Serum Homocysteine Level in Parkinson’s Disease and Its Association with Duration, Cardinal Manifestation, and Severity of Disease

Background and Purpose. Due to the high prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the elderly, a large financial burden is imposed on the families and health systems of countries in addition to the problems related to the mobility impairment caused by the disease for the patients. Studies on controversial issues in this disease are taken into consideration, and one of these cases is the role of serum homocysteine level in Parkinson’s patients. In this study, the serum level of homocysteine and its association with various variables in relation to this disease was compared with healthy individuals. Materials and Methods. In this study, 100 patients with PD and 100 healthy individuals as control group were investigated. Serum homocysteine level and demographic and clinical data were included in the checklist. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 23. In all tests, the significance level was below 0.05. Results. The mean level of serum homocysteine in case and control groups was 14.93 ± 8.30 and 11.52 ± 2.86 µmol/L, respectively (95% CI: 1.68; 5.14, P<0.001). In total patients, 85 had normal serum homocysteine level, while 15 had high serum homocysteine level. In controls, the homocysteine level was 98 and 2, respectively (P=0.002). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, serum homocysteine level higher than 20 µmol/L was accompanied by 8.64-fold in Parkinson’s disease involvement (95% CI: 1.92; 38.90, P=0.005). Conclusion. Increasing serum homocysteine level elevates the rate to having PD. Serum homocysteine levels did not have any relationship with the duration of the disease, type of cardinal manifestation, and the severity of Parkinson’s disease.

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Early effect of thalamotomy on cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Bio-Algorithms and Med-Systems ◽

10.1515/bams-2018-0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Edward J. Gorzelańczyk ◽

Dorota Ackermann-Szulgit ◽

Marek Kunc ◽

Marek Harat ◽

Piotr Walecki

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Verbal Memory ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Verbal Learning ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Early Effect ◽

Visual Spatial

Abstract Thalamotomy is a neurosurgical procedure used in the treatment of advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD). The aim of our research is to evaluate the early impact of a lesion in the ventrointermedial nucleus (VIM) of the thalamus on cognitive and motor function in people with PD. Sixty patients who qualified for right- or left-sided VIM thalamotomy were involved in the study. The cognitive and motor functions of each patient were assessed both prior to and following the surgical procedure. Twenty-nine PD patients without ablative treatment were qualified for the comparison group, and 57 neurologically healthy individuals were assigned to the control group. The following tests were carried out: Mini Mental State Examination, Benton Visual Retention Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, Trail Making Test A&B, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. Statistically significant differences were found in reaction time, visual-spatial working memory, auditory-verbal memory, and overall level of cognitive function when comparing the results of tests carried out before and after thalamotomy and when comparing patients who had undergone surgery with untreated or healthy individuals. In patients with right-sided and left-sided thalamotomy differences were also found in the mean number of perseverative errors and recalled words.

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Impact of Manual Coordination on Usability of Clothing Fasteners in People With Parkinson’s Disease

Ergonomics in Design The Quarterly of Human Factors Applications ◽

10.1177/10648046211005573 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 106480462110055

Author(s):

Leticia Nardoni Marteli ◽

Fabio Augusto Barbieri ◽

Gabriel Gerizani ◽

Érica Pereira das Neves ◽

Luis Carlos Paschoarelli

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Motor Skills ◽

Daily Life ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Group Coordination

People with Parkinson’s disease (PD) manipulate clothing as part of their daily life. To understand how deteriorating motor skills affect the performance of dressing/undressing activities, this study investigated performance in handling clothing fastening. Participants were distributed into two groups: older adults with PD and neurologically matched healthy individuals (control group). Coordination and usability were evaluated. The PD group demonstrated worse performance than the control group in usability for types of buttons, and this was affected more intensely by small compared with large fasteners. This study demonstrated the need for increased awareness by clothing companies to develop products that can promote independence.

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α-Synuclein in blood exosomes immunoprecipitated using neuronal and oligodendroglial markers distinguishes Parkinson’s disease from multiple system atrophy

Acta Neuropathologica ◽

10.1007/s00401-021-02324-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Suman Dutta ◽

Simon Hornung ◽

Adira Kruayatidee ◽

Katherine N. Maina ◽

Irish del Rosario ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Multiple System Atrophy ◽

Logistic Model ◽

Validation Cohort ◽

High Sensitivity ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Discovery Cohort ◽

Multinomial Logistic Model

AbstractThe diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonian syndromes is difficult due to the lack of reliable, easily accessible biomarkers. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a synucleinopathy whose symptoms often overlap with PD. Exosomes isolated from blood by immunoprecipitation using CNS markers provide a window into the brain’s biochemistry and may assist in distinguishing between PD and MSA. Thus, we asked whether α-synuclein (α-syn) in such exosomes could distinguish among healthy individuals, patients with PD, and patients with MSA. We isolated exosomes from the serum or plasma of these three groups by immunoprecipitation using neuronal and oligodendroglial markers in two independent cohorts and measured α-syn in these exosomes using an electrochemiluminescence ELISA. In both cohorts, α-syn concentrations were significantly lower in the control group and significantly higher in the MSA group compared to the PD group. The ratio between α-syn concentrations in putative oligodendroglial exosomes compared to putative neuronal exosomes was a particularly sensitive biomarker for distinguishing between PD and MSA. Combining this ratio with the α-syn concentration itself and the total exosome concentration, a multinomial logistic model trained on the discovery cohort separated PD from MSA with an AUC = 0.902, corresponding to 89.8% sensitivity and 86.0% specificity when applied to the independent validation cohort. The data demonstrate that a minimally invasive blood test measuring α-syn in blood exosomes immunoprecipitated using CNS markers can distinguish between patients with PD and patients with MSA with high sensitivity and specificity. Future optimization and validation of the data by other groups would allow this strategy to become a viable diagnostic test for synucleinopathies.

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Study on Homocysteinemia as a Risk Factor of Ischemic Stroke

TAJ Journal of Teachers Association ◽

10.3329/taj.v34i1.54903 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 34 (1) ◽

pp. 33-39

Author(s):

Md Amjad Hossain Pramanik ◽

Achinta Kumar Mallick ◽

Mukul Kumar Sarkar ◽

SM Emdadul Haque ◽

Md Raseul Kabir ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Risk Factor ◽

Ischemic Stroke ◽

Independent Risk Factor ◽

Homocysteine Level ◽

Control Group ◽

Age Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Serum Homocysteine ◽

And Control

Despite recent advances, only two-third of all strokes can be attributed to known causal risk factors. Homocysteine (tHcy), a sulfur-containing amino acid, is now considered to be an important risk factor for vascular diseases, along with the established risk factors like hyperlipidemia, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and smoking. Elevated homocysteine levels play a causal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, thromboembolism and vascular endothelial dysfunction with an increased incidence of ischemic stroke. This study aimed to find out the association of hyperhomocysteinemia with ischemic stroke. A total of 100 subjects were included in this study, 50 were ischemic stroke patients enrolled as case, and 50 were normal healthy individuals enrolled as control. Serum homocysteine level was measured in both case and control groups. The comparison was made in both groups regarding other common risk factors like diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking, dyslipidemia, family history, etc. Among 100 patients, 50 had ischemic stroke and 50 were healthy individuals. In this study, out of all patients, abnormal serum homocysteine level was found in 32% of cases and 12% of controls. The mean (±SD) serum homocysteine level was found 16.50±13.86 μmole/L in cases and 9.46±3.49 μmole /L in the control group. Significant (p<0.05) difference was found between the case and the control. The incidence of hyperhomocysteinemia is higher in ischemic stroke cases than that in age-sex-matched healthy controls. In our study, serum homocysteine was high in both younger age group patients (16.65±14.55 μmole/L vs. 9.52±3.19 μmole/L) and older age group patients (16.33±9.87 vs. 9.35±3.97 μmole/L,) in case and control group respectively. Significant (p<0.05) difference was found between the case and the control. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that abnormal serum homocysteine is an independent risk factor of ischemic stroke. So we conclude that hyperhomocysteinemia is an important and independent risk factor for the development of ischemic stroke. Hypertension and smoking are important contributory to elevated serum homocysteine. TAJ 2021; 34: No-1: 33-39

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Residual signal auto-correlation to evaluate speech in Parkinson’s disease patients

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria ◽

10.1590/s0004-282x2006000600004 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 64 (4) ◽

pp. 912-915 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

José Carlos Pereira ◽

Arthur Oscar Schelp ◽

Arlindo Neto Montagnoli ◽

Ana Rita Gatto ◽

André Augusto Spadotto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Statistical Difference ◽

Control Group ◽

Healthy Individuals ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Residual Signal ◽

Auto Correlation ◽

Significant Difference ◽

And Gender

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the maximum residual signal auto-correlation also known as pitch amplitude (PA) values in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients. METHOD: The signals of 21 Parkinson’s patients were compared with 15 healthy individuals, divided according age and gender. RESULTS: Statistical difference was seen between groups for PA, 0.39 for controls and 0.25 for PD. Normal value threshold was set as 0.3; (p<0.001). In the Parkinson’s group 80.77%, and in the control group only 12.28%, had a PA<0.3 demonstrating an association between these variables. The dispersion diagram for age and PA for PD individuals showed p=0.01 and r=0.54. There was no significant difference in relation to gender and PA between groups. CONCLUSION: The significant differences in pitch’s amplitude between PD patients and healthy individuals demonstrate the methods specificity. The results showed the need of prospective controlled studies to improve the use and indications of residual signal auto-correlation to evaluate speech in PD patients.

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Serum homocysteine level in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Bangladesh Medical Research Council Bulletin ◽

10.3329/bmrcb.v46i1.47463 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (1) ◽

pp. 12-16

Author(s):

Md Fakhrul Alam ◽

Mohammed Mahbubul Islam ◽

Mujammel Haque ◽

Shahana A Rahman

Keyword(s):

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis ◽

Homocysteine Level ◽

High Serum ◽

Control Group ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Serum Homocysteine ◽

Duration Of Illness ◽

Short And Long Term ◽

Medical University

Background: Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) is the most common chronic rheumatic disease of childhood and a leading cause of short and long-term disability. Abnormal level of serum homocysteine (Hcy) may be found in Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients. Some studies were done on serum homocyestine levels in children with JIA which showed conflicting results. So far, no study regarding the Hcy level in JIA patients was done in Bangladesh. Objectives: The study was aimed to assess the homocysteine level in children with different subtypes of JIA. Methods: It was a cross sectional and case control study. Fifty newly diagnosed cases of JIA attending the Pediatric Rheumatology clinic of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, from January 2016 to March 2017 were included. Fifty age and sex matched controls were selected. Serum homocysteine levels were measured in both cases and controls. Results: Among JIA patients, 36% had high serum homocysteine (Hcy) level whereas 100% of controls had normal level. Mean hcy level was significantly (p<0.05) higher among cases than controls. Significantly higher number and level of hyperhomocystaeinemia was found among JIA patients having duration of illness more than 1 year than duration less than 1 year. Mean homocysteine level of polyarticular RF positive cases was found as 14.38±3.79 µmol/L and that of SJIA was found as 13.0±4.66 µmol/L. When compared with homocysteine levels of control group these two groups had significantly higher homocysteine level. Conclusion: More than one third of JIA patients had hyperhomocysteinaemia. Mean hcy level of JIA cases was significantly higher than that of controls. Significant association of hyperhomocysteinaemia was present with duration of illness and certain types of JIA. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2020; 46(1): 12-16

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Association of Serum Homocysteine Level and Interstitial Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis: A Case-control Study

Current Rheumatology Reviews ◽

10.2174/1573397114666180628162907 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 74-78

Author(s):

Mohammadali Nazarinia ◽

Asghar Zare ◽

Mohammad javad Fallahi ◽

Mesbah Shams

Keyword(s):

Systemic Sclerosis ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Case Control Study ◽

Homocysteine Level ◽

Case Control ◽

Control Group ◽

Lung Involvement ◽

Serum Homocysteine ◽

The Mean ◽

Control Study

Background:Systemic sclerosis is a disorder of connective tissue with unknown cause, affecting the skin and internal organs, characterized by fibrotic changes.Objective:To determine the correlation between serum homocysteine level and interstitial lung involvement in systemic sclerosis. </P><P> Materials and Methods: In this case – control study, 59 patients who fulfilled the ACR/EULAR classification criteria for systemic sclerosis and were referred to Hafez Hospital of Shiraz, Iran, were included as the case group. Fifty nine healthy subjects were involved as the control group. Patients were divided into two groups based on interstitial lung involvement and two subtypes, diffuse and limited type. Serum homocysteine, vitamin B12, and folate levels compared between the controls, and cases groups.Results:Of 59 case and control group, 53 (%89.8) were female and the mean age did not differ in both groups (P=0.929). Thirty five (%59.3) patients had interstitial lung involvement and 38(%64.4) had diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. The mean serum homocysteine level was 13.9±6.3 µmol/L in the case and 13.7±9.2 µmol/L in the control group (P=0.86). The mean serum homocysteine level did not differ between the patients with and without interstitial lung involvement (P=0.52). The patients with lung involvement was older than those without lung involvement (P=0.004). Lung disease was more common in diffuse type (P=0.014).Conclusion:In our study, serum homocysteine level did not differ between the patients and healthy subjects. Also, there was no correlation between serum homocysteine level and lung involvement, but lung involvement was more common in older patients and also diffuse subtype.

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Study of cognitive impairment and genetic polymorphism of SLC41A1 (rs11240569 allele) in Parkinson’s disease in Upper Egypt: case-control study

The Egyptian Journal of Neurology Psychiatry and Neurosurgery ◽

10.1186/s41983-021-00341-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hamdy N. El-Tallawy ◽

Tahia H. Saleem ◽

Wafaa M. Farghaly ◽

Heba Mohamed Saad Eldien ◽

Ashraf Khodaery ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Case Control Study ◽

Case Control ◽

Control Group ◽

Motor Symptoms ◽

And Control ◽

Non Motor Symptoms ◽

Control Study

Abstract Background Parkinson’s disease is one of the neurodegenerative disorders that is caused by genetic and environmental factors or interaction between them. Solute carrier family 41 member 1 within the PARK16 locus has been reported to be associated with Parkinson’s disease. Cognitive impairment is one of the non-motor symptoms that is considered a challenge in Parkinson’s disease patients. This study aimed to investigate the association of rs11240569 polymorphism; a synonymous coding variant in SLC41A1 in Parkinson’s disease patients in addition to the assessment of cognitive impairment in those patients. Results In a case -control study, rs11240569 single nucleotide polymorphisms in SLC41A1, genes were genotyped in 48 Parkinson’s disease patients and 48 controls. Motor and non-motor performance in Parkinson's disease patients were assessed by using the Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). The genotype and allele frequencies were compared between the two groups and revealed no significant differences between case and control groups for rs11240569 in SLC41A1 gene with P value .523 and .54, respectively. Cognition was evaluated and showed the mean ± standard deviation (SD) of WAIS score of PD patients 80.4 ± 9.13 and the range was from 61 to 105, in addition to MMSE that showed mean ± SD 21.96 ± 3.8. Conclusion Genetic testing of the present study showed that rs11240569 polymorphism of SLC41A1 gene has no significant differences in distributions of alleles and genotypes between cases and control group, in addition to cognitive impairment that is present in a large proportion of PD patients and in addition to the strong correlation between cognitive impairment and motor and non-motor symptoms progression.

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Donepezil for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-84243-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Kyoungwon Baik ◽

Seon Myeong Kim ◽

Jin Ho Jung ◽

Yang Hyun Lee ◽

Seok Jong Chung ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Treatment Group ◽

Outcome Measures ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Secondary Outcome ◽

Control Group ◽

Significant Difference

AbstractWe investigated the efficacy of donepezil for mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (PD-MCI). This was a prospective, non-randomized, open-label, two-arm study. Eighty PD-MCI patients were assigned to either a treatment or control group. The treatment group received donepezil for 48 weeks. The primary outcome measures were the Korean version of Mini-Mental State Exam and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores. Secondary outcome measures were the Clinical Dementia Rating, Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III, Clinical Global Impression scores. Progression of dementia was assessed at 48-week. Comprehensive neuropsychological tests and electroencephalography (EEG) were performed at baseline and after 48 weeks. The spectral power ratio of the theta to beta2 band (TB2R) in the electroencephalogram was analyzed. There was no significant difference in the primary and secondary outcome measures between the two groups. However, the treatment group showed a significant decrease in TB2R at bilateral frontotemporoparietal channels compared to the control group. Although we could not demonstrate improvements in the cognitive functions, donepezil treatment had a modulatory effect on the EEG in PD-MCI patients. EEG might be a sensitive biomarker for detecting changes in PD-MCI after donepezil treatment.

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Integrated network analysis identifying potential novel drug candidates and targets for Parkinson's disease

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-92701-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Pusheng Quan ◽

Kai Wang ◽

Shi Yan ◽

Shirong Wen ◽

Chengqun Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Drug Target ◽

Target Genes ◽

Enrichment Analysis ◽

Gene Set Enrichment Analysis ◽

Functional Enrichment ◽

Control Group ◽

Drug Candidates ◽

Novel Drug

AbstractThis study aimed to identify potential novel drug candidates and targets for Parkinson’s disease. First, 970 genes that have been reported to be related to PD were collected from five databases, and functional enrichment analysis of these genes was conducted to investigate their potential mechanisms. Then, we collected drugs and related targets from DrugBank, narrowed the list by proximity scores and Inverted Gene Set Enrichment analysis of drug targets, and identified potential drug candidates for PD treatment. Finally, we compared the expression distribution of the candidate drug-target genes between the PD group and the control group in the public dataset with the largest sample size (GSE99039) in Gene Expression Omnibus. Ten drugs with an FDR < 0.1 and their corresponding targets were identified. Some target genes of the ten drugs significantly overlapped with PD-related genes or already known therapeutic targets for PD. Nine differentially expressed drug-target genes with p < 0.05 were screened. This work will facilitate further research into the possible efficacy of new drugs for PD and will provide valuable clues for drug design.

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