Chronic coffee consumption and striatal DAT-SPECT findings in Parkinson's disease

Coffee may interfere with the dopaminergic transmission, and this action would possibly enhance motor activity and exert an antidyskinetic effect in Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study aimed to see whether coffee habit could be associated with change in striatal dopamine active transporter (DAT)-single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging in PD. A total of 83 PD patients (71 current coffee drinkers and 12 never drinkers) underwent a DAT-SPECT study, using [123I]FP-CIT as radionuclide. Socio-demographic and clinical information as well as smoking habit was collected at the time of imaging acquisition. The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III was used to evaluate disease severity. On multivariable analysis, chronic coffee consumption was not associated with any significant change in striatal uptake of the radionuclide. However, the number of years patients drunk coffee was correlated with a significant increase in age at PD onset (p < 0.001). Confirming a previous report, current cigarette smoking was associated with a reduction of radionuclide uptake in putamen and caudate (p < 0.001)

Subject rehabilitation in secondary dysphagia due to neurodegenerative diseases: a prospective and observation study of twenty patients with fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (fees) and oral-pharyngo-esophageal scintigraphy (OPES)

Many neurological diseases alter swallowing mechanism causing dysphagia. After clinical evaluation (such as Dysphagia Outcome and Severity Scale-DOSS), dysphagia must be confirmed by instrumental examinations such as Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) and Oral-Pharyngo-Esophageal Scintigraphy (OPES). To prevent complications (malnutrition, dehydration and abingestis pneumonia), identifying as early as possible the onset of dysphagia is fundamental to set individual rehabilitation program. In this prospective and observational study, we evaluated data modification of DOSS, FEES and OPES parameters in 20 patients with dysphagia due to neurodegenerative diseases treated with rehabilitation. 20 patients (11 female and 9 male, middle age 55,65± 18,16 years) were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were diagnosis of neurodegenerative pathology and dysphagia for solids and semisolids, and mild dysphagia for liquids. Data were performed at enrollement (t0) and after the therapy (lasting on average 238.40 days). At the end of study, 85% of patients were stable, 10% worsened and 5% improved according to DOSS scale. Considering data of FEES and OPES, we demonstrated a different trend depending on the values examined. FEES and OPES must be complementary because FEES allows us to evaluate well the stagnation of saliva and bolus of different consistency, while OPES provides us functional analyses of swallowing calculating the oral, pharyngeal and esophageal transit times and the% of retention indexes of the oral pharynx and esophagus. Rehabilitation treatment does not involve a return to normal swallowing but a delay in the evolution of dysphagia caused by neurodegenerative disease

Correlation between cognitive impairment and plasma levels of clusterin/ApoJ in Parkinson disease patients not affected by dementia

Cognitive impairment is frequent in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), and can range from mild deterioration to dementia. Recently a contribution of Alzheimer's disease for the cognitive dysfunction in PD has been proposed, whereas the presence of tau protein and amyloid was recognized. Clusterin/ApoJ is a protein involved in the deposition of beta-amyloid and in its neurotoxicity. In this study we aimed to investigate the clusterin/ApoJ's plasma levels in patients with PD to assess its potential role in fisiopathogenetic cognitive impairment