Abnormal visual contrast acuity in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Low-contrast vision is thought to be reduced in Parkinson's disease (PD). This may have a direct impact on quality of life such as driving, using tools, finding objects, and mobility in low-light condition. Low-contrast letter acuity testing has been successful in assessing low-contrast vision in multiple sclerosis.

Slowing of number naming speed by King-Devick test in Parkinson's disease.

Background: The King-Devick (KD) test measures the speed of rapid number naming, and is postulated to require fast eye movements, attention, language, and possibly other aspects of cognitive functions. While used in multiple sports concussion studies, it has not been applied to the field of movement disorders.

Methods: Forty-five Parkinson's disease (PD), 23 essential tremor (ET), and 65 control subjects were studied.

Metabolic correlates of subthalamic nucleus activity in Parkinson's disease.

Overactivity of subthalamic nucleus (STN) neurons is a consistent feature of Parkinson's disease (PD) and is a target of therapy for this disorder. However, the relationship of STN firing rate to regional brain function is not known. We scanned 17 PD patients with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET to measure resting glucose metabolism before the implantation of STN deep brain stimulation electrodes.

Application of frequency-modulated spectroscopy in vacuum seal integrity testing of lyophilized biological products.

This study examined the feasibility of applying frequency-modulated spectroscopy (FMS) to test vacuum seal integrity of lyophilized protein pharmaceuticals in glass vials. A lyophilized recombinant monoclonal antibody was used as an example to demonstrate that FMS is a non-destructive method that could accurately and quickly determine vial vacuum integrity within a pressure range of 0.04 to 0.

Determination of residual moisture in lyophilized protein pharmaceuticals using a rapid and non-invasive method: near infrared spectroscopy.

This study examined the application of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to analyze residual moisture in lyophilized protein pharmaceuticals sealed in glass vials. We demonstrated that NIR was able to determine residual moisture in five marketed and clinical products with the same precision as Karl Fischer titration. We further investigated how changes in product configuration and protein formulation affected NIR measurement accuracy using a lyophilized monoclonal antibody rhuMAb E25 containing 1% to 5% residual moisture.