Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0030567 (Parkinson's disease)
 63,064 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several primitive reflexes are common in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), but can also be noted in patients who have diffuse cerebral degeneration. The glabellar response is present in virtually all patients with PD and this reflex has been of theoretical interest in PD. It has been suggested that the glabellar response is related to inhibition via dopamine pathways. We examined changes in several primitive reflexes as a function of the plasma dopamine level and the severity of PD. The probability of observing these reflexes did not vary with dopamine levels, but the corneomandibular and palmomental reflexes were significantly more likely to be present in patients with advanced disease. Our findings confirm that primitive reflexes are prominent in PD and suggest that they may be secondary to extrapyramidal disease.
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PMID:Influence of dopamine and disease severity on primitive reflexes in Parkinson's disease. 273 61

Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are frequent in patients with Parkinson's disease, manifesting mainly as dysphagia, disorders of gastric emptying and constipation. The most likely causes of these disorders are cerebral degeneration and degeneration of the myenteric plexus. Although the effect of antiparkinsonian medication is largely overestimated, it certainly has an influence and should be adapted accordingly in patients with GI motility disorders. In particular, anticholinergic drugs should be avoided, and anamnesis, clinical examination and, if necessary, diagnostic tests performed. Domperidone, a peripheral dopamine antagonist, is the drug of choice for motility disorders of the upper GI tract, although cisapride is an alternative. In the lower GI tract, conservative therapeutic options should be used in the first instance. The administration of cisapride leads to a marked temporary improvement in symptoms in lower GI disorders, while rare forms of anism (involuntary dystonic contraction of the anal sphincter) may be treated with botulinum toxin.
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PMID:Gastrointestinal motility problems in patients with Parkinson's disease. Effects of antiparkinsonian treatment and guidelines for management. 910 86

The study was made of 17 patients with expected Alzheimer's disease (AD), 29 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 7 with a expected dementia with Levy bodies (DLB). The severity of cognitive disorders was determined according to the following scales: Global Deterioration Rating Scale, Mini-mental State Examination, Mattis Dementia Rating Scale. Besides, the patients state was evaluated, in the whole, according to some scales. Permeability of hemato-encephalic barrier was evaluated according to the blood serum levels of 3 neurospecific proteins--neuron specific enolase, glial fibrillary protein and alpha-glycoprotein. Their determination was performed by ELISA method. The significant elevation of the levels of the proteins studied was found already on the early stages of the disease. Their levels were higher in the patients with the dementia as compared with the individuals without it. There were no differences in cortical, subcortical and combined types of dementia. The authors believe, that some of the proteins studied (neuron specific enolase, for example) may serve as non specific markers of cerebral degeneration.
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PMID:[Permeability of hemato-encephalic barrier in Alzheimer's disease and parkinsonism with cognitive disorders]. 1150 13

Preliminary studies have shown associations between chronic pesticide exposure in occupational settings and neurological disorders. However, data on the effects of long-term non-occupational exposures are too sparse to allow any conclusions. This study examines the influence of environmental pesticide exposure on a number of neuropsychiatric conditions and discusses their underlying pathologic mechanisms. An ecological study was conducted using averaged prevalence rates of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral degeneration, polyneuropathies, affective psychosis and suicide attempts in selected Andalusian health districts categorized into areas of high and low environmental pesticide exposure based on the number of hectares devoted to intensive agriculture and pesticide sales per capita. A total of 17,429 cases were collected from computerized hospital records (minimum dataset) between 1998 and 2005. Prevalence rates and the risk of having Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and suicide were significantly higher in districts with greater pesticide use as compared to those with lower pesticide use. The multivariate analyses showed that the population living in areas with high pesticide use had an increased risk for Alzheimer's disease and suicide attempts and that males living in these areas had increased risks for polyneuropathies, affective disorders and suicide attempts. In conclusion, this study supports and extends previous findings and provides an indication that environmental exposure to pesticides may affect the human health by increasing the incidence of certain neurological disorders at the level of the general population.
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PMID:Association between environmental exposure to pesticides and neurodegenerative diseases. 2160 87

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease, are disorders, which cause irreversible and progressive deterioration of the central nervous system. The pathophysiology of NDDs is still not fully explained; nevertheless, oxidative stress is considered as a critical mediator of cerebral degeneration, brain inflammation, as well as neuronal apoptosis. Therefore, it is not surprising that redox biomarkers are increasingly used in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. As saliva is a very easy to obtain bioliquid, it seems promising to use this biomaterial in the diagnosis of NDDs. Saliva collection is easy, cheap, stress-free, and non-infectious, and it does not require the help of a specialised medical personnel. Additionally, the concentrations of many salivary redox biomarkers correlate with their content in blood serum as well as the degree of disease progression, which makes them non-invasive indicators of NDDs. This paper reviews the latest knowledge concerning the use of salivary redox biomarkers in the diagnosis and prognosis of selected neurodegenerative diseases.
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PMID:Salivary Redox Biomarkers in Selected Neurodegenerative Diseases. 3205 22