Lower calcium levels in hair of Parkinson's disease patients are associated with presence of sleeping disturbances.

Objectives: To investigate the correlation between sleep disorders and the concentrations of three metals analyzed from hair samples of PD patients.The hypothesis of an involvement of an imbalance of metals in the development of Parkinson's Disease (PD) has been strengthened by several clinical chemistry studies. Interestingly, while sparse, some studies have correlated the imbalance of metals in PD patients with comorbidities present in this disease. Although not all PD sufferers present sleep disturbances, significant disorders of sleep are common in this population. Methods: Sleep evaluation was divided into three parameters: sleep quality, excessive daytime sleepiness and clinically probable REM Sleep Behavior Disorder. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (F AAS) was used to assess the concentrations of calcium, iron and zinc in hair samples collected from a population of PD patients registered in a Brazilian city and from controls (a total of 53 subjects). All subjects lived within a restricted geographical region and were exposed to similar environmental conditions. Results: PD patients with poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness exhibited significant differences in concentrations of calcium, but not iron or zinc when compared to levels found in controls and PD patients who do not report these sleeping problems. Discussion: Our data suggest that different subgroups of PD patients exist, and clinical chemistry could be useful as a biomarker for these subgroups, which needs to be confirmed in a larger patient population. Further, our data raise the question regarding whether normalization of calcium levels could improve the sleep quality and somnolence in PD patients.

Higher zinc concentrations in hair of Parkinson's disease are associated with psychotic complications and depression.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is classically considered a motor disease; however, several non-motor symptoms are also present, including psychiatric complaints. In recent decades, the metals Ca, Fe, and Zn have gained prominence as potential etiologic factors in motoric signs of PD. However, metal alterations could be associated with the non-motor symptoms of PD. We wished to correlate the levels of these metals with the co-occurrence of depression, anxiety, and psychotic symptoms in PD patients. To this end, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Scales for Outcomes in Parkinson's disease-Psychiatric Complications (SCOPA-PC) were implemented to evaluate mood disorders and psychiatric complications. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was used to assess concentrations of Ca, Fe, and Zn in hair samples collected from 22 clinically diagnosed PD patients, which represented the entire cohort of accessible patients in a Brazilian health registry, and 33 healthy individuals. While Ca and Fe alterations were not found to be associated with psychiatric complaints in the PD group, significantly higher levels of Zn were correlated in PD patients with depression and some psychotic symptoms. Within individual domains of the SCOPA-PC, significantly higher levels of Zn were correlated with the presence of hallucination, illusion, and paranoid ideation when compared to controls and PD patients who did not present these symptoms. Although our sample size is small and findings need to be replicated in larger and heterogeneous populations, our results provide a new perspective on the use of monitoring of Zn levels as a potential biomarker of psychiatric complaints, and may be useful in the development of more effective therapeutic approaches for the management of PD patients with co-occurrence of psychiatric disorders.

Hair in Parkinson's disease patients exhibits differences in Calcium, Iron and Zinc concentrations measured by flame atomic absorption spectrometry - FAAS.

Imbalances in metals have emerged as playing a role in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's Disease (PD). Monitoring of metal levels could serve as a biomarker of presence, or future development, of this disease. To this end, we evaluated the ability of flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) to assess the concentrations of Ca, Fe and Zn in hair of PD patients and to investigate if there was an association with age and disease duration. Hair samples were collected from 26 clinically-diagnosed PD patients, and 33 healthy individuals. Concentrations of Ca and Fe were lower in PD patients when compared to control, whereas, a higher concentration of Zn was detected in PD patients. Levels of Ca and Fe did not vary with age nor with the duration of PD. While Zn did not present variation with duration of the disease, there was a correlation with age as PD patients older than 65 years exhibited a higher concentration of Zn than controls. We conclude that FAAS is useful for detecting differences in Fe, Ca and Zn in hair samples of patients with PD. Hair samples required for this method are easy to collect, and the technique relies on a simple method of digestion of the organic matrix. The ease of use of FAAS should allow for more frequent monitoring of metallic levels in patients in a variety of small clinical situations, thereby offering the hope of allowing systematic tracking of metal levels as the disease progresses, or prior to the defining motor symptoms.

Synthesis of 3-(4-Bromobenzyl)-5-(aryl methylene)-5H-furan-2-ones and their activity as inhibitors of the photosynthetic electron transport chain.

A series of 12 3-(4-bromobenzyl)-5-(arylmethylene)-5 H-furan-2-one lactones, designed using the naturally occurring toxin nostoclides as a lead structure, were synthesized and screened as potential inhibitors of photosynthetic electron transport. The structures were confirmed by (1)H and (13)C NMR, MS, and IR analyses. Their biological activity was evaluated both in vitro, as the ability to interfere with light-driven reduction of ferricyanide by isolated spinach chloroplasts, and in vivo, as the capability to inhibite the oxygen production by intact Chlorella cells. Some of the compounds exhibited inhibitory properties in the micromolar range against basal and phosphorylating electron flow from water to K 3[Fe(CN) 6], with no effect on uncoupled electron flow. Thus, they seem to behave as energy-transfer inhibitors. Although poor solubility in water may limit their effectiveness, the active derivatives could present structures to be exploited for the design of new substances endowed with herbicidal activity.

Qualidade de vida dos doentes com doença inflamatória intestinal antes e após tratamento cirúrgico / Quality of life in inflammatory bowel disease patients before and after surgical treatment

Foram entrevistados 44 doentes com doença inflamatória intestinal previamente submetidos a tratamento cirúrgico. Quarenta e dois doentes acharam que a operaçäo foi benéfica e realizada em data oportuna em 54,5 por cento dos doentes, tardia em 38,6 por cento e precoce em 6,8 por cento. A capacidade de trabalho permaneceu inalterada apesar da doença em 61,4 por cento e prejudicada em 20,4 por cento. Oito doentes näo trabalhavam por ocasiäo do início da doença. Após a operaçäo, 11,4 por cento permaneceram inalterados, 34,1 por cento consideraram-se melhorados quanto a capacidade laborativa. Cinqüenta por cento dos doentes permaneceram desempregados, em virtude do diagnóstico. Quanto a alteraçäo no aproveitamento escolar, 13,6 por cento consideraram que a doença näo interferiu, 15,9 por cento consideraram-se prejudicados e 70,5 por cento näo estudavam por ocasiäo do início da sintomatologia. Após a operaçäo, todos os que estudavam consideraram que seu proveitamento escolar melhorou. A doença melhorou o relacionamento familiar em 20,5 por cento dos casos e prejudicou em 13,6 por cento. O relacionamento sexual permaneceu inalterado em 63,6 por cento e prejudicado em 36,4 por cento. A operaçäo melhorou o desempenho sexual em 20,5 por cento e prejudicou em 29,5 por cento. O lazer foi prejudicado em 81,8 por cento dos doentes pela doença, caindo para 22,7 por cento após a operaçäo. Dos 44 doentes, 43 concordariam em serem operados novamente. Conclusöes: A doença inflamatória intestinal é responsável por piora da qualidade de vida representada pelo desempenho escolar, laborativo, sexual e atividades de lazer. O único aspecto que melhorou foi o relacionamento familiar. A operaçäo melhorou a qualidade de vida em todos os aspectos da maioria dos doentes. Apesar da melhora da capacidade laborativa, estes doentes foram discriminados em relaçäo a obtençäo de emprego