Evaluating prognostic factors for falls in Parkinson's disease: A sex-based analysis.

Introduction: Falls are a common and debilitating complication in Parkinson's disease (PD). Previous studies have primarily focused on cohorts with prevalent falls or advanced disease stages. This study assessed risk factors for falls in early-stage falls-naïve cohort stratified by sex.

Artificial intelligence for identification of candidates for device-aided therapy in Parkinson's disease: DELIST-PD study.

Introduction: In Parkinson's Disease (PD), despite available treatments focusing on symptom alleviation, the effectiveness of conventional therapies decreases over time. This study aims to enhance the identification of candidates for device-aided therapies (DAT) using artificial intelligence (AI), addressing the need for improved treatment selection in advanced PD stages.

Methods: This national, multicenter, cross-sectional, observational study involved 1086 PD patients across Spain.

Implication of nutrition in severity of symptoms and treatments in quality of life in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

Unlabelled: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. Nutritional alterations are one of the non-motor symptoms that most influence the quality of life (QoL) in PD.

Objective: Therefore, this review aims to evaluate whether nutritional alterations are related either to the severity of motor and non-motor symptoms through the gut-brain axis or to the different treatments for PD and whether all of this, in turn, impacts the QoL of patients.

Virtual Coaching for Home Rehabilitation - Evidence of an Empirical Study.

Older individuals often face disabilities or diseases that lower their quality of life (QoL). While inpatient rehabilitation can initially enhance QoL, there is often a lack of continuation at home. Virtual coaches (VCs) as specific embodied conversational agents promise appropriate support for home rehabilitation.

Plasma Neurofilament Light Chain: A Potential Biomarker for Neurological Dysfunction in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex disorder characterized by heterogeneous symptoms, which lack specific biomarkers for its diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels as a potential biomarker for ME/CFS and explore associations with cognitive, autonomic, and neuropathic symptoms. Here, 67 ME/CFS patients and 43 healthy controls (HCs) underwent comprehensive assessments, including neuropsychological evaluation, autonomic nervous system (ANS) testing, and plasma NfL level analysis.

Association of retinal neurodegeneration with the progression of cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease.

Retinal thickness may serve as a biomarker in Parkinson's disease (PD). In this prospective longitudinal study, we aimed to determine if PD patients present accelerated thinning rate in the parafoveal ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (pfGCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) compared to controls. Additionally, we evaluated the relationship between retinal neurodegeneration and clinical progression in PD.

Prognostic factors for falls in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review.

Background: Falls represent a critical concern in Parkinson's disease (PD), contributing to increased morbidity and reduced quality of life.

Purpose: We conducted a systematic review to assess the prognostic factors associated with falls in PD, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant demographic and clinical parameters, and aid neurologists in identifying subsets of PD patients most susceptible to falls and associated injuries.

Methods: PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched for prospective studies assessing factors associated with falls in ambulatory PD patients across different settings, from inception to August 2023.

Retinal thickness as a biomarker of cognitive impairment in manifest Huntington's disease.

Background: Cognitive decline has been reported in premanifest and manifest Huntington's disease but reliable biomarkers are lacking. Inner retinal layer thickness seems to be a good biomarker of cognition in other neurodegenerative diseases.

Objective: To explore the relationship between optical coherence tomography-derived metrics and global cognition in Huntington's Disease.

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.

Brain Degeneration in Synucleinopathies Based on Analysis of Cognition and Other Nonmotor Features: A Multimodal Imaging Study.

Background: We aimed to characterize subtypes of synucleinopathies using a clustering approach based on cognitive and other nonmotor data and to explore structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain differences between identified clusters.

Methods: Sixty-two patients ( = 6 E46K-SNCA, = 8 dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and = 48 idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD)) and 37 normal controls underwent nonmotor evaluation with extensive cognitive assessment. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was performed on patients' samples based on nonmotor variables.

Costs and effects of telerehabilitation in neurological and cardiological diseases: A systematic review.

Introduction: Telerehabilitation in neurological and cardiological diseases is an alternative rehabilitation that improves the quality of life and health conditions of patients and enhances the accessibility to health care. However, despite the reported benefits of telerehabilitation, it is necessary to study its impact on the healthcare system.

Methods: The systematic review aims to investigate the costs and results of telerehabilitation in neurological and cardiological diseases.

Spatial characterization of the effect of age and sex on macular layer thicknesses and foveal pit morphology.

Characterizing the effect of age and sex on macular retinal layer thicknesses and foveal pit morphology is crucial to differentiating between natural and disease-related changes. We applied advanced image analysis techniques to optical coherence tomography (OCT) to: 1) enhance the spatial description of age and sex effects, and 2) create a detailed open database of normative retinal layer thickness maps and foveal pit shapes. The maculae of 444 healthy subjects (age range 21-88) were imaged with OCT.

Multimodal visual system analysis as a biomarker of visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

Visual hallucinations (VH) are present in up to 75% of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. However, their neural bases and participation of the visual system in VH are not well-understood in PD. Seventy-four participants, 12 PD with VH (PDVH), 35 PD without VH (PDnoVH) and 27 controls underwent a battery of primary visual function and visual cognition tests, retinal optical coherence tomography and structural and resting-state functional brain MRI.

Pearls & Oy-sters: Challenges and Controversies in Wilson Disease.

Wilson disease (WD) is a genetic disorder of copper metabolism caused by variants in the gene, which are inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. Despite all the advances made on pathogenesis, cellular biology, and genetics, to date, WD remains a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. With this series of cases, we aim to illustrate the main challenges that clinicians may encounter when dealing with patients with WD: the difficulties with clinical diagnosis, the therapeutic management of WD and the indication for advanced therapies, management during pregnancy, and genotype-phenotype correlations.

Predictors of health-related quality of life in Parkinson's disease: the impact of overlap between health-related quality of life and clinical measures.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine predictors of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Parkinson's disease (PD) and to explore their predictive value before and after controlling overlapping items between HRQoL and clinical variables.

Methods: One hundred and eight PD patients underwent motor, anxiety, depression, apathy, fatigue, and neurocognition assessment. HRQoL was assessed by the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39).

Dysautonomia in COVID-19 Patients: A Narrative Review on Clinical Course, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies.

Introduction: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization sounded the COVID-19 pandemic alarm. While efforts in the first few months focused on reducing the mortality of infected patients, there is increasing data on the effects of long-term infection (Post-COVID-19 condition). Among the different symptoms described after acute infection, those derived from autonomic dysfunction are especially frequent and limiting.

Plasma and serum alpha-synuclein as a biomarker in Parkinson's disease: A meta-analysis.

Background: Reliable biomarkers for Parkinson's disease (PD) diagnosis are urgently needed. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) and its proteoforms play a key role in PD pathology but in vivo measurements have raised conflicting results, and whether α-syn in blood could distinguish PD patients from healthy controls is still controversial.

Methods: A systematic literature search yielded 35 eligible studies for meta-analysis reporting the concentration of total, oligomeric or phosphorylated α-syn in plasma and/or serum of PD patients and healthy controls.

Heart-brain synchronization breakdown in Parkinson's disease.

Heart rate variability (HRV) abnormalities are potential early biomarkers in Parkinson's disease (PD) but their relationship with central autonomic network (CAN) activity is not fully understood. We analyzed the synchronization between HRV and brain activity in 31 PD patients and 21 age-matched healthy controls using blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals from resting-state functional brain MRI and HRV metrics from finger plethysmography recorded for 7.40 min.

Impact of Visual Impairment on Vision-Related Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Visual impairment is frequent and highly disabling in Parkinson's disease (PD); however, few studies have comprehensively evaluated its impact on vision-related quality of life.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between visual function tests and the visual impairment perceived by PD patients in daily living activities.

Methods: We cross-sectionally evaluated 62 PD patients and 33 healthy controls (HC).

Characterization of molecular biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid and serum of E46K-SNCA mutation carriers.

Introduction: Blood and cerebrospinal fluid represent emerging candidate fluids for biomarker identification in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: We studied 8 individuals carrying the E46K-SNCA mutation (3 PD dementia (PDD), 1 tremor-dominant PD, 2 young rigid-akinetic PD and 2 asymptomatic) and 8 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We quantified the levels of total alpha-synuclein (a-syn), neurofilament light chain (NfL), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), Tau and ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCHL1) with SiMoA (Quanterix) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of mutation carriers and in serum of all participants.

Potential Tear Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease-A Pilot Study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. In this study, the tear proteome profile of patients with idiopathic PD (iPD, = 24), carriers of the E46K-SNCA mutation ( = 3) and healthy control (CT, = 27) subjects was analyzed to identify candidate biomarkers for the diagnosis of PD. An observational, prospective and case-control pilot study was carried out, analyzing the participants tear samples by nano-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (nLC-MS/MS) and assessing their neurological impairment.

MNCD: A New Tool for Classifying Parkinson's Disease in Daily Clinical Practice.

: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder in which the symptoms and prognosis can be very different among patients. We propose a new simple classification to identify key symptoms and staging in PD. : Sixteen movement disorders specialists from Spain participated in this project.

Virtual Coaching for Rehabilitation: The Participatory Design Experience of the vCare Project.

End-user involvement constitutes an essential goal during the development of innovative solution, not only for the evaluation, but also in codesign, following a user-centered strategy. Indeed, it is a great asset of research to base the work in a user-centered approach, because it allows to build a platform that will respond to the real needs of users. The aims of this work are to present the methodology adopted to involve end-users (i.