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Background: The Saitohin gene has recently been identified in intron 9 of the Tau gene. Because an association between Parkinson's disease and Tau has been described, Saitohin represents a candidate gene for Parkinson's disease.Objective: To test these two genes for their association with Parkinson's disease in a large community based case-control study.Results: Cases (n = 208) were more often homozygotes for the Tau H1 haplotype than controls (n = 483; odds ratio (OR) = 1.71 (95% confidence interval, 1.20 to 2.43); p = 0.003), and the saitohin Q allele was in complete linkage disequilibrium with the H1 haplotype. This association was stronger among cases with Parkinson's disease onset below 65 years (< or =65 years: OR = 2.52 (1.49 to 4.25); p<0.001) than among those with older onset (>65 years: OR = 1.20 (0.73 to 1.98); p<0.47).Conclusions: The data suggest that there is a functional polymorphism at this locus involved in Parkinson's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify factors predicting improvement in motor disability in writer's cramp treated with botulinum toxin (BTX). Methods: 47 patients with writer's cramp were treated with BTX and were evaluated by the same neurologists at initial referral, after each BTX injection, and when the effect of BTX was maximal at the time of the study. Patients and examiners simultaneously and independently rated the efficacy of BIX injections. Self assessment was a global clinical impression of the impact of treatment on writing quality, writing speed, writing errors, and legibility of handwriting; for objective assessment, the examiners used the Burke-Fahn-Marsden (BFM) scale. Results: On the BFM scale, there was a significant improvement (p<0.0001) in both severity and disability scores. Patients with a pronation/flexion pattern of dystonia showed the best and the most sustained improvement. Primary writing tremor was little improved. There was a correlation between the self assessment score and the Burke-Fahn-Marsden score. Benefit was maintained over time Conclusions: These results have implications for the identification of patients most likely to benefit from BTX injections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The risk factors of progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare but severe Parkinsonian syndrome, are poorly known., Objective: To study the risk factors of PSP in a case control study among French patients., Method: The study was conducted between April 2000 and December 2003. Cases were in- or outpatients of five large hospitals and fulfilled the Golbe criteria. Controls were relatives of patients from the same hospitals, free of Parkinsonian syndrome and dementia, and matched to cases for age, gender and living area. Data on demographic characteristics, occupation history, diet habits, anti-inflammatory drugs use, alcohol consumption, smoking habits, gardening and leisure activities, and exposure to pesticides were collected through a face-to-face questionnaire. A conditional logistic regression was used to analyse matched data and estimate OR., Results: 79 cases and 79 controls were included. Only a few comparisons were significant. Cases reached a lower education attainment than controls (odds ratio (OR) = 2.6 (1.3 to 5.3), p = 0.01). Analysis of diet habits did not show any major difference although cases ate meat or poultry more frequently. Conversely, controls ate fruits more frequently than did cases. No association was found between PSP and occupation, use of pesticides, gardening, alcohol consumption, smoking habits and anti-inflammatory agent use., Conclusion: In this case-control study, we did not find any strong environmental risk factors for PSP.