Holly A. Shill

TL;DR: The Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) is a comprehensive observational, international, multi-center study designed to identify PD progression biomarkers both to improve understanding of disease etiology and course and to provide crucial tools to enhance the likelihood of success of PD modifying therapeutic trials.

TL;DR: Spinal cord and peripheral PASH was most common in subjects with PD and DLB, where it appears likely that it is universally widespread, and within the gastrointestinal tract, there was a rostrocaudal gradient of decreasing PASH frequency and density.

TL;DR: It is suggested that the proposed staging system would improve on its predecessors by allowing classification of a much greater proportion of cases.

TL;DR: It is concluded that a stage of clinical cognitive impairment in PD exists between PD‐CogNL and PD‐D, and it may be defined by applying criteria similar to the MCI that is posited as a precursor of AD.

TL;DR: This study establishes the novel findings of only 26% accuracy for a clinical diagnosis of PD in untreated or not clearly responsive subjects, 53% accuracy in early PD responsive to medication (<5 years' duration), and >85% diagnostic accuracy of longer duration, medication-responsive PD.