Mcdowellrodriguez4105

Of 74 patients with MSA, 62.2%demonstrated abnormal QSART results. The UMSARS Part I + II score was significantly higher in the abnormal QSART group than in the normal QSART group (p = 0.037). In the regression analysis, both UMSARS Part I (β= 1.185, p = 0.013) and Part II (β= 1.266, p = 0.021) scores were significantly associated with the sudomotor sub-score. On 18F-FDG-PET/CT, the abnormal QSART group exhibited more severely decreased metabolic activity in the cerebellum and basal ganglia in patients with MSA-P and MSA-C, respectively. The sudomotor sub-score was significantly associated with regional metabolism in these areas.

Patients with MSA and postganglionic sudomotor dysfunction may have worse disease severity and greater neuropathological burden than those without.

Patients with MSA and postganglionic sudomotor dysfunction may have worse disease severity and greater neuropathological burden than those without.

The relationship among neuroticism, smoking, and Parkinson's disease (PD) is less examined.

To examine the causal associations between neuroticism, smoking initiation, and the risk of PD.

We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) design in a network framework. Summary statistics from meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were based on large cohorts of European ancestry. Study participants were from various cohort studies for neuroticism and smoking initiation, and case-control studies or cohort studies of PD from previously published GWAS meta-analyses. Patients with PD were ascertained from either clinical visit or self-reported.

The two-sample MR analysis showed no evidence for a causal association between neuroticism and PD risk (odds ratio [OR] 0.86, 95%confidence intervals [CIs] 0.67 to 1.12). While we did not find a significant association between neuroticism and PD, one SNP, rs58879558 (located in MAPT region), was associated with both neuroticism and PD. We found a significant association of neuroticism on smoking initiation (OR 1.10, 95%CI 1.05 to 1.14). Further, our results provided evidence for a protective effect of smoking initiation on the risk of PD (OR 0.75, 95%CI 0.62 to 0.91).

These findings do not support a causal association of neuroticism on PD risk. However, they provide evidence for a causal relationship between neuroticism and smoking initiation and a strong causal effect of smoking initiation on a reduced risk of PD.

These findings do not support a causal association of neuroticism on PD risk. However, they provide evidence for a causal relationship between neuroticism and smoking initiation and a strong causal effect of smoking initiation on a reduced risk of PD.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder where loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra and dopamine depletion in the striatum cause characteristic motor symptoms. Currently, no treatment is able to halt the progression of PD. Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) rescues degenerating dopamine neurons both in vitro and in animal models of PD. When tested in PD patients, however, the outcomes from intracranial GDNF infusion paradigms have been inconclusive, mainly due to poor pharmacokinetic properties.

We have developed drug-like small molecules, named BT compounds that activate signaling through GDNF's receptor, the transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinase RET, both in vitro and in vivo and are able to penetrate through the blood-brain barrier. Here we evaluated the properties of BT44, a second generation RET agonist, in immortalized cells, dopamine neurons and rat 6-hydroxydopamine model of PD.

We used biochemical, immunohistochemical and behavioral methods to evaluate the effects of BT44 on dopamine system in vitro and in vivo.

BT44 selectively activated RET and intracellular pro-survival AKT and MAPK signaling pathways in immortalized cells. In primary midbrain dopamine neurons cultured in serum-deprived conditions, BT44 promoted the survival of the neurons derived from wild-type, but not from RET knockout mice. BT44 also protected cultured wild-type dopamine neurons from MPP+-induced toxicity. In a rat 6-hydroxydopamine model of PD, BT44 reduced motor imbalance and could have protected dopaminergic fibers in the striatum.

BT44 holds potential for further development into a novel, possibly disease-modifying therapy for PD.

BT44 holds potential for further development into a novel, possibly disease-modifying therapy for PD.

Increasing evidence suggests that Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) gene is involved in the occurrence of different types of cancer. Moreover, development of sarcomas was reported in mdx mice, the murine model of DMD, in older age. So far, nine isolated DMD patients were reported with concomitant cancer, four of whom with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), but no systematic investigation was performed about the true incidence of cancer in DMD.

All members of the Italian Association of Myology were asked about the occurrence of cancer in their DMD patients in the last 30 years.

Four DMD patients with cancer were reported after checking 2455 medical records. One developed brain tumour at the age of 35 years. Two patients had alveolar RMS at 14 and 17 years of age. The fourth patient had a benign enchondroma when 11-year-old.

Prevalence of cancer in general in the Italian DMD patients does not seem to be different from that in the general population with the same age range. AGK2 Although the small numbers herein presented do not allow definitive conclusion, the frequent occurrence of RMS in DMD patients raises an alert for basic researchers and clinicians. The role of DMD gene in cancer merits further investigations.

Prevalence of cancer in general in the Italian DMD patients does not seem to be different from that in the general population with the same age range. Although the small numbers herein presented do not allow definitive conclusion, the frequent occurrence of RMS in DMD patients raises an alert for basic researchers and clinicians. The role of DMD gene in cancer merits further investigations.