Role of activated brain regions during tactile stimulation in early Parkinson's disease: a preliminary fMRI study / 浙江大学学报·医学版

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the role of activated brain regions in Parkinson's disease (PD) during tactile stimulation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Twenty-one patients with early PD[mean age (60.43 +/-9.65)y] and twenty-two age-matched healthy controls [mean age (59.23 +/-11.12)y] were enrolled in the study. All the patients were tested by the United Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) as the evaluation of the disease severity. A block design was used when the finger tactile stimulation was given to the subjects. The hypoactive and hyperactive regions of PD patients were confirmed first, which were identified as regions of interest (ROI). ROI analysis was performed to quantify BOLD signal changes when subjects were under tactile stimulation. The correlations of signal changes with disease severity, and correlations of hyperactive with hypoactive regions were analyzed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Right primary sensory and motor cortex, right supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral caudates, bilateral precuneus, bilateral occipital visual cortex and left middle temporal gyrus were hypoactivated in PD, while right prefrontal cortex (PFC) and right caudate were hyperactivated. The hypoactivation of right SMA was negatively correlated with disease severity. All the hypoactive and hyperactive regions were positively correlated with activation of caudates. There was a positive correlation between hyperactive PFC and hypoactive regions.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>The signal change of SMA is directly related to disease severity in early PD, and caudates may play a significant role in PD tactile processing. The hyperactivation of PFC may be not a compensation but a pathophysiological change related to PD neural dysfunction.</p>

Dynamical examination of auditory event-related potentials P300 and sympathetic skin response in people with insomia of Sweet Dream Capsule therapy / 中国中药杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the change of auditory event-related potentials (P300) and sympathetic skin response (SSR) in people with insomia of Sweet Dream Capsule therapy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>30 patients meeting criteria for primary insomnia and 30 healthy volunteers with age matching controls were selected for the study. P300 and SSR were measured before treatment of Sweet Dream Capsule and at week 4 , 8 of the therapeutic course. That the change of P300 and SSR before and after treatment and their relations with PSQI were studied.</p><p><b>RESULT</b>Compared with those of normal controls, both P300 latency and SSR latency were prolonged while amplitude was decreased in patients with insomnia (P < 0.01). P300 amplitude was increased significantly at central (Cz) electrode sites only at week 8 when compared with amplitude before treatment (P < 0.05). With improvement of symptom and PSQI scores, latency and amplitude of SSR were improved at week 4 and week 8 (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01) .</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>P300 has a some improvement in people with insomia of Sweet Dream Capsule therapy while SSR im proves significantly, and PSQI scores are ameliorated too.</p>