Validation of the Hebrew Version of the Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale.

BACKGROUND: The Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) is a well-established tool for producing comprehensive assessments of severity and disability associated with dyskinesia in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The scale was originally developed in English, and a broad international effort has been undertaken to develop and validate versions in additional languages. Our aim was to validate the Hebrew version of the UDysRS. METHODS: We translated the UDysRS into Hebrew, back-translated it into English, and carried out cognitive pretesting. We then administered the scale to non-demented native Hebrew-speaking patients who fulfilled the Brain Bank diagnostic criteria for probable PD (n = 250). Data were compared to the Reference Standard data used for validating UDysRS translations. RESULTS: The different portions of the Hebrew UDysRS showed high internal consistency (α ≥ 0.92). A confirmatory factor analysis in which we compared the Hebrew UDysRS to the Reference Standard version produced a comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.98, exceeding the threshold criterion of CFI > 0.9 indicating factor validity. A secondary exploratory factor analysis provided further support to the consistency between the factor structures of the Hebrew and Reference Standard versions of the UDysRS. CONCLUSION: The UDysRS Hebrew version shows strong clinimetric properties and fulfills the criteria for designation as an official International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society-approved translation for use in clinical and research settings.

Two Ethnic Clusters with Huntington Disease in Israel: The Case of Mountain Jews and Karaites.

BACKGROUND: Worldwide prevalence estimates of Huntington disease (HD) vary widely, with no reliable information regarding the Jewish population in Israel. METHODS: This specialized tertiary single-center cross-sectional study assessed clinical, cognitive, and demographic characteristics of 84 HD patients who were treated at the Movement Disorder Unit of the Tel Aviv Medical Center, Israel. RESULTS: Our cohort was composed of one-third Ashkenazi Jews, 27% Mountain Jews (Caucasus Jews), 18% Sephardi Jews, and 21% Karaites, with both Mountain Jews and Karaites over-represented compared to their relevant proportion in the population of the state of Israel, which is less than 1%. No between-group differences were detected regarding the number of CAG (cytosine-adenine-guanine) repeats, age at onset, disease duration, years from symptom onset to diagnosis, gender, years of education, Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale scores, or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores. CONCLUSION: We detected clustering of HD among the population treated at our Medical Center, which has the only specialized HD clinic in the country, with a high percentage of HD among 2 relatively small subpopulations of Jews: Mountain Jews and Karaites.