Nonmotor Symptoms in Vascular and Other Secondary Parkinsonism.

Vascular parkinsonism (VP) is a relatively frequent variant of secondary parkinsonism caused by ischemic or hemorrhagic lesions of basal ganglia, midbrain, or their links with frontal cortex. According to different investigations, various forms of cerebrovascular disease cause 1%-15% of parkinsonism cases. Nonmotor symptoms are frequently found in VP and may negatively influence on quality of life.

Age-Related Sleep Changes and its Implication in Neurodegenerative Diseases.

In the article authors discuss the current data on sleep changes with aging focusing on the influence of age-related degenerative changes in orexin-containing and pacemaker brain areas. Pathophysiological mechanisms of sleep disturbances in Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases have much in common with normal age neurophysiological changes. Maintenance of the sleep-promoting systems function could positively modify the course of these diseases.

Steroid myopathy in patients with chronic respiratory diseases.

Background: Corticosteroid-induced myopathy is a well known clinical entity, and experimental studies showed decreased rate of protein synthesis and increased rate of protein breakdown in muscles of chronically treated animals.

Objective: The present observational study was aimed to evaluate skeletal muscle functions in asthmatics and patients with other chronic respiratory diseases treated by inhaled or oral corticosteroids.

Methods: Thirty six patients with respiratory diseases were included into the study.