High-frequency rTMS over bilateral primary motor cortex improves freezing of gait and emotion regulation in patients with Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial.

"Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest."

"The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This publication was supported by the R&D Program (Social Development) of Jiangsu Province (BE2021630), the Key R&D Program (Social Development) of Xuzhou (KC22249), and the Key R&D Program (Social Development) of Suqian (S202203)."

"(i) Subjective decision: according to item 3 of the Freezing of Gait Questionnaire (FOGQ) (; ), patients were asked whether they felt their feet were stuck to the ground during starting, turning, or walking; (ii) subjective determination: confirmed by showing typical videos of a typical freezing gait episode to the patient and caregivers (); (iii) Objective determination: freezing gait was induced by bi-directional 360° rapid turns, dual-tasking, and small rapid steps (; ); (d) Hoehn-Yahr stage (H-Y stage) (; ): stage 2–4; (e) Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) () ≥ 24 points; (f) PD medication stabilized for more than 2 weeks and no change in medication regimen during the study period; and (g) being available to cooperate in completing the rTMS treatment and symptom assessment. The study protocol was approved and supervised by the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University Ethics Committee (No. XYFY2019-KL205-02). All patients had agreed and confirmed their informed consent prior to the study. The present study was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Registration number: ChiCTR2000031717)."