Dementia risk in Parkinson disease: disentangling the role of MAPT haplotypes.

Background: Dementia in Parkinson disease (PD) causes nursing home placement, caregiver distress, higher health care burden, and increased mortality.

Objective: To determine whether the microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) H1 haplotype and MAPT subhaplotypes play a role in the risk of PD and Parkinson disease-dementia (PDD) complex.

Design: Case-control genetic analysis.

Facial emotion recognition impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease and isolated apathy.

Apathy is a frequent feature of Parkinson's disease (PD), usually related with executive dysfunction. However, in a subgroup of PD patients apathy may represent the only or predominant neuropsychiatric feature. To understand the mechanisms underlying apathy in PD, we investigated emotional processing in PD patients with and without apathy and in healthy controls (HC), assessed by a facial emotion recognition task (FERT).

Neuropsychological correlates of mild to severe hallucinations in Parkinson's disease.

The development of visual hallucinations (VH) is a frequent complication of Parkinson's disease (PD). Presence of hallucinations is one of the main risk factors associated with dementia, and severity progression of VH mainly contributes to impaired quality of life in PD. The neuropsychological features associated with severity progression of VH are unknown and might help to detect patients at risk of a more severe outcome.

The Glass scale: a simple tool to determine severity in essential tremor.

Background: The method for measuring disease severity in essential tremor (ET) is not consistent among neurologists in routine clinical practice.

Methods: We have developed a new scale, called Glass scale, which is easy and quick to administer to ET patients with upper limb involvement. Using the scale involves asking the patient one question: "Over the last week, when you were sitting down at the table, how did you drink water from a glass?" Scores: I - I have no difficulties.

PDD-Short Screen: a brief cognitive test for screening dementia in Parkinson's disease.

The diagnosis of Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD) is currently based on clinical criteria (DSM-IV, MDS-Task Force). In daily practice and research studies, these criteria still depend on the subjective impression of the examiner. Brief screening tests (BST) are helpful in identifying patients with PD with dementia, which can be difficult in patients with advanced PD.

Changes in artistic style and behaviour in Parkinson's disease: dopamine and creativity.

We present a PD patient in whom dopamine agonists awoke a hidden creativity that led to a gradual increase in painting productivity evolving to a disruptive impulsive behaviour that shared many features with punding. A dramatic change in painting style related to a more emotional experience during the process of creation developed after treatment onset. This case suggests that changes in creativity in PD seem to be related to dopaminergic imbalance in the limbic system.

Cut-off score of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale for screening dementia in Parkinson's disease.

The prevalence of dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD) is close to 30%, and its incidence is 4 to 6 times higher than in age-matched general population. PD with dementia (PDD) is mainly characterized by a predominant and progressive frontal-subcortical impairment. The Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) is a commonly used screening test that sensitively measures the degree of frontal-subcortical defects.

Change in hemostatic markers after recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator is not associated with the chance of recanalization.

Background And Purpose: We evaluated the association between recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator recanalization and change in hemostatic markers.

Methods: We studied 40 patients. Recanalization was measured with transcranial Doppler.