And here is a link to their web page listing relevant research studies
Tuesday, 24 May 2016
Sunday, 22 May 2016
Low frequency of GCH1 and TH mutations in Parkinson's disease
Mutations in GCH1 are believed to be a risk factor for PD... the results of this study do not confirm this. However the numbers of participants was too low and the study was underpowered... there was a difference between cases and controls in terms of the number that had mutations in TH (also involved in dopamine synthesis) but again the study was underpowered to test the null hypothesis...
Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2016 May 7. pii: S1353-8020(16)30148-1. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.05.010. [Epub ahead of print]
Rengmark A, Pihlstrøm L, Linder J, Forsgren L, Toft M.
BACKGROUND:
The causes of Parkinson's disease (PD) are unknown in the majority of patients. The GCH1 gene encodes GTP-cyclohydrolase I, an important enzyme in dopamine synthesis. Co-occurrence of dopa-responsive dystonia (DRD) and a PD phenotype has been reported in families with GCH1 mutations. Recently, rare coding variants in GCH1 were found to be enriched in PD patients, indicating a role for the enzyme in the neurodegenerative process.
METHODS:
To further elucidate the contribution of GCH1 mutations to sporadic PD, we examined its coding exons in a targeted deep sequencing study of 509 PD patients (mean age at onset 56.7 ± 12.0 years) and 230 controls. We further included the tyrosine hydroxylase gene TH, also known to cause DRD. Gene dose assessments were performed to screen for large copy number variants in a subset of 48 patients with early-onset PD.
RESULTS:
No putatively pathogenic GCH1 mutations were found. The frequency of rare heterozygous variants in the TH gene was 0.69% (7/1018) in the patient group and 0.22% (1/460) in the control group (p = 0.45).
CONCLUSIONS:
Previous studies have found that coding variants in the GCH1 gene may be considered a risk factor for PD. Our study indicates that mutations in GCH1 are rare in late-onset PD. Several patients carried heterozygous variants in the TH gene that may affect protein function. Our study was not designed to determine with certainty if any of these variants play a role as risk factors for late-onset PD.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Friday, 20 May 2016
Trends in the Incidence of Parkinson Disease in the General Population: The Rotterdam Study
This is an interesting result particularly when many projections indicate that the burden of PD is increasing... there are number of potential explanations for a true decline or spurious reduction in incidence. The effect they report is also clearly greater in women, which if true, should mean that the gender gap for PD is increasing...
Am J Epidemiol. 2016 Apr 29. pii: kwv271. [Epub ahead of print]
Darweesh SK, Koudstaal PJ, Stricker BH, Hofman A, Ikram MA.
We investigated trends in the incidence of parkinsonism and Parkinson disease (PD) by comparing data from the first 2 subcohorts of the Rotterdam Study, a prospective, population-based cohort study (first subcohort: baseline 1990 with 10 years of follow-up; second subcohort, baseline 2000 with 10 years of follow-up). From the baseline years, we observed differences in the second subcohort that were associated with a lower risk of PD for some but not all baseline risk factors. Participants in both subcohorts were followed for a maximum of 10 years and monitored for the onset of parkinsonism, the onset of dementia, or death, until January 1, 2011. We used Poisson regression models to compare the incidences of parkinsonism, both overall and by cause (PD and secondary causes), and competitive events (incident dementia and death) as well as the mortality of parkinsonism patients in the 2 subcohorts. In the 1990 subcohort, there were 182 cases of parkinsonism (84 of which were PD) during 57,052 person-years. In the 2000 subcohort, we observed 28 cases of parkinsonism (10 with PD) during 22,307 person-years. The overall age- and sex-adjusted incidence of parkinsonism was lower in the 2000 subcohort (incidence rate ratio = 0.55, 95% confidence interval: 0.36, 0.81), and PD incidence declined sharply (incidence rate ratio = 0.39, 95% confidence interval: 0.19, 0.72). Competitive event rates were lower in the 2000 subcohort, and mortality rates among persons with parkinsonism remained stable. These findings suggest that the incidence of parkinsonism in general, and of PD in particular, decreased between 1990 and 2011.
Thursday, 19 May 2016
Cancer incidence among Parkinson's disease patients in a 10-yrs time-window around disease onset: A large-scale cohort study
Much of the published literature in the past has seemed to suggest that patients with PD are less likely to get cancer than those without (except melanoma and maybe prostate cancer). The results presented here are against that and suggest no difference between those with and without PD...
Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2016 Apr 30. pii: S1353-8020(16)30132-8. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.04.028. [Epub ahead of print]
Peretz C, Gurel R, Rozani V, Gurevich T, El-Ad B, Tsamir J, Giladi N.
OBJECTIVE:
To compare the incidences of any cancer and specific types among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in a 10-yrs time window around diagnosis, to that of the general population.
METHODS:
We conducted a population-based, retrospective large-scale cohort study on 7125 newly diagnosed PD patients who had just initiated anti-parkinsonian medications between 1.1.2000 and 12.31.2012; all members of Maccabi Health Services (MHS), a large Israeli HMO. Cancer incidence during the same period was collected from MHS cancer-registry. Standardized-Incidence-Ratio (SIR) accounting for age, chronological-year and sex were calculated to compare cancer risks of PD patients to that of MHS population.
RESULTS:
The PD cohort (54% males) had a mean age at initiation of anti-parkinsonian medications of 71.2 ± 10.3years. In a time-window of 6.6 ± 3.4years before and 4.0 ± 3.9years after PD was first treated, 21% of the men and 15% of the women were diagnosed with incident-cancer. We found no-difference in any cancer risk for the PD cohort compared to the reference population: SIR = 0.99 (95%CI: 0.92-1.06) for males and 0.98 (95%CI: 0.89-1.07) for females. Risks for lung and colon cancers in the PD cohort were significantly lower for both sexes compared to the reference population. Risks for breast, central nervous system, kidney, leukemia, lymphoma, melanoma, ovarian, pancreatic, prostatic, rectal and thyroid were similar for the two populations. The SIRs did not differ between the sexes.
CONCLUSIONS:
We found no difference in the risk of any-type of cancer among PD patients compared to the general population, focusing on 10yrs time-window around the initiation of anti-parkinsonian medications.
Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Night-time sleep in Parkinson's disease - the potential use of Parkinson's KinetiGraph: a prospective comparative study
This is a great use for the PKG and something I have been thinking about for a while. Devices like this have so much potential to tell us more about how PD is behaving away from the clinic... screening for those that might be suitable for PSG is a great further avenue for study...
Eur J Neurol. 2016 May 10. doi: 10.1111/ene.13015. [Epub ahead of print]
Klingelhoefer L, Rizos A, Sauerbier A, McGregor S, Martinez-Martin P, Reichmann H, Horne M, Chaudhuri KR.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:
Night-time sleep disturbances are important non-motor symptoms and key determinants of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The Parkinson's KinetiGraph (PKG) can be used as an objective measure of different motor states and periods of immobility may reflect episodes of sleep. Our aim was to evaluate whether PKG can be used as an objective marker of disturbed night-time sleep in PD.
METHODS:
In this prospective comparative study, data from PKG recordings over six consecutive 24 h periods are compared with Hauser diaries and scales focusing on motor state, sleep and HRQoL in PD patients. Thirty-three 'non-sleepy' PD patients (PD-NS) were compared with 30 PD patients presenting with excessive daytime sleepiness (PD-EDS). The groups were matched for age, gender and Hoehn and Yahr state.
RESULTS:
In the PD-EDS group subjective sleep reports correlated with the PKG's parameters for quantity and quality night-time sleep, but not in the PD-NS group. There were no significant correlations of the night-time sleep quantity parameters of the Hauser diary with subjective sleep perception, neither in the PD-EDS nor in the PD-NS group.
CONCLUSIONS:
This first PKG based study of night-time sleep in PD suggests that PKG could be used to provide an easy to use and rough evaluation of aspects of night-time sleep and one that could flag patients where polysomnography may be required. In sleepy PD patients for instance, quantity and quality PKG parameters correlate with different aspects of sleep such as insomnia, parasomnia and restless legs syndrome.
© 2016 EAN.
Tuesday, 17 May 2016
Monitoring of 30 marker candidates in early Parkinson disease as progression markers.
Here we have important results from a longitudinal study aiming to define progression markers in early PD. The results are not surprising in many ways (at least to me). As expected there is progression in non-motor symptoms in the patients with early PD, but most of these (except for RBD) are not objectively measured. Previous studies have warned of the wide heterogeneity and variability of CSF markers, but I was surprised that there was no significant change on cognitive measures. As time passes I suspect detailed structural and functional MRI will give the best read outs of progression...
Neurology. 2016 May 6. pii: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000002651. [Epub ahead of print]
Mollenhauer B, Zimmermann J, Sixel-Döring F, Focke NK, Wicke T, Ebentheuer J, Schaumburg M, Lang E, Trautmann E, Zetterberg H, Taylor P, Friede T, Trenkwalder; DeNoPa Study Group.
OBJECTIVE:
This was a longitudinal single-center cohort study to comprehensively explore multimodal progression markers for Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with recently diagnosed PD (n = 123) and age-matched, neurologically healthy controls (HC; n = 106).
METHODS:
Thirty tests at baseline and after 24 months covered nonmotor symptoms (NMS), cognitive function, and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) by polysomnography (PSG), voxel-based morphometry (VBM) of the brain by MRI, and CSF markers. Linear mixed-effect models were used to estimate differences of rates of change and to provide standardized effect sizes (d) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
RESULTS:
A composite panel of 10 informative markers was identified. Significant relative worsening (PD vs HC) was seen with the following markers: the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale I (d 0.39; CI 0.09-0.70), the Autonomic Scale for Outcomes in Parkinson's Disease (d 0.25; CI 0.06-0.46), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (d 0.47; CI 0.24-0.71), the RBD Screening Questionnaire (d 0.44; CI 0.25-0.64), and RBD by PSG (d 0.37; CI 0.19-0.55) as well as VBM units of cortical gray matter (d -0.2; CI -0.3 to -0.09) and hippocampus (d -0.15; CI -0.27 to -0.03). Markers with a relative improvement included the Nonmotor Symptom (Severity) Scale (d -0.19; CI -0.36 to -0.02) and 2 depression scales (Beck Depression Inventory d -0.18; CI -0.36 to 0; Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale d -0.26; CI -0.47 to -0.04). Unexpectedly, cognitive measures and select laboratory markers were not significantly changed in PD vs HC participants.
CONCLUSIONS:
Current CSF biomarkers and cognitive scales do not represent useful progression markers. However, sleep and imaging measures, and to some extent NMS, assessed using adequate scales, may be more informative markers to quantify progression.
© 2016 American Academy of Neurology.
Lifetime occupational and leisure time physical activity and risk of Parkinson's disease
After a 3 week break away from the blog, I am back again...
This study sets out to explore whether physical activity protects you against Parkinson's. These types of study are always tricky to interpret because a reduction in physical activity can occur as a result of Parkinson's that is (as yet) undiagnosed. We call this reverse causation - when something looks like a risk factor or protective factor but instead the presence of the disease is driving a change in behaviour.
Here the authors take steps to avoid this situation, by looking at physical activity early in life and they still observe a protective effect.
Clinical trials of physical activity in Parkinson's disease are ongoing...
Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2016 May 3. pii: S1353-8020(16)30145-6. doi: 10.1016/j.parkreldis.2016.05.007. [Epub ahead of print]
Shih IF, Liew Z, Krause N, Ritz B.
INTRODUCTION:
While regular exercise has been shown to alleviate the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD), it remains unclear whether a physically active lifestyle may prevent PD.
METHODS:
To examine physical activities across the lifespan and risk of PD, we relied on data from a population-based case-control study that enrolled 357 incident PD cases and 341 controls. We assessed physical activity levels via self-report of (1) overall physical activity (PA) over 4 age periods; (2) competitive sports; and (3) occupational histories.
RESULTS:
PD risks were lower comparing the overall PA highest quartile (moderate to vigorous activities ≥180 metabolic equivalent task-hours/week (MET-h/wk)) with the lowest quartile (<47.8 MET-h/wk) in age-period 18-24 years (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.40-1.02), and 45-64 years (OR 0.50, 95%CI 0.31-0.83) but not in age-period 25-44. Individuals who consistently engaged in overall PA at high levels (before age 65 years) had a 51% lower PD risk than those with low levels. Also, having participated in competitive sports prior to age 25 was inversely associated with PD (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.31-0.91 for high level versus never). There was no association for measures of occupational physical activity though.
CONCLUSION:
The long prodromal stage of PD makes it difficult to conclude whether insidious disease leads to a reduction of physical activity years before motor symptom onset and PD diagnosis. However, sports activities and high levels of overall PA in youth appear protective unless they are markers for biologic or genetic factors that lower PD risk.
Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Sunday, 24 April 2016
The Incidence of Parkinson's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Results from meta-analysis confirming age-related increase in PD incidence but also supporting the notion of a 'levelling-off' after the age of 80 years. Gender differences also observed consistent with what we know...
Neuroepidemiology. 2016 Apr 23;46(4):292-300. [Epub ahead of print]
Hirsch L, Jette N, Frolkis A, Steeves T, Pringsheim T.
BACKGROUND:
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder. Epidemiological studies on the incidence of PD are important to better understand the risk factors for PD and determine the condition's natural history.
OBJECTIVE:
This systematic review and meta-analysis examine the incidence of PD and its variation by age and gender.
METHODS:
We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for epidemiologic studies of PD from 2001 to 2014, as a previously published systematic review included studies published until 2001. Data were analyzed separately for age group and gender, and meta-regression was used to determine whether a significant difference was present between groups.
RESULTS:
Twenty-seven studies were included in the analysis. Meta-analysis of international studies showed rising incidence with age in both men and women. Significant heterogeneity was observed in the 80+ group, which may be explained by methodological differences between studies. While males had a higher incidence of PD in all age groups, this difference was only statistically significant for those in the age range 60-69 and 70-79 (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSION:
PD incidence generally increases with age, although it may stabilize in those who are 80+.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
DJ-1 linked parkinsonism (PARK7) is associated with Lewy body pathology
First neuropathological description of DJ-1 and I was not expecting this result... I guess Lewy body pathology has been described in younger onset parkin cases too so hopefully further study of DJ-1 brains will be informative...
Brain. 2016 Apr 16. pii: aww080. [Epub ahead of print]
Taipa R, Pereira C, Reis I, Alonso I, Bastos-Lima A, Melo-Pires M, Magalhães M.
Mutations in DJ-1 (encoded byPARK7) are a very rare cause of early-onset recessive Parkinson's disease. We describe a patient with early-onset parkinsonism, starting at the age of 22, with poor response to levodopa and additional features in progression (dystonia, pyramidal signs and dementia), who died when he was 49 years old. The neuropathological study showed severe substantia nigra and locus coeruleus neuronal loss, with diffuse Lewy body pathology (Lewy bodies, aberrant neurites, grain-like structures, spheroids and scattered glial pathology). Genetic analysis revealed a novel c.515T > A; p.L172Q mutation in thePARK7gene. To evaluate the pathogenicity of this new mutation we explored DJ-1 expression levelsin vitroshowing a massive reduction in DJ-1 protein levels due to a highly unstable and rapidly degraded L172Q mutant. DJ-1 immunohistochemistry of brain tissue revealed no staining in our case. This is the first neuropathological report of a brain from DJ-1-linked parkinsonism that, although based on a single case study, suggests that DJ-1 mutations are causative of α-synucleinopathy. These results can help in the understanding of Parkinson's disease pathophysiology, promote research studies to increase the knowledge on the pathways involved in the neurodegeneration process, and pave the way for new therapeutic interventions.
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Association between REM sleep behaviour disorder and impulse control disorder in patients with Parkinson's disease
Interesting result here... although perhaps unsurprising given that both occur (to a greater extent) in more severe PD... important to note that dopamine agonists cause other sleep-related side effects that may be mis-reported as RBD especially in self-report brief screening tests. Previous groups have actually reported benefit from dopamine agonists in those with RBD... I guess in light of these data such approaches might need a rethink...
Neurologia. 2016 Apr 14. pii: S0213-4853(16)00117-1. doi: 10.1016/j.nrl.2016.02.008. [Epub ahead of print]
Bellosta Diago E, Lopez Del Val LJ, Santos Lasaosa S, López Garcia E, Viloria Alebesque A.
INTRODUCTION:
The relationship between impulse control disorder (ICD) and REM sleep behaviour disorder (RBD) has not yet been clarified, and the literature reports contradictory results. Our purpose is to analyse the association between these 2 disorders and their presence in patients under dopaminergic treatment.
METHODS:
A total of 73 patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and treated with a single dopamine agonist were included in the study after undergoing clinical assessment and completing the single-question screen for REM sleep behaviour disorder and the short version of the questionnaire for impulsive-compulsive behaviours in Parkinson's disease.
RESULTS:
Mean age was 68.88 ± 7.758 years. Twenty-six patients (35.6%) were classified as probable-RBD. This group showed a significant association with ICD (P=.001) and had a higher prevalence of non-tremor akinetic rigid syndrome and longer duration of treatment with levodopa and dopamine agonists than the group without probable-RBD. We found a significant correlation between the use of oral dopamine agonists and ICD. Likewise, patients treated with oral dopamine agonists demonstrated a greater tendency toward presenting probable-RBD than patients taking dopamine agonists by other routes; the difference was non-significant.
CONCLUSIONS:
The present study confirms the association between RBD and a higher risk of developing symptoms of ICD in Parkinson's disease.
Thursday, 14 April 2016
APOE, MAPT, and COMT and Parkinson's Disease Susceptibility and Cognitive Symptom Progression
Gene variants that predict cognitive decline in PD. It is said that much of the heterogeneity that underlies PD is genetically determined. We are finding out more about this all the time. It may be useful in due course to test for certain variants to allow better prognostication, and hopefully one day, tailored treatment...
J Parkinsons Dis. 2016 Apr 2. [Epub ahead of print]
Paul KC, Rausch R, Creek MM, Sinsheimer JS, Bronstein JM, Bordelon Y, Ritz B.
BACKGROUND:
Cognitive decline is well recognized in Parkinson's disease (PD) and a major concern for patients and caregivers. Apolipoprotein E (APOE), catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT), and microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) are of interest related to their contributions to cognitive decline or dementia in PD.
OBJECTIVE:
Here, we investigate whether APOE, COMT, or MAPT influence the rate of cognitive decline in PD patients.
METHODS:
We relied on 634 PD patients and 879 controls to examine gene-PD susceptibility associations, and nested longitudinal cohort of 246 patients from the case-control study, which followed patients on average 5 years and 7.5 years into disease. We repeatedly assessed cognitive symptom progression with the MMSE and conducted a full neuropsychological battery on a subset of 183 cognitively normal patients. We used repeated-measures regression analyses to assess longitudinal associations between genotypes and cognitive progression scores.
RESULTS:
The MAPT H1 haplotype was associated with PD susceptibility. APOE 4 carriers (ɛ4+) (p = 0.03) and possibly COMT Met/Met (p = 0.06) carriers exhibited faster annual decline on the MMSE. Additionally, APOEɛ4+ carriers showed faster decline in many of the neuropsychological test scores. No such differences in neuropsychological outcomes were seen for the COMT genotypes.
CONCLUSION:
This work supports a growing set of research identifying overlapping etiology and pathology between synucleinopathies, such as PD, Alzheimer's disease, and tauopathies, especially in the context of cognitive dysfunction in PD. We provide support for the argument that APOE ɛ4+ and COMT Met/Met genotypes can be used as predictors of faster cognitive decline in PD.
KEYWORDS:
APOE; COMT; MAPT; Parkinson’s disease; cognition; cognitive decline
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