Telemedicine for the care of nursing home residents with Parkinson's disease

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) often require nursing home care, where access to neurologists is limited. Telemedicine uses information and communication technologies to provide health care to individuals who are geographically separate from providers. We present a video report of a nursing home resident with PD who received telemedicine visits over 8 months from a movement disorders specialist. The visits resulted in improvements in motor and cognitive symptoms and suggest that telemedicine may be useful for delivering care to this population. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society     

Predictors of nursing home placement in patients with alzheimer's disease

Sixty-six outpatients with mild to moderate dementia in Alzheimer's disease at baseline were examined twice with an interval of 12 months. Twenty-two of these patients who were admitted to a nursing home within this period were compared to a group of 44 patients who remained living at home with respect to demographic data, cognitive and physical dysfunction, behavioural changes in daily living and the burden of caregivers. Stepwise discriminant function analysis revealed that older age, global cognitive decline, incontinence, aggression, depression, and the caregiver's wish to leave the care to someone else were predictors for nursing home placement ithin 1-year follow-up and correctly classified 82% of the cases. The study indicates that factors predicting nursing home placement in Alzheimer patients are complex, including demographic characteristics, level of cognitive and physical functioning, behavioural abnormalities in daily living, as well as burden of the caregiver, and are consistent with predictors of institutionalization found in healthy elderly individuals.     

Parkinson's disease and hospital admissions: frequencies, diagnoses and costs

Objective –  To evaluate the frequencies, causes and costs related to hospital admissions for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and controls.
Methods –  In a prospective cohort study, 108 patients with PD from a population-based prevalence study and 854 age- and sex-matched controls were followed regarding admissions to the Stavanger University Hospital over a period of 12 years.
Results –  There was no significant difference regarding the number of patients admitted, number of admissions or length of stay between the two cohorts. Based on 2005 prices, the costs per person year of survival were EUR 3288 for patients with PD and EUR 2466 for control individual with incremental costs of EUR 822. However, the difference in costs was not statistically significant. The two cohorts had a different distribution of diagnoses causing hospital admissions. Patients with PD were more often admitted for PD-related symptoms and falls, while vascular disorders and cancer were substantially more common in control individuals.
Conclusion –  Hospitalization in PD does not induce incremental costs. The diagnoses causing hospital admissions were different in patients with PD as compared with controls. Our results indicate that cancer and vascular diseases might be less common in patients with PD than in the general population.     

帕金森病与阿尔茨海默病

普遍认为帕金森病和阿尔茨海默病是两个独立的、有着显著判别的疾病。但是,相当数量为证据表明,二者具有相互重叠的临床和神经病理特征、相似的病因和病变发生机制。因此,现在有人认为这两种疾病的部分病例可能是同一种神经元退行性变疾病的不同表现形式。本文拟对此作一介绍。     

Nursing care of patients with Parkinson's disease

Nursing interventions for each of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease, muscle rigidity, bradykinesia, tremors at rest and postural reflex abnormalities, are designed to increase the patient's quality of life by minimizing symptoms. Nurses are responsible for planning patient medication schedules to maximize drug effectiveness. Dietary implications include a low-protein regimen for the patient during the day, eliminating foods high in Vitamin B6, high caloric foods, and soft-solid foods offered at frequent feedings. Constipation is addressed by increasing the patient's fiber and fluid intake and by increasing the patient's mobility. Patient mobility is increased when the patient is taught purposeful activities and to concentrate on the way he walks. Communication is facilitated if the patient takes deep breaths before speaking and uses diaphragmatic speech. A telephone receiver which amplifies the patient's voice is also available. Interventions are good only if the patient chooses to implement them; he is the head of the health team planning his care.     

Discriminatory behavior towards a person with Alzheimer's disease: Examining the effects of being in a nursing home

Objectives: This study examined determinants of discriminatory behavior towards a person with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using an attribution model. More specifically, the effects of residing in a nursing home compared with the community were examined.

Method: A phone survey was conducted during the summer of 2007 with a representative sample of 501 lay persons (mean age = 49) in Israel. Information regarding participants’ discriminatory behavior towards a male person with AD was elicited using a vignette methodology. The effects of emotional reactions, perceptions of dangerousness and responsibility of the person depicted in the vignette as well as perceptions about the susceptibility of developing Alzheimer's disease were examined together with the effects of place of residence.

Results: Four forms of discriminatory behavior were found: coercion to restraint physically, coercion to restraint medically, segregation and avoidance. Results of the study provided partial support for an extended version of the attribution model, in that negative emotions were found to increase discrimination, whereas pity decreased avoidance. Perceptions of dangerousness were one of the main variables predicting discrimination. Contrary to the hypothesized relationships, being in a nursing home did not increase discrimination.

Conclusion: The present study adds new information about factors associated to the stigma of AD.     

Interest in predictive testing for Parkinson's disease: impact of neuroprotective therapy

As predictive testing for Parkinson's disease (PD) becomes available, it will be important to understand in whom such testing will be used. To address this issue, we conducted a mail survey of 138 first-degree relatives of PD patients. In the absence of treatment, 60% reported that they would either “definitely” or “probably” be interested in predictive testing. In the setting of a clinical trial, this number increased to 71% (p=0.04) and when neuroprotective therapy is available, interest increased to 90% (p<0.001). Interest in predictive testing for PD is moderate in the absence of effective therapy, and goes up significantly when both clinical trial participation and neuroprotective therapy are offered.     

帕金森病患者丘脑底核电极植入术中位置判断和调整

目的探讨帕金森病患者脑深部刺激术（DBS）中丘脑底核（STN）电极植入位置准确性判断和调整。方法对137例帕金森病（PD）患者进行了丘脑底核DBS治疗,其中单侧68例,双侧69例。采用磁共振扫描,图像直接定位和坐标值定位相结合的方法计算靶点坐标,微电极记录细胞外放电。术中采用微毁损效应,观察刺激效果和副作用,X线透视和带立体定向头架MRI复查。结果绝大部分患者都能观察到电极植入的微毁损效应、电刺激效果和刺激副作用,术中X线透视和带立体定向头架MRI复查能观察到电极实际位置,并进行必要的调整。结论通过微毁损效应、电刺激效果和刺激副作用观察以及术中影像学检查能及时纠正电极位置偏差,减少二次手术,从而提高PD患者的DBS疗效。     

New therapies for Parkinson's disease

In the last decade there has been a surge of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of Parkinson's disease along with a change of concepts about how the disease should be treated. The gold standard remains levodopa preparations, which have a rapid and dramatic symptomatic effect by replenishing the reduced dopamine levels in caudate and putamen nuclei. However, keeping in mind the complications that may emerge following long-term treatment, its initiation should possibly be delayed to the more advanced stages of the illness, especially in younger patients, in favour of dopamine agonists monotherapy. The adverse reactions that become prominent and disabling in late stages of the disease, i. e., dyskinesias, response fluctuations, and psychiatric side effects, can currently be managed by novel pharmacological as well as surgical strategies. Future therapies will focus on transplantation of dopaminergic embryonic tissue, gene therapy, and neuroprotective treatments. Received: 22 December 2000 / Accepted: 5 January 2001     

Epidemiology of Parkinson's disease

The incidence of Parkinson syndrome in North America is 20.5/10⁵, adjusted to 1970 US population, and there has been no significant change between 1935 and 1979. The composition of different Parkinson variants in the general population, however, has altered remarkably during recent decades. Arteriosclerotic Parkinsonism is very rarely diagnosed now, post-encephalitic Parkinsonism is extinct and drug induced Parkinsonism, first identified in the 1950s, is now the second most common variant in the combined community and institutionalised population survey. There has been a trend to higher incidence of Parkinson's disease in recent decades and it is predicted that the incidence would rise further if the current population survival trends continue. There is no race or gender difference for the risk of Parkinson's disease. Survival in Parkinson's disease has increased since the widespread use of levodopa. The prevalence rate of Parkinson syndrome in North America is estimated at 300/105. Increased risk of Parkinson's disease in essential tremor patients and the reported protective effect of smoking are artifactual. Twin studies show a concordance rate of 10.5% in monozygotic and 10.8% in dizygotic twins, indicating against a major genetic basis for Parkinson's disease. Several large Parkinson's disease families with autosomal dominant inheritance are well documented. In one such family, linkage to chromosome 4 is reported and mutation in the a-synuclein gene has been identified. In several other families, linkage to that region was not detected. These families are believed to inherit a Parkinson's disease susceptibility trait.     

The effect of integrated emotion-oriented care versus usual care on elderly persons with dementia in the nursing home and on nursing assistants: a randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of integrated emotion-oriented care on nursing home residents with dementia and nursing assistants. DESIGN: A multi-site randomized clinical trial with matched groups, and measurements at baseline and after seven months. SETTING: Sixteen psychogeriatric wards in fourteen nursing homes in the Netherlands. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and forty-six elderly residents with the diagnosis dementia of the Alzheimer (DAT) type, mixed DAT and vascular dementia, and dementia syndrome (NAO) and 99 nursing assistants. INTERVENTIONS: Integrated emotion-oriented care and usual care. MESUREMENTS: Demented elderly: Behaviour and mood related to adaptation to the illness and the institutionalization. Nursing assistants: General health as measured by feelings of stress, stress reactions, feeling of competence and illness. RESULTS: Positive effects in favour of the integrated emotion-oriented care were found in mild to moderately demented residents on two adaptive tasks: maintaining an emotional balance (less anxiety) and preserving a positive self-image (less dissatisfaction). In the trained group of nursing assistants fewer stress reactions were found only in those who perceived improvement in their emotion-oriented care skills after training. CONCLUSION: Emotion-oriented care is more effective with regard to the emotional adaptation in nursing homes of persons with a mild to moderate dementia. For the severely demented elderly we did not find this surplus value. This outcome is of clinical importance for elderly persons with dementia who are cared for in nursing homes. With respect to the nursing assistants it is concluded that emotion-oriented care has a positive influence on stress reactions in some of them.     

Prevalence of radiological and clinical cerebrovascular disease in idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Comorbid cerebrovascular disease (CVD) can occur in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) but its reported prevalence varies considerably. CVD may alter the clinical presentation, course and prognosis in IPD. We aimed to determine the prevalence of radiological and clinical CVD in a neurology clinic IPD population. We undertook a retrospective case-control study of neurology clinic patients with IPD for whom cerebral imaging was available, and excluding probable vascular parkinsonism. IPD diagnosis was validated against UK PDS brain bank criteria. Age and sex-matched controls were identified from patients attending neurology clinics with headache. The presence of radiological cerebrovascular disease, symptomatic CVD (stroke and TIA), and CVD risk factors was recorded for cases and controls. Radiological findings were validated by an experienced consultant neuroradiologist using a structured proforma. Eighty-five cases and 85 controls were studied, based on the number of cases for whom brain imaging existed (CT in 50, MRI in 35) and the number of cases for whom suitable controls could be identified. Indications for brain imaging amongst cases were varied. Cases and controls comprised 55(65%) males, mean (±SD) age (years) 67.4 ± 10.1 (cases), 66.6 ± 9.9 (controls). Radiological CVD was significantly commoner amongst cases (39%) than controls (22%) (p = 0.02, chi-square; odds ratio 2.2, 95% CI: 1.1-4.6). Cases also had significantly more symptomatic CVD, but not CVD risk factors, than controls. Our findings suggest a higher prevalence of radiological and clinical CVD in patients with IPD compared to controls.     

Backward inhibition in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease has been associated with executive dysfunction, especially task-switching deficits. One factor contributing to task-switching costs is backward inhibition, as measured by less efficient performance when switching back to a task from which one has recently switched away. This alternating-switch cost is considered to be due to persisting inhibition of elements of the previous task set after a switch. In this study, patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and controls performed three tasks (A-C) in an intermixed fashion. Patients with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and controls showed equivalent response times. However, the patients made significantly more errors during an alternating switch (i.e., ABA) than did control participants. In contrast, there was no group difference in accuracy in the comparable condition of two consecutive switches between different tasks (i.e., CBA). In addition, accuracy for the two groups was similar for trials in which the task was repeated. These data suggest that Parkinson's disease is associated with either increased backward inhibition, or a reduced ability to overcome this inhibition when reactivating a recently abandoned task set.