Publications by authors named "Anne-Marie A Wills"

Purpose Of Review: The most common four neurodegenerative atypical parkinsonian disorders (APDs) are progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), multiple system atrophy (MSA), corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). Their formal diagnostic criteria often require subspecialty experience to implement as designed and all require excluding competing diagnoses without clearly specifying how to do that. Validated diagnostic criteria are not available at all for many of the other common APDs, including normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), vascular parkinsonism (VP), or drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to identify fluid biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) to aid in developing new therapies, utilizing advanced proteomic analysis methods.
  • Researchers analyzed a total of 136 participants across various groups, comparing individuals with PSP (Richardson syndrome) against healthy controls, using sophisticated platforms to assess the presence of specific proteins (SOMAmers) in CSF.
  • Findings revealed that many SOMAmers were differentially expressed in PSP patients, indicating potential biomarkers, with three significant biological pathways linked to disease progression identified, including synaptic functions and cytokine interactions.
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Background: Supranuclear vertical gaze palsies and slowed vertical saccades are characteristic clinic features of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The "hummingbird sign," reflective of midbrain atrophy, is a classic radiographic sign of PSP. Correlation between eye movement abnormalities and radiographic findings in PSP has been reported previously.

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Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal syndrome (CBS; the most common phenotype of corticobasal degeneration) are tauopathies with a relentless course, usually starting in the mid-60s and leading to death after an average of 7 years. There is as yet no specific or disease-modifying treatment. Clinical deficits in PSP are numerous, involve the entire neuraxis, and present as several discrete phenotypes.

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Objective: To explore the association between metabolic syndrome and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores and, secondarily, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT).

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of data from 1,022 of 1,741 participants of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Clinical Trials in Parkinson Disease Long-Term Study 1, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial of creatine. Participants were categorized as having or not having metabolic syndrome on the basis of modified criteria from the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III.

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Introduction: Clinical cohort studies suggest that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in early Parkinson's disease (PD). The objectives of this paper were to describe cognitive function in a large clinical trial of early treated PD patients at baseline and over time using two brief cognitive screening tests.

Methods: In total 1741 participants were enrolled in the NINDS Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's disease (NET-PD) Long-term Study-1 (LS-1).

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Importance: Greater body mass index (BMI, calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) is associated with improved survival among persons with Huntington disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Weight loss is common among persons with Parkinson disease (PD) and is associated with worse quality of life.

Objective: To explore the association between change in BMI, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor and total scores, and survival among persons with PD and to test whether there is a positive association between BMI at randomization and survival.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to explore sex differences in clinical characteristics and disease severity in men and women with early treated Parkinson's Disease (PD) using data from a large clinical trial.
  • - An analysis of 1,741 participants found no significant differences between men and women in terms of age at symptom onset, diagnosis, and motor symptoms, but women performed better on certain cognitive measures.
  • - The findings suggest that while motor symptoms appear similar in early PD for both sexes, the observed advantages in non-motor cognitive symptoms for women indicate a need for further research on sex influences in later PD stages.
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Background: Sex differences in Parkinson disease clinical features have been reported, but few studies have examined sex influences on use of dopaminergic medication in early Parkinson disease. The objective of this study was to test if there are differences in the type of dopaminergic medication used and levodopa equivalent daily dose between men and women with early Parkinson disease enrolled in a large multicenter study of Creatine as a potential disease modifying therapy - the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson Disease Long-Term Study-1.

Methods: Baseline data of 1,741 participants from 45 participating sites were analyzed.

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Background: Adenosine A2A receptor antagonists reduce or prevent the development of dyskinesia in animal models of levodopa-induced dyskinesia.

Methods: We examined the association between self-reported intake of the A2A receptor antagonist caffeine and time to dyskinesia in the Comparison of the Agonist Pramipexole with Levodopa on Motor Complications of Parkinson's Disease (CALM-PD) and CALM Cohort extension studies, using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusting for age, baseline Parkinson's severity, site, and initial treatment with pramipexole or levodopa.

Results: For subjects who consumed >12 ounces of coffee/day, the adjusted hazard ratio for the development of dyskinesia was 0.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder of upper and lower motor neurons. Genetic variants in the paraoxonase gene cluster have been associated with susceptibility to sporadic ALS. Because these studies have yielded conflicting results, we have further investigated this association in a larger data set.

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