Linguistic, psychometric validation and diagnostic ability assessment of an Italian version of a 19-item wearing-off questionnaire for wearing-off detection in Parkinson’s disease

Clinical characteristics of patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis carrying the pathogenic GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat expansion of C9ORF72

A large hexanucleotide (GGGGCC) repeat expansion in the first intron of C9ORF72, a gene located on chromosome 9p21, has been recently reported to be responsible for 40% of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases of European ancestry. The aim of the current article was to describe the phenotype of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases carrying the expansion by providing a detailed clinical description of affected cases from representative multi-generational kindreds, and by analysing the age of onset, gender ratio and survival in a large cohort of patients with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We collected DNA and analysed phenotype data for 141 index Italian familial amyotrophic l…

Prognostic factors and risk groups in T1G3 patients initially treated with BCG: Results of a multicenter retrospective series in 1743 patients

Introduction and Objectives: The impact of prognostic factors in T1G3 patients (pts) is critical for proper treatment decision making, however most available data are from small series of pts. The aim of the current study is to assess prognostic factors in a large group of pts who received BCG as initial treatment of T1G3 tumours and identify a subgroup of high risk pts who should be considered for early cystectomy. Patients and Methods: Individual pt data were collected for 1743 ptsfrom 20 centers who received induction or maintenance BCG between 1990 and 2008. Using Cox regression analysis, the prognostic importance of the following variables were assessed for time to recurrence, progress…

ATNX2 is not a regulatory gene in Italian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients with C9ORF72 GGGGCC expansion

Abstract There are indications that both familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and sporadic ALS phenotype and prognosis are partly regulated by genetic and environmental factors, supporting the theory that ALS is a multifactorial disease. The aim of this article was to assess the role of ATXN2 intermediate length repeats in a large series of Italian and Sardinian ALS patients and controls carrying a pathogenetic C9ORF72 GGGGCC hexanucleotide repeat. A total of 1972 ALS cases were identified through the database of the Italian ALS Genetic consortium, a collaborative effort including 18 ALS centers throughout Italy. The study population included: (1) 276 Italian and 57 Sardinian ALS ca…

Early DEtection of wEaring off in Parkinson disease: The DEEP study

Assessing the frequency of Wearing-Off (WO) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, and its impact on Quality of Life (QoL). METHODS: Consecutive ambulatory patients, who were on dopaminergic treatment for ≥ 1 year, were included in this multicentre, observational cross-sectional study. In a single visit, WO was diagnosed based on neurologist assessment as well as using the validated Italian version of a patient self-rated 19-question Wearing-Off Questionnaire (WOQ-19); WO was defined for scores ≥ 2. QoL was evaluated by the 8-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-8). RESULTS: 617 subjects were included, with a mean anti-Parkinson treatment duration of 6.6 ± 4.6 years, 87.2% were on lev…

THE IMPACT OF RE-TUR ON CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN A LARGE COHORT OF T1G3 PATIENTS TREATED WITH BCG.

Scopo del lavoro Re-TUR is strongly advocated for T1G3, because of the high incidence residual disease and mainly the risk of substaging. Its real clinical value remains to be determined and the clinical factors that may influence the decision. Some authors suggest that when muscle is present in the specimen, re-TUR may be avoided. To evaluate if the presence of muscle or not at the first TUR in T1G3 bladder cancer makes a difference in recurrence, progression and cancer specific survival after re-TUR. Materiali e metodi In a large retrospective cohort of 2530 primary T1G3 initially treated with BCG, 953 (37.7%) had a re-TUR. According to the presence or not of muscle in the specimen of pri…

CHCH10 mutations in an Italian cohort of familial and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Mutations in CHCHD10 have recently been described as a cause of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) comorbid with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The aim of this study was to assess the frequency and clinical characteristics of CHCHD10 mutations in Italian patients diagnosed with familial (n= 64) and apparently sporadic ALS (n= 224). Three apparently sporadic patients were found to carry c.100C>T (p.Pro34Ser) heterozygous variant in the exon 2 of CHCHD10. This mutation had been previously described in 2 unrelated French patients with FTD-ALS. However, our patients had a typical ALS, without evidence of FTD, cerebellar or extrapyramidal signs, or sensorineural deficits. We confirm that CHC…

THE IMPACT OF DIFFERENT BCG STRAINS ON OUTCOME IN A LARGE COHORT OF T1G3 PATIENTS TREATED WITH BCG