Asian over-representation among patients with hemifacial spasm compared to patients with cranial-cervical dystonia.

Background And Purpose: Hemifacial spasm (HFS) is a common movement disorder, but its prevalence in different populations has not been elucidated.

Methods: We reviewed all patients with HFS currently followed at the Baylor College of Medicine Movement Disorders Clinic and compared their demographic and clinical data with a control group of patients with cranial-cervical dystonia (CD).

Results: In contrast to patients with CD (N=145, mean age 48.

Efficacy and tolerability of pregabalin in essential tremor: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.

We performed a double-blind, crossover-design study to assess the tolerability and efficacy of pregabalin (PGB) in patients with essential tremor (ET). Twenty patients (11 women; mean age of 62.2+/-12.

The LRRK2 I2012T, G2019S and I2020T mutations are not common in patients with essential tremor.

Several mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene (LRRK2) have been identified both in familial and sporadic cases of Parkinson's disease (PD). G2019S, located at a kinase (MAPKKK) domain, is the most common mutation in the LRRK2 gene in PD, Two adjacent mutations (I2012T and I2020T) were mapped to the same domain suggesting shared pathogenic mechanism of these mutations. Since phenotypes of PD overlap with essential tremor (ET), we investigated LRRK2 G2019S, I2012T, and I2020T mutations in a cohort of 272 patients with ET.