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Characterization of Cannabis Use in Male and Female Patients with Parkinson's Disease for Analysis of Potential Neurotoxic Implications

Description
Cannabis use is increasing both medically and recreationally. Over the last decade studies have investigated sex differences associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) diagnosis and degenerative symptoms. Previous research has shown that cannabis use has had either a beneficial or deleterious effect on PD symptoms. This research will examine whether sex…

Cannabis use is increasing both medically and recreationally. Over the last decade studies have investigated sex differences associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) diagnosis and degenerative symptoms. Previous research has shown that cannabis use has had either a beneficial or deleterious effect on PD symptoms. This research will examine whether sex differences exist among the positive or negative effects of cannabis use in PD. In this paper, an analysis of sex-based differences between male and female cohorts categorized across 2,700 participants is completed under the Fox Insight data set. Each cohort will be compared to 14 nonmotor symptoms and 8 motor symptoms commonly associated with PD. In each cohort mean age, cannabis intake, cannabis dose, cannabis type, and PD diagnosis are analyzed within groups. Each symptom (motor and nonmotor) was analyzed between cohort responses to indicate if there was beneficial or worsening effect within cannabis. Results indicated that the designated female cohort reported both beneficial and worsening effects of cannabis use regarding both motor and nonmotor symptoms. The positive symptoms primarily consisted of individual motor functioning (e.g. dyskinesia, stiffness, back pain, etc.) while the worsening symptoms primarily consisted of nonmotor functioning (e.g. anxiety and apathy). Meanwhile, the male cohort only reported beneficial effects towards nonmotor symptoms (e.g. dystonia, muscle cramps, heart rate). These findings suggest the need for further examination of nigrostriatal pathways and hypothalamic integrity in PD, as it may provide more information into the effects of cannabis use based on sex differences.
ContributorsHooten, Madeline Loraine (Author) / Ofori, Edward (Thesis advisor) / Daniulaityte, Raminta (Committee member) / Peterson, Daniel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022

Do Cognitive Tests Within the Same Domain Similarly Affect Freezing of Gait Status in People with Parkinson’s Disease?

Description

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by involuntary tremors, muscle rigidity, slowed movement, and cognitive impairments. Some people with PD experience “Freezing of Gait” (FOG), which is an acute inability to release effective stepping. The severity of Freezing of Gait can be influenced by disease duration, disease severity, and medication. Freezing…

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is characterized by involuntary tremors, muscle rigidity, slowed movement, and cognitive impairments. Some people with PD experience “Freezing of Gait” (FOG), which is an acute inability to release effective stepping. The severity of Freezing of Gait can be influenced by disease duration, disease severity, and medication. Freezing of Gait can lead to an increased risk of falls, mood disorders, reduced quality of life, poorer cognition, and executive function impairments (Morris et. al.). It is important to understand how Freezing of Gait can affect cognition, as this can alter the plan of cognitive rehabilitation that the patient receives in order to improve their cognition. Within each of these domains, are a variety of tests that all claim to measure the same cognition the same way and achieve similar results. A recent meta analysis assessed this hypothesized effect. However, to best understand this relationship, it is important to assess whether the effects of FOG status on cognition are similar across cognitive tests of the same domain. This research was performed by using a previously completed meta analysis on PD tests and the domains that tests fall into. Each of the domains were analyzed individually, and the most common tests used within each domain were compared to determine their effect sizes. The effect sizes were then compared to determine which tests have a greater influence on cognition, and if the effect sizes of each test within the same domain are similar, showing that FOG affects cognition to a similar degree.
ContributorsMcCormack, Téa (Author) / Peterson, Daniel (Thesis director) / Ofori, Edward (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor)
Created2023-05
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The Impact of Divided Attention on Cognitive and Gait Outcomes in People with Parkinson's Disease

Description

The purpose of the present analysis was to (1) determine the DTI for absolute and percentage-based measures of gait and cognitive performance and (2) quantitatively characterize the prioritization between tasks for people with PD and healthy older controls. W evaluated a gait task and a cognitive task (backwards counting) during…

The purpose of the present analysis was to (1) determine the DTI for absolute and percentage-based measures of gait and cognitive performance and (2) quantitatively characterize the prioritization between tasks for people with PD and healthy older controls. W evaluated a gait task and a cognitive task (backwards counting) during single-task and dual-task conditions in healthy older adults and patients with PD and noted their respective dual-task interference and prioritization scores. We found that this analysis does not totally support the literature that patients with PD will exhibit a Posture-Second strategy when presented with dual-tasking conditions. Instead, this analysis found that with both healthy older adults as well as adults with PD, there is an inconclusive Prioritization strategy utilized by both groups. The exception to this was the Male Controls, who exhibited a more Posture-First strategy. With the current knowledge, future research into Prioritization strategies for both healthy older adults and adults with Parkinson's should investigate the effect of Gender.
ContributorsSturm, Rebecca (Author) / Peterson, Daniel (Thesis director) / Ofori, Edward (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Global Health (Contributor)
Created2022-05
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A study on home based Parkinson's disease monitoring and evaluation: design, development, and evaluation

Description
Parkinson's disease, the most prevalent movement disorder of the central nervous system, is a chronic condition that affects more than 1000,000 U.S. residents and about 3% of the population over the age of 65. The characteristic symptoms include tremors, bradykinesia, rigidity and impaired postural stability. Current therapy based on augmentation…

Parkinson's disease, the most prevalent movement disorder of the central nervous system, is a chronic condition that affects more than 1000,000 U.S. residents and about 3% of the population over the age of 65. The characteristic symptoms include tremors, bradykinesia, rigidity and impaired postural stability. Current therapy based on augmentation or replacement of dopamine is designed to improve patients' motor performance but often leads to levodopa-induced complications, such as dyskinesia and motor fluctuation. With the disease progress, clinicians must closely monitor patients' progress in order to identify any complications or decline in motor function as soon as possible in PD management. Unfortunately, current clinical assessment for Parkinson's is subjective and mostly influenced by brief observations during patient visits. Thus improvement or decline in patients' motor function in between visits is extremely difficult to assess. This may hamper clinicians while making informed decisions about the course of therapy for Parkinson's patients and could negatively impact clinical care. In this study we explored new approaches for PD assessment that aim to provide home-based PD assessment and monitoring. By extending the disease assessment to home, the healthcare burden on patients and their family can be reduced, and the disease progress can be more closely monitored by physicians. To achieve these aims, two novel approaches have been designed, developed and validated. The first approach is a questionnaire based self-evaluation metric, which estimate the PD severity through using self-evaluation score on pre-designed questions. Based on the results of the first approach, a smart phone based approach was invented. The approach takes advantage of the mobile computing technology and clinical decision support approach to evaluate the motor performance of patient daily activity and provide the longitudinal disease assessment and monitoring. Both approaches have been validated on recruited PD patients at the movement disorder program of Barrow Neurological Clinic (BNC) at St Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. The results of validation tests showed favorable accuracy on detecting and assessing critical symptoms of PD, and shed light on promising future of implementing mobile platform based PD evaluation and monitoring tools to facilitate PD management.
ContributorsPan, Di (Author) / Petitti, Diana (Thesis advisor) / Greenes, Robert (Committee member) / Johnson, William (Committee member) / Dhall, Rohit (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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The Neural Control and Adaptability of Reactive Balance Responses in Parkinson’s Disease

Description
Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement and balance control. Falls are a common and often debilitating consequence of PD, and reactive balance control is critical in preventing falls. This dissertation aimed to determine the adaptability and neural control of reactive balance responses in people with…

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement and balance control. Falls are a common and often debilitating consequence of PD, and reactive balance control is critical in preventing falls. This dissertation aimed to determine the adaptability and neural control of reactive balance responses in people with PD. Aim 1 investigated whether people with PD at risk for falls can improve their reactive balance responses through a 2-week, 6-session training protocol. The study found that reactive step training resulted in immediate and retained improvements in stepping, as measured by the anterior-posterior margin of stability (MOS), step length, and step latency during backward stepping. The second aim explored the neural mechanisms behind eliciting and learning reactive balance responses in PD. The study investigated the white matter (WM) correlates of reactive stepping and responsiveness to step training in PD. White matter was not significantly correlated with any baseline stepping outcomes. However, greater retention of step length was associated with increased fractional anisotropy (FA) within the left anterior corona radiata, left posterior thalamic radiation, and right and left superior longitudinal fasciculi. Lower radial diffusivity (RD) within the left posterior and anterior corona radiata were associated with retention of step latency improvements. These findings highlight the importance of WM microstructural integrity in motor learning and retention processes in PD. The third aim examined the role of the somatosensory system in reactive balance control in people with PD. The tactile and proprioceptive systems were perturbed using vibrotactile stimulation during backward feet-in-place balance responses. The results showed that tactile and proprioceptive stimulation had minimal impact on reactive balance responses. Small effects were observed for delayed tibialis anterior (TA) onsets with proprioceptive stimulation at a medium intensity. Overall, this dissertation provides insights into improving reactive balance responses and the underlying neural mechanisms in PD, which can potentially inform the development of targeted interventions to reduce falls in people with PD.
ContributorsMonaghan, Andrew S (Author) / Peterson, Daniel S (Thesis advisor) / Ofori, Edward (Committee member) / Daliri, Ayoub (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew P (Committee member) / Fling, Brett W (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023