ABSTRACT
Background@#and Purpose: The Movement Disorder Society-Sponsored Revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) is widely used for estimating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Translation and validation of the MDS-UPDRS is necessary for non-English speaking countries and regions. The aim of this study was to validate the Korean version of the MDS-UPDRS. @*Methods@#Altogether, 362 patients in 19 centers were recruited for this study. We translated the MDS-UPDRS to Korean using the translation-back translation method and cognitive pretesting. We performed both confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses to validate the scale.We calculated the comparative fit index (CFI) for confirmatory factor analysis, and used unweighted least squares for exploratory factor analysis. @*Results@#The CFI was higher than 0.90 for all parts of the scale. Exploratory factor analysis also showed that the Korean MDS-UPDRS has the same number of factors in each part as the English version. @*Conclusions@#The Korean MDS-UPDRS has the same overall structure as the English MDSUPDRS. Our translated scale can be designated as the official Korean MDS-UPDRS.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study aimed at characterizing the lesion patterns in patients with acute ischemic stroke and complicated aortic plaques using the diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI). METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 403 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke between January 2002 and December 2004, and enrolled patients who had received a trans-esophageal echocardiography (TEE). All the patients should have an acute cerebral infarction within 7 days of the onset of symptoms. We analyzed the ischemic lesion patterns on DWI in the patients who had aortic atheroma protruded into the lumen greater than 4 mm in the aortic arch or ascending aorta (complicated aortic plaques; CAP). Ischemic lesions were classified into subcortical, cortical and multiple infarctions. We investigated the accompanying risk factors for atherosclerosis and stenosis of the relevant major brain artery as well. RESULTS: Of the 403 patients, TEE was performed in 210 (52%) and CAP was found in 25 (12%). Among 25 patients, subcortical infarction was observed in 15 (60%), followed by cortical infarction in 7 (28%), and multiple ischemic lesions in 3 (12%). CAP was frequently associated with hypertension and current smoking, and accompanied with stenosis of the relevant major brain artery as well (68%). CONCLUSIONS: CAP may be a potential source of embolism. However, the high prevalence of the small subcortical lesion in this study questions the mechanisms of ischemic stroke in patients with aortic atheroma. CAP may be an uncomplicated marker of advanced systemic atherosclerosis including the cerebral arteries.
Subject(s)
Humans , Aorta , Aorta, Thoracic , Arteries , Atherosclerosis , Brain , Cerebral Arteries , Cerebral Infarction , Constriction, Pathologic , Echocardiography , Embolism , Hypertension , Infarction , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Plaque, Atherosclerotic , Prevalence , Retrospective Studies , Risk Factors , Smoke , Smoking , StrokeABSTRACT
The periodic sharp wave complexes are the most characteristic EEG abnormalities in sCJD. We report the serial EEG findings in a patient with probable sCJD. The initial EEG showed diffuse theta and delta slowings only. However, it changed to the typical periodic sharp wave complexes according to the worsening clinical state. These changes occurred during a short-term interval. The serial EEGs within the short-term interval will be helpful for the earlier diagnosis of sCJD.