Brain and Systemic Inflammation in De Novo Parkinson's Disease.

Objective: To assess the presence of brain and systemic inflammation in subjects newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Background: Evidence for a pathophysiologic role of inflammation in PD is growing. However, several key gaps remain as to the role of inflammation in PD, including the extent of immune activation at early stages, potential effects of PD treatments on inflammation and whether pro-inflammatory signals are associated with clinical features and/or predict more rapid progression.

A comparison of one-year treatment utilization for shoulder osteoarthritis patients initiating care with non-orthopaedic physicians and orthopaedic specialists.

Background: In this paper we investigate patients seeking care for a new diagnosis of shoulder osteoarthritis (OA) and the association between a patient's initial physician specialty choice and one-year surgical and conservative treatment utilization.

Methods: Using retrospective data from a single large regional healthcare system, we identified 572 individuals with a new diagnosis of shoulder OA and identified the specialty of the physician which was listed as the performing physician on the index shoulder visit. We assessed treatment utilization in the year following the index shoulder visit for patients initiating care with a non-orthopaedic physician (NOP) or an orthopaedic specialist (OS).