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).

Contributions of sex, depression, and cognition on brain connectivity dynamics in Parkinson's disease.

Alterations in time-varying functional connectivity (FC) have been found in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. To date, very little is known about the influence of sex on brain FC in PD patients and how this could be related to disease severity. The first objective was to evaluate the influence of sex on dynamic FC characteristics in PD patients and healthy controls (HC), while the second aim was to investigate the temporal patterns of dynamic connectivity related to PD motor and non-motor symptoms.

Apathy and brain alterations in Parkinson's disease: a multimodal imaging study.

Objective: Apathy is a common nonmotor symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD) affecting 40% of patients. The aim of the study was to investigate brain changes and correlates of frontal, striatal, and limbic pathways related to subclinical symptoms of apathy in PD patients.

Methods: Thirty-two PD patients divided into low-subclinical symptoms of apathy (LSA) ( = 18) and high-subclinical symptoms of apathy (HSA) ( = 14) and 25 healthy controls (HC) underwent a T1-weighted, diffusion-weighted, and resting-state functional MRI.

Increased brain connectivity and activation after cognitive rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial.

Cognitive rehabilitation programs have demonstrated efficacy in improving cognitive functions in Parkinson's disease (PD), but little is known about cerebral changes associated with an integrative cognitive rehabilitation in PD. To assess structural and functional cerebral changes in PD patients, after attending a three-month integrative cognitive rehabilitation program (REHACOP). Forty-four PD patients were randomly divided into REHACOP group (cognitive rehabilitation) and a control group (occupational therapy).

Altered functional connectivity in the default mode network is associated with cognitive impairment and brain anatomical changes in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To assess whether functional neural connectivity is disrupted between the regions of the default mode network (DMN) in Parkinson's disease (PD) and how this connectivity is related to cognition, brain gray matter structure and white matter integrity and diffusivity.

Methods: Thirty-seven PD patients and 16 healthy controls were evaluated, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), T1-weighted MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging and a battery of cognitive tests. Functional connectivity between the regions of the DMN, specifically in the precuneus, anterior and posterior cingulate, medial prefrontal and temporal and inferior parietal cortices was assessed with seed-to-voxel connectivity; gray matter volume and white matter values were determined using voxel-based morphometry and tract-based spatial statistics.

Neuroanatomical Correlates of Theory of Mind Deficit in Parkinson's Disease: A Multimodal Imaging Study.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) patients show theory of mind (ToM) deficit since the early stages of the disease, and this deficit has been associated with working memory, executive functions and quality of life impairment. To date, neuroanatomical correlates of ToM have not been assessed with magnetic resonance imaging in PD. The main objective of this study was to assess cerebral correlates of ToM deficit in PD.

Improving functional disability and cognition in Parkinson disease: randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To examine the efficacy of an integrative cognitive training program (REHACOP) to improve cognition, clinical symptoms, and functional disability of patients with Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: Forty-two patients diagnosed with PD in Hoehn & Yahr stages 1 to 3 were randomly assigned to either the cognitive training group (REHACOP) or the control group (occupational activities) for 3 months (3 sessions, 60 min/wk). Primary outcomes were change on processing speed, verbal memory, visual memory, executive functioning, and theory of mind.

Graph theory for feature extraction and classification: a migraine pathology case study.

Graph theory is also widely used as a representational form and characterization of brain connectivity network, as is machine learning for classifying groups depending on the features extracted from images. Many of these studies use different techniques, such as preprocessing, correlations, features or algorithms. This paper proposes an automatic tool to perform a standard process using images of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.

Oestrogen receptor polymorphisms are an associated risk factor for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer disease in women APOE {varepsilon}4 carriers: a case-control study.

Objectives: Examine the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the oestrogen receptor (ER) genes: rs9340799, rs2234693, rs2228480 (in the ESR1 gene) and rs4986938 (in the ESR2 gene) as a risk factor for amnesic mild cognitive impairment (MCIa) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its possible association with the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene.

Design: We have investigated the independent and combined association of different alleles of the oestrogen receptor genes and APOE*ε4 allele with cognitive impairment using a case-control design.

Setting: Participants were prospectively recruited from the neurology departments of several Basque Country hospitals.

The COMT Val158 Met polymorphism as an associated risk factor for Alzheimer disease and mild cognitive impairment in APOE 4 carriers.

Background: The aim of this study is to examine the influence of the catechol-O-methyltranferase (COMT) gene (polymorphism Val158 Met) as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment of amnesic type (MCI), and its synergistic effect with the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE).A total of 223 MCI patients, 345 AD and 253 healthy controls were analyzed. Clinical criteria and neuropsychological tests were used to establish diagnostic groups.