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Osaki Y, Morita Y, Kuwahara T, Miyano I, Doi Y. Prevalence of Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonian syndromes in a rural Japanese district. Acta Neurol Scand: 2011: 124: 182–187. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Objectives – To investigate the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonian syndromes (APS) in a rural Japanese district. Method – Collaboration with the medical institutions, the long-term care insurance system facilities, and the public health office. Results – The crude prevalence rates were 175 per 100 000 (95% CI: 143–206) for PD, 18 (8–28) for progressive supranuclear palsy, 17 (7–26) for multiple system atrophy (MSA), and 9 (2–16) for corticobasal degeneration. The age-adjusted prevalence rates were 109 per 100 000 (88–134), 10 (2–17), 13 (4–21), and 6 (0–12), for each condition. There was a preponderance of women with PD and of men with APS. Nine of the 116 PD patients and 7 of the 29 APS patients were newly diagnosed in this study. Conclusions – There are high prevalence rates for PD and APS and suboptimal recognition of APS. This is the first epidemiological prevalence study of MSA from Japan.

Osaki Y, Koga M, Matsubayashi K, Yuki N. Asymmetric pharyngeal–cervical–brachial weakness associated with anti-GT1a IgG antibody. Acta Neurol Scand 2002: 106: 234–235. © Blackwell Munksgaard 2002. We report a case of markedly asymmetric pharyngeal–cervical–brachial weakness. Acute progression of symptoms, albuminocytologic dissociation in cerebrospinal fluid, electrophysiologic evidence of demyelination and elevation of IgG anti-GT1a antibody titer paralleled the clinical course, support the diagnosis of Guillain–Barre syndrome. Guillain–Barre syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis of cranial neuropathy, even in cases where there is marked asymmetry.