title: Prosody and levodopa in Parkinson's disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Research is scarce regarding the use of prosodic parameters in the expression of attitudes in Parkinson's disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the parameters used in prosodic expression of attitudes in individuals with idiopathic PD and the effect of levodopa on these parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  We studied the use of levodopa in 10 individuals with idiopathic PD during the "off" and "on" periods, and 10 individuals without neurological abnormalities.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PD patients showed lower frequency measurements and longer duration measurements. The levodopa caused reduction in the duration parameter.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PD patients use prosody to express their attitudes in the same way as controls in both off and on periods. However, when attitudes are not taken into account, levodopa is effective in improving the duration parameter.
authors.affiliation: PUC Minas.
authors.forename: Luciana Lemos de
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Azevedo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Phonetics, UFMG.
authors.forename: César Augusto da Conceição
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Reis
authors.affiliation: Universidade Gama Filho.
authors.forename: Irene Soares de
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.affiliation: Brazilian Academy of Neurology.
authors.forename: Francisco Eduardo Costa
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Cardoso
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007980:Levodopa / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013060:Speech / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D013997:Time Factors; D014833:Voice Quality
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D007980:Levodopa