Genetic variation analysis in parkinson disease patients with and without hallucinations: case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Visual hallucinations in Parkinson disease (PD) occur in approximately one third of patients treated long-term with dopaminergic medications. In Alzheimer disease, hallucinations and psychosis have been linked to increased representations of B2/B2 homozyogotes for the dopamine receptor gene DRD1 and 1/1 or 2/2 homozygotes for DRD3. In addition, a previous study of PD patients with and without hallucinations did not show differences in D2 and D3 polymorphisms, although careful case-control matching was not performed. Another study linked the apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4) allele to hallucinations in PD. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the frequency of dopamine receptor genetic variants and APOE alleles in patients with PD with and without chronic visual hallucinations resembles the pattern previously documented in patients with Alzheimer disease. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study of 44 patients with PD and chronic hallucinations and 44 patients with PD who had never hallucinated. Cases and controls were matched for current age and medications. DNA was isolated from blood samples and assayed for DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DRD4, and APOE polymorphisms. Receptor polymorphisms were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction. Genotypes in hallucinators and nonhallucinators were compared using Mantel-Haenszel tests stratified by pair, and allele frequencies were compared using Wilcoxon signed rank tests within pairs. RESULTS: Neither D1 receptor genotypes (P =.37) nor allele frequencies (P =.38) differed, and there was no predominance of B2/B2 homozygotes in the hallucinators. For D3, there was a higher frequency of allele 2 (P =.047), but there was no significant difference between frequencies of homozygotes vs heterozygotes (P =.39) as reported in Alzheimer disease. D4 receptor distribution of long and short alleles did not differ between the 2 patient groups, and there were too few C alleles (3 of 86) to compare D2 allele genotypes or frequencies. For APOE, 12 cases and 12 controls carried E4 alleles (P>.99). CONCLUSIONS: With careful case-control matching, visual hallucinations in PD are not associated with the pattern seen for patients with Alzheimer disease and visual hallucinations. Furthermore, there was no association between hallucinations and APOE. Similar methods using larger sample sizes might be adapted to test whether specific dopaminergic receptor genetic variants are associated with visual hallucinations in PD. Based on our data, the DRD3 allele 2 may merit further study.

Kenneth Fitzpatrick Russell: the first reader to the Gordon Craig Library.

A review of the life and achievements of Kenneth Fitzpatrick Russell, whose death in his 76th year robbed us of a civilized gentleman who was at the zenith of his creative output, would be a daunting task, if only because of the breadth of his hobbies and interests: art and medical literature; reading; sinology and seal carving; numismatics, medical philately; bookbinding, collecting bookplates; carpentry; metal work, including pewter casting and silversmithing; model ship building and cooking. Yet these various interests were simply a backdrop to his public career at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, where he laid the foundations of an international reputation as scholar and collector.

A comparison of three techniques of micro nerve repairs in dogs.

An assessment of the results of three techniques of nerve repair. Epineurial repair, Funicular repair with resection of epineurium and Combined Funicular and Epineurial repair. The results were essentially similar.

Prevention of postoperative deep vein thrombosis with dipyridamole and aspirin.

One hundred and sixty patients have been studied in a controlled trial of two drugs which have been in combination to prevent postoperative-deep-vein thrombosis. Both the drugs, dipyridamole (Persantin) and aspirin, were given by mouth from the evening before operation and for seven days after operation. The radioactive fibrinogen test was used to diagnose thrombosis. Of the 85 patients in the control group 24 developed thrombosis (28%). Twelve out of 85 patients (14%) in the test group were found to have thrombosis. Similar significant differences in incidence were found in the various subgroups.