Influence of Dopamine and Disease Severity on Primitive Reflexes in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is not exclusively a motor disorder. Among non-motor features, PD patients possess sensory visual dysfunctions. Stereopsis deficit can significantly impact patients' motor performance. However, it is not routinely tested, and its significance is under-investigated. Studying stereopsis using reliable 3D stimuli may help determine its implications in disease status in PD.The objective of the study is to investigate stereopsis abnormalities in PD with reliable and more physiological tools, and their correlation with indicators of PD severity. Methods: Twenty-four healthy control and 20 PD participants were first evaluated for visual acuity, visual field, contrast acuity, and stereoperception with 2D and Titmus stereotests, followed by the assessment with the 3D active shutter system. The correlation between stereopsis and disease severity, Unified Parkinson’s disease rating scale motor scores (UPDRS-III), levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD), course of disease and cognitive status were evaluated using univariate regression models. Results: Screening visual tests did not reveal any differences between PD and control group. With the 3D active shutter system, PD patients demonstrated significantly worse stereopsis (i.e p=0.002, 26 seconds of arc). There was a trend that UPDRS-III and LEDD negatively correlate with the stereo acuity, suggesting poorer stereoperception is related to disease severity. Preserved cognitive function correlated with more intact stereo acuity. Conclusion: With more reliable and physiological tools, PD patients exhibit poorer stereopsis. These deficits reflected PD motor and cognitive status. How stereopsis relates to gait, fall risks and navigation warrants more investigations in the future.

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Estimation of Parkinson’s disease severity from voice features of vowels and consonant

2020 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society (EMBC) ◽

10.1109/embc44109.2020.9175395 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Rekha Viswanathan ◽

Sridhar P Arjunan ◽

Peter Kempster ◽

Sanjay Raghav ◽

Dinesh Kumar

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Disease Severity

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Profile of caregivers of Parkinson’s disease patients and burden measured by Zarit Scale Analysis of potential burden-generating factors and their correlation with disease severity

Dementia & Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1590/1980-57642018dn12-030011 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 299-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Paulo Eduardo Mestrinelli Carrilho ◽

Marcelo Alvarez Rodrigues ◽

Brenda Camila Reck de Oliveira ◽

Emanuelle Bianchi da Silva ◽

Taline Alisson Artemis Lazzarin Silva ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Disease Severity ◽

Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Correlation Method ◽

Cognitive Status ◽

Multivariate Linear Regression Analysis ◽

Pearson’S Correlation ◽

Pearson's Correlation ◽

Karnofsky Index

Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) promotes burden among patients and caregivers. Objective: To analyze whether disease severity (UPDRS and Karnofsky index), total disease duration, patient cognitive status (MMSE), presence of other diseases, patient age, socioeconomic conditions (ABEP2015), living together with patient, total time caregiving, weekly hours of care and presence of assistance from other caregivers are correlated with, and influence statistically, the degree of caregiver burden measured by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). Methods: After ethics Committee approval, patients and respective caregivers were recruited. Following evaluation with the proper scales, all data were submitted to Pearson’s correlation method and multivariate linear regression analysis (ANOVA). Results: A total of 21 patients and respective caregivers were evaluated. 72% (N=15) of caregivers reported burden. One third of caregivers reported a moderate or severe level of burden. A cause-effect relationship could not be established by the statistical method adopted, but disease severity measured by the UPDRS was the sole variable showing statistically significant moderate positive Pearson’s correlation with ZBI (r=0.48, for p<0.05). On ANOVA, however, no independent variable had a statistically significant impact on ZBI scores. Conclusion: Despite our conflicting results, optimization of the available treatment, with better control of PD severity, can be considered an important element to effectively achieve the goal of reducing burden among caregivers.

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Zonisamide Administration Improves Fatty Acid β-Oxidation in Parkinson’s Disease

Cells ◽

10.3390/cells8010014 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 14 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shin-Ichi Ueno ◽

Shinji Saiki ◽

Motoki Fujimaki ◽

Haruka Takeshige-Amano ◽

Taku Hatano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mass Spectrometry ◽

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Disease Severity ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Statistical Significance ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Time Of Flight ◽

Metabolome Analysis ◽

Flight Mass Spectrometry

Although many experimental studies have shown the favorable effects of zonisamide on mitochondria using models of Parkinson’s disease (PD), the influence of zonisamide on metabolism in PD patients remains unclear. To assess metabolic status under zonisamide treatment in PD, we performed a pilot study using a comprehensive metabolome analysis. Plasma samples were collected for at least one year from 30 patients with PD: 10 without zonisamide medication and 20 with zonisamide medication. We performed comprehensive metabolome analyses of plasma with capillary electrophoresis time-of-flight mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We also measured disease severity using Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) staging and the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor section, and analyzed blood chemistry. In PD with zonisamide treatment, 15 long-chain acylcarnitines (LCACs) tended to be increased, of which four (AC(12:0), AC(12:1)-1, AC(16:1), and AC(16:2)) showed statistical significance. Of these, two LCACs (AC(16:1) and AC(16:2)) were also identified by partial least squares analysis. There was no association of any LCAC with age, disease severity, levodopa daily dose, or levodopa equivalent dose. Because an upregulation of LCACs implies improvement of mitochondrial β-oxidation, zonisamide might be beneficial for mitochondrial β-oxidation, which is suppressed in PD.

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