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This study aimed to clarify associations of clinical and neuropsychological features and change in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) on 123 I-IMP-SPECT in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) who developed dementia. Sixty-one PD patients (mean age, 65.9 ± 8.6 years; mean disease duration, 11.0 ± 11.0 years) were recruited and followed-up for two years. Clinical and neuropsychological characteristics, and rCBF from SPECT were compared between PD patients who developed dementia (PDD+) and those who remained undemented (PDD-). Thirty-eight PD patients (62.3%) were diagnosed with PD-MCI at baseline. During follow-up, 22 PD patients (36%) developed dementia (PDD+). Univariate logistic regression models showed that Hoehn and Yahr scale 4 (odds ratio [OR] 5.85; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.35-30.75]), visual hallucination (OR 5.95; 95%CI 1.67-25.4]), and PD-MCI (OR 6.47; 95%CI 1.57-39.63]) represented a significant risk factor for PDD+. Among neuropsychological parameters, WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)-III block design (OR 6.55; 95%CI 1.66-29.84), letter number sequencing (OR 7.01; 95%CI 1.65-36.64), digit-symbol coding (OR 3.90; 95%CI 1.13-14.2), Wechsler Memory Scale, revised (WMS-R) visual paired associates II (delayed recall) (OR 4.68; 95%CI 1.36-17.36), Logical memory I (immediate recall) (OR 8.30; 95%CI 1.37-90.89), Logical memory II (delayed recall) (OR 6.61; 95%CI 1.35-44.33), Visual reproduction I (immediate recall) (OR 7.67; 95%CI 2.11-31.40), and Visual reproduction II (delayed recall) (OR 5.64; 95%CI 1.62-21.47) were significant risk factors. Decreased rCBF assessed using the general linear model (two-sample t-test) by SPM8 was observed in the left precuneus (0, -66, 16), right cuneus (6, -76, 30), and left angular gyrus (-46, -74, 32) in PDD+ compared with PDD- patients. Collectively, we have here shown that clinical and neuropsychological characteristics as well as changes to rCBF in PD patients who converted to PDD+. These features should be carefully monitored to detect the development of dementia in PD patients.

This study aimed to clarify associations between neuropsychological scales and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of on ‍ 123 I-IMP-SPECT in patients with Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI). Forty-two participants (mean age, 65.5 ± 8.9 years; mean disease duration, 11.1 ±5.7 years) were evaluated using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, third edition (WAIS-III), Wechsler Memory Scale, revised (WMS-R), Stroop test, Category word fluency, Auditory verbal learning test, Raven colored progressive matrices, Trail Making Test-B, and Clock drawing test. Participants were classified into PD-MCI and PD non-demented (PD-ND) using ten of these scales or its subtests. The rCBF of the posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and parietal lobes was evaluated by ‍ 123 I-IMP-SPECT using the easy Z-‍score imaging system (eZIS analysis). Extent was the extent index of voxels showing z-score > 2, and Severity was mean z-score in those regions on eZIS analysis. Cingulate island sign score (CIScore) was the ratio of integrated z-scores of the posterior cingulate gyrus to those of the posterior cortex.Twenty-three participants were diagnosed with PD-MCI (55%). The rCBF indices were significantly increased in the PD-MCI group compared to the PD-ND group (Extent: P = 0.047; CIScore: P = 0.006). These indices were significantly correlated with WAIS-III Processing Speed (Extent: P = 0.041, R = -0.317; Severity: P = 0.047, R = -0.309), Stroop effect (Extent: P = 0.003, R = 0.443; Severity: P = 0.004, R = 0.437), WMS-R Visual memory (Extent: P = 0.019, R = -0.361; Severity: P = 0.014, R = -0.375), and Delayed memory score (Extent: P = 0.005, R = -0.423; Severity: P = 0.044, R = -0.312). The rCBF indices showed no correlations with the number of impaired cognitive domains. Collectively, decreased posterior parietal area rCBF and lower scores on selective neuropsychological scales might be helpful to detect a transition period from PD-MCI to PD-D.

Numerous epidemiological studies have shown that the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE) is a strong genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) among people from various ethnic backgrounds. ApoE occurs as three isoforms that differ at two amino acids residues (112 and 158): ApoE ε2, ε3, and ε4. The ε4 allele is responsible for a genetic predisposition to AD, increasing the risk of AD by approximately 4-fold compared to the common ε3 allele. In contrast, the ε2 allele shows a protective effect against AD. APOE ε4 is known to affect the age at onset of AD in a dose-dependent manner. In addition to the role of genetic risk, increasing evidence suggests that the substantial effects of APOE genotypes on cognitive function, imaging and biomarker findings, have been reported in cognitively normal individuals in an age-dependent manner. A high frequency of amyloid deposition among cognitively normal, aged individuals carrying the APOE ε4 allele has been demonstrated. This suggests that APOE ε4 facilitates amyloid deposition during the very early phase of AD pathogenesis. Preventive intervention by using disease-modifying drugs is now being investigated through an exploratory clinical trial for the cognitively normal, aged individuals with the APOE ε4 allele.

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common cause of neurodegenerative dementia in the elderly. DLB is clinically characterized by fluctuating cognitive dysfunction, visual hallucinations, and parkinsonism. It is sometimes difficult to clinically diagnose patients with DLB because of the overlap of the clinical and pathological findings of this disease with those of Alzheimer's disease. Precise clinical diagnosis is important for determining the drug therapy appropriate for improving DLB symptoms. Biomarkers that enable more accurate diagnosis of DLB and reflect its complex clinical progression are highly desired. Cognitive impairment frequently occurs in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The common pathological features of DLB and PD are Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, both of which are composed of α-synuclein. DLB and PD are now considered to belong to a common spectrum of disorders designated as Lewy body disease (LBD). We have previously reported that the α-synuclein levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are significantly lower in patients with DLB than in patients with other types of dementia. However, the significance of quantifying the CSF α-synuclein levels as a biomarker for DLB has been a matter of debate because the results for these levels have been inconsistent among different studies. Similar inconsistency has been observed in studies on the plasma α-synuclein levels in patients with LBD. Here, we review the recent progress on biomarkers of LBD, especially in DLB, and discuss their application to clinical diagnosis.

We report the case of a 76-year-old man with apraxia of eyelid opening (AEO) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis with dementia (ALS-D)/frontotemporal lobar degeneration with motor neuron disease (FTLD-MND). The initial symptom was AEO. Neurological examination revealed mainly bulbar symptoms with a neurogenic pattern on needle electromyograms of the tongue muscles and the biceps muscles. Furthermore, he developed severe dementia with frontal lobe dysfunction and progressive non-fluent aphasia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed severe cerebral atrophy and leukoaraiosis in the bilateral frontal lobes and the anterior part of the bilateral temporal lobes; brain 99mTc ethyl cysteinate dimer single photon emission computed tomography (ECD SPECT) showed hypoperfusion in the same areas. The patient showed improvement in stereotyped behavior and AEO after treatment with 50 mg/day of fluvoxamine maleate (the initial dose was 25 mg/day). Because serotonin receptors are markedly reduced in the frontal and temporal cortexes of patients with FTLD, we considered that dysfunction of the serotonergic system in the frontotemporal lobe caused AEO. Considering the findings of this case along with those of previous reports, we propose that there is a relatively homogeneous development of ALS-D/FTLD-MND with AEO.

A 39 year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of severe headache with fever continuing over two weeks. Three days after admission he developed aphasia and right hemiparesis, when his CT revealed subarachnoid hemorrhage at the left sylvian fissure. He was diagnosed as suffering from cerebral venous thrombosis because empty delta sign was positive on the enhanced brain CT. Suprasagittal sinus and bilateral transverse sinuses were not detected on the cerebral angiography. He was also diagnosed as having Graves' disease for the first time on the basis of free T3 13.56 pg/ml, free T4 4.65 ng/dl, TSH < 0.01 IU/ml, anti-TSH receptor antibody 4.3 IU/l, and thyroid stimulating antibody 224%. On the examination, homocystine and activities of antithrombin III, protein C, and protein S were normal. Antinculear, anti-DNA, anti-Sm, anticardiolipin beta2GP-I antibodies, and PR3ANCA were negative. Factor VIII activity, however, markedly increased over 300%, which has been known to increase in the cases of hyperthyroidism. He recovered well after the treatment with thiamazole in addition to warfarin followed by intravenous heparin. There are only six cases of cerebral venous thrombosis due to hyperthyroidism with increased factor VIII level. All of those cases were female, and 5 of them were taking oral contraceptives. This is a first Japanese male case.

We report a 37-year-old woman with slowly developing muscular weakness for 2 years following insidious stiffness of calf muscle. Serum CK was elevated up to 4,207 IU/l. She presented sleepiness, weakness of proximal and truncal muscles and systemic muscular atrophy. While she had not experienced dyspnea, her arterial blood gas analysis revealed extreme hypoxia and hypercapnea due to weakness of respiratory muscles. Echocardiogram showed thinness and hypokinesis of left ventricular wall, and arrhythmia was pointed out by holter ECG. Needle elctromyogram of the proximal muscles exhibited polyphasic units with low amplitude. Muscle biopsy showed degeneration and necrosis of muscle fibers as well as regeneration. Mild infiltration of inflammatory cells was shown. Serological examination showed positive antimitochondrial M2 antibody, especially specific for primary biliary chirrhosis (PBC). She was diagnosed as chronic myositis associated with PBC. Four cases of idiopathic myositis with severe weakness of respiratory muscle, associated with PBC had been reported. These cases and our present case share the similar feature in respect of insidious or chronic course and resistance to therapy. In our present patient, respiration had been supported by BiPAP and she has been successfully improving slowly by oral steroid following 4 courses of methylprednisolone pulse therapy.