Prevalence and Clinical Characteristics of Probable REM Behavior Disorder in Thai Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Background. Previous studies have shown that Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients who have REM behavior disorder (PD with RBD) might be a PD subtype since they have different symptom clusters and disease trajectories from PD without RBD. Objective. To study the prevalence of PD with pRBD and to compare the clinical characteristics with PD without pRBD. The feasibility of clinical interview of items adopted from the Mayo Sleep Questionnaire was also to be determined. Methods. A total of 140 Parkinson's patients visiting neurological clinics during January to December 2016 were enrolled in this study. “Probable RBD (pRBD)” was defined as present when the patient answered “yes” to a question adapted from the first Mayo Sleep Questionnaire (MSQ). The demographic data, motor symptoms, and nonmotor symptoms were obtained. Results. The prevalence of pRBD among this study’s PD patients was 48.5% (68 out of the total of 140). The median onset of RBD before PD diagnosis was 5 years (range: 0–11 years). By comparison of PD with pRBD and PD without pRBD, this study showed significant difference in the levodopa equivalent dose (742 mg/day versus 566 mg/day; p<0.01), prevalence of symptomatic orthostatic hypotension (35.3% versus 8.3%; p<0.01). The multivariable analysis found that pRBD is independently associated with orthostatic hypotension (OR = 5.02, p<0.01). Conclusion. The findings regarding prevalence and main clinical features of PD with pRBD in this study were similar to those of a previous study of PD with polysomnogram- (PSG-) proven RBD. This study hypothesized that interviewing by adopted MSQ may be a cost-effective tool for screening RBD. Further studies with direct comparison are needed

Assessment of departmental research activities and overall productivity by using the impact factor of scientifi c publications

This research studied on research articles published in international scholarly journals by the staffs of the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University during the year of 2010-2012 in context of impact factor. The study found that impact factor scores are ranged between 0-3.0. Articles published by departments of Pre-Clinical in journals with high impact factor scored &gt;3.0 were mostly from the department of Microbiology and Physiology at about 41.7% and 35.2%. In the mean time, Articles with high impact factor scored &gt;3.0 published by clinic-departments were from the department of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Community Medicine at about 44.1%, 30.5% and 31.6%. When consider articles with high impact factor among the department that the researchers are affi liated, found that more than half of those research are draw from research projects coo-perated between the faculty&apos; staffs and international institutions. In terms of research investment, the faculty has supported budget for a published paper around 104,000-242,000 baht. In the same way, in 2010-2012, the faculty has granted scholar on papers published in impact factors journals around 41,400-74,000 baht per a unit of impact factor score. In conclusion, to worth the budget, the faculty should considering seeking for collaboration from international institutions. By seeking for research collaboration with international institutions, the faculty would have some specialists or mentors who can work as mentors and share their expertise in specifi c research fi eld with the faculty&apos; staffs. Consequently, such collaboration would initiate continuing research publications in journal with high impact factors and faculty&apos;s recognition