To understand how differences in complex cell shapes are achieved, it is important to accurately follow microtubule organization. The Drosophila larval body wall contains several cell types that are models to study cell and tissue morphogenesis. For example tracheae are used to examine tube morphogenesis(1), and the dendritic arborization (DA) sensory neurons of the Drosophila larva have become...

INTRODUCTION Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is characterized by early postural instability and backward falls. The mechanisms underlying backward postural instability in PSP are not understood. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that postural instability in PSP is a result of dysfunction in the perception of postural verticality. METHODS We gathered posturography data on 1...

Inhibitory microcircuits are wired with a precision that underlies their complex regulatory roles in neural information processing. In the spinal cord, one specialized class of GABAergic interneurons (GABApre) mediates presynaptic inhibitory control of sensory-motor synapses. The synaptic targeting of these GABAergic neurons exhibits an absolute dependence on proprioceptive sensory terminals, y...

Twenty-eight patients with polyneuropathy aged 49-82 years (mean 67 years) were assessed by dynamic posturography. The patient group was compared to a control group comprising 29 healthy controls aged 70 through 75 years (mean 73 years). The dynamic posturography method comprises a sensory organization part in which the platform and visual surround are either stable or referenced to the patient...

Primary afferent depolarizations (PADs) are associated with presynaptic inhibition and antidromic discharges in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the present study, we have elaborated a realistic compartment model of a primary afferent from the coxobasipodite chordotonal organ of the crayfish based on anatomical and electrophysiological data. The model was used to test the validity of shun...

Perceptual organization refers to the ability to impose organization on sensory data, so as to group sensory primitives arising from a common underlying cause. The existence of this sort of organization in human perception, including vision, was emphasized by Gestalt psychologists. Since then, perceptual organization ideas have been found to be extremely useful in computer vision, impacting obj...

Healthy or pathological states of nociceptive subsystems determine different stimulus-response relations measured from quantitative sensory testing. In turn, stimulus-response measurements may be used to assess these states. In a recently developed computational model, six model parameters characterize activation of nerve endings and spinal neurons. However, both model nonlinearity and limited ...

Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is a collection of individual tests designed to assess the somatosensory system, particularly of patients with neuropathic pain or suspected neurologic disease (Rolke et al 2006b, Shy et al 2003). Pressure algometry, one of the individual QST tests, has previously been discussed in Clinimetrics (Ylinen 2007); this article focuses on the thermal component of th...

BACKGROUND Trigeminal sensory neurons detect thermal and mechanical stimuli in the skin through their elaborately arborized peripheral axons. We investigated the developmental mechanisms that determine the size and shape of individual trigeminal arbors in zebrafish and analyzed how these interactions affect the functional organization of the peripheral sensory system. RESULTS Time-lapse imagi...

PURPOSE To determine the intrarater-reliability, interrater-reliability and normal reference scores of the Semmes Weinstein Monofilament test (SWM) of the feet of healthy subjects. In addition, the stability of the SWM for prospective use was assessed by determining systematic changes in sensory thresholds. METHODS Interrater-reliability was assessed on five locations of the plantar side of b...