Plasma sphingolipids, dopaminergic degeneration and clinical progression in idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Background: Sphingolipid dysregulation in Parkinson's disease (PD) may affect the release and uptake of striatal dopamine. However, the longitudinal relationship between sphingolipids, striatal dopaminergic degeneration, and clinical correlates in idiopathic PD (iPD) remain unclear.

Objective: To investigate the relationship between plasma sphingolipids, striatal dopamine transporter specific binding ratio (DAT-SBR) and clinical symptoms in iPD.

Associations between insomnia and large vessel occlusion acute ischemic stroke: An observational study.

Objectives: This study explored the association between insomnia and the clinical outcome of large vessel occlusion Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) and attempted to explore its potential mechanisms from the perspectives of inflammation and oxidative stress.

Methods: AIS patients who underwent endovascular treatment for large vessel occlusion at Binzhou Central Hospital from 2018 to 2022 (n = 508) were included. Patients were divided into an insomnia group and a non-insomnia group.

Cortical connectivity of cholinergic basal forebrain in Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Cholinergic basal forebrain (BF) pathology is a hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI). Assessment of functional connectivity (FC) of different cholinergic BF nuclei may deepen the understanding of PD-MCI pathogenesis.

Methods: Seed-based FC analysis was performed with bilateral medial septal nucleus, the nucleus of the vertical limb of the diagonal band, nucleus of the horizontal limb of the diagonal band (Ch1-3), and the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM/Ch4) to explore the BF functional alterations in different frequency bands.

Metabolite changes in prefrontal lobes and the anterior cingulate cortex correlate with processing speed and executive function in Parkinson disease patients.

Background: Processing speed and executive function can be impaired in patients with Parkinson disease (PD). However, the neural factors related to the slowdown in processing speed and dysexecutive function in PD are not completely understood. The objective of this study is to investigate the metabolic changes of the frontal and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) through the use of H magnetic resonance spectroscopy and to explore the association between cognitive function and metabolic ratios.

Abnormal Neural Activity in Different Frequency Bands in Parkinson's Disease With Mild Cognitive Impairment.

: Abnormal spontaneous neural activity is often found in patients with Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI). However, the frequency dependence of neuronal interaction activities, especially the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and degree centrality (DC), in PD-MCI is still unclear. Thus, this study aimed to explore the frequency dependence of PD-MCI based on fALFF and DC maps.

Meynert nucleus-related cortical thinning in Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) involves the cholinergic system and cholinergic neurons, especially the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM/Ch4) located in the basal forebrain (BF). We analyzed associations between NBM/Ch4 volume and cortical thickness to determine whether the NBM/Ch4-innervated neocortex shows parallel atrophy with the NBM/Ch4 as disease progresses in PD patients with cognitive impairment (PD-MCI).

Methods: We enrolled 35 PD-MCI patients, 48 PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC), and 33 age- and education-matched healthy controls (HCs), with all participants undergoing neuropsychological assessment and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Different iron deposition patterns in Parkinson's disease subtypes: a quantitative susceptibility mapping study.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder with various subtypes and uncertain pathogenesis. Iron deposition is considered to be involved in the pathological mechanisms of PD. The present study aimed to investigate the iron deposition in deep gray matter in patients with different PD subtypes using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM).

An SBM-based machine learning model for identifying mild cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To identify Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) through surface-based morphometry (SBM) based machine learning model.

Methods: 93 patients with parkinson's disease (35 PD with normal cognition, 58 PD-MCI) were examined, obtaining 276 SBM variables per subject. 20 healthy control subjects were used as the reference.

Therapeutic efficacy of combined BRAF and MEK inhibition in metastatic melanoma: a comprehensive network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Background: Several recent randomized clinical trials have preliminarily demonstrated that initial targeted therapy with combined BRAF and MEK inhibition is more effective in metastatic melanoma (MM) than single agent. To guide therapeutic decisions, we did a comprehensive network meta-analysis to identify evidence to robustly support whether combined BRAF and MEK inhibition is the best initial targeted therapeutic strategy for patients with MM.

Methods: The databases of PubMed and trial registries were researched for randomized clinical trials of targeted therapy.