A prediction model for the walking and balance milestone in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Walking and balance impairments, represented by freezing of gait and falls, are significant contributors to disability in advanced Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. However, the composite measure of the Walking and Balance Milestone (WBMS) has not been thoroughly investigated.

Methods: This study included 606 early-stage PD patients from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) database, with a disease duration of less than 2 years and no WBMS at baseline.

Disease progression subtypes of Parkinson's disease based on milestone events.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) demonstrates considerable heterogeneity in the manifestation of clinical symptoms and disease progression. Recently, six clinical milestones have been proposed to evaluate disease severity in PD. However, the identification of PD progression subtypes based on these milestone events has not yet been performed.

Two new cases with the UBQLN2 gene mutation in Han Chinese.

Variations in the UBQLN2 gene are associated with a group of diseases with X-linked dominant inheritance and clinical phenotypes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and/or frontal temporal lobe dementia (FTD). Cases with UBQLN2 variations have been rarely reported worldwide. The reported cases exhibit strong clinical heterogeneity.

The severity of corneal nerve loss differentiates motor subtypes in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a heterogeneous movement disorder with patients manifesting with either tremor-dominant (TD) or postural instability and gait disturbance (PIGD) motor subtypes. Small nerve fiber damage occurs in patients with PD and may predict motor progression, but it is not known whether it differs between patients with different motor subtypes.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore whether there was an association between the extent of corneal nerve loss and different motor subtypes.

Corneal confocal microscopy differentiates patients with Parkinson's disease with and without autonomic involvement.

Autonomic dysregulation in Parkinson's disease (PD) can precede motor deficits and is associated with reduced quality of life, disease progression, and increased mortality. Objective markers of autonomic involvement in PD are limited. Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) is a rapid ophthalmic technique that can quantify small nerve damage in a range of peripheral and autonomic neuropathies.

Correlation of matrix metalloproteinase 3 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 levels with non-motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Objective: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are essential for tissue formation, neuronal network remodeling, and blood-brain barrier integrity. MMPs have been widely studied in acute brain diseases. However, the relationship with Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear.

Autoimmune-mediated secondary-parkinsonism presented with micrographia and cognitive impairment.

Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder while secondary-parkinsonism can be caused by infectious, inflammatory, traumatic, vascular, hereditary, paraneoplastic, or even induced by drug/metal poisoning. Here we report an uncommon subacute parkinsonism who presented with micrographia and mild cognitive impairment. The CSF examination showed inflammatory profile and positive anti-NMDAR antibody.

Corneal nerve fiber loss relates to cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) adversely influences quality of life. There is currently no available biomarker to predict cognitive decline in PD. Corneal confocal microscopy (CCM) has been used as a non-invasive tool for quantifying small nerve damage in PD.

Long non-coding RNA CIR inhibits chondrogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells by epigenetically suppressing ATOH8 via methyltransferase EZH2.

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common articular disorder, leading to joint malfunction and disability. Although the incidence of OA is increasing globally, the treatment of OA is very limited. LncRNA CIR has been implicated in OA through unclear mechanisms.

A mitovirus isolated from the phytopathogenic fungus Alternaria brassicicola.

Alternaria brassicicola is one of the causal agents of alternaria blackspot in rapeseed. In this study, a dsRNA segment was isolated and sequenced from the fungus. The complete nucleotide sequence of the dsRNA was 2506 bp in length and, using the fungal mitochondrial genetic code, was predicted to contain a single large open reading frame (ORF) in the positive strand.

Clinical Profiles and Short-Term Outcomes of Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis in Adult Chinese Patients.

Background And Purpose: Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an inflammatory demyelinating disorder that predominantly affects children. Previous studies have mostly involved children in Western developed countries.

Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed the clinical profiles of ADEM in adult Chinese patients.

The effect of amifostine on differentiation of the human megakaryoblastic Dami cell line.

Amifostine is a cytoprotective drug that was initially used to control and treat nuclear radiation injury and is currently used to provide organ protection in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Clinical studies have also found that amifostine has some efficacy in the treatment of cytopenia caused by conditions such as myelodysplastic syndrome and immune thrombocytopenia, both of which involve megakaryocyte maturation defects. We hypothesized that amifostine induced the differentiation of megakaryocytes and investigated this by exposing the human Dami megakaryocyte leukemia cell line to amifostine (1 mmol/L).

Mailuoning for acute ischaemic stroke.

Background: Mailuoning is widely used in the treatment of acute ischaemic stroke in China. Animal experimental studies and clinical pharmacological research indicate that mailuoning might improve blood circulation, prevent ischaemic injury, and protect heart and brain tissue. This review was last published in 2009.

The clinical absolute and relative scoring system-a quantitative scale measuring myasthenia gravis severity and outcome used in the traditional Chinese medicine.

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a chronic autoimmune disease caused by autoantigen against the nicotine acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction. With modern treatment facilities, the treatment effect and outcome for MG has been greatly improved with MG and non-MG patients enjoying the same life expectancy. Many classifications of disease distribution and severity have been set up and tested all over the world, mainly in the western world.

An adult case of multiphasic disseminated encephalomyelitis manifesting with optic neuritis.

A 25-year-old woman presented with a fever, headache, vomiting and somnolence. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed multiple lesions in the cerebellum, brainstem, cerebral cortex and subcortex. Oligoclonal bands were positive in the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF).

Traditional Chinese medicine: a promising candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder, characterized clinically by insidious onset of memory and cognition impairment, emergence of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disorder, and impairment of activities of daily living (ADL). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is practiced in the Chinese health care system for more than 2,000 years. In recent years, scientists have isolated many novel compounds from herbs, some of which improve dementia with fewer side effects than conventional drugs and are regarded as potential anti-AD drugs.

[Anti-motion sickness efficacy of the extracted mixture of Chinese medical herbs and its influence on the blood level of hormones].

Objective: To investigate the anti-motion sickness efficacy and influence on the blood level of some hormones of a Chinese prescription composed of 10 herbs such as spina date seed.

Methods: According to the report by Cramptom and Lucot, SD rats and Beagle dogs were rotated around a horizontal axis, and the rat behavior of pica for Kaolin and the latency to vomit in dog were observed. In addition, guinea pigs were rotated around a vertical axis, and the nystagmus was recorded.

Neuroprotective effects of new protein kinase C activator TPPB against Aβ₂₅₋₃₅ induced neurotoxicity in PC12 cells.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is pathologically characterized by presence of senile plaques in the hippocampus, which are composed mainly of extracellular deposition of a polypeptide known as the beta amyloid, the Aβ. It has been demonstrated on numerous occasions that it was the deposition and aggregation of this Aβ peptide that cause neuronal dysfunction and even finally, the dementia. Lowering the deposition of Aβ or decreasing its neurotoxicity has long been one of the purposes of AD therapy.

[Effects of donepezil treatment on platelets α and β secretase activities in Alzheimer's disease patients].

Objective: To explore the effects of donepezil on the activities of platelet α and β secretases in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.

Methods: During the period of 2007 - 2010, a total of 76 AD patients received either regular treatment alone or in combination with donepezil (5 mg/d) for a 12-week period. And their effects on ADAS-Cog (Alzheimer's disease assessment scale-cognitive subscale) total and ADL (activity of daily living) scores were measured.

[Effect of estrogen-depletion and 17beta-estradiol replacement therapy upon rat hippocampus beta-amyloid generation].

Objective: To observe the effects of estrogen depletion and 17beta-estradiol replacement therapy upon ratbeta-amyloid (Abeta) generation and the possible related mechanisms.

Methods: Rat ovaries were ectomized to mimic estrogen-depletion models and then 17beta-estradiol was administered by powdering hormone into soy-free chow as a way of replacement therapy. ELISA was carried out to detect rat hippocampus Abeta levels and alpha- and beta-secretase activities were measured after the experiment.

Blockade of the translocation and activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase 3 (JNK3) attenuates dopaminergic neuronal damage in mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Increasing evidence suggests that c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is an important kinase mediating neuronal death in Parkinson's disease (PD) model induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). JNK3, the only neural-specific isoform, may play an important role in mediating the neurotoxic effects of MPTP in dopaminergic neuronal injury. To analyze the variation in JNK3 activation, the levels of phospho-JNK3 were measured at the various time points of occurrence of MPTP-induced lesions.