Biomarkers that aid in early detection of neurodegeneration are needed to enable early symptomatic treatment and enable identification of people who may benefit from neuroprotective interventions. Increasing evidence suggests that sleep biomarkers may be useful, given the bi-directional relationship between sleep and neurodegeneration and the prominence of sleep disturbances and altered sleep architectural characteristics in several neurodegenerative disorders. This study aimed to demonstrate that sleep can accurately characterize specific neurodegenerative disorders (NDD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Remote identification of individuals with severe hyposmia may enable scalable recruitment of participants with underlying alpha-synuclein aggregation. We evaluated the performance of a staged screening paradigm using remote smell testing to enrich for abnormal dopamine transporter single-photon emission computed tomography imaging (DAT-SPECT) and alpha-synuclein aggregation.
Methods: The Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) recruited participants for the prodromal cohort who were 60-years and older without a Parkinson's disease diagnosis.
Objectives: To determine the impact of dopamine deficiency and isolated REM sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) on cognitive performance in early neuronal alpha-synuclein disease (NSD) with hyposmia.
Methods: Using Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative baseline data, cognitive performance was assessed with a cognitive summary score (CSS) developed by applying regression-based internal norms derived from a robust healthy control (HC) group. Performance was examined for participants with hyposmia classified as NSD-Integrated Staging System (NSD-ISS) Stage 2, either Stage 2A (CSF alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay [SAA]+, SPECT dopamine transporter scan [DaTscan]-) or 2B (SAA+, DaTscan+).
The age-standardized prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) has increased substantially over the years and is expected to increase further. This emphasizes the need to identify modifiable risk factors of PD, which could form a logical entry point for the prevention of PD. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended reducing exposure to specific environmental factors that have been reported to be associated with PD, in particular pesticides, trichloroethylene (TCE), and air pollution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParkinsonism Relat Disord
January 2025