Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Sleep disturbances and neuropsychiatric symptoms are some of the most common nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). The effect of subthalamic stimulation (STN-DBS) on these symptoms beyond a short-term follow-up is unclear. OBJECTIVE:To examine 36-month effects of bilateral STN-DBS on quality of sleep, depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QoL) compared to standard-of-care medical therapy (MED) in PD. METHODS:In this prospective, controlled, observational, propensity score matched international multicenter study, we assessed sleep disturbances using the PDSleep Scale-1 (PDSS), QoL employing the PDQuestionnaire-8 (PDQ-8), motor disorder with the Scales for Outcomes in PD (SCOPA), anxiety and depression with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and dopaminergic medication requirements (LEDD). Within-group longitudinal outcome changes were tested using Wilcoxon signed-rank and between-group longitudinal differences of change scores with Mann-Whitney U tests. Spearman correlations analyzed the relationships of outcome parameter changes at follow-up. RESULTS:Propensity score matching applied on 159 patients (STN-DBS n = 75, MED n = 84) resulted in 40 patients in each treatment group. At 36-month follow-up, STN-DBS led to significantly better PDSS and PDQ-8 change scores, which were significantly correlated. We observed no significant effects for HADS and no significant correlations between change scores in PDSS, HADS, and LEDD. CONCLUSIONS:We report Class IIb evidence of beneficial effects of STN-DBS on quality of sleep at 36-month follow-up, which were associated with QoL improvement independent of depression and dopaminergic medication. Our study highlights the importance of sleep for assessments of DBS outcomes.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a clinically heterogeneous disorder with a multi-factorial pathology. Various molecular mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of PD, converging to oxidative stress and proteinopathy. The accumulation of reactive aldehydes (i.e., the dopamine metabolite DOPAL, lipid-peroxidation products, and advanced glycation end-products) has been reported in PD patients' brains. Aldehydes easily react with primary amines such as lysine residues, which are involved in several regulatory processes in cells. Therefore, aldehyde adducts lead to severe consequences, including neuronal proteostasis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and cell death. In this review, we analyzed the scavenging role of amines toward toxic aldehydes in the brain. Interestingly, small molecules like metformin, rasagiline, hydralazine are already clinically available and used in the therapy for PD and other diseases. Hence, we propose to reevaluate this class of drugs as a disease-modifiers for PD, and we suggest that improved analysis of their pharmacology and bioavailability in the brain, together with a more precise patients stratification, should be considered before planning future clinical trials.

BACKGROUND:A greater understanding of the everyday experiences of people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and their carers may help improve clinical practice. OBJECTIVE:The Parkinson's Real-world Impact assesSMent (PRISM) study evaluated medication use, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and the use of healthcare resources by people with PD and their carers. METHODS:PRISM is an observational cross-sectional study, in which people with PD and their carers completed an online survey using structured questionnaires, including the Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire (PDQ-39), Non-Motor Symptoms Questionnaire (NMSQuest) and Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI). RESULTS:Data were collected from 861 people with PD (mean age, 65.0 years; mean disease duration, 7.7 years) and 256 carers from six European countries. People with PD reported a large number of different co-morbidities, non-motor symptoms (mean NMSQuest score, 12.8), and impaired HRQoL (median PDQ-39 summary score, 29.1). Forty-five percent of people with PD reported at least one impulse control behaviour. Treatment patterns varied considerably between different European countries. Levodopa was taken in the last 12 months by 85.9% of participants, and as monotherapy by 21.8% . Carers, who were mostly female (64.8%) and the partner/spouse of the person with PD (82.1%), reported mild to moderate burden (mean ZBI total score, 26.6). CONCLUSIONS:The PRISM study sheds light on the lives of people with PD and those who care for them, re-emphasising the many challenges they face in everyday life. The study also provides insights into the current treatment of PD in Europe.

Background: Modern, highly efficient hemodialysis (HD) results in rapid decline of blood urea. Urea gradients across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can drive water movements. A positive urea gradient, i.e. brain urea to plasma urea, can result in brain swelling and impair brain function. We explored the dialytic changes of urea in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) to better understand intradialytic osmotic gradients across the BBB and provide insights that support the development of brain-protective HD.
Method(s): Two HD patients (39 and 26 years old) with ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunts were enrolled into this one-week IRB-approved study with a Monday/Wednesday/ Friday dialysis schedule. CSF was collected via VP shunt tap 2 hrs before and 2 hrs after HD (Wednesday and Friday), and Tuesday and Thursday. Plasma samples were collected concurrently with CSF and during HD. In addition, the patients underwent test of executive function (Trail Making Test Part B; TMT B) and global cognitive function (Montreal Cognitive Assessment; MoCA) on Monday.
Result(s): Urea was removed efficiently from patients' blood by HD. While patient A showed a small post-HD plasma-to-CSF urea gradient, it was highly positive (~ 60 mg/dL) in patient B (Fig. 1). TMT B and MoCA score were normal for patient A but not patient B (TMT B 415 sec; TMT B error count: 2; MoCA score: 11).
Conclusion(s): Our patients showed very different post-HD plasma-to-CSF gradients. Theoretically, the positive gradient in patient B would favor intradialytic brain swelling. Patient B showed impaired neurological testing results which are not related to patient's pre-existing neurological conditions. We can only speculate if and to what extent trans-BBB water movements driven by dialytic urea dynamics may have impacted the patient's cognitive functions?. We believe that patient-specific levels of osmotic stress need to be considered when developing neuro-protective HD technologies

Background: The corticoreticulospinal tract (CReST) is a major descending motor pathway in humans, but little is known about its relative innervation of proximal versus distal upper extremity (UE) muscles. In addition, CReST is believed to reorganize after corticospinal injury, but changes in its projections to different paretic muscles remain unknown. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to probe the functional connectivity of the contralesional CReST to an arm muscle (biceps (BIC)) and an intrinsic hand muscle (first dorsal interosseous (FDI)) in healthy and stroke subjects.
Method(s): In this cross-sectional observational study, we examined 15 healthy (F: 7; mean age: 54 (44-81) years; mean UE Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score: 65 (63-66)) and 16 chronic stroke subjects (F: 10; mean age 62 (44-85) years; mean UE FMA score: 49 (23-64); mean time since stroke: 5 (0.5-14.4) years). We applied TMS to the contralesional hemisphere (assigned in healthy subjects) to elicit ipsilateral motor evoked potentials (iMEPs). We measured contralesional CReST functional connectivity (iMEP presence/absence) and projection strength (iMEP size; mV*ms) to the paretic BIC and FDI. We also measured paretic muscle maximum voluntary contraction and segmental FMA subscores. We examined differences in CReST projections between muscles and subject groups using Fisher's exact tests and general linear mixed models, and examined neurophysiologicalbehavioral relationships with Pearson's and Spearman's correlations.
Result(s): The contralesional CReST made functional connections to both muscles of most subjects (iMEP presence/absence: healthy BIC 14/1, healthy FDI 15/0; stroke BIC 11/5, stroke FDI 15/1). CReST functional connectivity did not differ between muscles in either healthy or stroke subjects (all p>0.172), and did not differ between subject groups for either muscle (all p=1.0). However, CReST projection strength for the muscles diverged between subject groups, manifesting as larger iMEPs in FDIs than BICs in healthy subjects (1.9 mV*ms, p=0.042) and larger iMEPs in BICs than FDIs in stroke subjects (1.0 mV*ms, p=0.042). Muscle iMEP sizes did not significantly differ between healthy and stroke subjects. Muscle strength related to iMEP size in only the paretic BIC of stroke subjects (r(6)=0.853, p=0.007). There was no relationship between FMA subscores and iMEP size for either muscle in either subject group.
Conclusion(s): Our findings indicate that the contralesional CReST has readily identifiable connections to the paretic BIC and FDI. In healthy subjects, the identification of a stronger CReST projection strength to the FDI challenges the notion of a proximal innervation bias by the reticulospinal tract. The shift in projection strength to the BIC after stroke reinforces the concept that the CReST reorganizes after CST injury, with circumscribed behavioral relevance. To confirm a recovery role of the CReST, a longitudinal observation of recovering behavior relating to changing CReST neurophysiology is required.

Sialidosis type 1 is a rare lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations of the neuraminidase gene. Specific features suggesting this condition include myoclonus, ataxia and macular cherry-red spots. However, phenotypic variability exists. Here, we present detailed clinical and video description of three patients with this rare condition. We also provide an in-depth characterization of eye movement abnormalities, as an additional tool to investigate pathophysiological mechanisms and to facilitate diagnosis. In our patients, despite phenotypic differences, eye movement deficits largely localized to the cerebellum.

BACKGROUND:Depressive symptoms predict increased risk for dementia decades before the emergence of cognitive symptoms. Studies in older adults provide preliminary evidence for an association between depressive symptoms and amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau accumulation. It is unknown if similar alterations are observed in midlife when preventive strategies may be most effective. OBJECTIVE:The study aim was to evaluate the association between depressive symptoms and cerebral Aβ and tau in a predominately middle-aged cohort with examination of the apolipoprotein (APOE) ɛ4 allele as a moderator. METHODS:Participants included 201 adults (mean age 53±8 years) who underwent 11C-Pittsburgh Compound B amyloid and 18F-Flortaucipir tau positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) at the time of PET imaging, as well as eight years prior. Associations between depressive symptoms at both timepoints, as well as depression (CES-D≥16), with regional Aβ and tau PET retention were evaluated with linear regression adjusting for age and sex. Interactions with the APOE ɛ4 allele were explored. RESULTS:Depressive symptoms and depression were not associated with PET outcomes in the overall sample. However, among APOE ɛ4 allele carriers, there was a significant cross-sectional association between depressive symptoms and increased tau PET uptake in the entorhinal cortex (β= 0.446, SE = 0.155, p = 0.006) and amygdala (β= 0.350, SE = 0.133, p = 0.012). CONCLUSION:Although longitudinal studies are necessary, the results suggest that APOE ɛ4 carriers with depressive symptoms may present with higher susceptibility to early tau accumulation in regions integral to affective regulation and memory consolidation.

Introduction: With the corticospinal tract (CST), the corticoreticulospinal tract (CReST) is a major descending motor pathway with widespread bilateral innervation. In animals, CST damage causes a loss of motor control and prompts reorganization in the CReST, possibly with stronger connectivity to arm flexors (e.g. biceps (BIC)) than finger abductors (e.g. first dorsal interosseous (FDI)). CReST reorganization may also contribute to widespread muscle co-activations (i.e. abnormal synergy expression) in the paretic upper extremity (UE). Here, we posited that CReST reorganization after stroke targets the BIC more than the FDI in humans. We predicted that CReST activity, manifesting as abnormal synergy expression, would be more strongly evoked by skilled arm flexion than finger abduction in stroke patients.
Method(s): We studied the paretic UE of 14 chronic stroke patients (F: 8; mean age: 64 (44-85) years; mean post-stroke time: 5 (0.5-14.4) years) and the matched UE of 14 healthy controls (F: 6; mean age: 55 (36-81) years). Subjects used their arm or index finger to move an onscreen cursor through an arc-shaped channel while the remainder of the UE was restrained.We recorded effector kinematics with an infrared camera and electromyographic (EMG) signals from triceps (TRI), deltoid (DLT), BIC, extensor digitorum, flexor carpi radialis (FCR), flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), and FDI. To quantify movement error, we calculated the average radial distance between the cursor path and the outer channel edge. To quantify abnormal muscle synergies, we applied a non-negative matrix factorization algorithm to the EMG data to identify muscle synergies and calculated the similarity of the synergy vectors between patients and controls; higher similarity scores indicate more normal synergy patterns. We calculated muscle co-activations using correlations between EMG signals of each muscle-pair. We examined group differences with independent t-tests and control-synergy relationships with correlations.
Result(s): Movement errors were higher in patients than controls for the arm (p<0.01) and trended higher for the finger (p=0.074). In the arm, movement errors were inversely related to synergy similarity scores (p<0.01). Higher errors also related to greater FDI-FCR, BIC-TRI, BIC-DLT, and TRI-DLT coactivation (all p<0.05). In the finger, movement errors were unrelated to synergy similarity scores. Lower movement errors related to greater FDSTRI co-activation (p<0.05).
Discussion(s): In the arm, we found that as motor control worsened, the expression of abnormal synergies increased, indicating that CReST activation may increase with loss of CST function. Muscle co-activation was widespread in the UE, in keeping with CReST's multilevel spinal branching. We did not find a relationship between motor control and synergy expression with finger movement, although the long-range co-contraction between the FDS and TRI may speak to a CST-driven stabilizing strategy. Our findings strengthen the notion that CReST reorganization after stroke may preferentially target the arm flexor and its synergies.

Background/Objectives/UNASSIGNED:Little is known regarding the prevalence and predictors of prolonged cognitive and psychological symptoms of COVID-19 among community-dwellers. We aimed to quantitatively measure self-reported metrics of fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety, depression, and sleep and identify factors associated with these metrics among United States residents with or without COVID-19. Methods/UNASSIGNED:We solicited 1000 adult United States residents for an online survey conducted February 3-5, 2021 utilizing a commercial crowdsourcing community research platform. The platform curates eligible participants to approximate United States demographics by age, sex, and race proportions. COVID-19 was diagnosed by laboratory testing and/or by exposure to a known positive contact with subsequent typical symptoms. Prolonged COVID-19 was self-reported and coded for those with symptoms ≥ 1 month following initial diagnosis. The primary outcomes were NIH PROMIS/Neuro-QoL short-form T-scores for fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety, depression, and sleep compared among those with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms, COVID-19 without prolonged symptoms and COVID-19 negative subjects. Multivariable backwards step-wise logistic regression models were constructed to predict abnormal Neuro-QoL metrics. Results/UNASSIGNED:= 0.047), but there were no significant differences in quantitative measures of anxiety, depression, fatigue, or sleep. Conclusion/UNASSIGNED:Prolonged symptoms occurred in 25% of COVID-19 positive participants, and NeuroQoL cognitive dysfunction scores were significantly worse among COVID-19 positive subjects, even after accounting for demographic and stressor covariates. Fatigue, anxiety, depression, and sleep scores did not differ between COVID-19 positive and negative respondents.