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)

Diphenylhydantoin (DPH) diminished the therapeutic effects of levodopa both in patients with parkinsonism and in patients with chronic manganese poisoning, as well as the levodopa-dependent dyskinesia for which the former were selected. In patients with Huntington chorea, it enhanced chorea and mental agitation and, thus, failed to conform with the postulated pharmacological reciprocity between Parkinson disease and Huntington chorea. These findings are in agreement with experiments done in animals in which DPH blocked a neuronal response to dopamine.
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PMID:Diphenylhydantoin. Blocking of levodopa effects. 12 56

Mental symptoms increased in frequency among 100 patients with parkinsonism treated with levodopa. Dementia was found in about one-third of patients throughout the 6-year treatment period. Thirteen patients became demented during the study, and dementia worsened severely in seven others. Agitated confusion became increasingly frequent and was observed in 60 percent of patients taking levodopa for 6 years. Withdrawal from levodopa decreased agitation, but not dementia. Ten patients received L-tryptophan along with levodopa, but no change in mentation was observed. In view of previous studies of mentation in Parkinson's disease and reports of widespread neuronal changes in the brain of autopsied patients with parkinsonism, our results suggest that the high incidence of dementia in patients with Parkinson's disease who take levodopa reflects prolongation of the course of the illness rather than a direct effect of the medication.
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PMID:Mental symptoms in Parkinson's disease during chronic treatment with levodopa. 94 87

The behaviour of some urinary metabolites of tryptophan/nicotinic acid pathway was studied in 7 patients with Parkinson's disease during a 24-day period of levodopa treatment. Corresponding to the appearance of side-effects (agitation, anorexia, dysphagia, glossitis, abdominal pains) in 5 patients there was an increase in urinary Ky, AA, AAG, o-AHA, and 3-HK, while 3-HAA excretion fell. Since no other drugs were given, it was presumed that this effect was due to levodopa administration.
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PMID:Tryptophan/nicotinic acid pathway during levodopa treatment of Parkinsonism. 124 93

Memantine is a 1-amino-adamantane derivative which has been proposed to be useful in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Its beneficial effect has been related to its novel properties as an NMDA receptor blocker which can neutralize the effect of glutamate at striatal and subthalamic levels. In the present study, conducted in an open-fashion, 14 parkinsonian patients with motor fluctuations taking L-dopa, were given a supplement of memantine 30 mg/day. After one month, 10 patients completed the treatment (4 discontinued it due to abdominal pain, psychomotor agitation, confusion and dizziness). In 5 patients, the main parkinsonian features improved significantly (1 point or more on the Webster scale). In 6 patients, "off" episodes improved (from daily mean of 273 minutes, to 172 minutes). In summary, memantine addition to parkinsonian features, could form a basis for novel therapeutic strategies directed to neutralize the effects of glutamate at striatal and subthalamic levels.
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PMID:Efficacy of memantine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. 138 98

Despite some evidence that neuroleptic medication is overused or misused in long-term care facilities for the elderly, there has been virtually no attention paid to the pattern of use of antidepressants in these facilities. All patients in long-term care in a geriatric hospital and a home for the aged who were receiving antidepressants were identified; 10.5% of the patients in the hospital and 12.7% in the home for the aged were receiving an antidepressant. The rate of use of antidepressants on the different units ranged from 0% to 26.8%. The most commonly prescribed antidepressant was doxepin followed by nortriptyline. The mean dose of antidepressant was 34.8 mg. Although depression was the most common reason for the prescription of an antidepressant (69% of patients receiving one), other reasons included pain, agitation, aggression, and insomnia. Patients had been receiving antidepressants for up to 10 years, with a mean duration of 32 months. The majority of patients (60%) had a history of depression predating their institutional admission. Patients receiving antidepressants were compared to a group not receiving antidepressants, who were matched for age, sex, unit, and attending physician. Patients receiving antidepressants were more likely to have a history of stroke (33.8% versus 16.9%). There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the prevalence of dementia, Parkinson's disease, thyroid disease, malignant tumor, congestive heart failure, or diabetes mellitus. Prospective studies are required to determine the efficacy of antidepressants in this population and to identify factors that can predict a positive response to treatment.
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PMID:Pattern of use of antidepressants in long-term care facilities for the elderly. 141 68

Lewy bodies are intraneuronal inclusions initially found in the pigmented brainstem nuclei of patients with Parkinson's disease. Their aspect varies according to their neuronal or cerebral situation. They have been a long time the hallmark of Parkinson's disease, but in recent years it has emerged that a small group of rare disorders or rare variants of common degenerative diseases are also sometimes associated with Lewy bodies in the nervous system. Pathological studies have also individualized a new disorder characterized by the presence of numerous Lewy bodies throughout the cerebral cortex and the brainstem: Lewy body disease. The clinical syndrome associates dementia, parkinsonian features, dysautonomia and motor neuron disease. The dementia is cortical in type and psychiatric symptoms such as agitation, hallucinations or delusions are frequent. The pathological features are nerve cell loss, diffuse Lewy bodies, and sometimes senile plaques. The origin of this disorder remains unclear, but it could be a primitive abnormality of neuronal cytoskeleton.
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PMID:[From Parkinson's disease to Lewy body disease]. 153 93

Akathisia refers to subjective inner restlessness and a feeling of the need to move. Its occurrence in association with Parkinson disease suggests a common underlying pathophysiological mechanism. We investigated the relationship of neuroleptic-induced akathisia to drug induced parkinsonism in a group of 123 neuroleptic-treated elderly chronic schizophrenic inpatients (mean age: 63.9 +/- 8.9 years). In addition, since neuroleptic-induced akathisia has been noted to be more common in females, we studied the severity of akathisia separately by gender. Akathisia was present in 40 patients (32.5%). We found no significant differences in the severity of akathisia between patients with and these without parkinsonism. Although a significantly larger proportion of females than males had akathisia, there were no significant differences in respect of parkinsonism. Our findings do not support a major role for the dopaminergic system in the pathophysiology of akathisia might be related to dysfunction of nondopaminergic systems.
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PMID:Relationship of neuroleptic-induced akathisia to drug-induced parkinsonism. 198 Feb 70

In the absence of pathognomonic clinical features, the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains one of exclusion of other dementias. We investigated the clinical diagnoses among 394 neuropathologically confirmed AD cases in a dementia brain bank. Most patients were correctly diagnosed as AD (348 or 88%). Among the misdiagnosed patients, AD was mistaken for a primary depressive disorder in 14, multi-infarct dementia in 13, Parkinson's disease in nine, and alcoholic dementia in four. The number of misdiagnosed AD patients did not differ between physician specialties but was greater among AD patients with agitation, depression, paranoia, or delusions. This retrospective study suggests that the diagnostic sensitivity for AD is high among a cross-section of practicing physicians and that an important factor in mistaking AD for another illness is unfamiliarity with the potential psychiatric symptoms of AD.
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PMID:Neuropathologically confirmed Alzheimer's disease: clinical diagnoses in 394 cases. 205 48

Using the presence of widespread cortical Lewy bodies (LB) as the pathologic criteria of diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD), we describe serial neurologic and mental status examinations in 6 patients with DLBD, 3 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 1 patient with Parkinson's disease (PD). The 6 patients with DLBD included 3 with neocortical neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) consistent with coincident AD. Most patients with DLBD had gait impairment concurrent with mild to moderate dementia. Abnormalities of tone or resting tremor were also prominent early symptoms in the subjects with DLBD, but not AD. Patients with DLBD frequently had abnormal EEGs with background posterior slowing and a frontally dominant burst pattern at the time of mild to moderate dementia. Agitation, hallucinations, and delusions were frequent early symptoms in DLBD patients. Patients with DLBD without concomitant AD had numerous Alz-50 negative cortical plaques. Patients with DLBD have a distinct clinical syndrome that can be differentiated from AD. Pathologic features, including the absence of Alz-50 immunoreactivity, also differentiate DLBD from AD.
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PMID:Antemortem diagnosis of diffuse Lewy body disease. 217 Aug 65

Primary care physicians have a vital role to play in identifying depression in their elderly patients. Diagnosis may be difficult, because symptoms are atypical and frequently include psychomotor agitation, somatic symptoms, and complaints of memory loss. Patients with medical illnesses, such as cancer, postmyocardial infarction, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and early Alzheimer's disease are particularly vulnerable to depression. Drugs that may cause depressive symptoms are digitalis at toxic levels, beta-blockers, centrally acting antihypertensives, immunosuppressants, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Cyclic antidepressants are the drugs of first choice. Selection depends on the patient's physical health and current medications and the side effect profile of the drug. Side effects are more pronounced in old age because of drug accumulation owing to slowed clearance. Troublesome side effects are anticholinergic effects, orthostatic hypotension, sedation, cardiotoxicity, and weight gain. The most useful antidepressants for geriatric patients are the secondary amines, desipramine and nortriptyline. The second-generation drug trazodone has the advantage of causing the least anticholinergic effects, but it is very sedating. Before treatment, the patient should have an electrocardiogram, liver function tests, tonometry, sitting and standing blood pressures, evaluation of urinary symptoms for outflow obstruction, review of current medications, and estimation of suicide risk. Cyclic antidepressants are contraindicated during recovery from myocardial infarction, in heart disease when there is severe impairment of myocardial performance, in seizure disorders, and in the presence of glaucoma or a large prostate. Drug interactions that may cause trouble can occur with epinephrine, MAO inhibitors, thyroid hormone, cimetidine, and centrally acting antihypertensives. Dosage should start low, increasing usually by 25 mg every 4 to 5 days until a therapeutic level is reached. Failure of a noradrenergic antidepressant after 4 to 5 weeks can be followed by a trial of a serotonergic drug. Drug serum level monitoring is useful for imipramine, desipramine, and nortriptyline. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors are effective in many elderly patients who are resistant to TCAs. Sympathomimetic drugs must be avoided with MAOIs. Elderly patients are at high risk of toxicity and drug interactions with lithium. Electroconvulsive therapy is useful for patients who do not respond to drug treatment, but medical complications, particularly cardiovascular, often occur in patients 75 or older. Many patients relapse after ECT. Psychotherapy together with pharmacotherapy may be the optimal treatment for elderly depressives. Older patients are more likely to become chronically depressed than younger patients. The risk of suicide in depressed elderly males is high, particularly in those with psychosocial problems, and depression rises with age.
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PMID:Management of depression in the elderly. 266 41


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