Parkinson's Disease
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Parkinson's Disease
NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Parkinson's disease
"Parkinson's disease is a disorder of the brain characterized by shaking (tremor) and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. The disease is associated with damage to a part of the brain that is involved with movement. … Some people with Parkinson's disease become severely depressed. This may be due to loss of dopamine in certain brain areas involved with pleasure and mood. Lack of dopamine can also affect motivation and the ability to make voluntary movements. Early loss of mental capacities is uncommon. However, persons with severe Parkinson's may have overall mental deterioration (including dementia and hallucinations). Dementia can also be a side effect of some of the medications used to treat the disorder. ...
Symptoms:
• Muscle rigidity • Unstable, stooped, or slumped-over posture • Loss of balance • Gait (walking pattern) changes • Shuffling walk • Slow movements • Difficulty initiating any voluntary movement • Small steps followed by the need to run to maintain balance • Freezing of movement when the movement is stopped, inability to resume movement • Muscle aches and pains (myalgia) • Shaking, tremors (varying degrees, may not be present) • Changes in facial expression • Reduced ability to show facial expressions • Voice or speech changes • Loss of fine motor skills • Frequent falls • Decline in intellectual function (may occur, can be severe) • A variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, mainly constipation.… symptoms may be difficult to assess, particularly in the elderly. For example, the tremor may not appear when the person is sitting quietly with arms in the lap. The posture changes may be similar to osteoporosis or other changes associated with aging. Lack of facial expression may be a sign of depression. An examination may show "cogwheel" rigidity (jerky, stiff movements), tremors of the Parkinson's type, and difficulty initiating or completing voluntary movements. Reflexes are essentially normal. Tests are not usually specific for Parkinson's, but they may be required to rule out other disorders that cause similar symptoms. See also essential tremor."
Highlighted Article
[Clinical criteria of Parkinson's disease.] (Ther Umsch. 2007)
"The clinical criteria of Parkinson's disease are akinesia in combination with at least one of the following three symptoms: tremor (asymmetrical resting tremor), rigidity, impairment of posture, gait and balance. Symptomatic and atypical parkinsonian syndromes are ruled out by history, clinical examination, cranial CT, MRI, SPECT or PET. Patients with Parkinson's disease respond to levodopa or dopaminagonists throughout the course of the disease."
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Parkinson's Disease
General Information
NEWS:
Vitamin D Deficiency May Be More Common in Parkinson's Disease
ARTICLES:
Early Intervention in a Patient With Parkinson's Disease
JOURNAL ARTICLES:
A longitudinal study of olfactory function in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease. (J Neurol. 2008)
Abnormality of taste and smell in Parkinson's disease. (Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2008)
Assessment of rest tremor in Parkinson's disease. (Neurol Neurochir Pol. 2008)
Can We Prevent Parkinson's Disease With N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids? (Future Lipidol. 2008)
Dementia and visual hallucinations associate with limbic pathology in Parkinson's disease. (Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2008)
Dementia and survival in Parkinson disease: a 12-year population study. (Neurology. 2008)
Dementia in Parkinson's disease. (Curr Opin Neurol. 2008)
Depressive illness in Parkinson's disease - indication of a more advanced and widespread neurodegenerative process? (Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 2008) “Conclusions – Depressed PD patients had a longer duration of PD and more severe motor symptoms than PD patients without depression, although tremor as an initial symptom seemed to be more common in PD without a later depression. It cannot be excluded that depression in PD reflects a more advanced and widespread neurodegeneration, including serotonergic as well as dopaminergic neurons. Sleep disturbances is common and could be overlooked as an expression of depression.”
Differential Effects of Black versus Green Tea on Risk of Parkinson's Disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study (American Journal of Epidemiology 2008) “Green tea drinking was unrelated to Parkinson's disease risk. Diet had no strong influence on risk. Ingredients of black tea other than caffeine appear to be responsible for the beverage's inverse association with Parkinson's disease.”
Everyday cognitive failures and memory problems in Parkinson's patients without dementia. (Brain Cogn. 2008)
Executive functions are impaired in patients with Parkinson's disease with visual hallucinations. (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2008)
Folate and vitamin B12 levels in levodopa-treated Parkinson's disease patients: Their relationship to clinical manifestations, mood and cognition (Parkinsonism & Related Disorders 2008) “Cognitively impaired PD patients exhibited significantly lower serum vitamin B12 levels as compared to cognitively non-impaired. In conclusion, lower folate levels were associated with depression, while lower vitamin B12 levels were associated with cognitive impairment. The effects of vitamin supplementation merit further attention and investigation.“
Gait disorders and balance disturbances in Parkinson's disease: clinical update and pathophysiology. (Curr Opin Neurol. 2008)
Impaired attention predicts falling in Parkinson's disease. (Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2008)
Inflammation in Parkinson's disease: An update. (Curr Opin Investig Drugs. 2008)
Low LDL cholesterol and increased risk of Parkinson's disease: Prospective results from Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. (Mov Disord. 2008)
Olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. (Neurosignals. 2008)
Parkinson disease and risk of mortality: A prospective comorbidity-matched cohort study (NEUROLOGY 2008)
Prevalence and risk factors of osteoporosis in patients with Parkinson's disease. (Rheumatol Int. 2008)
Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Patients With Parkinson Disease and Alzheimer Disease (Arch Neurol. 2008) “Conclusions This report of 25(OH)D concentrations in a predominantly white PD cohort demonstrates a significantly higher prevalence of hypovitaminosis in PD vs both healthy controls and patients with AD. These data support a possible role of vitamin D insufficiency in PD. Further studies are needed to determine the factors contributing to these differences and elucidate the potential role of vitamin D in pathogenesis and clinical course of PD.”
Specific impairments in the recognition of emotional facial expressions in Parkinson's disease. (Neuropsychologia. 2008)
Sudden turn during walking is impaired in people with Parkinson's disease. (Exp Brain Res. 2008)
The clinical spectrum of freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease. (Mov Disord. 2008)
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