It has been hypothesized that chronic inflammation may play an important role in the development and progression of the neurodegeneration of Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is a marker that indicates the peripheral inflammation. There is only one study regarding NLR and IPD. In this study, we assessed to investigate NLR in patients with IPD, comparing the results with controls and to determine whether there is a difference in NLR levels in subgroups of IPD (akinetic-rigid and tremor-dominant) differ in their levels of NLR. Medical records of 200 IPD patients and 60 controls reviewed retrospectively. Forty-six IPD patients met the inclusion criteria. NLR was calculated by dividing neutrophil count to lymphocyte count. Thirteen akinetic-rigid (AR-IPD) and thirty-three tremor-dominant (TD-IPD) patients' and controls results were compared. There was not a statistically difference between the NLR levels of IPD patients, controls, and AR-IPD and TD-IPD patients. This result suggests that cerebral inflammation is in the forefront in the development of neurodegeneration in IPD, and that more evidence is needed for the role of peripheral inflammation in the development progression of disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Oxidative stress has been hypothesized to play a major role in the development of PD in various studies. This study assessed to investigate oxidative and anti-oxidative status in PD patients. We evaluated oxidant/antioxidant status by measuring serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, xanthine oxidase (XO) activities, and activities of antioxidant enzymes, namely, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). The study included 29 patients with PD and 32 healthy subjects as controls. Comparison of oxidative parameters in the patient and control groups revealed significantly higher GSH-Px and XO activities in the patient group. Serum MDA and SOD activities in PD patients were not significantly different from the controls. MDA was negatively correlated with duration of the PD and positively with age of onset. There was a negative correlation between SOD and Hoehn and Yahr (H&Y) stage. According to these results, we suggest that oxidative stress may contribute to the development of PD.

SummaryObjectives: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are observed in patients with migraine with aura (MWA) and without aura (MWO), but there are a limited number of studies regarding patients with MWA. In this study, we aimed to investigate the cardiovascular risk factors which may play a role in the development of WMHs in patients with MWO. Methods: This observational, analytical, case-control study was conducted between June 2016 and January 2017. It included 21 patients with MWO who had WMHs on brain MRI and 19 patients with MWO who tested normal on MRI (control group) at the Neurology Department Outpatient Polyclinic, Ankara Training and Research Hospital. The patients' data (history, family history, neurological examination findings, echocardiography findings, and cerebral MRI findings) were retrospectively reviewed. Results: Age, gender, body mass index, blood lipid level, migraine duration, localization of headache, average number of headache per month, medication for headache attack, and echocardiography findings were similar between the two groups. (p>0.05). Conclusion:In this study, we did not find any association between cardiovascular risk factors and WMHs development in patients with MWO. The association of risk factors other than cardiovascular risk factors (genetic factors and oxidative stress) with the development of WMHs in patients with MWO should also be studied in future.Keywords: Cerebral white matter hyperintensities; migraine without aura; risk factors. ÖzetAmaç: Beyaz cevher hiperintensiteleri (BCH) hem auralı migrenli (MWA), hem de aurasız migrenli (MWO) li hastalarda görül-mekle birlikte, MWA'lı hastalarda sınırlı sayıda çalışma yapılmıştır. Biz bu çalışmada MWA'lı hastalarda BCH'lerinin gelişiminde rol oynayan kardiyovasküler risk faktörlerini araştırmayı amaçladık. Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu gözlemsel, analitik, vaka-kontrol çalışması Temmuz 2016-Ocak 2017 tarihleri arasında Ankara Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Nöroloji Polikliniği'ne başvuran, MWO tanısı almış ve serebral MRG 'da BCH saptanan 21 olgu ve kontrol grubu olarak serebral MRG'da BCH saptanmayan 19 MWO olgusu ile yapılmıştır. Hastaların yaş, cinsiyet, beden kitle indeksleri, kan lipid düzeyleri, migren hastalık süresi, başağrısının lokalizasyonu, aylık ortalama başağrısı sayısı, atakta kullanılan ilaçlar ve ekokardiyografi bulguları retrospektif olarak gözden geçirildi. Bulgular: Hastaların yaş, cinsiyet, beden kitle indeksleri, total kolesterol (kol), migren hastalık süresi, başağrısının lokalizasyonu, aylık ortalama başağrısı sayısı, atakta kullanılan ilaçlar ve ekokardiyografi bulguları benzerdi. (p>0.05) Sonuç: Çalışmamızda kardiyovasküler risk faktörleri ile MWO hastalarında BCH gelişimi arasında ilişki bulmadık. Kardiyovasküler risk faktörleri dışındaki risk faktörleri ( genetik faktörler ve oksidatif stress vb) nin MWO'lı olgularda BCH gelişimindeki rolleri araştırılmalıdır.Anahtar sözcükler: Aurasız migren; risk faktörleri; serebral beyaz cevher hiperintensiteleri.

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Objective: Neurological diseases and the associated disabilities are getting increasingly more prevalent in all over the world and in our country. Awareness of neurological diseases is thought to be less than expected. Ma te ri als and Met hods: The aim of this study is to investigate the awareness of neurological diseases in secondary and tertiary neurological outpatient service visitors and to assess its correlations between the patient demographics. Re sults: A total of 540 patients were included in the study. Alzheimer disease was found to be best known neurological disease while multiple sclerosis was the least known. The awareness of the diseases correlated with the level of education. Younger patients seemed to be more aware of neurological diseases than the older ones. Despite the current widespread usage of internet/media, we found that patients come to neurological outpatient services mostly upon the advice from their family practitioners. We comment that this result is a positive finding in terms of the utility of health care system and patient-physician relationship. Conclusion: There is need for increasing the awareness of the neurological diseases for both early diagnosis of neurological diseases and the reduction of associated disability.