Performance of a cost-effective olfactory test to evaluate hyposmia in Parkinson's disease patients.

Background:  Parkinson's disease (PD) causes motor and non-motor symptoms such as hyposmia, which is evaluated through olfactory tests in the clinical practice.

Objective:  To assess the feasibility of using the modified Connecticut Chemosensory Clinical Research Center (mCCCRC) olfactory test and to compare its performance with the Sniffin' Sticks-12 (SS-12, Burghart Messtechnik GmbH, Wedel, Germany) test.

Methods:  A transversal case-control study in which the patients were divided into the PD group (PDG) and the control group (CG).

Altered Cerebral Vasoreactivity on Transcranial Color-Coded Sonography Related to Akinetic-Rigid Phenotype of Parkinson's Disease: Interim Analysis of a Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: A correlation between worse functional outcomes in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD) or the Akinetic-rigid phenotype has been argued in recent studies. We aimed to evaluate the association of cerebral hemodynamics impairments, assessed by Transcranial Color-coded Doppler sonography (TCCS), on PD patients with different phenotypes of the disease and with risk factors for CVD.

Methodology: Idiopathic PD patients (n = 51) were divided into motor subtypes: Akinetic-rigid (AR) (n = 27) and Tremor-dominant (TD) (n = 24) and into two groups regarding vascular risk factors: when ≥2 were present (PDvasc) (n = 18) and <2 (PDnvasc) (n = 33).

Following the Clues: Usefulness of Biomarkers of Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration in the Investigation of HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy Progression.

Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1)-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) is a neurodegenerative disease due to axonal damage of the corticospinal secondary to an inflammatory response against infected T-cells. In the present work, we aimed to evaluate biomarkers of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in the definition of HAM/TSP prognosis. Neurofilament light (NfL) and phosphorylated heavy (pNfH) chains, total Tau protein, cellular prion protein (PrPc), inflammatory chemokines, and neopterin were quantified in paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum samples from HAM/TSP patients (n=21), HTLV-1 asymptomatic carriers (AC) (n=13), and HTLV-1 seronegative individuals with non-inflammatory non-degenerative neurological disease (normal-pressure hydrocephalus) (n=9) as a control group.

Ultrasonographic Changes in Brain Hemodynamics in Patients with Parkinson's Disease and Risk Factors for Cerebrovascular Disease: A Pilot Study.

Recent epidemiological studies have revealed a correlation between atypical features and worse functional outcomes in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with cerebrovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to evaluate the brain hemodynamics of PD patients with risk factors for CVD using Doppler ultrasonography. In this prospective pilot study, we randomly included 27 outpatients diagnosed with PD.

Patients with COVID-19 and neurological manifestations show undetectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in the cerebrospinal fluid.

We report that patients with COVID-19 displaying distinct neurological disorders have undetectable or extremely low levels of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the cerebrospinal fluid, indicating that viral clearance precede the neurological involvement. This finding points to the need for the development of more sensitive molecular tests and the investigation of other neurotropic pathogens to exclude concurrent neuroinfection.

Clinical characteristics of patients with cerebellar ataxia associated with anti-GAD antibodies.

Methods: This retrospective and descriptive study evaluated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with CA-GAD-ab.

Result: Three patients with cerebellar ataxia, high GAD-ab titers and autoimmune endocrine disease were identified. Patients 1 and 2 had classic stiff person syndrome and insidious-onset cerebellar ataxia, while Patient 3 had pure cerebellar ataxia with subacute onset.

The validity and reliability of the Portuguese versions of three tools used to diagnose delirium in critically ill patients.

Objectives: The objectives of this study are to compare the sensitivity and specificity of three diagnostic tools for delirium (the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist, the Confusion Assessment Method for Intensive Care Units and the Confusion Assessment Method for Intensive Care Units Flowsheet) in a mixed population of critically ill patients, and to validate the Brazilian Portuguese Confusion Assessment Method for Intensive Care Units.

Methods: The study was conducted in four intensive care units in Brazil. Patients were screened for delirium by a psychiatrist or neurologist using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.