Caracterización de pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson en un centro de referencia de la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia / Characterization of patients with Parkinson's disease in a reference center of Bogotá, Colombia

Introducción: la enfermedad de Parkinson es una de las enfermedades neurodegenerativas más prevalentes a nivel mundial. Se han documentado las características clínicas de presentación de la enfermedad, además de los síntomas motores y no motores. En nuestra población no hay datos al respecto. Objetivo: describir las características demográficas y clínicas de una cohorte de pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson, evaluados en un centro de referencia de movimientos anormales de la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia. Materiales y métodos: estudio descriptivo retrospectivo de los pacientes con enfermedad de Parkinson que asisten a la consulta de movimientos anormales. Se observaron todos los pacientes registrados en la base de datos de enero de 2013 hasta junio de 2015 y se revisaron las variables sociodemográficas, los síntomas motores y no motores y se analizaron de acuerdo al tiempo de evolución de la enfermedad. Todos los datos fueron analizados en el programa SPSS, en donde se establecieron frecuencias, promedios y proporciones. Resultados: se analizaron en total 446 pacientes, de los cuales el 50.7 % son mujeres. La edad promedio encontrada fue de 68 años. Encontramos en ellos, síntomas pre-motores como hiposmia en un 33.6 % y alteraciones del sueño REM en un 32 %. Los síntomas motores experimentados como de presentación inicial fueron: temblor (62.3 %), bradicinesia (15.9 %), rigidez (12.6 %), dificultad para caminar (8.1 %), alteración del equilibrio (1.6 %) y caídas (1.6 %). Conclusión: en la población estudiada se encontraron frecuencias de patrones motores similares con los registros internacionales, sin embargo, las características demográficas y las manifestaciones no motoras tuvieron algunas diferencias.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. It's clinical presentation, motor and non-motor signs have been described previously. In our population, we don't know the frequency of those signs and symptoms. Objective: Describe the clinical presentation, motor and non-motor signs of a cohort of patients with Parkinson's disease, that were evaluated in a movement disorders center of reference, at Bogotá, Colombia. Materials and methods: Descriptive retrospective study of patients with Parkinson's disease, who went to the movement disorders clinic between January 2013 and June 2015. Patients were organized depending on the time from the onset of the disease. Socio-demographic variables, motor and non-motor signs and symptoms where studied. Frequencies, mean and proportions were analyzed using SPSS 22 version. Results: 446 patients were analyzed, from which 50.7% were women. The mean age found was 68 years old. We found hiposmia in 33.6% of patients and abnormalities in REM sleep in 32% of them. The first motor symptoms noticed by the patient were tremor (62.3%), bradykinesia (15.9%), stiffness (12.6%), difficulty walking (8.1%), balance problems (1.6%) and falls (1.6%). Conclusion: Parkinson's disease is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease worldwide. Its clinical presentation is diverse, and in our population we have never study the patterns of presentation. We found similar frequencies compared with the international registries of this disease, with some difference in demographic and non-motor symptoms.

Dynamic control of osmolality and ionic composition of the xylem sap in two mangrove species.

• Premise of the study: Xylem sap osmolality and salinity is a critical unresolved issue in plant function with impacts on transport efficiency, pressure gradients, and living cell turgor pressure, especially for halophytes such as mangrove trees.• Methods: We collected successive xylem vessel sap samples from stems and shoots of Avicennia germinans and Laguncularia racemosa using vacuum and pressure extraction and measured their osmolality. Following a series of extractions with the pressure chamber, we depressurized the shoot and pressurized again after various equilibration periods (minutes to hours) to test for dynamic control of osmolality. Transpiration and final sap osmolality were measured in shoots perfused with deionized water or different seawater dilutions.• Key results: For both species, the sap osmolality values of consecutive samples collected by vacuum extraction were stable and matched those of the initial samples extracted with the pressure chamber. Further extraction of samples with the pressure chamber decreased sap osmolality, suggesting reverse osmosis occurred. However, sap osmolalities increased when longer equilibration periods after sap extraction were allowed. Analysis of expressed sap with HPLC indicated a 1:1 relation between measured osmolality and the osmolality of the inorganic ions in the sap (mainly Na+, K+, and Cl-), suggesting no contamination by organic compounds. In stems perfused with deionized water, the sap osmolality increased to mimic the native sap osmolality.• Conclusions: Xylem sap osmolality and ionic contents are dynamically adjusted by mangroves and may help modulate turgor pressure, hydraulic conductivity, and water potential, thus being important for mangrove physiology, survival, and distribution.