Teaching program for the Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale: (MDS-UPDRS).

To accompany the newly developed Movement Disorder Society revision of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS), we developed a teaching program. The DVD-based program covers the four parts of the scale with visual and verbal instructions for uniform application. For the motor section (Part III), all items except rigidity are shown with an example of each rating option (0-4) as agreed upon by a panel of experts.

Teaching program for the Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale.

The Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) has been introduced as a comprehensive rating tool for the evaluation of dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease (PD). To enhance a uniform application, we developed a DVD-based training program with instructions, patient examples, and a certification exercise. For training on the objective assessment of dyskinesia, seventy PD patients spanning the gamut of dyskinesias (none to severe) were videotaped during four tasks of daily living (speaking, drinking from a cup, putting on a coat, and walking).

Comparison of tic characteristics between children and adults.

There are limited data about clinical characteristics of tics in adults. We performed a video and chart retrospective longitudinal review of patients diagnosed with tics from a tertiary referral medical center to compare tic characteristics between adults and children. Tic severity in 40 children and 31 adults was assessed using the modified Rush videotape rating scale and the Yale global tic severity scale (YGTSS).

Visual hallucinations and symptoms of REM sleep behavior disorder in Parkinsonian tauopathies.

Background: In Parkinsonism, visual hallucinations (VH) and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) have been thought to indicate underlying synucleinopathy.

Objectives: We tested the validity of this hypothesis by searching for VH and RBD symptoms in Parkinsonism related to tauopathies.

Methods: Patients with progressive supranuclear palsy or corticobasal degeneration were identified via a clinical data bank.

Parkinson disease with old-age onset: a comparative study with subjects with middle-age onset.

Background: To our knowledge, no prior study has focused on subjects with Parkinson disease (PD) with elderly disease onset, and there is little evidence-based knowledge of treatment outcomes in these patients.

Objective: To compare the clinical presentation, comorbidities, treatment, and evolution of PD in patients with old-age onset with those of patients with middle-age onset in one US university center.

Design: In the Rush Movement Disorder Database, we retrieved 43 patients with PD with onset at 78 years or older.

Rating scales for dystonia: a multicenter assessment.

The evaluation of dystonia requires a reliable rating scale. The widely used Fahn-Marsden Scale (F-M) has not been sufficiently tested across multiple centers and investigators. The Dystonia Study Group developed the Unified Dystonia Rating Scale (UDRS) and a Global Dystonia Rating Scale (GDS) to serve as instruments to assess dystonia severity.