Impact of Upper Limb Function on Activities of Daily Living and Quality of Life in Huntington's Disease.

: Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative movement disorder associated with significant disability and impairment of Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). The impact of upper limb disability on quality of life (QoL) and its influence on ADLs is not well known yet. The aim of this study was to describe the manipulative dexterity, strength, and manual eye coordination of patients with manifest and premanifest-HD compared to healthy individuals and to analyze its influence on ADLs and QoL.

Use of the MNCD Classification to Monitor Clinical Stage and Response to Levodopa-Entacapone-Carbidopa Intestinal Gel Infusion in Advanced Parkinson's Disease.

Background And Objective: Staging Parkinson's disease (PD) with a novel simple classification called MNCD, based on four axes (Motor; Non-motor; Cognition; Dependency) and five stages, correlated with disease severity, patients' quality of life and caregivers' strain and burden. Our aim was to apply the MNCD classification in advanced PD patients treated with device-aided therapy (DAT).

Patients And Methods: A multicenter observational retrospective study of the first patients to start the levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel (LECIG) in Spain was performed (LECIPARK study).

A multidisciplinary telemedicine approach for managing frailty in Parkinson's disease. A longitudinal, case-control study.

Introduction: The interaction between frailty and Parkinson's disease (PD) is still unknown. This study aimed to study the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary telemedicine program in reducing frailty in Parkinson's disease.

Methods: Longitudinal, randomized, case-control study.

Effectiveness and safety of levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa infusion in Parkinson disease: A real-world data study.

Background And Purpose: Levodopa-entacapone-carbidopa intestinal gel (LECIG) infusion is a recently developed device-aided therapy for advanced Parkinson disease (PD) patients. The aim of this study was to report real-world evidence about the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of LECIG in PD patients.

Methods: A multicenter observational retrospective study of the first patients who initiated LECIG in Spain was performed.

Freezing of gait: pharmacological and surgical options.

Purpose Of Review: The primary aim of this review is to describe and update the pathophysiological and relevant therapeutic strategies for freezing of gait (FoG) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Recent Findings: FoG presumably involves dysfunction of multiple cortical and subcortical components, including dopaminergic and nondopaminergic circuits. In this regard, levodopa and physical therapy represent the first-choice therapeutic options for PD patients with FoG.

Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesias are Frequent and Impact Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease: A 5-Year Follow-Up Study.

Background: Levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LID) are frequent in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objective: To analyze the change in the frequency of LID over time, identify LID related factors, and characterize how LID impact on patients' quality of life (QoL).

Patients And Methods: PD patients from the 5-year follow-up COPPADIS cohort were included.

Language-Independent Acoustic Biomarkers for Quantifying Speech Impairment in Huntington's Disease.

Purpose: Changes in voice and speech are characteristic symptoms of Huntington's disease (HD). Objective methods for quantifying speech impairment that can be used across languages could facilitate assessment of disease progression and intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to analyze acoustic features to identify language-independent features that could be used to quantify speech dysfunction in English-, Spanish-, and Polish-speaking participants with HD.

Computer Vision for Parkinson's Disease Evaluation: A Survey on Finger Tapping.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder whose prevalence has steadily been rising over the years. Specialist neurologists across the world assess and diagnose patients with PD, although the diagnostic process is time-consuming and various symptoms take years to appear, which means that the diagnosis is prone to human error. The partial automatization of PD assessment and diagnosis through computational processes has therefore been considered for some time.

Validation of ActiGraph and Fitbit in the assessment of energy expenditure in Huntington's disease.

Background: Consumer and research activity monitors have become popular because of their ability to quantify energy expenditure (EE) in free-living conditions. However, the accuracy of activity trackers in determining EE in people with Huntington's Disease (HD) is unknown.

Research Question: Can the ActiGraph wGT3X-B or the Fitbit Charge 4 accurately measure energy expenditure during physical activity, in people with HD compared to Indirect Calorimetry (IC) (Medisoft Ergo Card)?

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, observational study with fourteen participants with mild-moderate HD (mean age 55.

Delivery of Allied Health Therapies to People with Parkinson's Disease in Africa.

Allied health therapies refer to a range of healthcare professionals, including physiotherapists, occupational and speech-language therapists, who aim to optimize daily function and quality of life in conjunction with medical care. In this narrative review of literature on allied health therapies in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), we focused on the diversity in healthcare access, state of the art, current challenges in the African continent, and proposed solutions and future perspectives. Despite the increasing prevalence and awareness of PD in Africa, numerous challenges persist in its management.

How to estimate body composition in Huntington's disease. A cross-sectional, observational study using multiple frequencies bioimpedance.

Introduction: Huntington´s disease (HD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder. Reliable information about nutritional status, especially body composition from individuals with HD is critical for clinical care and research. The ease of application and portability of multiple frequencies bioelectrical impedance analysis (mfBIA) make it an attractive tool for measuring body composition, but its accuracy in HD is unknown.

Staging Parkinson's disease according to the MNCD classification correlates with caregiver burden.

Background And Objective: Recently, we demonstrated that staging Parkinson's disease (PD) with a novel simple classification called MNCD, based on four axes (motor, non-motor, cognition, and dependency) and five stages, correlated with disease severity and patients' quality of life. Here, we analyzed the correlation of MNCD staging with PD caregiver's status.

Patients And Methods: Data from the baseline visit of PD patients and their principal caregiver recruited from 35 centers in Spain from the COPPADIS cohort from January 2016 to November 2017 were used to apply the MNCD total score (from 0 to 12) and MNCD stages (from 1 to 5) in this cross-sectional analysis.

How can I assess my patients with Parkinson's disease during a busy clinic day?

Background: The evaluation of motor impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is mainly assessed with the motor subdomain of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating scale (UPDRS part III) and, lately, with the MDS-UPDRS part III. To optimize efforts and special needs during specific circumstances in clinical practice, we sought to identify the most sensitive items to assess motor impairment in PD.

Methods: We included the COPPADIS-PD cohort and collected the UPDRS part III at baseline (V0), 12 months (V1), and 24 months (V2).

Cognitive impairment and dementia in young onset Parkinson's disease.

Background And Objective: Patients with young-onset Parkinson's disease (YOPD) have a slower progression. Our aim was to analyze the change in cognitive function in YOPD compared to patients with a later onset and controls.

Patients And Methods: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and controls from the COPPADIS cohort were included.

Underestimated olfactory domains in Huntington's disease: odour discrimination and threshold.

Background: Olfaction has recently found clinical value in prediction, discrimination and prognosis of some neurodegenerative disorders. However, data originating from standard tests on olfactory dysfunction in Huntington's disease are limited to odour identification, which is only one domain of olfactory perceptual space.

Method: Twenty-five patients and 25 age- and gender-matched controls were evaluated by the Sniffin' Sticks test in three domains of odour threshold, odour discrimination, odour identification and the sum score of them.

Levodopa Carbidopa Intestinal Gel in Advanced Parkinson's Disease: DUOGLOBE Final 3-Year Results.

Background: Levodopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) improves motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (aPD).

Objective: To present the final 36-month efficacy and safety results from DUOGLOBE (DUOdopa/Duopa in Patients with Advanced Parkinson's Disease - a GLobal OBservational Study Evaluating Long-Term Effectiveness; NCT02611713).

Methods: DUOGLOBE was an international, prospective, long-term, real-world, observational study of patients with aPD initiating LCIG in routine clinical care.

Clinical utility of a personalized and long-term monitoring device for Parkinson's disease in a real clinical practice setting: An expert opinion survey on STAT-ON™.

Background: STAT-ON™ is an objective tool that registers ON-OFF fluctuations making possible to know the state of the patient at every moment of the day in normal life. Our aim was to analyze the opinion of different Parkinson's disease experts about the STAT-ON™ tool after using the device in a real clinical practice setting (RCPS).

Methods: STAT-ON™ was provided by the Company Sense4Care to Spanish neurologists for using it in a RCPS.

Expanded and Independent Spanish Validation of the MDS-Non Motor Rating Scale.

Background: The Movement Disorder Society-sponsored Non-motor Rating Scale (MDS-NMS) assess the severity and disability caused by non-motor symptoms (NMS) in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objective: This article encapsulates the formal process for completing this program and the data on the first officially approved non-English version of the MDS-NMS (Spanish).

Methods: The MDS-NMS translation program involves four steps: translation and back-translation; cognitive pre-testing to ensure that raters and patients understand the scale and are comfortable with its content; field testing of the finalized version; analysis of the factor structure of the tested version against the original English language version for the nine domains that could be analyzed in a confirmatory factor analysis.

Prevalence and Factors Associated with Drooling in Parkinson's Disease: Results from a Longitudinal Prospective Cohort and Comparison with a Control Group.

Introduction: Drooling in Parkinson's disease (PD) is frequent but often goes underrecognized. Our aim was to examine the prevalence of drooling in a PD cohort and compare it with a control group. Specifically, we identified factors associated with drooling and conducted subanalyses in a subgroup of very early PD patients.

Pharmacogenetics in the Treatment of Huntington's Disease: Review and Future Perspectives.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant progressive brain disorder, caused by a pathological expansion of a CAG repeat that encodes the huntingtin gene. This genetic neurodegenerative rare disease is characterized by cognitive, motor, and neuropsychiatric manifestations. The aim of the treatment is symptomatic and addresses the hyperkinetic disorders (chorea, dystonia, myoclonus, tics, etc.

Functionality and Quality of Life with Parkinson's Disease after Use of a Dynamic Upper Limb Orthosis: A Pilot Study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, neurodegenerative movement disorder, whose symptoms have a negative impact on quality of life and functionality. Although its main treatment is pharmacological, non-pharmacological aids such as the dynamic elastomeric fabric orthosis (DEFO) merit an evaluation. Our objective is to assess the DEFO in upper limb (UL) functional mobility and in the quality of life of PD patients.

Staging Parkinson's Disease According to the MNCD (Motor/Non-motor/Cognition/Dependency) Classification Correlates with Disease Severity and Quality of Life.

Background: Recently, a novel simple classification called MNCD, based on 4 axes (Motor; Non-motor; Cognition; Dependency) and 5 stages, has been proposed to classify Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objective: Our aim was to apply the MNCD classification in a cohort of PD patients for the first time and also to analyze the correlation with quality of life (QoL) and disease severity.

Methods: Data from the baseline visit of PD patients recruited from 35 centers in Spain from the COPPADIS cohort fromJanuary 2016 to November 2017 were used to apply the MNCD classification.

Sex Differences in Motor and Non-Motor Symptoms among Spanish Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background And Objective: Sex plays a role in Parkinson's disease (PD) mechanisms. We analyzed sex difference manifestations among Spanish patients with PD.

Patients And Methods: PD patients who were recruited from the Spanish cohort COPPADIS from January 2016 to November 2017 were included.