Publications by authors named "W SAKO"
Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, was classically attributed to alpha-synuclein aggregation and consequent loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Recently, emerging evidence suggested a broader spectrum of contributing factors, including exosome-mediated intercellular communication, which can potentially serve as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. However, there is a remarkable lack of comprehensive studies that connect the serum exosome microRNA (miRNA) transcriptome with demographic, clinical, and neuroimaging data in PD patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Outcomes of clinical trials of treatment in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) may be influenced by placebo effects. The aim of this study was to determine the factors associated with placebo effects in Parkinson's disease (PD) for guidance with design of future clinical trials.
Methods: Factors associated with placebo effects in PD were examined in a meta-analysis using a random effects model with pooling of placebo effects on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale part III (UPDRS III) or Movement Disorder Society sponsored revision of UPDRS III (MDS-UPDRS III).
Preliminary study of substantia nigra analysis by tensorial feature extraction.
Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg
November 2024
Article Synopsis
- Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, and early biomarkers are needed for better diagnosis and understanding. This study focuses on analyzing the substantia nigra, an area affected in PD, using a new feature extraction method.
- The researchers used images from 263 patients (124 PD and 139 non-PD) to test their method, which included training a model to classify differences in the substantia nigra between the two groups, achieving a sensitivity of 0.72 and specificity of 0.64.
- Although the accuracy of the method is not yet on par with expert physicians, the study highlights the potential of using advanced tensorial feature extraction for diagnosing PD
Article Synopsis
- Safinamide is shown to be an effective adjunctive treatment for managing wearing-off symptoms in older patients with Parkinson's disease who are already on levodopa therapy.
- In a study involving 24 participants (mostly aged 75 and older), significant improvements were observed in various assessments of motor and non-motor symptoms after 18 weeks of treatment.
- Despite some mild adverse events, the findings indicate that safinamide improves quality of life without introducing new safety concerns.
Background: Chronic constipation is a common digestive complication of Parkinson's disease (PD).
Objectives: To verify the usefulness of elobixibat, an ileal bile acid transporter inhibitor, for chronic constipation in PD.
Methods: This double-blind, placebo-controlled study consisted of a 2-week observation/washout period and a 4-week treatment period.