Parkinson's disease patients (PD) do not differ from control subjects (CS) when they have to execute a problem solving task in which external cues for solving the problem are given. However, when PD ...have to solve a problem by means of an internally generated strategy, they show a serious decrease in performance. We hypothesised that this distinction may also apply to the way PD and CS organize recall. In order to test our hypothesis the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) was administered to 59 PD and 30 CS. The test consists of five learning trials using a 16-word target list, composed of four items from each of four semantic categories. The fact that the word list was built on this implicit organization was not divulged in advance. The sequence in which the words were read is fixed; each subsequent word belongs to a category being different from the category to which the preceding word belongs. The organization in recall according to the semantic categories is considered to be the result of an unprompted, internally generated strategy. Recall according to the sequence in which the words are read by the experimenter, is viewed as an externally offered strategy. The results prove to be in line with our hypothesis: unlike CS who appeared to rely mainly and increasingly on an internally generated semantic organization, PD showed evidence of gradually adhering more to the externally imposed serial sequence.
A 3-month open-label trial was performed to evaluate the efficacy of 200 mg Q10 daily in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease. Motor performance was assessed with UPDRS and motor tests. There was no ...significant effect on the clinical ratings.
Parkin gene related neuronal multisystem disorder Horstink, MWIM; van de Warrenburg, BPC; Lammens, M ...
Journal of neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry,
03/2002, Letnik:
72, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Patients with parkin gene mutations, even those in single families, have generally shown a wide range of clinical signs. 5 These findings suggest that additional factors contribute to the phenotype. ...Because patients with ARJP have been considered to exhibit homogeneous clinical symptoms, patients with atypical parkinsonism and/or with non-extrapyramidal symptoms have remained to be examined for parkin gene mutations.
To elucidate the interplay between different parts of dimeric single-stranded DNA-binding proteins we have studied the correlated motions in the protein encoded by filamentous phage Pf3
via the ...combined use of
15N-NMR relaxation experiments, molecular dynamics simulations and essential dynamics calculations. These studies provide insight into the mechanism underlying the protein-DNA binding reaction. The most important motions can be described by a few essential modes. Most outstanding is the correlated symmetric motion of the DNA-binding wings, which are far apart in the structure. This motion determines the access of DNA to the DNA-binding domain. A correlation between the motion of the DNA-binding wing and the complex loop is indicated to play a role in the cooperative binding of the protein to DNA. These motions are in the nanosecond regime in correspondence with the
15N-NMR relaxation experiments.
Objectives– To investigate whether the conventional and quantitative EEGs of patients with vascular parkinsonism (VP) differ from those of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Material and ...methods– The EEGs of 13 patients with vascular parkinsonism and 14 patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease were scored on a simple scale regarding aspects of conventional EEG variables. Alpha band power asymmetry and EEG slowing (increased delta and theta power) were calculated by the neurometrics method of quantitative EEG data evaluation.
Results– Analysis of both conventional and quantitative EEG data shows that VP patients had significantly less EEG slowing than PD patients.
Conclusion– This study shows that the EEG in a group of patients with vascular parkinsonism differ from a patient group with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Our results indicate that VP patients are not PD patients with subcortical vascular lesions, because then they would have had at least as much EEG slowing as PD patients.
Movement-related potentials were recorded preceding self-paced voluntary movements in patients with Parkinson's disease and in healthy subjects of the same age group. We compared the Readiness ...Potential preceding joystick movements in a fixed direction and preceding joystick movements in freely selected directions. In normal subjects the Readiness Potential amplitude was higher preceding freely selected movements than preceding movements in a fixed direction. The Readiness Potential in Parkinson patients failed to be modified by the different modes of movement selection. The modulation of the Readiness Potential by different ways of preparing for movement might be due to the supplementary motor area (SMA) being more strongly engaged by tasks requiring internal control of movements than by tasks that are externally structured. The results suggest that this task-dependent variation of SMA activity is reduced in Parkinson's disease. A failing capacity to adapt SMA activity to different task demands has previously been suggested by evidence from positron emission tomography studies using similar tasks.
Eighteen patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and nineteen control subjects, who were matched for age and intelligence, were compared in tests measuring "shifting aptitude" at cognitive and ...motor levels (word production, sorting blocks or animals, and finger pushing sequences). It was found that Parkinson patients produced fewer different names of animals and professions in one minute than control subjects, needed more trials for detecting a shift in a sorting criterion, and produced fewer finger responses in a change of pushing sequence than control subjects. These results are interpreted as reflecting a central programming deficit that manifests itself in verbal, figural and motor modalities, that is, a diminished "shifting aptitude" characteristic of patients with dysfunctioning basal ganglia. The results are discussed in relation to changes of behaviour organisations in animals with dysfunctioning basal ganglia.
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