Sharif Digital Repository

Introduction: The study of abnormal aggregation of proteins in different tissues of the body has recently earned great attention from researchers in various fields of science. Concerning neurological diseases, for instance, the accumulation of amyloid fibrils can contribute to Parkinson’s disease, a progressively severe neurodegenerative disorder. The most prominent features of this disease are the degeneration of neurons in the substantia nigra and accumulation of α-synuclein aggregates, especially in the brainstem, spinal cord, and cortical areas. Dopamine replacement therapies and other medications have reduced motor impairment and had positive consequences on patients’ quality of life.... 

The role of alpha-synuclein (αS) amyloid fibrillation has been recognized in various neurological diseases including Parkinson’s Disease (PD). In early stages, fibrillation occurs by the structural transition from helix to extended states in monomeric αS followed by the formation of beta-sheets. This alpha-helix to beta-sheet transition (αβT) speeds up the formation of amyloid fibrils through the formation of unstable and temporary configurations of the αS. In this study, the most important regions that act as initiating nuclei and make unstable the initial configuration were identified based on sequence and structural information. In this regard, a Targeted Molecular Dynamics (TMD)... 

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease, which is not easily diagnosed using clinical tests and the discovery of proper methods would be a major step towards a successful diagnosis. In the present study, we employed metabolic profiling using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to find metabolites in serum, which are helpful for the diagnosis of PD. Classification of PD and healthy subject was done using random forest. Serum levels of selenium measured by atomic absorption spectrometry in PD group were lower than the serum selenium levels in the control group. The metabolites causing selenium changes in PD patients were identified using random forest, and a model... 

Levodopa [L-3, 4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, or L-DOPA] is an important neurotransmitter used for the treatment of neural disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Abnormal L-Dopa concentrations in biological fluids can be used for the evaluation of such diseases. In this work, a rapid and sensitive method for L-DOPA detection has been reported which is based on in situ formation of polylevodopa nanoparticles. Under alkaline conditions, L-DOPA is spontaneously oxidized to its quinone derivative and shows fluorescence properties. The fluorescence signal of the oxidation product has been monitored and used for the determination of L-DOPA in the presence of dopamine, uric acid, ascorbic acid and other... 

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common and progressive neurological disorder. Parkinson's signs are caused by dysfunction in PD patient's brain network. Newly, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging has been utilized to assess the altered functional connectivity in PD patients. In this study, we investigated the properties of the brain network topology in 19 PD patients compared to 17 normal healthy group by means of graph theory. In addition, we used four different graph formation methods to explore linear and nonlinear relationships between fMRI signals. Each correlation measure created a weighted graph for each subject. Different graph characteristics have been... 

Studies have shown that balance and mobility in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) can improve through rehabilitation interventions. However, until now no quantitative method investigated how these patients improve their balance control. In this study, a single inverted pendulum model with PID controller was used to describe the improvement of forty PD patients after a 12-session therapy program, and to compare their balance with twenty healthy subjects. The Center of Pressure (COP) data were recorded in seven sensory conditions - on rigid and foam surface, each with eyes open and closed, and with visual disturbance; and stance on rigid surface with attached vibrator to the Achilles... 

Background: Impaired postural control in Parkinson's disease (PD) seriously compromises life quality. Although balance training improves mobility and postural stability, lack of quantitative studies on the neurophysiological mechanisms of balance training in PD impedes the development of patient-specific therapies. We evaluated the effects of a balance-training program using functional balance and mobility tests, posturography, and a postural control model. Methods: Center-of-pressure (COP) data of 40 PD patients before and after a 12-session balance-training program, and 20 healthy control subjects were recorded in four conditions with two tasks on a rigid surface (R-tasks) and two on foam.... 

Aggregation of the natively unfolded protein α-synuclein (α-syn) is key to the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Some nanoparticles (NPs) can inhibit this process and in turn be used for treatment of PD. Using simulation strategies, we show here that α-syn self-assembly is electrostatically driven. Dimerization by head-to-head monomer contact is triggered by dipole-dipole interactions and subsequently stabilized by van der Waals interactions and hydrogen bonds. Therefore, we hypothesized that charged nano-objects could interfere with this process and thus prevent α-syn fibrillation. In our simulations, positively and negatively charged graphene sheets or superparamagnetic iron oxide... 

Wearable human activity recognition systems (HAR) using inertial measurement units (IMU) play a key role in the development of smart rehabilitation systems. Training of a HAR system with patient data is costly, time-consuming, and difficult for the patients. This study proposes a new scheme for the optimal design of HARs with minimal involvement of the patients. It uses healthy subject data for optimal design for a set of activities used in the rehabilitation of PD1 patients. It maintains its performance for individual PD subjects using a single session data collection and an adaptation procedure. In the optimal design, several classifiers (i.e. NM, k-NN, MLP with RBF as a hidden layer, and... 

Background: Fear of falling (FoF) is defined as a lasting concern about falling that causes a person to limit or even stop the daily activities that he/she is capable of. Seventy percent of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients report activity limitations due to FoF. Timely identification of FoF is critical to prevent its additional adverse effects on the quality of life. Self-report questionnaires are commonly used to evaluate the FoF, which may be prone to human error. Objectives: In this study, we attempted to identify a new postural stability-indicator to objectively predict the intensity of FoF and its related behavior(s) in PD patients. Methods: Thirty-eight PD patients participated in the... 

Background: Balance training improves postural control in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, a systematic approach for the development of individualized, optimal training programs is still lacking, as the learning dynamics of the postural control in PD, over a training program, are poorly understood. Objectives: We investigated the learning dynamics of the postural control in PD, during a balance-training program, in terms of the clinical, posturographic, and novel model-based measures. Methods: Twenty patients with PD participated in a balance-training program, 3 days a week, for 6 weeks. Clinical tests assessed functional balance and mobility pre-training, mid-training, and post-training.... 

Background: Impairments of upper limb (UL) sensory-motor functions are common in Parkinson's disease (PD). Virtual reality exercises may improve sensory-motor functions in a safe environment and can be used in tele-rehabilitation. This study aimed to investigate the effects of supervised and non-supervised UL virtual reality exercises (ULVRE) on UL sensory-motor functions in patients with idiopathic PD. Methods: In this clinical trial study, 45 patients with idiopathic PD (29 male) by mean ± SD age of 58.64 ± 8.69 years were randomly allocated to either the control group (conventional rehabilitation exercises), supervised ULVRE or non-supervised ULVRE. Interventions were 24 sessions, 3... 

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a debilitating symptom in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), which may be associated with motor control impairments in tasks other than gait. This study aimed to examine whether symmetric and asymmetric bimanual coordination is impaired in PD with FOG (PD +FOG) patients and whether dual-task and drug phases may affect bimanual coordination in these patients. Twenty PD +FOG patients, 20 PD patients without FOG (PD –FOG) performed symmetric and asymmetric functional bimanual tasks (reach to and pick up a box and open a drawer to press a pushbutton inside it, respectively) under single-task and dual-task conditions. PD patients were evaluated during on- and... 

Memory and motor deficits are commonly identified in Parkinson's disease (PD). 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) is transformed to MPP+ via monoamine oxidase B (MAOB), which causes oxidative stress and destroys dopaminergic (DA) neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and is widely used to create animal models of PD. However, to-date, a comprehensive analysis of the MPTP effects on various aspects of PD does not exist. Here, we provide a systematic review and meta-analysis on the MPTP effects on memory and motor functions by analyzing 51 studies on more than one thousand animals mainly including rats and mice. The results showed that in addition to motor functions...