Visual hallucinations are significant nonmotor symptoms in the course of treatment of Parkinson's disease. Previous studies have shown that the interindividual variability and pharmacogenetic profile of Parkinson's disease patients seem to influence the occurrence of visual hallucinations. In our study, we investigated a possible relationship of sequence variants in DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DAT1, and COMT genes with the presence of visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease patients. A total of 224 Brazilian patients from the Pro-Parkinson service at the Clinical Hospital of the University of Pernambuco, diagnosed with sporadic Parkinson's disease, were enrolled. Parkinson's disease patients were divided into 2 groups based on the presence or absence of visual hallucinations. The sequence variants for DRD1, DRD2, DRD3, DAT1, and COMT were determined through the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique. Multiple Poisson regression analyses showed that individuals carrying the DRD3 Ser/Ser and Ser/Gly genotypes presented increased prevalence ratios of visual hallucinations (9.7-fold and 4.4-fold, respectively; P < .001). Regarding DAT1 rs28363170, there was a 9.82-fold increase in the prevalence ratio in patients with the 10/11 genotype, 8.78-fold for the 10/8 genotype, and 2.44-fold for the 9/8 genotypes (P < .001, for all). In addition, visual hallucinations were also associated with use of transdermal patches with rotigotine (PR, 3.7; 95%CI, 1.2-10.9; P = .017) and rasagiline (PR, 2.8; 95%CI, 1.3-6.0; P = .006). Our results suggest that the genetic variants DRD3 and DAT1, along with other therapeutic confounders, may influence the prevalence ratio of visual hallucinations.

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A infecção por um ou mais tipos de Papilomavírus Humano de alto risco oncogênico (HR-HPV) tem sido relacionada à alta predisposição de desenvolver câncer de colo do útero. O objetivo do presente estudo foi determinar a frequência de quatro tipos HR-HPVs (16, 18, 31 e 33) em mulheres assintomáticas do Agreste e Sertão Pernambucano e avaliar a predisposição de outros fatores de risco associados com a infecção. Foram coletadas amostras de secreção vaginal de mulheres atendidas no Programa de Saúde da Família - PSF da cidade de Serra Talhada-PE, no período de Janeiro a Dezembro de 2014. A detecção do DNA do HPV na secreção vaginal foi realizada usando a técnica de PCR convencional. Os dados clínicos, sociodemográficos e hábitos de vida foram coletados através de um questionário padrão. As análises estatísticas foram realizadas com o auxílio do software Bioestat 5.0. Das 302 mulheres avaliadas, 99,7% não possuíam anormalidades citológicas e 32,6% apresentaram infecção por um dos quatro tipos virais do HPV pesquisados, com maior prevalência para o HPV 31 (26,8%), seguido dos 33 (21,6%), 18 (6,2%) e 16 (4,1%). Desta forma, podemos concluir que mulheres infectadas por HR-HPV e assintomáticas podem estar predispostas ao desenvolvimento de lesões cervicais.

Objectives The objective of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between genetic variants in the TNFα and NFKB1 genes with the occurrence of fatigue and sleep disorder in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods A total of 180 Brazilian patients from the Pro-Parkinson service at the Clinical Hospital of the Federal University of Pernambuco, diagnosed with sporadic PD were enrolled. The sequence variants for TNFα and NFKB1 were determined through the PCR-RFLP technique. Logistic regression was performed to assess the association of polymorphisms with the occurrence of fatigue and sleep disorder in PD patients. Key findings Multivariate analysis revealed increased risk for the occurrence of fatigue in individuals carrying NFKB D/W genotype (Prevalence Ratio: PR=2.091; 95%CI, 1.155-3.784; p=0.015) and D/D genotype (PR= 2.237; 95%CI, 1.078-4.643; p=0.031). In addition, it was observed an increased risk to the occurrence of fatigue in PD patients with sleep disorder (PR= 5.226; 95%CI, 2.934-9.307; p= 0.000). Moreover, the therapy with pramipexole was significantly associated with the development of sleep disorder (p = 0.020). Conclusion NFKB1 variants and use of the pramipexole may have a significant influence on increased risk for the occurrence of fatigue and sleep disorder, respectively in a Brazilian PD population.