OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of l-dopa (Levodopa) and cZi-DBS (deep brain stimulation in caudal zona incerta) on spontaneous speech intelligibility in patients with PD (Parkinson's disease). MATERIALS AND METHODS Spontaneous utterances were extracted from anechoic recordings from 11 patients with PD preoperatively (off and on l-dopa medication) and 6 and 12 months post bilateral cZi-...

Background In advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) the motor symptoms can be treated with deep brain stimulation (DBS). Subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been the most common target and caudal zona incerta (cZi) is a more recent target for stimulation. Stimulation in both of these targets has proved to be positive for the motor symptoms but there is no consensus about how DBS affects speech and articu...

The hypokinetic dysarthria observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the range, speed, and accuracy of articulatory gestures in patients, reducing the perceived quality of speech acoustic output in continuous speech. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) and of the caudal zona incerta (cZi-DBS) are current surgical treatment options for PD. This study aimed at inv...

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to examine swallowing function in patients with Parkinson's disease before and after caudal zona incerta deep brain (cZI DBS) surgery. The aims were to examine the effect of cZI DBS on swallowing safety regarding liquid and solid food, as well as to identify the effect of cZI DBS on body mass index (BMI) and specific items from part II of the Unified P...

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) affects speech inconsistently. Recently, stimulation of the caudal zona incerta (cZi-DBS) has shown superior motor outcomes for PD patients, but effects on speech have not been systematically investigated. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of cZi-DBS and STN-DBS on voice intensit...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has an increasing role in the treatment of idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Although, the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is the commonly chosen target, a number of groups have reported that the most effective contact lies dorsal/dorsomedial to the STN (region of the pallidofugal fibres and the rostral zona incerta) or at the junction between the dorsal border of the STN a...

PURPOSE The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the caudal zona incerta (cZi) pitch characteristics of connected speech in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). METHOD The authors evaluated 16 patients preoperatively and 12 months after DBS surgery. Eight patients were implanted in the STN (ages 51-72 ye...

Six meteorological drought indices including percent of normal (PN), standardized precipitation index (SPI), China-Z index (CZI), modified CZI (MCZI), Z-Score (Z), the aridity index of E. de Martonne (I) are compared and evaluated for assessing spatio-temporal dynamics of droughts in six climatic regions in Iran. Results indicated that by consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the...

OBJECTIVES The management of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been improved, but management of signs like swallowing problems is still challenging. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) alleviates the cardinal motor symptoms and improves quality of life, but its effect on swallowing is not fully explored. The purpose of this study was to examine self-reported swallowing-specific quality of life before and a...

drought detecting is a necessary aspect of drought risk management. it is generally performed usingdifferent drought indices that are effectively continuous functions of rainfall and other hydro- meteorologicalvariables. a number of drought indices have been introduced and used in various countries to date. in thecurrent research, four meteorological drought indices including the standardized p...