Journal of neurology
-
Journal of neurology · Feb 2009
Clinical TrialBilateral subthalamic nucleus stimulation in advanced Parkinson's disease: five year follow-up.
To assess the long-term efficacy and safety of bilateral subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease (PD). ⋯ Our data confirm that bilateral STN stimulation is beneficial in the long-term for PD patients but does not prevent disease progression and the occurence of axial levodopa unresponsive signs in some patients.
-
Journal of neurology · Feb 2009
Migraine and tumour necrosis factor gene polymorphism. An association study in a Sardinian sample.
To assess the possibility of an association between TNF gene polymorphisms and migraine without aura, a case-control study was performed in a Sardinian sample. Migraine without aura is a complex genetic disease in which susceptibility and environmental factors contribute towards its development. Several studies suggest that tumour necrosis factors (TNF) (TNF-alpha and lymphotoxin-alpha or TNF-ss) may be involved in the pathophysiology of migraine. ⋯ We found a statistically significant difference in allele (p = 0.018; OR = 1.46 95 % CI: 1.066 to 2.023) and genotype (trend chi2 = 5.46, df = 1, p = 0.019) frequencies of TNF-beta gene, between cases and controls. Allele and genotype frequencies of TNF-alpha polymorphism did not differ significantly between the two groups. These data suggest that subjects with the TNFB2 allele have a low risk of developing migraine without aura and/or that the polymorphism of the TNF-beta gene is in linkage disequilibrium with other migraine responsible genes in the HLA region.