three susceptibility loci on chromosomes 3q13, 2p24.1, and 6p23 have been reported, but no causative genes were found. The Ser9Gly variant of dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) receptor was found associated to ET in a French and US population...

..Our aim was to investigate the GH-IGF axis in patients with ALS and evaluate correlations between this endocrine system and clinical features...

..Neurological signs and symptoms are associated with celiac disease and can be ameliorated by a gluten-free diet...

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..Only nine patients could be classified as classic or atypical PKAN, and intermediate phenotypes are described. Two patients presented with motor tics and obsessive-compulsive behavior suggestive of Tourette syndrome...

..To assess the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) and to study the relationship between anhedonia, depression and cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD)...

..INTERPRETATION: The GH response to arginine differentiates MSA from PD with a high diagnostic accuracy. The results suggest an impairment of cholinergic central systems modulating GH release in MSA...

..RLS is present in 20-40% of patients with renal failure. This study was a 14-week open, randomized, crossover trial of ropinirole vs. levodopa sustained release (SR) in 11 patients with RLS on chronic hemodialysis...

..Therefore, executive dysfunction may be considered as a risk factor for the development of hallucinations in non-demented PD patients...

..008; phonemic verbal fluency: P = 0.011; TPCT: P = 0.024). FOG correlated with lower scores at frontal tests in patients with early-stage PD...

..No serious adverse events were reported by either group during the study. Our results suggest that continuous infusion of apomorphine might be considered for the treatment of involuntary movements in some HD patients...

..Some sleep disorders, such as RLS and PLMS, may be controlled by DA agents, and others, such as insomnia and EDS, may be improved by reducing dopaminergic stimulation...

..Treatment strategies for depressive symptoms in PD should include optimization of dopaminergic treatment prior to the addition of classic antidepressant drugs, thus reducing the risk of side-effects associated with multi-drug therapies...

..These findings further support a key role for NMS in the clinical frame of PD and the need to address them specifically in clinical trials using dedicated scales...

..Based on our findings, Trace (D) measurements in the putamen and pons in MSA-P patients and in the cerebellum and MCP in MSA-C patients could serve as quantitative markers for microstructural damage in the course of disease...

..9; 95% CI: 2.82-277.95, P = 0.004). The results indicate an association between PG and frontal lobe dysfunctions in nondemented patients with PD. Low scores on the FAB indicate patients with PD at high risk for PG...

..We concluded that reduced verbal fluency scores may predict the onset of hallucinations, while hallucinations and poor phonological fluency may predict development of dementia in PD patients...

..Since such patients are diagnosed to be affected by depression according to clinical DSM-IV criteria, we suggest that DSM-IV criteria may not distinguish an affective from a cognitive disorder in PD...

..Our results suggest that the impairment of the central mechanisms modulating GH release differs between PSP and MSA-P...

..A follow-up study of our patients is required to verify whether SAI abnormalities can predict a future severe cognitive decline. Moreover, SAI can also be very useful to follow-up the efficacy of anti-cholinesterase therapies...

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..Approximately 25-40% of patients with idiopathic PD experience hallucinations. Genetic variability within different candidate genes has been implicated in the clinical severity of sporadic PD in many populations. Materials and..

..There are limited data comparing the capability of the two types of system to measure dopamine transporter (DAT) loss in vivo...

..This review summarizes the results of several studies and discusses the validity of these tests in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonisms...

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..This study aimed to evaluate GH response to three different GH stimulation tests in order to establish a reliable test to differentiate these degenerative disorders...

..However, the improvement in specific PDQ-39 subscores (mobility, activities of daily living, and stigma) suggests that depression affects patient self-perception of motor function and further emphasizes the need for its treatment...

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..32 mm+/-0.77, P<.001) or control subjects (9.80 mm+/-0.66, P<.001). CONCLUSION: Measurement of MCP width on MR images may be useful for distinguishing patients with MSA from those with PD...

..2%. All presented a typical phenotype with variable onset and shared the common ancestral haplotype. Mutation frequency raised from 1.2% in early onset PD to 4.0% in late onset PD...

..Our results did not confirm the association reported previously and failed to identify a alpha-synuclein specific haplotype as susceptibility factor for essential tremor...

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..Our data contribute to the ongoing validation process of UMSARS, and they facilitate the planning and implementation of future neuroprotective intervention trials...

..Our findings indicate that, in order to substantially contribute to the in vivo differential diagnosis of MSA-P, PSP and Parkinson's disease, rADC measurements should not be limited to the basal ganglia but should also include the MCP...

..Furthermore, frequently, problems such as diplopia, dribbling, apathy, blues, taste and smell problems were never previously disclosed to the health professionals...

..Hence, their significance should be kept distinct from that of homozygous/compound heterozygous mutations, that cause parkinsonism inherited in a mendelian fashion...

..Moreover, we explored the function of two protein domains in LRRK2 (LRR and WD40) and demonstrate that the lack of these protein domains has a protective effect on mitochondria dysfunctions induced by mutant LRRK2...

..70). In conclusion, NMSS can be used to assess the frequency and severity of NMS in PD patients across all stages in conjunction with the recently validated non-motor questionnaire...

..Striatal DAT density of SCA2 patients correlated with the severity of cerebellar ataxia...

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..To determine whether pain is more frequent among people with Parkinson disease (PD) than among age-matched controls...

..46 (CI = 0.27-0.8). Rather than identifying a haplotype, or a marker in linkage disequilibrium with the risk variant, this to our knowledge is the first report directly linking PD susceptibility with a proven functional variant...

..9 (+/-7.0) months earlier than with the Consensus criteria alone. We propose a combination of two out of six red flag categories as additional diagnostic criteria for probable MSA-P...

..Our study suggests that haplogroup K might confer a lower risk for PD in Italians, corroborating the idea that the mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation pathway is involved in the susceptibility to idiopathic PD...