Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42731990›Full record

ArticleNPJ Parkinson's disease2026

The method matters: free water imaging in Parkinson's disease is not a binary verdict.

A Enrique Martinez-Nunez, Angelos Barmpoutis, Michael S Okun, David Vaillancourt

Abstract readLetter
In one paragraph

Article in NPJ Parkinson's disease, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

A Enrique Martinez-NunezNorman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. martineznuneza@ufl.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4570-7977
Angelos BarmpoutisDigital Worlds Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
Michael S OkunNorman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
David VaillancourtDepartment of Applied Physiology and Kinesiology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A recent comparison of neuromelanin and free water (FW) imaging in Parkinson's disease concluded that FW imaging underperforms. We argue this reflects methodological constraints, not biological truth. Three issues compromise FW sensitivity: use of a registration template that degrades substantia nigra localization, an age imbalance between groups that favors neuromelanin detection, and repetition times insufficient to capture the FW compartment. With unmet acquisition requirements, the technique was never correctly applied.

Identifiers

PMID42731990
PMCPMC13570883

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.