Cortical hypometabolism in Parkinson's disease is linked to cholinergic basal forebrain atrophy.

Cortical hypometabolism on FDG-PET is a well-established neuroimaging biomarker of cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD), but its pathophysiologic origins are incompletely understood. Cholinergic basal forebrain (cBF) degeneration is a prominent pathological feature of PD-related cognitive impairment and may contribute to cortical hypometabolism through cholinergic denervation of cortical projection areas. Here, we investigated in-vivo associations between subregional cBF volumes on 3T-MRI, cortical hypometabolism on [F]FDG-PET, and cognitive deficits in a cohort of 95 PD participants with varying degrees of cognitive impairment.

Correlation Between Amyloid PET Imaging and Discordant Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers Results in Patients with Suspected Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Although the concordance between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers and amyloid-PET findings is well known, there are no data regarding the concordance of amyloid-PET with inconclusive CSF values of amyloid-β (Aβ)1 - 42 and p-tau for the diagnosis of AD.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between the amyloid-PET results with discordant AD biomarkers values in CSF (Aβ1 - 42+/p-tau-or Aβ1 - 42-/p-tau+).

Methods: An observational retrospective study, including 62 patients with mild cognitive impairment (32/62) or dementia (30/62), suspicious of AD who had undergone a lumbar puncture to determine CSF AD biomarkers, and presented discordant values in CSF between Aβ1 - 42 and p-tau (Aβ1 - 42+/p-tau-or Aβ1 - 42-/p-tau+).

Peripheral Inflammation Is Associated with Dopaminergic Degeneration in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Peripheral inflammatory immune responses are suggested to play a major role in dopaminergic degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD). The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a well-established biomarker of systemic inflammation in PD. Degeneration of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic system can be assessed in vivo using [ I]FP-CIT single photon emission computed tomography imaging of striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) density.

TMA-93 Validation by Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers: A Comparison with the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test on a Biobank Sample.

Background: The Memory Associative Test TMA-93 examines visual relational binding, characteristically affected in early-AD stages.

Objective: We aim to validate the TMA-93 by biomarkers determination and compare its diagnostic characteristics with the Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT).

Methods: Retrospective analysis of a Biobank database.

Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson Disease Specifically Associates With Dopaminergic Depletion in Sensorimotor-Related Functional Subregions of the Striatum.

Purpose: To determine whether the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) in Parkinson disease (PD) specifically relates to dopaminergic depletion in sensorimotor-related subregions of the striatum.

Methods: Our primary study sample consisted of 185 locally recruited PD patients, of which 73 (40%) developed LID. Retrospective 123I-FP-CIT SPECT data were used to quantify the specific dopamine transporter (DAT) binding ratio within distinct functionally defined striatal subregions related to limbic, executive, and sensorimotor systems.

Differential diagnosis of HaNDL syndrome in a case report of a pediatric patient: The role of SPECT with Tc-HMPAO.

•HaNDL syndrome may be a condition probably underdiagnosed in pediatric age.•A differential diagnosis with viral, vascular or autoimmune etiology is necessary.•Epileptiform alterations in EEG could be possible in this infrequent syndrome.

A Bayesian spatial model for neuroimaging data based on biologically informed basis functions.

The dominant approach to neuroimaging data analysis employs the voxel as the unit of computation. While convenient, voxels lack biological meaning and their size is arbitrarily determined by the resolution of the image. Here, we propose a multivariate spatial model in which neuroimaging data are characterised as a linearly weighted combination of multiscale basis functions which map onto underlying brain nuclei or networks or nuclei.

Lower levels of uric acid and striatal dopamine in non-tremor dominant Parkinson's disease subtype.

Parkinson's disease (PD) patients who present with tremor and maintain a predominance of tremor have a better prognosis. Similarly, PD patients with high levels of uric acid (UA), a natural neuroprotectant, have also a better disease course. Our aim was to investigate whether PD motor subtypes differ in their levels of UA, and if these differences correlate with the degree of dopamine transporter (DAT) availability.

Cerebral and blood correlates of reduced functional connectivity in mild cognitive impairment.

Growing evidence suggests that decreased functional connectivity in cortical networks precedes clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), although our knowledge about cerebral and biological correlates of this phenomenon is limited. To shed light on this issue, we have investigated whether resting-state oscillatory connectivity patterns in healthy older (HO) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) subjects are related to anatomical grey matter (GM) and functional (2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG)-PET) changes of neuroelectric sources of alpha rhythms, and/or to changes in plasma amyloid-beta (Aβ) and serum lipid levels, blood markers tied to AD pathogenesis and aging-related cognitive decline. We found that aMCI subjects showed decreased levels of cortical connectivity, reduced FDG-PET intake of the precuneus, and GM atrophy of the thalamus, together with higher levels of Aβ and apolipoprotein B (ApoB) compared to HO.

Utility of neuropsychiatric tools in the differential diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease: quantitative and qualitative findings.

Background: Discerning dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common and challenging differential diagnoses at the memory clinic. Although the neuropsychiatric manifestations have been widely reported as one of the main key points in the differential diagnosis between these two diseases, to date no neuropsychiatric questionnaire has been specifically devised for this purpose.

Methods: We administered the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and the Columbia University Scale for Psychopathology in Alzheimer's Disease (CUSPAD) to a memory clinic sample of 80 patients with probable DLB and 85 age- and severity-matched patients with probable AD.

Clinical features and 123I-FP-CIT SPECT imaging in vascular parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease.

Objectives: To analyse the differences in the clinical features and characteristics of (123)I-labelled 2β-carbomethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl)-N-(3-fluoropropyl) nortropane ((123)I-FP-CIT) single photon emission CT (SPECT) imaging among patients with vascular parkinsonism (VP) and Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: We performed a case-control study to compare clinical features and qualitative and semi-quantitative analyses of (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT images between 106 patients with VP and 280 patients with PD. A case series study was used to search for clinical features related to SPECT or neuroimaging findings among patients with VP.

Intra-arterial bone marrow mononuclear cells in ischemic stroke: a pilot clinical trial.

Background And Purpose: Bone marrow mononuclear cell (BM-MNC) intra-arterial transplantation improves recovery in experimental models of ischemic stroke. We aimed to assess the safety, feasibility, and biological effects of autologous BM-MNC transplantation in patients with stroke.

Methods: A single-blind (outcomes assessor) controlled Phase I/II trial was conducted in patients with middle cerebral artery stroke.

Clinical features and 123I-FP-CIT SPECT imaging in drug-induced parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease.

Purpose: To determine clinical predictors and accuracy of (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT imaging in the differentiation of drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP) and Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Several clinical features and (123)I-FP-CIT SPECT images in 32 patients with DIP, 25 patients with PD unmasked by antidopaminergic drugs (PDu) and 22 patients with PD without a previous history of antidopaminergic treatment (PDc) were retrospectively evaluated.

Results: DIP and PD shared all clinical features except symmetry of parkinsonian signs which was more frequently observed in patients with DIP (46.

Functional integrity of thalamocortical circuits differentiates normal aging from mild cognitive impairment.

Resonance in thalamocortical networks is critically involved in sculpting oscillatory behavior in large ensembles of neocortical cells. Neocortical oscillations provide critical information about the integrity of thalamocortical circuits and functional connectivity of cortical networks, which seem to be significantly disrupted by the neuronal death and synapse loss characterizing Alzheimer's disease (AD). By applying a novel analysis methodology to overcome volume conduction effects between scalp electroencephalographic (EEG) measurements, we were able to estimate the temporal activation of EEG-alpha sources in the thalamus and parieto-occipital regions of the cortex.

[Usefulness of brain SPECT with HMPAO-99mTc and psychological tests for diagnosis of neurological involvement in Behçet's disease].

Background: The purpose of this study was to establish the usefulness of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and psychological tests for diagnostic of neuro-Behçet (NB) and to evaluate the clinical significance of neurological symptoms that are difficult to interpret and asymptomatic abnormalities in diagnostic tests.

Patients And Method: Forty patients with Behçet's disease (BD) were enrrolled for being studied with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), SPECT and psychological tests.

Results: MRI findings were abnormal in 52,9% of patients with neurological involvement and 23.