There is a growing amount of evidence to suggest that besides motor features, patients with essential tremor (ET) may exhibit significant nonmotor features, such as mild cognitive deficits, fatigue, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and sleep disturbances. The goal of this study was to examine nonmotor features in young patients with ET and their impact on quality of life. 45 patients (24.55 ± 7.16 years old) with ET and 35 controls were evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Scale, Fatigue Severity Scale, and Short Form-36. Cognitive functions were evaluated using the Turkish version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Battery (MoCA). We ruled out other possible causes of the tremor. The tremor rate was evaluated using the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin Tremor Rating Scale. Poor sleep quality, fatigue, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were more common, and MoCA total scores were lower in the patient group. Fatigue, depressive symptoms, and higher anxiety levels were seen to have a negative effect on physical and mental health. Excessive daytime sleepiness had a negative effect on physical health. There is an emerging interest in nonmotor features of ET. This study showed that even young patients have nonmotor features that decrease their quality of life. This might tell us that nonmotor symptoms could be a part of the disease in the early stages.
Many studies have investigated the association between headache and sleep disorders, but few have focused on migraine. The goal of this study was to evaluate sleep disturbance and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in relation to migraine disability. 120 migraine patients who were diagnosed according to The International Classification of Headache Disorders-II and 45 healthy controls were recruited for the study. All participants completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Scale. Migraineurs completed Migraine Disability Assessment Scale (MIDAS) and Visual Analog Scale. The prevalence of poor sleep was 83.3% in the patients and 22.2% in the controls. All PSQI subgroup scores were higher for the patients than the controls except "Hours asleep". EDS was more prominent in the patient group (19.2% vs 2.2%). In conclusion, sleep disturbance, EDS, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were detected more commonly in migraine patients and were correlated with the migraine-related disability. The results of multivariate regression analysis indicated that EDS and sleep disturbance were the most effective factors on disability.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common neurologic disorder that is a chronic inflammatory, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Its etiology remains unknown. Several recent studies have found that decreased susceptibility to vitamin D deficiency is also associated with a decreased risk of MS. The role of vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene and its polymorphisms are highlighted as susceptible components. In this study, we aimed to identify the relationship between ApaI (rs7975232), BsmI (rs 1544410), and TaqI (rs731236) gene polymorphisms with MS. ApaI, BsmI, and TaqI genotypes were determined in 70 patients with MS and in 70 control subjects. DNA was isolated from blood samples, and then ApaI, BsmI and TaqI gene polymorphisms were identified using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assay. The distribution of BsmI and TaqI polymorphisms did not show any significant differences in MS patients and controls; however, increased A allele of ApaI polymorphism was found in MS patients. Our findings suggest that the ApaI gene polymorphism might be associated with MS. Investigation of a larger population and functional work on these gene structures and function in MS patients are recommended.
Recent studies have reported elevated plasma homocysteine and reduced folate and vitamin B levels in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between MS and the following four DNA
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.