Validation of the Italian version of the Movement Disorder Society--Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale.

The Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) has been available in English since 2008. As part of this process, the MDS-UPDRS organizing team developed guidelines for development of official non-English translations. We present here the formal process for completing officially approved non-English versions of the MDS-UPDRS and specifically focus on the first of these versions in Italian.

Multiple sclerosis recurrence risk for siblings in an isolated population of Central Sardinia, Italy.

Studies of twins, adoptees, half siblings, and familial recurrence risk have shown that genetic and non-genetic factors are involved in multiple sclerosis (MS) etiology. Age at onset, gender, and parental MS status seem to influence sibling risk. We studied the recurrence risk in siblings of MS patients in an isolated population of Sardinia, Italy, which is genetically homogeneous, inbred, and very stable, with a high MS frequency.