PURPOSE Adequate velopharyngeal control is essential for speech, but may be impaired in Parkinson's disease (PD). Bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN DBS) improves limb function in PD, but the effects on velopharyngeal control remain unknown. We tested whether STN DBS would change aerodynamic measures of velopharyngeal control, and whether these changes were correlated wit...

Several in vitro studies have showed the neurotoxic effect of homocysteine (Hcy) to various neuronal types, including cerebellar Purkinje neurons. In this study, we investigated whether the Hcy has neurotoxic effects on the rat pup’s cerebellum in the postnatal period that it continues to development. Pups rats divided into control and Hcy group. Hcy administration (0.3–0.6 mmol/g b...

BACKGROUND Falls are common in older people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and are likely to be related to gait disturbances associated with the condition. Although several studies have evaluated differences in basic gait parameters in people with PD, none have directly evaluated the stability of the upper body during gait. METHODS Temporospatial gait parameters and acceleration patterns at th...

OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between the presence of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and the cognitive profile of nondemented patients with Parkinson disease (PD). BACKGROUND Cognitive impairment is an important nonmotor symptom in PD. Waking EEG slowing in nondemented PD has been related to the presence of RBD, a parasomnia affecting brainstem structures and frequently reported in ...

BACKGROUND There is no consensus on the association between exposure to hydrocarbons and the risk of Parkinson's disease (PD). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarise the epidemiological evidence and included a new large case-control study. METHODS Data were extracted following a predefined protocol. Risk estimates regarding the association between hydrocarbon exposure...

Crack fault of rotor is one of the most prominent problems faced by magnetic bearing rotor system. In order to improve the safety performance of this kind of machinery, it is necessary to research the vibration characteristics of magnetic bearing cracked rotor system. In this paper, the stiffness model of the crack shaft element was established by the strain energy release rate (SERR) theory. T...

People with Parkinson's disease (PD) frequently have difficulties with generating anticipatory postural adjustments (APAs) for forward propulsion and lateral weight transfer when initiating gait. This impairment has been attributed to deficits in motor planning and preparation. This study examined the preparation of APAs prior to an imperative cue to initiate forward stepping. A startling acous...

Objective The characteristics of olfactory impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) have not been determined in detail. We assessed the olfactory function among PD, MSA and PSP patients. Methods A card-type odor identification test, Open Essence (OE, Wako, Japan), which consists of 12 different odorants familiar to Japanese s...

The present study aimed to observe the structural changes of the extracorticospinal tract in Parkinson's disease (PD) using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) magnetic resonance (MR) scans. The association of DTI parameters and brain-iron accumulation with PD was examined and imaging signs useful in the diagnosis of PD were explored. The study included 30 p...

Many studies have shown that Parkinson's disease (PD) affects not only the ability to generate voluntary saccades but also the ability to suppress reflexive saccades (hyper-reflexivity). To further investigate these apparently contradictory effects of PD on the saccade system we adapted a well-known dual-task paradigm (Deubel, 2008) to measure saccades with and without a peripheral discriminati...