Advancement of door-to-needle times in acute stroke treatment after repetitive process analysis: never give up!

Background: In acute ischemic stroke, timely treatment is of utmost relevance. Identification of delaying factors and knowledge about challenges concerning hospital structures are crucial for continuous improvement of process times in stroke care.

Objective: In this study, we report on our experience in optimizing the door-to-needle time (DNT) at our tertiary care center by continuous quality improvement.

Can SARS-CoV-2 Infection Lead to Neurodegeneration and Parkinson's Disease?

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has affected the daily life of the worldwide population since 2020. Links between the newly discovered viral infection and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases have been investigated in different studies. This review aims to summarize the literature concerning COVID-19 and Parkinson's disease (PD) to give an overview on the interface between viral infection and neurodegeneration with regard to this current topic.

Validation of the Parkinson's Disease Caregiver Burden Questionnaire in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is an atypical Parkinson syndrome with axial akinetic-rigid symptoms, early postural instability, and ocular motor impairments. Patients experience a rapid loss of autonomy and care dependency; thus, caregivers must assist in the activities of daily living early in the course of the disease. Caregiver burden is an extremely important factor in disease management.

A Modified Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Rating Scale.

Background: The Progressive Supranuclear Palsy Rating Scale is a prospectively validated physician-rated measure of disease severity for progressive supranuclear palsy. We hypothesized that, according to experts' opinion, individual scores of items would differ in relevance for patients' quality of life, functionality in daily living, and mortality. Thus, changes in the score may not equate to clinically meaningful changes in the patient's status.

Alexithymia Is Associated with Reduced Quality of Life and Increased Caregiver Burden in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease of people who are beyond 50 years of age. People with PD (PwP) suffer from a large variety of motor and non-motor symptoms resulting in reduced health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). In the last two decades, alexithymia was identified as an additional non-motor symptom in PD.