Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Serbian patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease [PD] is associated with wide variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms, although it is primarily considered as a movement disorder.

Objective: To examine whether PD patients can be meaningfully classified into subgroups according to their neuropsychiatric symptoms, reported by their caregivers.

Methods: Three hundred and sixty PD patients [mean age=63.

Mild Cognitive Impairment in Early Parkinson's Disease Using the Movement Disorder Society Task Force Criteria: Cross-Sectional Study in Hoehn and Yahr Stage 1.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson's disease (PD) is common and confers a higher risk for developing dementia.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study of MCI in PD conducted at a university hospital, a comprehensive neuropsychological battery covering five domains (attention/working memory, executive, verbal, and visual memory, language, and visuospatial) was administered to 111 nondemented PD patients in Hoehn and Yahr stage 1 and to 105 healthy matched control subjects (HC). MCI was diagnosed according to level 2 of the Movement Disorder Society Task Force criteria.

Transcranial midbrain sonography and depressive symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Transcranial sonography (TCS) appeared to be a promising marker associated with depression: hypo/anechogenicity of the brainstem raphe (BR) was found in 50-70 % of patients with unipolar depression, in 40-60 % of depressed patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), but also in 8-28 % of healthy controls. Our study included 120 consecutive PD outpatients. Abnormal BR echogenicity was found in 51 (43 %), while normal findings were present in 67 PD patients (57 %).

Attentional set-shifting in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait-acquisition and discrimination set learning deficits at the background?

Cognitive loading aggravates the freezing of gait (FoG), which is observed in approximately 50% of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in the advanced stages. To investigate whether a specific pattern of executive deficits, that is, attentional set-shifting and/or inhibitory control, are associated with FoG in PD, 30 PD patients with FoG (PD-FoG+) and 36 PD patients without FoG (PD-FoG-) and 22 control healthy subjects were examined with a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. Intra-Extra Dimensional Set shifting Test (IED) and Stop Signal Task (SST), selected from the Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Battery (CANTAB battery), were administered to analyze set-shifting and motor inhibition, respectively.

Screening for anxiety symptoms in Parkinson disease: a cross-sectional study.

Background: A limited number of studies examined anxiety in Parkinson disease (PD). Questionable validity of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fourth Edition) defined anxiety disorders in PD population as well as a lack of validated rating scales hampered the investigation in this field.

Objective: To screen for prevalence of anxiety symptoms and their associated demographic and clinical features in an outpatient-based cohort with PD.

Apathy and depression in Parkinson's disease: the Belgrade PD study report.

Apathy and depression are among the most common psychiatric and behavioral disorders associated with Parkinson's disease (PD). The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence and demographic and clinical correlates of apathy and depression in a clinical population-based sample of patients with PD and to assess whether apathy may present as a primary behavioral disturbance independent from depression and cognitive impairment. A series of 360 PD patients underwent psychiatric investigation with the Starkstein's Apathy Scale (AS), and the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17), motor scoring with Hoehn and Yahr (HY) staging, and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS); and cognitive screening with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) on the same day.

Depression predicts the pattern of cognitive impairment in early Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To estimate the pattern of cognitive impairment in early Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with depression. Also, the prediction of potentially relevant demographic/clinical factors in early PD on cognitive functioning was tested.

Method: The study comprised 80 consecutive early PD patients (16 with major depression (PDMD), 10 PD patients with dysthimic disorder (PDDD), and 54 nondepressed PD patients (PDND)).

Serial position learning effects in patients with aneurysms of the anterior communicating artery.

Ruptured and repaired Anterior Communicating Artery (ACoA) aneurysm can result in devastating impairments involving memory, executive function, confabulation, and personality changes. This study tested serial position learning effects (SPEs) in patients following repaired and ruptured ACoA aneurysm, using results on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Thirty patients with ruptured aneurysms of the ACoA and 31 matched controls were included in the study.

Declarative memory in early Parkinson's disease: serial position learning effects.

This study tested the question of whether executive failure associated with frontal lobe deficit is associated with, and therefore, may influence declarative memory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). A variety of memory and 'frontal sensitive' tasks were used. The 'frontal lobe dysfunction' hypothesis was tested in part, by examining the serial position effects (SPE) of word list learning across five successive trials.

Visuomotor skill learning on serial reaction time task in patients with early Parkinson's disease.

This study tested the role of basal ganglia in visuomotor skill learning. Thirty-nine patients early in the course of Parkinson's disease (PD) and 30 patients after operation for an aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery (ACoA) were compared with 31 matched control subjects on a Serial Reaction Time test (SRTt). The patients with PD showed impaired visuomotor skill learning across the repeating blocks, in the presence of preserved declarative knowledge of embedded sequences, in contrast to the ACoA group in whom the reverse pattern was observed.