Predictors of Burden in Carers of Patients with Impulse Control Behaviors in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Impulse control behaviors (ICBs) are problematic, reward-based behaviors, affecting 15% to 35% of patients with Parkinson's disease. Evidence exists of increased carer burden as a result of these behaviors; however, little is known about the variables mediating this effect and their management.

Objective: To identify factors predictive of carer burden in a cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease with ICBs to enable the development of targeted therapeutic interventions for carers.

Pneumococcal pulmonary valve endocarditis.

Pulmonary valve endocarditis is an rare type of infective endocarditis (IE). Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pathogen that is uncommonly associated with IE. A 50 year-old man was referred to us to an incidental echocardiographic finding of a pulmonary valve vegetation.

Galvanic vestibular stimulation in hemi-spatial neglect.

Hemi-spatial neglect is an attentional disorder in which the sufferer fails to acknowledge or respond to stimuli appearing in contralesional space. In recent years, it has become clear that a measurable reduction in contralesional neglect can occur during galvanic vestibular stimulation, a technique by which transmastoid, small amplitude current induces lateral, attentional shifts via asymmetric modulation of the left and right vestibular nerves. However, it remains unclear whether this reduction persists after stimulation is stopped.