Motor and psychiatric complications are frequent reasons for hospital admission of patients with Parkinson’s disease and guidelines are needed for the management of in-hospital care, according to a National Parkinson Foundation working group (Aminoff et al. Parkinsonism Relat Disord 2011; 17: 139-145).
Neurology
Beta-amyloid accumulation prior to cognitive impairment: longitudinal data
August 24, 2011Beta-amyloid deposition is a slow process that can be identified in subjects without cognitive impairment, according to the results of a three-year longitudinal study (Villemagne et al. Ann Neurol 2011; 69: 181-192).
No gain with higher dose of glatiramer acetate
August 24, 2011A higher dose of glatiramer acetate appears to be well tolerated but does not provide improved efficacy over standard dosing, according to the results of the FORTE study (Comi et al. Ann Neurol 2011; 69: 75-82).
PD progression, QOL impairments less in females
August 3, 2011Disease progression in patients newly-diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease is less pronounced in females but more severe in older subjects, according to data from the Co-morbidity and Ageing in Rehabilitation Patients; the influence on Activities (CARPA) study group (Post et al. Mov Disor 2011; 26: 449-456).
AD progression associated with elevated coated platelet level
August 3, 2011Coated platelets are a subset of platelets produced by activation with both collagen and thrombin and which retain intact amyloid precursor protein on their surface (Prodan et al. Platelets 2006; 17: 56-60). It has been suggested that coated platelets may play a role in the alteration in amyloid precursor protein metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease.