Comparison of dystonia between Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonism: The clinical usefulness of dystonia distribution and characteristics in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism

Objective Dystonia is occasionally found in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonisms. However, systematic comparative analysis of the association between dystonia and parkinsonism have seldom been reported. The goals of this study are to compare the clinical characteristics and distributions of dystonia between PD, multiple system atrophy (MSA), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). Methods We prospectively enrolled 176 patients who presented with dystonia and parkinsonism out of 1278 patients with parkinsonism. We analyzed the clinical features of dystonia and parkinsonism. Results The frequencies of dystonia were 11.0% in PD, 20.9% in MSA, 40.7% in PSP and 66.7% in CBD. Dystonia symptoms were most frequent in CBD and relatively more frequent in PSP and MSA (p<0.001). Moreover, multiple types of dystonia occurred most frequently in MSA (p=0.034). According to the distribution of dystonia, cranio-facial dystonia (CFD) and cervical dystonia (CD) were more frequently observed in atypical parkinsonism (p=0.001). In contrast, limb dystonia (LD) was more frequently observed in both PD and CBD, and truncal dystonia (TD) was more frequently detected in PD (p<0.001). Levodopa medication related dystonia was markedly more frequent in PD than in atypical parkinsonism (p=0.030). Conclusions In this long-term, observational, prospective study, we concluded that levodopa medication related LD and TD were more frequently observed in PD than in atypical parkinsonism. Conversely, levodopa medication non-related CFD and CD were more frequently observed in atypical parkinsonism, and coexisting of some types of multiple dystonia may be unique features of atypical parkinsonism. TD or multiple types of LD, might be representative of PD rather than atypical parkinsonism

First Record of the Genus Paragrandidierella (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Aoridae) from Korea

A newly recorded aorid species, Paragrandidierella minima Ariyama, 2002, from Korean waters is reported with a description and illustrations, and its generic features are considered. This species is characterized by the carpochelate gnathopod 1 in matured male, the posterodistal protrusion on peduncle 5 of antenna 2, the absence of the apical spine on inner plate of maxilliped, the minute apical projection on inner lobe of lower lip, the acute posteroproximal extension on the basis of each pereopod 5 and 6, the shape of uropods and telson, and the large inter-ramal process of uropod 1. This is the first report of the genus Paragrandidierella from Korea

Exactly Soluble Quantum Wormhole in Two Dimensions

We are presenting a quantum traversable wormhole in an exactly soluble two-dimensional model. This is different from previous works since the exotic negative energy that supports the wormhole is generated from the quantization of classical energy-momentum tensors. This explicit illustration shows the quantum-mechanical energy can be used as a candidate for the exotic source. As for the traversability, after a particle travels through the wormhole, the static initial wormhole geometry gets a back reaction which spoils the wormhole structure. However, it may still maintain the initial structure along with the appropriate boundary condition.Comment: v1. 13 pages, 1 figure, REVTeX3; v2. 1 Ref. added, REVTeX4, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Ultraviolet photodepletion spectroscopy of dibenzo-18-crown-6-ether complexes with alkali metal cations

Ultraviolet photodepletion spectra of dibenzo-18-crown-6-ether complexes with alkali metal cations (M+-DB18C6, M = Cs, Rb, K, Na, and Li) were obtained in the gas phase using electrospray ionization quadrupole ion-trap reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The spectra exhibited a few distinct absorption bands in the wavenumber region of 35450−37800 cm^(−1). The lowest-energy band was tentatively assigned to be the origin of the S_0-S_1 transition, and the second band to a vibronic transition arising from the “benzene breathing” mode in conjunction with symmetric or asymmetric stretching vibration of the bonds between the metal cation and the oxygen atoms in DB18C6. The red shifts of the origin bands were observed in the spectra as the size of the metal cation in M^+-DB18C6 increased from Li^+ to Cs^+. We suggested that these red shifts arose mainly from the decrease in the binding energies of larger-sized metal cations to DB18C6 at the electronic ground state. These size effects of the metal cations on the geometric and electronic structures, and the binding properties of the complexes at the S_0 and S_1 states were further elucidated by theoretical calculations using density functional and time-dependent density functional theories