Meetings and Links
Links
Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists
European Parkinson's Disease Association
The Canadian Movement Disorder Group
Worldwide Education and Awareness for Movement Disorders
Meetings
The Movement Disorder Society
17th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease
and Movement Disorders
16 - 20 June 2013, Sydney, NSW
www.movementdisorders.org/congress/congress13/
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9th International Congress on Mental Dysfunction & Other Non-Motor Features in Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders
This international Congress will be held in the Coex, Seoul, Korea, April 18-21, 2013
Please refer to the Congress home page at: www.kenes.com/mdpd2013
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World Parkinson Congress, 1-4 October 2013,
Montreal, Canada
http://worldpdcongress.site-ym.com/
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“Cortical hyperexcitability in Stiff man syndrome”
A study examining the significance of cortical hyperexcitability in Stiff man syndrome has been completed. SMS patients were studied using the novel threshold tracking TMS technique and the results were correlated with anti-GAD levels and exteroceptive reflexes as well as quality of life measures. Five (5) patients were studied and short interval intracortical inhibition was reduced in all patients despite some having no symptoms and/or negative exteroceptive reflex. Serum anti GAD levels did not correlate with severity of illness or cortical excitability changes. The preliminary results were presented at the 14th International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders in Buenos Aires Argentina, 2010.
Aprospective study on PD patients is underway, looking at changes of corticalexcitability using threshold tracking TMS and their relationship to clinicalstatus and short duration levodopa response, e.g., in fluctuators, to determinewhether cortical excitability changes with short term changes in bradykinesiaand rigidity. So far, 8 subjects have been studied and participants are beingactively recruited. The plan is to complete the first phase of the study by theend of 2010, looking at the role of conditioning stimulus strength on corticalexcitability and interhemispheric differences in excitability changes in PD patients.
Ainhi Ha graduated from the University of New South Wales with honours in 2003. After completing the FRACP Part I at Royal North Shore Hospital, she undertook her advanced neurology training at Royal North Shore Hospital and Westmead Hospital. Currently, she is completing a one-year clinical fellowship with Professor Joseph Jankovic at the Parkinson’s Disease Centre and Movement Disorders Clinic at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, United States of America. She has published in Movement Disorders Journal and contributed as an author to Medlink Neurology. She has presented cases at the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists Annual Scientific Meeting, the Movement Disorder Society of Australia Sydney Meetings and the 20th Annual Course/A Comprehensive Review of Movement Disorders for the Clinical Practitioner in Aspen, Colarado. Ainhi will return to Sydney next year to start her PhD with Professor Carolyn Sue at the Kolling Institute of Medical Research. She will study the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) co-activator 1(PGC-1a), a transcriptional co-activator involved in mitochondrial biogenesis, in Parkinson’s disease. In her PhD she hopes to contribute to the understanding of Parkinson’s disease pathophysiology, to provide a foundation for the development of potential neuroprotective strategies.