Split-hand phenomenon in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A motor unit number index study.

Introduction: The split-hand phenomenon refers to preferential wasting of the thenar muscles with relative sparing of the hypothenar muscles in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Methods: We compared the split-hand index (SI) calculated from the compound muscle action potential (CMAP; SICMAP ) with that calculated from the motor unit number index (MUNIX; SIMUNIX ). We performed MUNIX on the abductor policis brevis (APB), first dorsal interosseous (FDI), and abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscles of 39 ALS patients and 40 age-matched, healthy controls.

Transient isolated ocular motor abnormality related to perilesional edema of an acute medullary microbleed: A case report and review of the literatures.

We report a case of transient isolated gaze-evoked nystagmus with ocular lateropulsion in a patient with an acute medullary microbleed which was detected by brain magnetic resonance imaging. Considering the correlation between the neural structures involved by the lesion and the ocular motor symptoms of this patient, we suggest that the perilesional edema of the acute medullary microbleed is responsible for this transient ocular motor abnormality.

Putaminal serotonergic innervation: monitoring dyskinesia risk in Parkinson disease.

Objective: To explore serotonergic innervation in the basal ganglia in relation to levodopa-induced dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: A total of 30 patients with PD without dementia or depression were divided into 3 matched groups (dyskinetic, nondyskinetic, and drug-naive) for this study. We acquired 2 PET scans and 3T MRI for each patient using [(11)C]-3-amino-4-(2-dimethylaminomethylphenylsulfanyl)-benzonitrile ((11)C-DASB) and N-(3-[(18)F]fluoropropyl)-2-carbomethoxy-3-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane ((18)F-FP-CIT).

Comparative assessment of parametric neuroreceptor mapping approaches based on the simplified reference tissue model using [¹¹C]ABP688 PET.

In recent years, several linearized model approaches for fast and reliable parametric neuroreceptor mapping based on dynamic nuclear imaging have been developed from the simplified reference tissue model (SRTM) equation. All the methods share the basic SRTM assumptions, but use different schemes to alleviate the effect of noise in dynamic-image voxels. Thus, this study aimed to compare those approaches in terms of their performance in parametric image generation.

Characterization of gastrointestinal disorders in patients with parkinsonian syndromes.

Objectives: This study was aimed to investigate gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) compared with those in patients with other parkinsonian disorders, and to characterize parkinsonian motor and non-motor correlates for GI dysfunction.

Methods: Consecutive patients with PD, atypical parkinsonism (P-plus) and vascular parkinsonism (VP) were enrolled in this multicenter systematic survey. Data for weight loss, appetite loss, sialorrhea, dysphagia, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and constipation were simultaneously collected using symptom-specific, structured questionnaires.

Whole-brain diffusion-tensor changes in parkinsonian patients with impulse control disorders.

Background And Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the changes in diffusion-tensor images associated with medication-related impulse control disorder (ICD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients undergoing chronic dopamine-replacement therapy.

Methods: Nineteen PD patients, comprising 10 with ICD (PD-ICD) and 9 without ICD (PD-nonICD), and 18 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) with no cognitive or other psychiatric disorders were analyzed. All subjects underwent 3-T magnetic resonance diffusion-tensor imaging.

Maladaptive reward-learning and impulse control disorders in patients with Parkinson's disease: a clinical overview and pathophysiology update.

Impulse control disorders (ICD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are a disabling non-motor symptom with frequencies of 13-35% among patients receiving dopamine replacement therapy. ICD in PD is strongly associated with dopaminergic drug use, especially non-ergot dopamine agonists (DA). However, individual susceptibility and disease-related neural changes are also important contributors to the development of ICD.

Up-regulation of the receptor for advanced glycation end products in the skin biopsy specimens of patients with severe diabetic neuropathy.

Background And Purpose: The receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) may contribute to the development of diabetic neuropathy. To assess its relevance in humans, this study examined the expression of RAGE in the skin biopsy samples of patients with diabetes mellitus, and investigated its correlation with intraepidermal nerve-fiber density (IENFD) and clinical measures of neuropathy severity.

Methods: Forty-four patients who either had type 2 diabetes or were prediabetes underwent clinical evaluation and a 3-mm skin punch biopsy.

[Effects of newborn care education for first-time fathers on their knowledge and confidence in newborn care at postpartum one month].

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify the effects of newborn care education for fathers on their knowledge and confidence in newborn care at postpartum one month.

Methods: A nonequivalent control group pretest posttest design was used. The participants were 53 first-time fathers of newborns, 27 in experimental group, and 26 in control group.

Optimal combination of neural temporal envelope and fine structure cues to explain speech identification in background noise.

The dichotomy between acoustic temporal envelope (ENV) and fine structure (TFS) cues has stimulated numerous studies over the past decade to understand the relative role of acoustic ENV and TFS in human speech perception. Such acoustic temporal speech cues produce distinct neural discharge patterns at the level of the auditory nerve, yet little is known about the central neural mechanisms underlying the dichotomy in speech perception between neural ENV and TFS cues. We explored the question of how the peripheral auditory system encodes neural ENV and TFS cues in steady or fluctuating background noise, and how the central auditory system combines these forms of neural information for speech identification.

Diffusion tensor tractography analysis of the corpus callosum fibers in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: Involvement of the corpus callosum (CC) is reported to be a consistent feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We examined the CC pathology using diffusion tensor tractography analysis to identify precisely which fiber bundles are involved in ALS.

Methods: Diffusion tensor imaging was performed in 14 sporadic ALS patients and 16 age-matched healthy controls.

Optical coherence tomography in Parkinson's disease: is the retina a biomarker?

Visual symptoms are a common feature in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and retinal dopamine loss and dysfunctions in foveal vision have been described in PD patients. Because visual hallucination (VH) is a specific feature of PD which is differentiated from other parkinsonian disorders, defective visual information processing from both the central and peripheral pathways is suggested to be the pathophysiological mechanisms of VH in PD. Decreased visual acuity as well as impaired contrast sensitivity and color vision is known to be related to the appearance of VH in PD.

Intravenous amantadine on freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial.

To compare the effects of intravenous amantadine and placebo therapy on freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson's disease, this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial compared the efficacy of 5 days intravenous amantadine and placebo treatments on freezing of gait in 42 subjects randomly allocated 2:1 to amantadine or placebo groups. Changes in freezing of gait questionnaire (FOG-Q) scores and in unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (UPDRS) scores, from baseline to immediately (V1) and 1 month (V2) after treatments, were assessed. Among the 42 patients (amantadine n = 29, placebo n = 13, a mean age 65.

Extrastriatal dopaminergic changes in Parkinson's disease patients with impulse control disorders.

Objective: To investigate the extrastriatal dopaminergic neural changes in relation to the medication-related impulse control disorders (ICD) in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Method: A total of 31 subjects (11 and 11 drug-treated PD patients with and without medication-related ICDs and 9 healthy controls) having no other co-morbid psychiatric disorders participated in this study. Each subject underwent dynamic N-(3-[(18)F]fluoropropyl)-2-carbomethoxy-3-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane (FP-CIT) positron emission tomography scans.

Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and visual hallucinations in Parkinson's Disease.

Defective visual information processing from both central and peripheral pathways is one of the suggested mechanisms of visual hallucination in Parkinson's disease (PD). To investigate the role of retinal thinning for visual hallucination in PD, we conducted a case-control study using spectral domain optical coherence tomography. We examined a representative sample of 61 patients with PD and 30 healthy controls who had no history of ophthalmic diseases.