Cognitive dysfunction is common in untreated patients in early PD, affecting attention, psychomotor function, episodic memory, executive function and category fluency. Education level was an independent predictor of severe cognitive dysfunction.

No abstract

The results indicate a higher relative contribution of energy from carbohydrates in PD patients. An association between low protein, folate, magnesium, and phosphorus density of the diet and olfaction was seen in the whole population.

The present study aimed to investigate whether and when a shift in the mean power frequency (MPF) of the electromyogram (EMG) occurs at low torque levels during a maximum endurance test of three shoulder flexors. Twelve clinically healthy women performed two endurance tests of the shoulder flexors (at 50% MVC--the high torque level, and at approximately 18% MVC--the low torque level) until maximum exhaustion. Surface EMG were obtained and MPF and signal amplitude (RMS) were computed for the trapezius descendens, the anterior part of the deltoid and the infraspinatus. The subjects also rated the perception of fatigue in the shoulder muscles throughout the two tests using a 10-graded scale. A significantly higher degree of perceived fatigue was found at the low rather than at the high torque level. In contrast significantly lower MPF were found at the end of the endurance times in the three muscles at the high torque level when compared to the low torque level. At the low torque level MPF of the trapezius was constant throughout the test. In the deltoid the most prominent decrease occurred during the initial 30-40% of the endurance time at the low torque level. It is suggested that the MPF shift mainly reflects peripheral fatigue of the type-2 fibres. The results of the present study question the use of the MPF shift to monitor peripheral fatigue in the fibres active (mainly type-1) at low torque levels.

The aim of this study was to investigate newly diagnosed patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to compare them with healthy controls, to relate the findings to clinical subtypes--tremor dominant (TD) or postural instability and gait difficulty (PIGD)--and to investigate the relationship between both the duration from onset of symptoms to diagnosis and the severity of symptoms and the MRI findings. Patients with a definite PD diagnosis were compared to patients with a probable PD diagnosis. We hypothesized that the PIGD subtype, the probable PD group, a greater symptom severity and a longer symptom duration would all be associated with more frequent pathological findings. Sixty-six PD patients were included and examined with MRI, 35 with the PIGD subtype and 23 with the TD subtype. Fifty-three had definite PD and 13 probable PD. Thirty healthy individuals, matched for age and sex, served as controls. Degenerative changes in the cerebellar cortex and the superior cerebellar peduncle were significantly more common in the probable PD group than in the controls, suggesting the possibility of an emerging atypical parkinsonian disorder. No significant MRI differences were found between definite PD and controls, between definite PD and probable PD, nor between PIGD and TD. No significant associations were found between duration to diagnosis and MRI results, nor between severity of symptoms and MRI results. Thus, although pathological MRI findings were common they can not be used to separate subgroups of PD in newly diagnosed patients.