We analyzed T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging data of 100 cognitively normal elderly controls (NC), 127 cognitively normal PD (PDCN), 31 PD-associated mild cognitive impairment (PDMCI) subjects from the Norwegian ParkWest study. Using automated segmentation methods, followed by the radial distance technique and multiple linear regression we studied the effect of clinical diagnosis on hippocampal and ventricular radial distance while adjusting for age, education and scanning site. PDCN subjects had significantly smaller bilateral hippocampal radial distance relative to NC. Nonamnestic PDMCI subjects showed smaller right hippocampal radial distance relative to cognitively normal elderly. PDMCI subjects showed significant enlargement of all portions of the lateral ventricles relative to cognitively NC and significantly larger bilateral temporal and occipital and left frontal lateral ventricular expansion relative to PDCN subjects. Nonamnestic PDMCI subjects showed significant ventricular enlargement spanning all parts of the lateral ventricle while those with amnestic PDMCI showed changes localized to the left occipital horn. Hippocampal atrophy and lateral ventricular enlargement show promise as structural biomarkers for PD.

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We found little evidence of an effect of the child's MTHFR or FVL alleles on the risk of preeclampsia. Our estimates of effects of maternal MTHFR and FVL alleles were consistent with estimates from case-control studies. The case-parent triad design may be a useful tool for studies of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia.

CBZ therapy may be associated with low folate and high p-tHcy levels.

Plasma total homocysteine response was compared in four groups of healthy individuals given orally divided doses of vitamin supplementations for a duration of 5 weeks. The vitamin supplements; A, 0.3 mg folic acid; B, 120 mg vitamin B6; C, combination of 0.3 mg folic acid and 120 mg vitamin B6 or D, 0.6 mg folic acid reduced the concentrations of plasma total homocysteine 20, 17, 32 and 24%, respectively. However, the intergroup comparisons did not show a significant difference in the effects of vitamin supplements. Multivariate analysis with correction for differences in pre-supplement values indicated a significant effect of vitamin B6 supplementation on plasma total homocysteine and serum folate. Our data show that plasma total homocysteine concentrations are reduced with low to medium divided doses of folic acid alone or in combination with vitamin B6.

BackgroundPreeclampsia is a debilitating disorder affecting approximately 3% of pregnant women in the Western world. Although inconclusive, current evidence suggests that the renin-angiotensin system may be involved in hypertension. Therefore, our objective was to determine whether the genes for placental renin (REN) and maternal angiotensinogen (AGT) interact to influence the risk of preeclampsia.MethodsThree haplotype-tagging SNPs (htSNPs) covering REN (rs5705, rs1464818, and rs3795575) and another three covering AGT (rs2148582, rs2478545 and rs943580) were genotyped in 99 mother-father-child triads of preeclampsia pregnancies. We estimated relative risks (RR) conferred by maternal AGT and fetal REN haplotypes using HAPLIN, a statistical software designed to detect multi-marker transmission distortion among triads. To assess a combined effect of maternal AGT and fetal REN haplotypes, the preeclamptic triads were first stratified by presence/absence of maternal AGT haplotype C-T-A and tested for an effect of fetal REN across these strata.ResultsWe found evidence that mothers carrying the most frequent AGT haplotype, C-T-A, had a reduced risk of preeclampsia (RR of 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2-0.8 for heterozygotes and 0.6, 95% CI = 0.2-1.5 for homozygotes). Mothers homozygous for AGT haplotypes t-c-g and C-c-g appeared to have a higher risk, but only the former was statistically significant. We found only weak evidence of an overall effect of fetal REN haplotypes and no support for our hypothesis that an effect of REN depended on whether the mother carried the C-T-A haplotype of AGT (p = 0.33).ConclusionOur findings indicate that the mother's AGT haplotypes affect her risk for developing preeclampsia. However, this risk is not influenced by fetal REN haplotypes.

Restricted fetal growth related to preeclampsia is associated with reduced umbilical cord plasma IL-6 concentration in cases with early-onset disease. In these cases, fetal growth restriction could be mediated by impaired trophoblast function.

In our cohort of unselected, incident PD patients APOE alleles do not seem to play a role for development of PD. Prospective, long-term follow-up may still reveal associations between APOE alleles and clinical and neuropsychological progression in PD.