Brain structural MRI correlates of cognitive dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease

Anatomical and volumetric description of the guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) brain from an ultra-high-field magnetic resonance imaging

The Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) is a common species along Central and South American coastal waters. Although much effort has been made to understand its behavioral ecology and evolution, very little is known about its brain. The use of ultra-high field MRI in anatomical descriptions of cetacean brains is a very promising approach that is still uncommon. In this study, we present for the first time a full anatomical description of the Guiana dolphin's brain based on high-resolution ultra-high-field magnetic resonance imaging, providing an exceptional level of brain anatomical details, and enriching our understanding of the species. Brain structures were labeled and volumetric measurements were delineated for many distinguishable structures, including the gray matter and white matter of the cerebral cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, superior and inferior colliculi, thalamus, corpus callosum, ventricles, brainstem and cerebellum. Additionally, we provide the surface anatomy of the Guiana dolphin brain, including the labeling of main sulci and gyri as well as the calculation of its gyrification index. These neuroanatomical data, absent from the literature to date, will help disentangle the history behind cetacean brain evolution and consequently, mammalian evolution, representing a significant new source for future comparative studies.

Artificial intelligence in Parkinson's disease: Early detection and diagnostic advancements

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, globally affecting men and women at an exponentially growing rate, with currently no cure. Disease progression starts when dopaminergic neurons begin to die. In PD, the loss of neurotransmitter, dopamine is responsible for the overall communication of neural cells throughout the body. Clinical symptoms of PD are slowness of movement, involuntary muscular contractions, speech & writing changes, lessened automatic movement, and chronic tremors in the body. PD occurs in both familial and sporadic forms and modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors and socioeconomic conditions cause PD. Early detectable diagnostics and treatments have been developed in the last several decades. However, we still do not have precise early detectable biomarkers and therapeutic agents/drugs that prevent and/or delay the disease process. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) science and machine learning tools have been promising in identifying early detectable markers with a greater rate of accuracy compared to past forms of treatment and diagnostic processes. Artificial intelligence refers to the intelligence exhibited by machines or software, distinct from the intelligence observed in humans that is based on neural networks in a form and can be used to diagnose the longevity and disease severity of disease. The term Machine Learning or Neural Networks is a blanket term used to identify an emerging technology that is created to work in the way of a "human brain" using many intertwined neurons to achieve the same level of raw intelligence as that of a brain. These processes have been used for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, to assess the severity of the patient's condition. In the current article, we discuss the prevalence and incidence of PD, and currently available diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic strategies. We also highlighted currently available artificial intelligence science and machine learning tools and their applications to detect disease and develop therapeutic interventions.

Structural and microstructural predictors of cognitive decline in deep brain stimulation of subthalamic nucleus in Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The intricate relationship between deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) and cognitive impairment has lately garnered substantial attention. The presented study evaluated pre-DBS structural and microstructural cerebral patterns as possible predictors of future cognitive decline in PD DBS patients.

METHODS

Pre-DBS MRI data in 72 PD patients were combined with neuropsychological examinations and follow-up for an average of 2.3 years after DBS implantation procedure using a screening cognitive test validated for diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment in PD in a Czech population - Dementia Rating Scale 2.

RESULTS

PD patients who would exhibit post-DBS cognitive decline were found to have, already at the pre-DBS stage, significantly lower cortical thickness and lower microstructural complexity than cognitively stable PD patients. Differences in the regions directly related to cognition as bilateral parietal, insular and cingulate cortices, but also occipital and sensorimotor cortex were detected. Furthermore, hippocampi, putamina, cerebellum and upper brainstem were implicated as well, all despite the absence of pre-DBS differences in cognitive performance and in the position of DBS leads or stimulation parameters between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that the cognitive decline in the presented PD cohort was not attributable primarily to DBS of the subthalamic nucleus but was associated with a clinically silent structural and microstructural predisposition to future cognitive deterioration present already before the DBS system implantation.

Quality assessment, variability and reproducibility of anatomical measurements derived from T1-weighted brain imaging: The RIN-Neuroimaging Network case study

Initiatives for the collection of harmonized MRI datasets are growing continuously, opening questions on the reliability of results obtained in multi-site contexts. Here we present the assessment of the brain anatomical variability of MRI-derived measurements obtained from T1-weighted images, acquired according to the Standard Operating Procedures, promoted by the RIN-Neuroimaging Network. A multicentric dataset composed of 77 brain T1w acquisitions of young healthy volunteers (mean age = 29.7 ± 5.0 years), collected in 15 sites with MRI scanners of three different vendors, was considered. Parallelly, a dataset of 7 "traveling" subjects, each undergoing three acquisitions with scanners from different vendors, was also used. Intra-site, intra-vendor, and inter-site variabilities were evaluated in terms of the percentage standard deviation of volumetric and cortical thickness measures. Image quality metrics such as contrast-to-noise and signal-to-noise ratio in gray and white matter were also assessed for all sites and vendors. The results showed a measured global variability that ranges from 11% to 19% for subcortical volumes and from 3% to 10% for cortical thicknesses. Univariate distributions of the normalized volumes of subcortical regions, as well as the distributions of the thickness of cortical parcels appeared to be significantly different among sites in 8 subcortical (out of 17) and 21 cortical (out of 68) regions of i nterest in the multicentric study. The Bland-Altman analysis on "traveling" brain measurements did not detect systematic scanner biases even though a multivariate classification approach was able to classify the scanner vendor from brain measures with an accuracy of 0.60 ± 0.14 (chance level 0.33).

Verbal Reasoning Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease

Background. The aim of this study was to assess verbal reasoning (VR) functioning in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls (HCs). Methods. The non-demented PD patients and HCs matched by age and global cognition were enrolled in this study. VR was assessed with the verbal reasoning test (VRT), total score, and subsets. Results. Eighty-seven PD patients (51 men; mean age $63.8\pm 7.9$ years) and 87 HCs (46 men; mean age $63.7\pm 8.0$ years) were enrolled. At univariate analysis, PD patients presented a significantly lower score in the VRT subset classification ( $12.3\pm 2.1$ ) than HCs ( $12.9\pm 1.7$ ) with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.8 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.70–0.98; $p=0.003$ ). The strength of association was also confirmed at multivariate analysis (OR = 0.8, 95% CI 0.70–0.98; $p=0.003$ ). Moreover, in PD patients, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between VRT-classification and MoCA scores ( $r=0.330$ ; $p=0.002$ ). Conclusions. PD patients presented lower VR performance than HCs.

Systematic review of data-driven cognitive subtypes in Parkinson disease

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Recent application of the mild cognitive impairment concept to Parkinson disease (PD) has proven valuable in identifying patients at risk of dementia. However, it has sparked controversy regarding the existence of cognitive subtypes. The present review evaluates the current literature pertaining to data-driven subtypes of cognition in PD.

METHODS

Following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, systematic literature searches for peer-reviewed articles on the topic of cognitive subtyping in PD were performed.

RESULTS

Twenty-two relevant articles were identified in the systematic search. Subtype structures showed either a spectrum of severity or specific domains of impairment. Domain-specific subtypes included amnestic/nonamnestic, memory/executive, and frontal/posterior dichotomies, as well as more complex structures with less definitive groupings. Preliminary longitudinal evidence showed some differences in cognitive progression among subtypes. Neuroimaging evidence provided insight into distinct patterns of brain alterations among subtypes.

CONCLUSIONS

Recurring phenotypes in the literature suggest strong clinical relevance of certain cognitive subtypes in PD. Although the current literature is limited, it raises critical questions about the utility of data-driven methods in cognitive research. The results encourage further integration of neuroimaging research to define the latent neural mechanisms behind divergent subtypes. Although there is no consensus, there appears to be growing consistency and inherent value in identifying cognitive subtypes in PD.

Cortical atrophy is associated with cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease: a combined analysis of cortical thickness and functional connectivity

We aimed to perform a combined analysis of cortical thickness and functional connectivity to explore their association with cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD). A total of 53 PD and 15 healthy control subjects were enrolled. PD patients were divided into PD with normal cognition (PD-NC, n = 25), PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI, n = 11), and PD with dementia (PDD, n = 17). In some analyses, the PD-MCI and PDD groups were aggregated to represent "PD patients with cognitive impairment". Cognitive status was assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Anatomical magnetic resonance imaging and resting-state functional connectivity analysis were performed in all subjects. First, surface-based morphometry measurements of cortical thickness and voxels with cortical thickness reduction were detected. Then, regions showing reduced thickness were analyzed for changes in resting-state functional connectivity in PD involving cognitive impairment. Our results showed that, compared with PD-NC, patients with cognitive impairment showed decreased cortical thickness in the left superior temporal, left lingual, right insula, and right fusiform regions. PD-MCI patients showed these alterations in the right lingual region. Widespread cortical thinning was detected in PDD subjects, including the left superior temporal, left fusiform, right insula, and right fusiform areas. We found that cortical thinning in the left superior temporal, left fusiform, and right temporal pole regions positively correlated with MMSE score. In the resting-state functional connectivity analysis, we found a decrease in functional connectivity between the cortical atrophic brain areas mentioned above and cognition-related brain networks, as well as an increase in functional connectivity between those region and the cerebellum. Alterations in cortical thickness may result in a dysfunction of resting-state functional connectivity, contributing to cognitive decline in patients with PD. However, it is more probable that the relation between structure and FC would be bidirectional,and needs more research to explore in PD cognitve decline.

Parkinson's Disease: A Nanotheranostic Approach Targeting Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders that is implicated in aging populations. As numerous developed nations are experiencing progressively aging populations today, there is a heightened propensity for the occurrence of PD cases. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) aggregation has been considered to be the pivotal mechanism leading to PD pathogenesis. Thus, early diagnostic and therapeutic strategies targeting the misfolded α-syn protein can potentially improve the prognosis of PD. With rapid advancements in nanotechnology in the last decade, effective solutions to various neurodegenerative and oncological diseases have been suggested. This review will explore the current innovations in nanotechnology that target the α-syn aggregation pathway, and reinstate the promise they hold as effective early diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to PD.

Neural Correlates of Cognitive Performance in Alzheimer's Disease- and Lewy Bodies-Related Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND

Clinicopathological studies have demonstrated that the neuropsychological profiles and outcomes are different between two dementia subtypes, namely Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy bodies-related disease.

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the neural correlates of cognitive dysfunction in patients with AD-related cognitive impairment (ADCI) and those with Lewy bodies-related cognitive impairment (LBCI).

METHODS

We enrolled 216 ADCI patients, 183 LBCI patients, and 30 controls. Cortical thickness and diffusion tensor imaging analyses were performed to correlate gray matter and white matter (WM) abnormalities to cognitive composite scores for memory, visuospatial, and attention/executive domains in the ADCI spectrum (ADCI patients and controls) and the LBCI spectrum (LBCI patients and controls) separately.

RESULTS

Memory dysfunction correlated with cortical thinning and increased mean diffusivity in the AD-prone regions, particularly the medial temporal region, in ADCI. Meanwhile, it only correlated with increased mean diffusivity in the WM adjacent to the anteromedial temporal, insula, and basal frontal cortices in LBCI. Visuospatial dysfunction correlated with cortical thinning in posterior brain regions in ADCI, while it correlated with decreased fractional anisotropy in the corpus callosum and widespread WM regions in LBCI. Attention/executive dysfunction correlated with cortical thinning and WM abnormalities in widespread brain regions in both disease spectra; however, ADCI had more prominent correlation with cortical thickness and LBCI did with fractional anisotropy values.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study demonstrated that ADCI and LBCI have different neural correlates with respect to cognitive dysfunction. Cortical thinning had greater effects on cognitive dysfunction in the ADCI, while WM disruption did in the LBCI.

Bilingualism and domain-general cognitive functions from a neural perspective: A systematic review

A large body of research has indicated that bilingualism - through continual practice in language control - may impact cognitive functions, as well as relevant aspects of brain function and structure. The present review aimed to bring together findings on the relationship between bilingualism and domain-general cognitive functions from a neural perspective. The final sample included 210 studies, covering findings regarding neural responses to bilingual language control and/or domain-general cognitive tasks, as well as findings regarding effects of bilingualism on non-task-related brain function and brain structure. The evidence indicates that a) bilingual language control likely entails neural mechanisms responsible for domain-general cognitive functions; b) bilingual experiences impact neural responses to domain-general cognitive functions; and c) bilingual experiences impact non-task-related brain function (both resting-state and metabolic function) as well as aspects of brain structure (both macrostructure and microstructure), each of which may in turn impact mental processes, including domain-general cognitive functions. Such functional and structural neuroplasticity associated with bilingualism may contribute to both cognitive and neural reserves, producing benefits across the lifespan.

Identifying subtypes of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease using cluster analysis

INTRODUCTION

The concept of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in Parkinson's disease (PD) has shown the potential for identifying at-risk dementia patients. Identifying subtypes of MCI is likely to assist therapeutic discoveries and better clinical management of patients with PD (PWP). Recent cluster-based approaches have demonstrated dominance in memory and executive impairment in PD. The present study will further explore the role of memory and executive impairment and associated clinical features in non-demented PWP.

METHOD

A K-means cluster analysis was performed on ten "frontal" and "posterior" cognitive variables derived from a dataset of 85 non-demented PWP. The resulting cluster structure was chosen based on quantitative, qualitative, theoretical, and clinical validity. Cluster profiles were then created through statistical analysis of cognitive and clinical/demographic variables. A descriptive analysis of each cluster's performance on a comprehensive PD-MCI diagnostic battery was also explored.

RESULTS

The resulting cluster structure revealed four distinct cognitive phenotypes: (1) frontal-dominant impairment; (2) posterior-cortical-dominant impairment; (3) global impairment, and (4) cognitively intact. Demographic profiling revealed significant differences in the age, gender split, global cognitive ability, and motor symptoms between these clusters. However, there were no significant differences between the clusters on measures of depression, apathy, and anxiety.

CONCLUSION

These results validate the existence of distinct cognitive phenotypes within PD-MCI and encourage future research into their clinical trajectory and neuroimaging correlates.

Global and regional connectivity analysis of resting-state function MRI brain images using graph theory in Parkinson's disease

OBJECTIVES

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder which resists around 10 million people worldwide. It develops when nerve cells in a region of the brain that regulates movement become damaged; the symptoms usually begin gradually and become critical over time. In this study, we proposed to investigate the topological properties of functional brain networks within healthy controls (HCs) and PD patients. Also, we evaluated the gender difference among PD patients through graph theoretical approach.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The rs-fMRI (resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging) data of fifty-one PD patients and healthy controls was applied to generate the brain functional connectome. The functional whole-brain connectome was constructed by thresholding partial correlation matrices of 160 regions from Dosenbach brain atlas. From the graph theory approach, global and nodal metrics were analysed, and we observed considerable changes in PD patients in comparison with healthy controls.

RESULTS

Findings suggest that there is a significant difference in the topological characteristics of PD patients, and this was found to be evident in the default mode network (DMN) and occipital regions.

CONCLUSION

This study provides essential insights from network changes to the clinically relevant information for the PD progression.

Evaluation of Cognitive Function in Relation to Progression of Parkinson Disease

OBJECTIVE

Cognitive impairments are among the nonmotor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease. Understanding the cognitive impairments in patients with Parkinson disease may be critical for developing effective rehabilitation interventions. The aims of this study were to assess cognitive function in patients with Parkinson disease using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Third Edition, and the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised and to investigate how cognitive impairments relate to progression of disease in patients with Parkinson disease according to the Hoehn and Yahr stages.

DESIGN

Seventy-eight patients with Parkinson disease participated in the present study. Our study consisted of patients in the following Hoehn and Yahr groups: 1 (no disability, n = 11), 2 (mild, n = 34), 3 (moderate, n = 26), and 4 and 5 (severe, n = 7). Cognitive function was assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Third Edition, and the Wechsler Memory Scale Revised.

RESULTS

The verbal memory was significantly higher in group 1 (106.4 ± 12.0) than in the other groups (2: 90.5 ± 14.0, 3: 89.9 ± 16.9, 4 and 5: 89.6 ± 11.4). Visual memory and delayed recall were similar to the results seen with verbal memory; however, the differences between groups were not statistically significant. The full-scale IQ was not significantly different (1: 107.3 ± 8.1, 2: 96.9 ± 18.2, 3: 96.7 ± 14.8, 4 and 5: 91.7 ± 9.5).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that a comprehensive assessment focused on memory impairments is important for applying the appropriate interventions in patients with early-stage Parkinson disease.

Prevalence of low scores on language tests as a potential factor in misdiagnosis of cognitive impairment in a Spanish-speaking adult population

Objective: In this study, the prevalence of low scores for two neuropsychological tests of language has been determined.Methods: In total, N = 5218 healthy adults from 11 countries in Latin America (LA) were administered the Boston Naming Test (BNT) and the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT) as part of a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Z-scores were calculated for BNT Total score, and phonological (letters F, A, S, M) and semantic (Animals, Fruits). Scores were adjusted for age, age², sex, education, and interaction variables if significant for the given country. Each Z-score was converted to a percentile for each of the seven test-scores. Each participant was categorized based on his/her number of low scoring tests in specific percentile cutoff groups (25th, 16th, 10th, 5th, and 2nd).Results: Between 53% (Paraguay) and 71% (Mexico) of the sample had at least 1-score below the 25th percentile, and between 41% (Paraguay) and 55% (Cuba) scored below the 16th percentile. Between 27% (Paraguay) and 39% (Peru) scored below the 10th percentile on at least 1-score, and between 17% (Chile) and 23% (Argentina) scored below the 5th percentile.Conclusions: Clinicians should use these data to reduce false-positive diagnoses and to improve the neuropsychological assessments in Spanish-speaking individuals from LA countries.

The quandary of covarying: A brief review and empirical examination of covariate use in structural neuroimaging studies on psychological variables

Although covarying for potential confounds or nuisance variables is common in psychological research, relatively little is known about how the inclusion of covariates may influence the relations between psychological variables and indices of brain structure. In Part 1 of the current study, we conducted a descriptive review of relevant articles from the past two years of NeuroImage in order to identify the most commonly used covariates in work of this nature. Age, sex, and intracranial volume were found to be the most commonly used covariates, although the number of covariates used ranged from 0 to 14, with 37 different covariate sets across the 68 models tested. In Part 2, we used data from the Human Connectome Project to investigate the degree to which the addition of common covariates altered the relations between individual difference variables (i.e., personality traits, psychopathology, cognitive tasks) and regional gray matter volume (GMV), as well as the statistical significance of values associated with these effect sizes. Using traditional and random sampling approaches, our results varied widely, such that some covariate sets influenced the relations between the individual difference variables and GMV very little, while the addition of other covariate sets resulted in a substantially different pattern of results compared to models with no covariates. In sum, these results suggest that the use of covariates should be critically examined and discussed as part of the conversation on replicability in structural neuroimaging. We conclude by recommending that researchers pre-register their analytic strategy and present information on how relations differ based on the inclusion of covariates.

A Fully Automatic Framework for Parkinson's Disease Diagnosis by Multi-Modality Images

Background

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a prevalent long-term neurodegenerative disease. Though the criteria of PD diagnosis are relatively well defined, current diagnostic procedures using medical images are labor-intensive and expertise-demanding. Hence, highly integrated automatic diagnostic algorithms are desirable.

Methods

In this work, we propose an end-to-end multi-modality diagnostic framework, including segmentation, registration, feature extraction and machine learning, to analyze the features of striatum for PD diagnosis. Multi-modality images, including T1-weighted MRI and ¹¹C-CFT PET, are integrated into the proposed framework. The reliability of this method is validated on a dataset with the paired images from 49 PD subjects and 18 Normal (NL) subjects.

Results

We obtained a promising diagnostic accuracy in the PD/NL classification task. Meanwhile, several comparative experiments were conducted to validate the performance of the proposed framework.

Conclusion

We demonstrated that (1) the automatic segmentation provides accurate results for the diagnostic framework, (2) the method combining multi-modality images generates a better prediction accuracy than the method with single-modality PET images, and (3) the volume of the striatum is proved to be irrelevant to PD diagnosis.

Cognitive Performance in Parkinson's Disease in the Brain Health Registry

The study of cognition in Parkinson's disease (PD) traditionally requires exhaustive recruitment strategies. The current study examines data collected by the Brain Health Registry (BHR) to determine whether ongoing efforts to improve the recruitment base for therapeutic trials in Alzheimer's disease may be similarly effective for PD research, and whether online cognitive measurements can discriminate between participants who do and do not report a PD diagnosis. Participants enrolled in the BHR (age ≥50) with self-reported PD data and online cognitive testing available were included (n = 11,813). Associations between baseline cognitive variables and diagnostic group were analyzed using logistic regression. Linear mixed effects models were used to analyze longitudinal data. A total of 634 participants reported PD diagnosis at baseline with no self-reported cognitive impairment and completed cognitive testing. Measures of visual learning and memory, processing speed, attention, and working memory discriminated between self-reported PD and non-PD participants after correcting for multiple comparisons (p values < 0.006). Scores on all cognitive tests improved over time in PD and controls with the exception of processing speed, which remained stable in participants with PD while improving in those without. We demonstrate that a novel online approach to recruitment and longitudinal follow-up of study participants is effective for those with self-reported PD, and that significant differences exist between those with and without a reported diagnosis of PD on computerized cognitive measures. These results have important implications for recruitment of participants with PD into targeted therapeutic trials or large-scale genetic and cognitive studies.

Functional imaging correlates of akinesia in Parkinson's disease: Still open issues

Akinesia is a major manifestation of Parkinson's disease (PD) related to difficulties or failures of willed movement to occur. Akinesia is still poorly understood and is not fully alleviated by standard therapeutic strategies. One reason is that the area of the clinical concept has blurred boundaries referring to confounded motor symptoms. Here, we review neuroimaging studies which, by providing access to finer-grained mechanisms, have the potential to reveal the dysfunctional brain processes that account for akinesia. It comes out that no clear common denominator could be identified across studies that are too heterogeneous with respect to the clinical/theoretical concepts and methods used. Results reveal, however, that various abnormalities within but also outside the motor and dopaminergic pathways might be associated with akinesia in PD patients. Notably, numerous yet poorly reproducible neural correlates were found in different brain regions supporting executive control by means of resting-state or task-based studies. This includes for instance the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal cortex, the supplementary motor area, the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex or the precuneus. This observation raises the issue of the multidimensional nature of akinesia. Yet, other open issues should be considered conjointly to drive future investigations. Above all, a unified terminology is needed to allow appropriate association of behavioral symptoms with brain mechanisms across studies. We adhere to a use of the term akinesia restricted to dysfunctions of movement initiation, ranging from delayed response to freezing or even total abolition of movement. We also call for targeting more specific neural mechanisms of movement preparation and action triggering with more sophisticated behavioral designs/event-related neurofunctional analyses. More work is needed to provide reliable evidence, but answering these still open issues might open up new prospects, beyond dopaminergic therapy, for managing this disabling symptom.

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No clear picture of the neural bases of PD akinesia can be drawn from the literature.

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Akinesia should be disentangled from bradykinesia and hypokinesia.

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Movement initiation dysfunctions may arise from both motor and executive disorders.

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Future neuroimaging studies should probe more specific neurocognitive processes.

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Future studies should look beyond the dopaminergic basal-ganglia circuitry.

Changes in Cortical Thickness in Patients With Early Parkinson's Disease at Different Hoehn and Yahr Stages

Objectives: This study was designed to explore changes in cortical thickness in patients with early Parkinson’s disease (PD) at different Hoehn and Yahr (H-Y) stages and to demonstrate the association of abnormally altered brain regions with part III of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-III).

Materials and Methods: Sixty early PD patients and 29 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in this study. All PD patients underwent comprehensive clinical and neuropsychological evaluations and 3.0 T magnetic resonance scanning. Patients with H-Y stage ≤1.5 were included in the mild group, and all other patients were included in the moderate group. FreeSurfer software was used to calculate cortical thickness. We assessed the relationship between UPDRS-III and regional changes in cortical thinning, including the bilateral fusiform and the temporal lobe.

Results: The average cortical thickness of the temporal pole, fusiform gyrus, insula of the left hemisphere and fusiform gyrus, isthmus cingulate cortex, inferior temporal gyrus, middle temporal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex of the right hemisphere exhibited significant decreasing trends in HCs group and PD groups (i.e., the mild group and moderate group). After controlling for the effects of age, gender, and disease duration, the UPDRS-III scores in patients with early PD were correlated with the cortical thickness of the left and right fusiform gyrus and the left temporal pole (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The average cortical thickness of specific brain regions reduced with increasing disease severity in early PD patients at different H-Y stages, and the UPDRS-III scores of early PD patients were correlated with cortical thickness of the bilateral fusiform gyrus and the left temporal pole.

Patterns of Grey Matter Atrophy at Different Stages of Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Diseases and Relation to Cognition

Using MRI, a characteristic pattern of grey matter (GM) atrophy has been described in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD); GM patterns at different stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) have been inconclusive. Few studies have directly compared structural changes in groups with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) caused by different pathologies (AD, PD). We used several analytical methods to determine GM changes at different stages of both PD and AD. We also evaluated associations between GM changes and cognitive measurements. Altogether 144 subjects were evaluated: PD with normal cognition (PD-NC; n = 23), PD with MCI (PD-MCI; n = 24), amnestic MCI (aMCI; n = 27), AD (n = 12), and age-matched healthy controls (HC; n = 58). All subjects underwent structural MRI and cognitive examination. GM volumes were analysed using two different techniques: voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and source-based morphometry (SBM), which is a multivariate method. In addition, cortical thickness (CT) was evaluated to assess between-group differences in GM. The cognitive domain z-scores were correlated with GM changes in individual patient groups. GM atrophy in the anterior and posterior cingulate, as measured by VBM, in the temporo-fronto-parietal component, as measured by SBM, and in the posterior cortical regions as well as in the anterior cingulate and frontal region, as measured by CT, differentiated aMCI from HC. Major hippocampal and temporal lobe atrophy (VBM, SBM) and to some extent occipital atrophy (SBM) differentiated AD from aMCI and from HC. Correlations with cognitive deficits were present only in the AD group. PD-MCI showed greater GM atrophy than PD-NC in the orbitofrontal regions (VBM), which was related to memory z-scores, and in the left superior parietal lobule (CT); more widespread limbic and fronto-parieto-occipital neocortical atrophy (all methods) differentiated this group from HC. Only CT revealed subtle GM atrophy in the anterior cingulate, precuneus, and temporal neocortex in PD-NC as compared to HC. None of the methods differentiated PD-MCI from aMCI. Both MCI groups showed distinct limbic and fronto-temporo-parietal neocortical atrophy compared to HC with no specific between-group differences. AD subjects displayed a typical pattern of major temporal lobe atrophy which was associated with deficits in all cognitive domains. VBM and CT were more sensitive than SBM in identifying frontal and posterior cortical atrophy in PD-MCI as compared to PD-NC. Our data support the notion that the results of studies using different analytical methods cannot be compared directly. Only CT measures revealed some subtle differences between HC and PD-NC.

Association of MRI Measurements with Cognitive Outcomes After STN-DBS in Parkinson's Disease

Objectives

Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) is an effective treatment for improving the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD). Overall, cognitive function remains stable after STN-DBS in most patients. However, cognitive decline, specifically in the verbal fluency domain, is seen in a subset of STN-DBS patients. Currently, predictors of cognitive decline in PD patients treated with STN-DBS are not well known. Thus, identification of presurgical predictors might provide an important clinical tool for better risk-to-benefit assessment. This study explores whether whole brain white matter lesion (WML) volume, or hippocampal and forebrain volumes, measured quantitatively on MRI, are associated with cognitive changes following STN-DBS in PD patients.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective study using presurgical, and ≥ 6-month postsurgical neuropsychological (NP) evaluation scores from 43 PD patients with STN-DBS. Mean pre/post NP test scores for measures of executive function, attention, verbal fluency, memory, and visuospatial function were analyzed and correlated with WML volume, and brain volumetric data.

Results

Although cognitive measures of verbal fluency, executive function, attention, memory, and visuospatial function showed declines following STN-DBS, we observed limited evidence that white matter lesion burden or cortical atrophy contributed to cognitive change following STN-DBS.

Conclusions

These results suggest that post-STN-DBS cognitive changes may be unrelated to presurgical WML burden and presence of cortical atrophy.

Symptom Dimensions of Depression and Apathy and Their Relationship With Cognition in Parkinson's Disease

OBJECTIVES

Both depression and apathy, alone and in combination, have been shown to negatively affect cognition in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the influence of specific symptom dimensions of depression and apathy on cognition is not well understood. The current study investigated the relationship between symptom dimensions of depression and apathy, based on factors identified in Kirsch-Darrow et al. (2011), and memory and executive function in PD.

METHODS

A sample of 138 non-demented individuals with PD (mean age=64.51±7.43 years) underwent neuropsychological testing and completed the Beck Depression Inventory, 2nd Edition, and Apathy Scale. Separate hierarchical regression models examined the relationship between symptom dimensions of depression and apathy ("pure" depressive symptoms, "pure" apathy, loss of interest/pleasure [anhedonia], and somatic symptoms) and three cognitive domain composites: immediate verbal memory, delayed verbal memory, and executive function.

RESULTS

After adjusting for general cognitive status and the influence of the other symptom dimensions, "pure" depressive symptoms were negatively associated with the delayed verbal memory composite (p<.034) and somatic symptoms were positively associated with the executive function composite (p<.026). No symptom dimensions were significantly related to the immediate verbal memory composite.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that specific mood symptoms are associated with delayed verbal memory and executive function performance in non-demented patients with PD. Further research is needed to better understand possible mechanisms through which specific symptom dimensions of depression and apathy are associated with cognition in PD. (JINS, 2018, 24, 269-282).

Cortical Thinning and Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson's Disease without Dementia

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized clinically by motor dysfunction (bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor, and postural instability), and pathologically by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the basal ganglia. Growing literature supports that cognitive deficits may also be present in PD, even in non-demented patients. Gray matter (GM) atrophy has been reported in PD and may be related to cognitive decline. This study investigated cortical thickness in non-demented PD subjects and elucidated its relationship to cognitive impairment using high-resolution T1-weighted brain MRI and comprehensive cognitive function scores from 71 non-demented PD and 48 control subjects matched for age, gender, and education. Cortical thickness was compared between groups using a flexible hierarchical multivariate Bayesian model, which accounts for correlations between brain regions. Correlation analyses were performed among brain areas and cognitive domains as well, which showed significant group differences in the PD population. Compared to Controls, PD subjects demonstrated significant age-adjusted cortical thinning predominantly in inferior and superior parietal areas and extended to superior frontal, superior temporal, and precuneus areas (posterior probability >0.9). Cortical thinning was also found in the left precentral and lateral occipital, and right postcentral, middle frontal, and fusiform regions (posterior probability >0.9). PD patients showed significantly reduced cognitive performance in executive function, including set shifting (p = 0.005) and spontaneous flexibility (p = 0.02), which were associated with the above cortical thinning regions (p < 0.05).

Increased brain connectivity and activation after cognitive rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial

Cognitive rehabilitation programs have demonstrated efficacy in improving cognitive functions in Parkinson's disease (PD), but little is known about cerebral changes associated with an integrative cognitive rehabilitation in PD. To assess structural and functional cerebral changes in PD patients, after attending a three-month integrative cognitive rehabilitation program (REHACOP). Forty-four PD patients were randomly divided into REHACOP group (cognitive rehabilitation) and a control group (occupational therapy). T1-weighted, diffusion weighted and functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI) during resting-state and during a memory paradigm (with learning and recognition tasks) were acquired at pre-treatment and post-treatment. Cerebral changes were assessed with repeated measures ANOVA 2 × 2 for group x time interaction. During resting-state fMRI, the REHACOP group showed significantly increased brain connectivity between the left inferior temporal lobe and the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to the control group. Moreover, during the recognition fMRI task, the REHACOP group showed significantly increased brain activation in the left middle temporal area compared to the control group. During the learning fMRI task, the REHACOP group showed increased brain activation in the left inferior frontal lobe at post-treatment compared to pre-treatment. No significant structural changes were found between pre- and post-treatment. Finally, the REHACOP group showed significant and positive correlations between the brain connectivity and activation and the cognitive performance at post-treatment. This randomized controlled trial suggests that an integrative cognitive rehabilitation program can produce significant functional cerebral changes in PD patients and adds evidence to the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation programs in the therapeutic approach for PD.

Accelerated Age-Dependent Hippocampal Volume Loss in Parkinson Disease With Mild Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND

Patients with Parkinson disease are at high risk of developing dementia. During the course of the disease, a substantial number of patients will experience a cognitive decline, indicating the dynamics of the underlying neuropathology. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become increasingly useful for identifying structural characteristics in radiological brain anatomy existing prior to clinical symptoms. Whether these changes reflect pathology, whether they are aging related, or both often remains unclear. We hypothesized that aging-associated brain structural changes would be more pronounced in the hippocampal region among patients with Parkinson disease having mild cognitive deficits relative to cognitively unimpaired patients.

METHODS

Using MRI, we investigated 30 cognitively healthy patients with Parkinson disease and 33 patients with nondemented Parkinson disease having mild cognitive impairment. All participants underwent structural MRI scanning and extensive clinical and neuropsychological assessments.

RESULTS

Irrespective of the study participants' cognitive status, older age was associated with reduced cortical thickness in various neocortical regions. Having mild cognitive impairment was not associated with an increased rate of cortical thinning or volume loss in these regions, except in the hippocampus bilaterally.

CONCLUSION

Patients with Parkinson disease having mild cognitive impairment show an accelerated age-dependent hippocampal volume loss when compared with cognitively healthy patients with Parkinson disease. This may indicate pathological processes in a key region for memory functioning in patients with Parkinson disease at risk of developing dementia. Structural MRI of the hippocampal region could potentially contribute to identifying patients who should receive early treatment aimed at delaying the clinical onset of dementia.

Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as a Potential Biomarker for Parkinson's Disease (PD)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to serve as a biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the type or types of biomarker it could provide remain to be determined. At this time there is not sufficient sensitivity or specificity for MRI to serve as an early diagnostic biomarker, i.e., it is unproven in its ability to determine if a single individual is normal, has mild PD, or has some other forms of degenerative parkinsonism. However there is accumulating evidence that MRI may be useful in staging and monitoring disease progression (staging biomarker), and also possibly as a means to monitor pathophysiological aspects of disease and associated response to treatments, i.e., theranostic marker. As there are increasing numbers of manuscripts that are dedicated to diffusion- and neuromelanin-based imaging methods, this review will focus on these topics cursorily and will delve into pharmacodynamic imaging as a means to get at theranostic aspects of PD.

Correlation of MRI Visual Scales with Neuropsychological Profile in Mild Cognitive Impairment of Parkinson's Disease

Few studies have evaluated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visual scales in Parkinson's disease-Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI). We selected 79 PD patients and 92 controls (CO) to perform neurologic and neuropsychological evaluation. Brain MRI was performed to evaluate the following scales: Global Cortical Atrophy (GCA), Fazekas, and medial temporal atrophy (MTA). The analysis revealed that both PD groups (amnestic and nonamnestic) showed worse performance on several tests when compared to CO. Memory, executive function, and attention impairment were more severe in amnestic PD-MCI group. Overall analysis of frequency of MRI visual scales by MCI subtype did not reveal any statistically significant result. Statistically significant inverse correlation was observed between GCA scale and Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), semantic verbal fluency, Stroop test, figure memory test, trail making test (TMT) B, and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). The MTA scale correlated with Stroop test and Fazekas scale with figure memory test, digit span, and Stroop test according to the subgroup evaluated. Visual scales by MRI in MCI should be evaluated by cognitive domain and might be more useful in more severely impaired MCI or dementia patients.

Magnetic resonance imaging as a potential biomarker for Parkinson's disease

Although a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarker for Parkinson's disease (PD) remains an unfulfilled objective, there have been numerous developments in MRI methodology and some of these have shown promise for PD. With funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Michael J Fox Foundation there will be further validation of structural, diffusion-based, and iron-focused MRI methods as possible biomarkers for PD. In this review, these methods and other strategies such as neurochemical and metabolic MRI have been covered. One of the challenges in establishing a biomarker is in the selection of individuals as PD is a heterogeneous disease with varying clinical features, different etiologies, and a range of pathologic changes. Additionally, longitudinal studies are needed of individuals with clinically diagnosed PD and cohorts of individuals who are at great risk for developing PD to validate methods. Ultimately an MRI biomarker will be useful in the diagnosis of PD, predicting the course of PD, providing a means to track its course, and provide an approach to select and monitor treatments.

Startle Habituation and Midfrontal Theta Activity in Parkinson Disease

The ability to adapt to aversive stimuli is critical for mental health. Here, we investigate the relationship between habituation to startling stimuli and startle-related activity in medial frontal cortex as measured by EEG in both healthy control participants and patients with Parkinson disease (PD). We report three findings. First, patients with PD exhibited normal initial startle responses but reduced startle habituation relative to demographically matched controls. Second, control participants had midfrontal EEG theta activity in response to startling stimuli, and this activity was attenuated in patients with PD. Finally, startle-related midfrontal theta activity was correlated with the rate of startle habituation. These data indicate that impaired startle habituation in PD is a result of attenuated midfrontal cognitive control signals. Our findings could provide insight into the frontal regulation of startle habituation.

Cortical Thickness, Surface Area and Subcortical Volume Differentially Contribute to Cognitive Heterogeneity in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is often associated with cognitive deficits, although their severity varies considerably between patients. Recently, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to show that individual differences in gray matter (GM) volume relate to cognitive heterogeneity in PD. VBM does, however, not differentiate between cortical thickness (CTh) and surface area (SA), which might be independently affected in PD. We therefore re-analyzed our cohort using the surface-based method FreeSurfer, and investigated (i) CTh, SA, and (sub)cortical GM volume differences between 93 PD patients and 45 matched controls, and (ii) the relation between these structural measures and cognitive performance on six neuropsychological tasks within the PD group. We found cortical thinning in PD patients in the left pericalcarine gyrus, extending to cuneus, precuneus and lingual areas and left inferior parietal cortex, bilateral rostral middle frontal cortex, and right cuneus, and increased cortical surface area in the left pars triangularis. Within the PD group, we found negative correlations between (i) CTh of occipital areas and performance on a verbal memory task, (ii) SA and volume of the frontal cortex and visuospatial memory performance, and, (iii) volume of the right thalamus and scores on two verbal fluency tasks. Our primary findings illustrate that i) CTh and SA are differentially affected in PD, and ii) VBM and FreeSurfer yield non-overlapping results in an identical dataset. We argue that this discrepancy is due to technical differences and the subtlety of the PD-related structural changes.

COPPADIS-2015 (COhort of Patients with PArkinson's DIsease in Spain, 2015), a global--clinical evaluations, serum biomarkers, genetic studies and neuroimaging--prospective, multicenter, non-interventional, long-term study on Parkinson's disease progression

Background

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder causing motor and non-motor symptoms that can affect independence, social adjustment and the quality of life (QoL) of both patients and caregivers. Studies designed to find diagnostic and/or progression biomarkers of PD are needed. We describe here the study protocol of COPPADIS-2015 (COhort of Patients with PArkinson’s DIsease in Spain, 2015), an integral PD project based on four aspects/concepts: 1) PD as a global disease (motor and non-motor symptoms); 2) QoL and caregiver issues; 3) Biomarkers; 4) Disease progression.

Methods/design

Observational, descriptive, non-interventional, 5-year follow-up, national (Spain), multicenter (45 centers from 15 autonomous communities), evaluation study. Specific goals: (1) detailed study (clinical evaluations, serum biomarkers, genetic studies and neuroimaging) of a population of PD patients from different areas of Spain, (2) comparison with a control group and (3) follow-up for 5 years. COPPADIS-2015 has been specifically designed to assess 17 proposed objectives. Study population: approximately 800 non-dementia PD patients, 600 principal caregivers and 400 control subjects. Study evaluations: (1) baseline includes motor assessment (e.g., Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale part III), non-motor symptoms (e.g., Non-Motor Symptoms Scale), cognition (e.g., Parkinson’s Disease Cognitive Rating Scale), mood and neuropsychiatric symptoms (e.g., Neuropsychiatric Inventory), disability, QoL (e.g., 39-item Parkinson’s disease Quality of Life Questionnaire Summary-Index) and caregiver status (e.g., Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory); (2) follow-up includes annual (patients) or biannual (caregivers and controls) evaluations. Serum biomarkers (S-100b protein, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-2, IL-6, vitamin B12, methylmalonic acid, homocysteine, uric acid, C-reactive protein, ferritin, iron) and brain MRI (volumetry, tractography and MTAi [Medial Temporal Atrophy Index]), at baseline and at the end of follow-up, and genetic studies (DNA and RNA) at baseline will be performed in a subgroup of subjects (300 PD patients and 100 control subjects). Study periods: (1) recruitment period, from November, 2015 to February, 2017 (basal assessment); (2) follow-up period, 5 years; (3) closing date of clinical follow-up, May, 2022. Funding: Public/Private.

Discussion

COPPADIS-2015 is a challenging initiative. This project will provide important information on the natural history of PD and the value of various biomarkers.

The Effect of Dopaminergic Medication on Beat-Based Auditory Timing in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) adversely affects timing abilities. Beat-based timing is a mechanism that times events relative to a regular interval, such as the “beat” in musical rhythm, and is impaired in PD. It is unknown if dopaminergic medication influences beat-based timing in PD. Here, we tested beat-based timing over two sessions in participants with PD (OFF then ON dopaminergic medication) and in unmedicated control participants. People with PD and control participants completed two tasks. The first was a discrimination task in which participants compared two rhythms and determined whether they were the same or different. Rhythms either had a beat structure (metric simple rhythms) or did not (metric complex rhythms), as in previous studies. Discrimination accuracy was analyzed to test for the effects of beat structure, as well as differences between participants with PD and controls, and effects of medication (PD group only). The second task was the Beat Alignment Test (BAT), in which participants listened to music with regular tones superimposed, and responded as to whether the tones were “ON” or “OFF” the beat of the music. Accuracy was analyzed to test for differences between participants with PD and controls, and for an effect of medication in patients. Both patients and controls discriminated metric simple rhythms better than metric complex rhythms. Controls also improved at the discrimination task in the second vs. first session, whereas people with PD did not. For participants with PD, the difference in performance between metric simple and metric complex rhythms was greater (sensitivity to changes in simple rhythms increased and sensitivity to changes in complex rhythms decreased) when ON vs. OFF medication. Performance also worsened with disease severity. For the BAT, no group differences or effects of medication were found. Overall, these findings suggest that timing is impaired in PD, and that dopaminergic medication influences beat-based and non-beat-based timing differently. Judging the beat in music does not appear to be affected by PD or by dopaminergic medication.

Abnormal Echogenicity of the Substantia Nigra, Raphe Nuclei, and Third-Ventricle Width as Markers of Cognitive Impairment in Parkinsonian Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have a high risk of cognitive problems. Objective. This study assesses whether abnormal echogenicity of the substantia nigra (SN) and raphe nuclei (RN) and the diameter of third ventricle are markers of cognitive impairment in patients with PD and other forms of parkinsonism. Methods. 126 outpatients with early signs of parkinsonism underwent transcranial sonography (TCS). The scales for the outcome of Parkinson's disease cognition (SCOPA-COG) were used as cognitive measure. Definite neurological diagnosis was established after two-year follow-up. Results. One-third of the patients with PD and half of those with APS had signs of cognitive impairment. The echogenicity of the SN was not related to cognitive impairment. The diameter of the third ventricle was significantly larger in PD patients with cognitive impairment compared to those without. In patients with APS we found a significantly higher frequency of hypoechogenic RN in patients with cognitive problems. Conclusions. Cognitive impairment is already present in a substantial proportion of patients with PD and APS at first referral. In patients with APS the frequency of hypoechogenic RN points to the direction of other pathophysiology with more emphasis on deficits in the serotonergic neurotransmitter system. The larger diameter of the third ventricle in PD patients with cognitive impairment may reflect Alzheimer like brain atrophy, as has been reported in earlier studies.

Network structure of brain atrophy in de novo Parkinson's disease

We mapped the distribution of atrophy in Parkinson's disease (PD) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical data from 232 PD patients and 117 controls from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative. Deformation-based morphometry and independent component analysis identified PD-specific atrophy in the midbrain, basal ganglia, basal forebrain, medial temporal lobe, and discrete cortical regions. The degree of atrophy reflected clinical measures of disease severity. The spatial pattern of atrophy demonstrated overlap with intrinsic networks present in healthy brain, as derived from functional MRI. Moreover, the degree of atrophy in each brain region reflected its functional and anatomical proximity to a presumed disease epicenter in the substantia nigra, compatible with a trans-neuronal spread of the disease. These results support a network-spread mechanism in PD. Finally, the atrophy pattern in PD was also seen in healthy aging, where it also correlated with the loss of striatal dopaminergic innervation.

Paradoxical effect of dopamine medication on cognition in Parkinson's disease: relationship to side of motor onset

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by asymmetric motor symptom onset attributed to greater degeneration of dopamine neurons contralateral to the affected side. However, whether motor asymmetries predict cognitive profiles in PD, and to what extent dopamine influences cognition remains controversial. This study evaluated cognitive variability in PD by measuring differential response to dopamine replacement therapy (DRT) based on hemispheric asymmetries. The influence of DRT on cognition was evaluated in mild PD patients (n = 36) with left or right motor onset symptoms. All subjects were evaluated on neuropsychological measures on and off DRT and compared to controls (n = 42). PD patients were impaired in executive, memory and motor domains irrespective of side of motor onset, although patients with left hemisphere deficit displayed greater cognitive impairment. Patients with right hemisphere deficit responded to DRT with significant improvement in sensorimotor deficits, and with corresponding improvement in attention and verbal memory functions. Conversely, patients with greater left hemisphere dopamine deficiency did not improve in attentional functions and declined in verbal memory recall following DRT. These findings support the presence of extensive mild cognitive deficits in early PD not fully explained by dopamine depletion alone. The paradoxical effects of levodopa on verbal memory were predicted by extent of fine motor impairment and sensorimotor response to levodopa, which reflects extent of dopamine depletion. The findings are discussed with respect to factors influencing variable cognitive profiles in early PD, including hemispheric asymmetries and differential response to levodopa based on dopamine levels predicting amelioration or overdosing.

Subclinical visuospatial impairment in Parkinson's disease: the role of Basal Ganglia and limbic system

BACKGROUND

Visual perception deficits are a recurrent manifestation in Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, structural abnormalities of fronto-parietal areas and subcortical regions, implicated in visual stimuli analysis, have been observed in PD patients with cognitive decline and visual hallucinations. The aim of the present study was to investigate the salient aspects of visual perception in cognitively unimpaired PD patients.

METHODS

Eleven right-handed non-demented right-sided onset PD patients without visuospatial impairment or hallucinations and 11 healthy controls were studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a specific visuoperceptual/visuospatial paradigm that allowed to highlight the specific process underlying visuospatial judgment.

RESULTS

Significant changes in both cortical areas and subcortical regions involved in visual stimuli processing were observed. In particular, PD patients showed a reduced activation for the right insula, left putamen, bilateral caudate, and right hippocampus, as well as an over-activation of the right dorso-lateral prefrontal and of the posterior parietal cortices, particularly in the right hemisphere.

CONCLUSIONS

We found that both loss of efficiency and compensatory mechanisms occur in PD patients, providing further insight into the pathophysiological role of the functional alterations of basal ganglia and limbic structures in the impairment of visuoperceptual and visuospatial functions observed in PD.

Imaging insights into basal ganglia function, Parkinson's disease, and dystonia

Recent advances in structural and functional imaging have greatly improved our ability to assess normal functions of the basal ganglia, diagnose parkinsonian syndromes, understand the pathophysiology of parkinsonism and other movement disorders, and detect and monitor disease progression. Radionuclide imaging is the best way to detect and monitor dopamine deficiency, and will probably continue to be the best biomarker for assessment of the effects of disease-modifying therapies. However, advances in magnetic resonance enable the separation of patients with Parkinson's disease from healthy controls, and show great promise for differentiation between Parkinson's disease and other akinetic-rigid syndromes. Radionuclide imaging is useful to show the dopaminergic basis for both motor and behavioural complications of Parkinson's disease and its treatment, and alterations in non-dopaminergic systems. Both PET and MRI can be used to study patterns of functional connectivity in the brain, which is disrupted in Parkinson's disease and in association with its complications, and in other basal-ganglia disorders such as dystonia, in which an anatomical substrate is not otherwise apparent. Functional imaging is increasingly used to assess underlying pathological processes such as neuroinflammation and abnormal protein deposition. This imaging is another promising approach to assess the effects of treatments designed to slow disease progression.

Pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease behavior--a view from the network

Advancements in neuroscience have uncovered an amazing complexity of connectivity between nuclei sites and circuits within the brain. Moreover, clinical and neuropathological study has revealed diffuse involvement of the nervous system in Parkinson's disease associated with early and/or significant clinical symptoms. Behavior manifestations in Parkinson's disease include cognitive decline and unwanted positive behaviors such as hallucinations and impulse-control disorders. The pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease can be conceptualized at multiple levels that include: (1) Molecular pathogenesis, (2) Cellular/Tissue abnormalities, (3) Neurochemical changes, (4) Site and circuit dysfunction, and (5) Network dysfunction. Currently, there is only a vague correlation with genetic abnormalities that manifest worse Parkinson's disease behavior problems, but abnormalities in misfolded proteins such as α-synuclein and Aβ peptide that are increased in cortical and subcortical areas do correlate with worse behavior signs and symptoms. Both Lewy-type synucleinopathy and Alzheimer's disease pathologies, along with loss of synaptic integrity, seem to correlate with Parkinson's disease cognitive decline. Neurochemical changes of dopamine, acetylcholine, and other monoamines are associated. The frontostriate circuit is most commonly implicated in Parkinson's disease behavior. However, there is now beginning to be evidence that diffuse global network dysfunction is possibly the unifying pathophysiology from all of these level abnormalities.

A review of the use of magnetic resonance imaging in Parkinson's disease

To date, the most frequently used Parkinson's disease (PD) biomarkers are the brain imaging measures of dopaminergic dysfunction using positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography. However, major advances have occurred in the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) biomarkers for PD in the past decade. Although conventional structural imaging remains normal in PD, advanced techniques have shown changes in the substantia nigra and the cortex. The most well-developed MRI markers in PD include diffusion imaging and iron load using T2/T2* relaxometry techniques. Other quantitative biomarkers such as susceptibility-weighted imaging for iron load, magnetization transfer and ultra-high-field MRI have shown great potential. More sophisticated techniques such as tractography and resting state functional connectivity give access to anatomical and functional connectivity changes in the brain, respectively. Brain perfusion can be assessed using non-contrast-agent techniques such as arterial spin labelling and spectroscopy gives access to metabolites concentrations. However, to date these techniques are not yet fully validated and standardized quantitative metrics for PD are still lacking. This review presents an overview of new structural, perfusion, metabolic and anatomo-functional connectivity biomarkers, their use in PD and their potential applications to improve the clinical diagnosis of Parkinsonian syndromes and the quality of clinical trials.

Structural alteration of the dorsal visual network in DLB patients with visual hallucinations: a cortical thickness MRI study

Visual hallucinations (VH) represent one of the core features in discriminating dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Previous studies reported that in DLB patients functional alterations of the parieto-occipital regions were correlated with the presence of VH. The aim of our study was to assess whether morphological changes in specific cortical regions of DLB could be related to the presence and severity of VH. We performed a cortical thickness analysis on magnetic resonance imaging data in a cohort including 18 DLB patients, 15 AD patients and 14 healthy control subjects. Relatively to DLB group, correlation analysis between the cortical thickness and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) hallucination item scores was also performed. Cortical thickness was reduced bilaterally in DLB compared to controls in the pericalcarine and lingual gyri, cuneus, precuneus, superior parietal gyrus. Cortical thinning was found bilaterally in AD compared to controls in temporal cortex including the superior and middle temporal gyrus, part of inferior temporal cortex, temporal pole and insula. Inferior parietal and supramarginal gyri were also affected bilaterally in AD as compared to controls. The comparison between DLB and AD evidenced cortical thinning in DLB group in the right posterior regions including superior parietal gyrus, precuneus, cuneus, pericalcarine and lingual gyri. Furthermore, the correlation analysis between cortical thickness and NPI hallucination item scores showed that the structural alteration in the dorsal visual regions including superior parietal gyrus and precuneus closely correlated with the occurrence and severity of VH. We suggest that structural changes in key regions of the dorsal visual network may play a crucial role in the physiopathology of VH in DLB patients.

Vestibular insights into cognition and psychiatry

The vestibular system has traditionally been thought of as a balance apparatus; however, accumulating research suggests an association between vestibular function and psychiatric and cognitive symptoms, even when balance is measurably unaffected. There are several brain regions that are implicated in both vestibular pathways and psychiatric disorders. The present review examines the anatomical associations between the vestibular system and various psychiatric disorders. Despite the lack of direct evidence for vestibular pathology in the key psychiatric disorders selected for this review, there is a substantial body of literature implicating the vestibular system in each of the selected psychiatric disorders. The second part of this review provides complimentary evidence showing the link between vestibular dysfunction and vestibular stimulation upon cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. In summary, emerging research suggests the vestibular system can be considered a potential window for exploring brain function beyond that of maintenance of balance, and into areas of cognitive, affective and psychiatric symptomology. Given the paucity of biological and diagnostic markers in psychiatry, novel avenues to explore brain function in psychiatric disorders are of particular interest and warrant further exploration.

Early cortical gray matter loss and cognitive correlates in non-demented Parkinson's patients

BACKGROUND

Whereas the motor dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD) has been related to deficits in basal ganglia (BG) structures, neural correlates of cognitive changes remain to be fully defined. This study tested the hypothesis that cognitive changes in non-demented PD may be related to cortical gray matter (GM) loss.

METHODS

High-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of the brain and comprehensive cognitive function tests were acquired in 40 right-handed, non-demented PD subjects and 40 matched controls. GM changes were assessed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in FSL. VBM and cognitive results were compared between PD and controls, and correlation analyses were performed between those brain areas and cognitive domains that showed significant group differences.

RESULTS

PD patients demonstrated significant GM reduction localized predominantly in frontal and parieto-occipital regions. Patients also showed reduced performance in fine motor speed and set-shifting compared to controls. Fine motor speed and set-shifting were associated with GM volume in the frontal cortex in controls, whereas these domains were associated primarily with occipital GM regions in PD patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-demented PD subjects demonstrate cortical structural changes in frontal and parieto-occipital regions compared to controls. The association between typically recognized "frontal lobe" function and occipital lobe volume suggested a compensatory role of occipital lobe to primary fronto-striatal pathology in PD. Further longitudinal study of these changing structure-function relationships is needed to understand the neural bases of symptom progression in PD.