Evaluation of sarcopenia and phase angle in elderly patients with Parkinson's Disease.

PURPOSE: To investigate sarcopenia and related factors and to determine the disease-specific phase angle (PhA) cut-off score in detecting sarcopenia in elderly patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD). METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted with 89 participants. The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA), the Eating Attitude Test-10 (EAT-10), the Physical Activity Scale for The Elderly (PASE) questionnaire and the Hoehn-Yahr scale have been used. Additionally, anthropometric measurements were performed. The diagnosis of sarcopenia was based on the new consensus published by the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People 2 (EWGSOP2). PhA has been performed by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) with Tanita MC 780®. RESULTS: The mean age was of the participants 68.9 ± 6.4 years, and 57.3% were male. The prevalence of sarcopenia was 12.3%. PhA, malnutrition, age, disease severity, low calf circumference (CC), low body mass index (BMI), the difference between the pre-diagnosis and current weight loss, dopaminergic treatment, and low PASE score were associated with sarcopenia. The cut-off value of the PhA in terms of the ability to identify sarcopenia was <4.5o with a sensitivity of 53.3% and a specificity of 93.2% (p = 0.001). When we grouped the PhA of the patients according to this cut-off score, it was seen that 14.6% of them were sarcopenic. Age, disease severity, PASE score and hand grip strength were significantly related to both sarcopenia and PhA. CONCLUSION: It is important to be aware of sarcopenia and related factors at an early stage in Parkinson's patients. Because of disease-related symptoms, it may be more appropriate to use a disease-specific PhA cut-off score in the definition of sarcopenia.

What might cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potential abnormalities mean in essential tremor?

AIM/BACKGROUND: Essential tremor (ET) is one of the most common movement disorders. However, its pathogenesis is unclear. Human vestibular reflexes are essential not only for gait and posture but also for goal-directed voluntary movements. In this study, cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMPs), the electrophysiological equivalent of the vestibulo-collic reflex was studied in ET patients to understand the interaction between the tremor network and the vestibular neural pathways. METHODS: cVEMPs were recorded in 40 ET patients and 40 age and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). The latencies of peaks p13 and n23 and peak-to-peak amplitude of p13-n23 were measured. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference between the p13 latencies of the HC and ET groups (p 0.79 and p 0.23 for the right and left sides respectively). n23 latency was shortened bilaterally in the ET group (p 0.009 and p 0.02 for the right and left sides respectively). p13-n23 amplitudes of the ET patients were bilaterally reduced when compared with the HC (p <0.001 and p 0.001 for the right and left sides respectively). CONCLUSION: Information provided by vestibular afferents is crucial in the control of voluntary movements in humans. Despite this silent but significant effect, the role of the vestibular system in movement disorders is often overlooked. In this study, it was found that cVEMP responses reflecting the activity of the vestibulo-collic pathway were affected in ET which can be either caused by dysfunctional structures or pathways responsible from ET or an additional disorder of vestibular information processing in these patients.

Functional and morphological assessment of ocular structures and follow-up of patients with early-stage Parkinson's disease.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and follow-up of functional and morphological changes of the optic nerve and ocular structures prospectively in patients with early-stage Parkinson's disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with a diagnosis of early-stage Parkinson's disease and 19 age-matched healthy controls were included in the study. All participants were examined minimum three times at the intervals of at least 6 month following initial examination. Pattern visually evoked potentials (VEP), contrast sensitivity assessments at photopic conditions, color vision tests with Ishihara cards and full-field visual field tests were performed in addition to measurement of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness of four quadrants (top, bottom, nasal, temporal), central and mean macular thickness and macular volumes. RESULTS: Best corrected visual acuity was observed significantly lower in study group within all three examinations. Contrast sensitivity values of the patient group were significantly lower in all spatial frequencies. P100 wave latency of VEP was significantly longer, and amplitude was lower in patient group; however, significant deterioration was not observed during the follow-up. Although average peripapillary RNFL thickness was not significant between groups, RNFL thickness in the upper quadrant was thinner in the patient group. While there was no difference in terms of mean macular thickness and total macular volume values between the groups initially, a significant decrease occurred in the patient group during the follow-up. During the initial and follow-up process, a significant deterioration in visual field was observed in the patient group. CONCLUSION: Structural and functional disorders shown as electro-physiologically and morphologically exist in different parts of visual pathways in early-stage Parkinson's disease.

Assessment of voiding dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Danish Prostate Symptom Score.

AIMS: To investigate the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Danish Prostate Symptom Score (Dan-PSS) questionnaire in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and to compare the burden of LUTS (Lower urinary tract symptoms) in men and women. METHODS: For analysis of test-retest reliability, the Turkish version of the Dan-PSS scale was developed using the back translation method, and it was administered on the day of admission and repeated 1 week after in 60 patients with PD. The OAB-q (Overactive Bladder Questionnaire) and PDQ-39 (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39) were administered to 73 patients for validity analysis. RESULTS: Both the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha coefficient: 0.99-1.00) and the test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.99-1.00) of the Dan-PSS were found to be high in patients with PD. Although weak to moderate correlations were found between the subscales of the Dan-PSS and PDQ-39 (r: 0.20-0.42; P < 0.05), a strong correlation was found with the OAB-q (r: 0.60-0.79; P < 0.05). Nocturnal urination was the most frequent (93.2%), and bothersome (54.8%) symptom. The majority of the symptom and bother responses were similar in men and women. CONCLUSIONS: Current study shows that the Turkish version of the Dan-PSS questionnaire is an internally consistent, reliable, and valid scale for patients with PD. Therefore, it can be used to evaluate frequency and severity of LUTS in PD. LUTS are commonly seen in patients with PD in both sexes. It is suggested that all patients with PD should be referred for urological assessment.

The Prevalence and Characteristics of Charles Bonnet Syndrome in Turkish Patients with Retinal Disease.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) in a group of Turkish patients with various retinal diseases. METHODS: Two hundred and sixty-four patients with a best-corrected visual acuity of ≤20/40 in the better-seeing eye were asked with a standardized question whether they had symptoms of CBS. If they responded positively, a questionnaire was verbally administered to learn more about the details of the symptoms. RESULTS: There were 125 (47.3%) females and 139 (52.7%) males with a mean age of 72.1 years (range 31-90). Seventeen (6.4%) patients were diagnosed with CBS. Three (17.7%) patients had noncomplex hallucinations and 14 (82.3%) had complex hallucinations. CONCLUSION: CBS is not uncommon in visually impaired patients with retinal disease. Clinicians who care for visually impaired patients should be aware of CBS.

MRI evaluation of progressive supranuclear palsy: differentiation from Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived parameters in differentiation of patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) from patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA), and control subjects was aimed. METHODS: Thirty-three patients [mean age, 65.21 ± 4.75 years; PSP (n = 9), MSA (n = 8), PD (n = 6), and control subjects (n = 10)] who have undergone cranial MRI were included in this retrospective study. MRI-derived parameters including areas of midbrain and pons, midbrain area-to-pons area (M/P) ratio, widths of middle cerebellar peduncle (MCP) and superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP), MCP/SCP ratio, magnetic resonance parkinsonism index (MRPI), cerebral interpeduncular angle, and length of midbrain tegmentum were compared in patients with PSP, PD, MSA, and control subjects through the analysis of variance and Kruskal-Wallis tests with Bonferroni correction and Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS: The length of midbrain tegmentum, midbrain area, SCP, and M/P ratio were found to be lower, while cerebral interpeduncular angle and MRPI were higher in patients with PSP. Pons area, MCP width, and MCP/SCP ratio were found to be lower in patients with MSA. For PSP, cerebral interpeduncular angle has a sensitivity of 100% and specifity of 90%, and MRPI had a sensitivity of 88.9% and specifity of 100% for PSP. DISCUSSION: Several MRI-derived parameters can be used in differentiation of patients with PSP from patients with PD, MSA and control subjects. The cerebral interpeduncular angle and MRPI, which demonstrated higher values in patients with PSP, were more significant for PSP than the other parameters.

Turkish Standardization of Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale.

BACKGROUND: Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) and Unified Dyskinesia Rating Scale (UDysRS) were developed as standard tools to rate Parkinson's disease (PD) and drug-induced dyskinesias of PD. As these scales have become widely used, there is a need for translation to non-English languages. Here we present the standardization for the Turkish translations. METHODS: The scales were translated into Turkish and then back-translated to English. These back-translations were reviewed by the MDS team. After cognitive pretesting, movement disorder specialists from nine centers tested 352 patients for MDS-UPDRS, and 250 patients for UDysRS. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were used to determine if the factor structures for the reference standards could be confirmed in the Turkish data. The comparative fit indexes (CFIs) for the scales were required to be 0.90 or higher. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted to explore the underlying factor structure without the constraint of a pre-specified factor structure. RESULTS: For both scales, the CFIs were 0.94 or greater as compared to the reference standard factor structures. The factor structures were consistent with that of reference standards, although there were some differences in some areas as compared to the EFA of the reference standard dataset. This may be due to the inclusion of patients with different stages of PD and different cultural properties of raters and patients. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that the Turkish translations of MDS-UPDRS and UDysRS have adequate clinimetric properties. They are established as the official translations and can be reliably used in Turkish speaking populations.

Swallow-induced syncope in 5 patients: Electrophysiologic evaluation during swallowing.

BACKGROUND: We sought to characterize a cohort of participants with swallow-induced syncope (SIS) with clinical and electrophysiologic evaluations. METHODS: Using electrocardiographic monitoring and neurophysiologic methods of swallowing, we evaluated a cohort of 5 patients with SIS, 4 of whom had longitudinal follow-up. RESULTS: We determined electrophysiologically that the duration between the onset of swallow and a bradyarrhythmia or asystole is extremely short (2-3 seconds) in SIS. Most participants with SIS do not have a neurologic or esophageal disorder. SIS can occur with different food types, in sitting or standing position, and has varying frequency in different participants. Permanent pacemaker placement is a curative measure in SIS. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that SIS is elicited by reflex afferent pathways originating in the oropharynx, rather than an esophageal origin, as previously proposed. Our longitudinally followed cohort with detailed clinical and electrophysiologic characterization should aid the clinician in the diagnosis and treatment of this potentially life-threatening condition.

Is customized vestibular rehabilitation effective in patients with Parkinson's?

BACKGROUND: Patients with Parkinson's disease complain about restrictions in their daily life activities and impairment in their mobility and balance. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of vestibular rehabilitation on functioning, quality of life, balance, and postural stability in patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS: The patients with Parkinson's disease divided into a rehabilitation group (Group 1, n: 29) and a control group(Group 2, n: 11). All patients were evaluated before and after eight weeks of customized vestibular rehabilitation for motor score (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale); quality of life (Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire-39); balance (Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale [ABC], Timed Up and Go Test, Dynamic Gait Index [DGI], and Berg Balance Scale [BBS]); and postural stability (Modified Clinical Test for Sensory Interaction on Balance [mCTSIB]. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the pre- and post-exercise ABC, BBS, and DGI scores in Group 1 (p <  0.05). A statistically significant impairment was observed in mCTSIB (firm and foam eyes closed [EC]) in the control group (p <  0.05). There were no significant intergroup differences in any of the parameters evaluated (p >  0.05). CONCLUSION: In this study, vestibular rehabilitation was found to be effective for improving balance in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Diagnostic value of "dysphagia limit" for neurogenic dysphagia: 17 years of experience in 1278 adults.

OBJECTIVE: Neurogenic dysphagia (ND) is a prevalent condition that accounts for significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Screening and follow-up are critical for early diagnosis and management which can mitigate its complications and be cost-saving. The aims of this study are to provide a comprehensive investigation of the dysphagia limit (DL) in a large diverse cohort and to provide a longitudinal assessment of dysphagia in a subset of subjects. METHODS: We developed a quantitative and noninvasive method for objective assessment of dysphagia by using laryngeal sensor and submental electromyography. DL is the volume at which second or more swallows become necessary to swallow the whole amount of bolus. This study represents 17 years experience with the DL approach in assessing ND in a cohort of 1278 adult subjects consisting of 292 healthy controls, 784 patients with dysphagia, and 202 patients without dysphagia. A total of 192 of all patients were also reevaluated longitudinally over a period of 1-19 months. RESULTS: DL has 92% sensitivity, 91% specificity, 94% positive predictive value, and 88% negative predictive value with an accuracy of 0.92. Patients with ALS, stroke, and movement disorders have the highest sensitivity (85-97%) and positive predictive value (90-99%). The clinical severity of dysphagia has significant negative correlation with DL (r=-0.67, p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: We propose the DL as a reliable, quick, noninvasive, quantitative test to detect and follow both clinical and subclinical dysphagia and it can be performed in an EMG laboratory. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides specific quantitative features of DL test that can be readily utilized by the neurologic community and nominates DL as an objective and robust method to evaluate dysphagia in a wide range of neurologic conditions.

Myoclonic status epilepticus in six patients without epilepsy.

Myoclonic status epilepticus (MSE) is defined as prolonged period of myoclonic jerks that are correlated with epileptiform discharges on EEG. We here describe clinical features and video-EEG records of six adult patients with MSE who did not have a prior diagnosis of epilepsy. In four out of six patients, MSE was precipitated by drugs. Two out of four patients had chronic renal disease and received beta lactam group antibiotics. Two other patients, who described chronic pain, developed MSE while taking pregabalin. One patient who had dementia and family history of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) developed MSE one month after quetiapine was introduced. Another patient, who had a recent ischemic stroke, developed MSE due to an unknown reason. In these last two patients, an immediate triggering factor was not evident. Myoclonic status epilepticus ceased in five out of six patients after withdrawal of the drugs and/or intravenous antiepileptic treatment. Myoclonic status epilepticus is a rare event in patients without epilepsy. A correct diagnosis and prompt drug discontinuation may reverse this severe and life-threatening condition.

Unilateral rhythmic testicular movements.

A male patient came to our clinic because of a continuous up and down movement of his right testis, which was present even during sleep. The nature and localization of the unilateral rhythmic cremasteric activity is investigated by electrophysiological methods. Investigations of the cremasteric muscles and genitofemoral nerve determined that the movement was similar to myokymia. The localization of this peculiar spontaneous movement is probably in motor fibers somewhere between the L1-L2 motor neuron pool, motor roots and/or the genitofemoral nerve.

Post-ischemic Holmes' tremor of the lower extremities.

Holmes' tremor, which is known to occur as a result of different lesions centered in the brain stem, cerebellum and thalamus, is a tremor of low frequency, mostly below 4.5 Hz (Deuschl and Bergman in Mov Disord 17(suppl 3):S41­S48, 2002). We present a patient who developed a tremor, mostly involving her lower extremities, secondary to an ischemic infarct affecting the cerebellum, thalamus and midbrain. Attempts at medical treatment with levodopa, quetiapine and levetirecetam all failed. However, pribedil, a dopaminergic receptor-stimulating agent, successfully improved the tremor. Our case is interesting as published reports generally focus on tremors limited to the upper extremities except for one reported case of Holmes' tremor involving the lower extremities more severely (Walker et al. in Mov Disord 22(2):272­274, 2007). It also demonstrates that dopaminergic receptor stimulating agents should be tested before considering invasive therapies.

Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele and neurobehavioral status after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

UNLABELLED: Abstract Background and Aim: The presence of apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele is being considered as a risk factor for cognitive decline after cardiac surgery. We sought the effect of apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele on neurobehavioral status after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS: Prior to the operation, neurologic examination and neurobehavioral cognitive status test (COGNISTAT) were performed. Both procedures were repeated on the day of discharge and 3 months after surgery. Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele positive and apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele negative patients' performance on COGNISTAT were compared. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant demographic and operative data difference between two groups. No neurological impairment was observed on examinations. There was no statistically significant neurocognitive decline difference between two groups' postoperative performances. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele may not affect neurobehavioral status in the intermediate period after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.