Essential Tremor: Update of Therapeutic Strategies.

In the last decades there has been progress in the treatment of essential tremor (TE) especially in the surgical field and to a lesser extent in the pharmacological field. We carry out a review of the currently available treatments. The first intervention is the use of non-pharmacological and non-surgical strategies (general advice, occupational therapy, speech therapy, psychotherapy).

Facial emotion recognition deficits are associated with hypomimia and related brain correlates in Parkinson's disease.

Hypomimia is a frequent manifestation in Parkinson's disease (PD) that can affect interpersonal relationships and quality of life. Recent studies have suggested that hypomimia is not only related to motor dysfunction but also to impairment in emotional processing networks. Therefore, we hypothesized that the severity of hypomimia could be associated with performance on a task aimed at assessing facial emotion recognition.

Non-Persistence of Tremorolytic Effect of Perampanel in Essential Tremor: Real-World Experience with 50 Patients.

Background: We describe our experience of using perampanel to treat essential tremor (ET) over 12 months.

Methods: We enrolled 50 ET patients in an open-label trial. Perampanel was titrated to 4 mg/day as adjuvant therapy.

Predicting Impulse Control Disorders in Parkinson Disease through Incentive Biomarkers.

Objective: This study was undertaken to evaluate whether the feedback-related negativity (FRN)-a neurophysiological marker of incentive processing-can be used to predict the development of impulse control disorders (ICDs) in Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: The longitudinal cohort consisted of consecutive nondemented PD patients with no ICD history. We recorded FRN signals while they performed a gambling task.

The role of attentional control over interference in minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease are associated with connectivity changes in attentional networks and increased risk of structured hallucinations. However, the clinical translation of these abnormalities in attention processes is not well-defined, and commonly used neuropsychological tests are not able to detect significant deficits in Parkinson's disease patients with isolated minor hallucinations.

Objectives: To analyze the behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of minor hallucinations in Parkinson's disease during an attentional task assessing response inhibition and interference control.

Dissociable contribution of plasma NfL and p-tau181 to cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Cognitive dysfunction is a disabling complication in Parkinson's disease (PD). Accuracy of diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment in PD (PD-MCI) depends on the tests performed, which limits results generalization. Blood-based biomarkers could provide additional objective information for PD-MCI diagnosis and progression.

A Randomized Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Effects of Safinamide on Apathetic Non-demented Patients With Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Apathy is highly prevalent and disabling in Parkinson's disease (PD). Pharmacological options for its management lack sufficient evidence.

Objective: We studied the effects of safinamide on apathy in PD.

Apathy Reflects Extra-Striatal Dopaminergic Degeneration in de novo Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Apathy represents a core neuropsychiatric symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD). As there is currently no established effective treatment for apathy in PD, further investigating the biological origin of this symptom is needed to design novel therapeutic strategies. Among the multiple neurotransmitter alterations that have been associated with apathy, the involvement of extra-striatal dopaminergic degeneration remains to be fully explored.

Tipping the scales: how clinical assessment shapes the neural correlates of Parkinson's disease mild cognitive impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD-MCI) is associated with consistent structural and functional brain changes. Whether different approaches for diagnosing PD-MCI are equivalent in their neural correlates is presently unknown. We aimed to profile the neuroimaging changes associated with the two endorsed methods of diagnosing PD-MCI.

Neural signatures of predictive language processing in Parkinson's disease with and without mild cognitive impairment.

Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson's disease (PD), with some PD patients meeting criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An unaddressed question is whether linguistic prediction is preserved in PD. This ability is nowadays deemed crucial for achieving fast and efficient comprehension, and it may be negatively impacted by cognitive deterioration in PD.

Quantitative evaluation of oculomotor disturbances in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Objectives: To explore and quantify systematically the ocular abnormal movements present in progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) from the early stages, to assess the ability of this standardized examination in the differential diagnosis of PSP from Parkinson's disease (PD), and to compare in more detail oculomotor disturbances between PSP variants.

Methods: Sixty-five consecutive PSP patients with <5 years of disease duration diagnosed according to MDS-PSP criteria, 25 PD patients and 25 controls comparable in age, education and disease duration were explored using a bedside battery of tests for the quantitative evaluation of oculomotor dysfunction in clinical practice. Other accepted scales were used for measurement of motor (PSPRS), cognitive (FAB) and behavioral (FBI) impairment.

Cognitive and behavioral profile of progressive supranuclear palsy and its phenotypes.

Background: Although several progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) phenotypes have recently been described, studies identifying cognitive and neuropsychiatric differences between them are lacking.

Methods: An extensive battery of cognitive and behavioural assessments was administered to 63 PSP patients, 25 PD patients with similar sociodemographic characteristics, and 25 healthy controls. We analysed differences in phenomenology, frequency and severity of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms between PSP, PD and HC, and between PSP subtypes.

Extrastriatal SPECT-DAT uptake correlates with clinical and biological features of de novo Parkinson's disease.

Striatal dopamine transporter (DAT) uptake assessment through I-Ioflupane Single-Pphoton Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) provides valuable information about the dopaminergic denervation occurring in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, little is known about the clinical or biological relevance of extrastriatal DAT uptake in PD. Here, from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative, we studied 623 participants (431 PD and 192 healthy controls) with available SPECT data.

Increased plasma neurofilament light chain levels in patients with type-1 diabetes with impaired awareness of hypoglycemia.

Introduction: Impaired awareness of hypoglycemia (IAH) is a common complication in patients with type-1 diabetes (T1D). IAH is a major risk factor for severe hypoglycemic events, leading to adverse clinical consequences and cerebral damage. Non-invasive, cost-effective, and logistically efficient biomarkers for this condition have not been validated.

Subclinical affective and cognitive fluctuations in Parkinson's disease: a randomized double-blind double-dummy study of Oral vs. Intrajejunal Levodopa.

Background: Chronic levodopa treatment in Parkinson's disease (PD) may promote undesirable motor and non-motor fluctuations. Compared to chronic oral levodopa treatment, continuous infusion of levodopa/carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) in advanced PD reduces motor fluctuations. However, differences in their effect on acute non-motor changes were not formally demonstrated.

The Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test in Parkinson's Disease Mild Cognitive Impairment: Discriminative Accuracy and Neural Correlates.

Memory alterations are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients but the mechanisms involved in these deficits remain poorly understood. The study aims to explore the profile of episodic memory deficits in non-demented early PD patients. We obtained neurological, cognitive and behavioral data from 114 PD patients and 41 healthy controls (HC).

Serum neurofilament light chain levels reflect cortical neurodegeneration in de novo Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Cognitive impairment and dementia are highly prevalent non-motor complications in Parkinson's disease (PD) with deleterious consequences for patients and caregivers. With no treatment currently available, finding and validating minimally-invasive biomarkers of neurodegeneration in this population represents an urgent need for clinical trials targeting its prevention or delay. Recently, serum neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels have been identified as a promising biomarker of neural loss, but whether they reflect cortical neurodegeneration in early PD stages has not been addressed.

CLU rs11136000 promotes early cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease.

Background: The C allele of the rs11136000 genetic variant of the clusterin gene has been associated with increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. However, a comprehensive characterization of the role of this genetic variant in early cognitive deterioration in PD is lacking.

Methods: Using the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative database, we compared baseline and 5-year cognitive performance between high-risk and low-risk clusterin genotypes.

Preservation of brain metabolism in recently diagnosed Parkinson's impulse control disorders.

Background: Impulse control disorders (ICD) are a common and disrupting complication of Parkinson's disease (PD) treatment. Although their relationship with dopaminergic activity is well studied, their brain metabolic correlates are mostly unknown.

Methods: In this work we studied brain metabolism using brain F-FDG-PET.

Primary Orthostatic Tremor: Experience of Perampanel Use in 20 Patients.

Background: Primary orthostatic tremor (POT) is a rare disorder for which current treatments are largely ineffective. Following up on our recent report of complete resolution of POT symptoms in a patient using low doses of perampanel, we describe our experience of perampanel in 20 patients.

Methods: Twenty patients whose neurologists prescribed perampanel were recruited.