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Examining how heat affects people with Parkinson's disease is essential for informing clinical decision-making, safety, well-being, and healthcare planning. While there is evidence that the neuropathology associated with Parkinson's disease affects thermoregulatory mechanisms, little attention has been given to the association of heat sensitivity to worsening symptoms and restricted daily activities in people with this progressive disease. Using a cross-sectional study design, we examined the experiences of people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the heat. Two-hundred and forty-seven people completed an online survey (age: 66.0 ± 9.2 years; sex: male = 102 (41.3%), female = 145 (58.7%)), of which 195 (78.9%) reported becoming more sensitive to heat with Parkinson's disease. Motor and nonmotor symptoms worsened with heat in 182 (73.7%) and 203 (82.2%) respondents, respectively. The most commonly reported symptoms to worsen included walking difficulties, balance impairment, stiffness, tremor, fatigue, sleep disturbances, excess sweating, difficulty concentrating, and light-headedness when standing. Concerningly, over half indicated an inability to work effectively in the heat, and nearly half reported that heat impacted their ability to perform household tasks and social activities. Overall, heat sensitivity was common in people with Parkinson's disease and had a significant impact on symptomology, day-to-day activities and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Functional neurological disorders are common problems in neurologic practice. In the past decade there has been an increasing interest in this group of disorders both from a clinical as well as research point of view. In this review, we highlight some of the most salient and exciting publications from recent years focusing especially on new findings illuminating mechanism and studies examining treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idiomuscular response to direct percussion is rarely tested nowadays because of its uncertain mechanism and significance. While performing neurological examination, we observed a brisk ankle dorsiflexion response on direct muscle percussion of m. tibialis anterior in patients with acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP). In contrast, in patients with upper motor neuron lesions, an ankle inversion response was seen. In this article we describe our findings in patients with bilateral lower limb weakness. We assessed 73 consecutive patients with bilateral lower limb weakness. A strong dorsiflexion response to percussion of m. tibialis anterior was seen in 11 out of 14 patients with AIDP (sensitivity 78.6 %). None of the other patients showed a strong dorsiflexion response (specificity 100 %). An inversion response was seen in 11 out of 13 patients with UMN involvement (sensitivity 92.3 %). It was also noted in two of 46 patients without proven UMN involvement (specificity 96.7 %). The idiomuscular response to percussion of m. tibialis anterior can be useful in the assessment of patients with lower limb weakness of unclear cause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiopathic-isolated focal dystonia (IIFD) is a movement disorder characterised by involuntary, sustained muscle contractions, leading to abnormal postures. Psychopathology is frequent in patients with IIFD, and while traditionally this was thought to be a secondary phenomenon, there is emerging evidence for shared neurobiological mechanisms. We conducted a single-centre cross-sectional study of 103 consecutive patients with IIFD and two comparison groups: 78 consecutive patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS) and 93 healthy control subjects. Assessments with regard to psychiatric disturbances were performed using self-report questionnaires, including the self-report version of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS-SR), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Compared to healthy control subjects and patients with HFS, the IIFD group had higher OCS, anxiety, and depression scores as measured by the Y-BOCS-SR, BAI, and BDI, respectively. The Y-BOCS-SR, BAI, and BDI were highly correlated across all the subjects. Logistic regression analysis showed that the main driver of high obsessive-compulsive symptom scores, irrespective of neurological diagnosis, was the BDI, whereas it was BAI (and not BDI), that drives the association between the psychiatric rating scale scores and the neurological diagnosis. Our findings suggest that while clinically significant obsessive-compulsive symptoms are over-represented in IIFD patients relative to controls, the BAI may have better discriminatory power to distinguish between the psychiatric symptoms in IIFD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on a study which examines the pathology and olfactory impairment in neurodegenerative disorders with brain iron accumulation (NBIA). It examines an olfactory tissue from NBIA patients and a mouse model for iron deposition. It shows that hyposmia in NBIA is associated with ferritin and iron deposition in the olfactory system.