Postural instability and falls are a major source of disability in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. These problems are currently not well addressed by either pharmacotherapy nor by subthalamic nucleus deep-brain stimulation surgery. The neuroanatomical substrates of posture and gait are poorly understood but a number of important observations suggest a major role for the pedunculopon...

Parkinsonism, as a gradually progressive disorder, has a prodromal interval during which neurodegeneration has begun but cardinal manifestations have not fully developed. A systematic direct assessment of this interval has never been performed. Since patients with idiopathic REM sleep behaviour disorder are at very high risk of parkinsonism, they provide a unique opportunity to observe directly...

In advanced stages of Parkinson's disease, serotonergic terminals take up L-DOPA and convert it to dopamine. Abnormally released dopamine may participate in the development of L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias. Simultaneous activation of 5-HT1A and 5-HT1B receptors effectively blocks L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias in animal models of dopamine depletion, justifying a clinical study with eltoprazine, a 5-HT...

Background: The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale is the most commonly used scale in the clinical study of Parkinson’s disease. However, it may fail to capture the essence of physical impairment in patients with Parkinson’s disease and thus limit responsiveness of caregivers, patients, and/or clinicians as to increasing physical disability. This study sought to compare subjective measure...

Objective The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether cognitive behavioral group therapy has a positive impact on psychiatric, and motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD). Methods We assigned 20 PD patients with a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder to either a 12-week cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) group or a psychoeducational protocol. For the neurological examin...