To understand the clinical significance and mechanisms of cutaneous denervation in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we assessed intraepidermal nerve fibre (IENF) density of the distal leg in 45 SLE patients (4 males and 41 females, aged 38.4 +/- 13.6 years) and analysed its correlations with pathology, lupus activity, sensory thresholds and electrophysiological parameters. Compared with age-...

About four decades ago, Perl and collaborators were the first ones who unambiguously identified specifically nociceptive neurons in the periphery. In their classic work, they recorded action potentials from single C-fibers of a cutaneous nerve in cats while applying carefully graded stimuli to the skin (Bessou P, Perl ER. Response of cutaneous sensory units with unmyelinated fibers to noxious s...

The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in cold pain threshold (CTh), pressure pain threshold (PPT), cold pain tolerance (CPTo) tests, and the level of self-efficacy when self-efficacy for diagnostic sensory testing was manipulated by verbal persuasion before a testing situation in persons with neck pain and in healthy controls. A randomized experimental design was used. Twenty...

A recent study showed that fingertip pads' tactile sensation can improve by applying imperceptible white-noise vibration to the skin at the wrist or dorsum of the hand in stroke patients. This study further examined this behavior by investigating the effect of both imperceptible and perceptible white-noise vibration applied to different locations within the distal upper extremity on the fingert...

The trigeminal ganglia (TG) innervate a heterogeneous set of highly sensitive and exposed tissues. Weak, innocuous stimuli can evoke pain as a normal response in some areas such as the cornea. This observation implies, however, the capability of low-threshold mechanoreceptors, inducing pain in the normal condition. To clarify this matter, the present study correlates the electrical signature (b...

Materials and methods: In this cross-sectional study, 55 patients with idiopathic PD by mean age of 59.85 ± 11.89 years, and mean Hoehn and Yahr stage of 2.76 ± 1.37 were non-randomly selected. Lower order sensory function (i.e., light touch threshold), higher order sensory functions (i.e., tactile acuity, weight and texture discrimination, haptic performance and wrist proprioception) as well a...

AIM To evaluate the short-term efficacy of biofeedback therapy (BFT) for dyssynergic defecation (DD) and to explore the predictors of the efficacy of BFT. METHODS Clinical symptoms, psychological state, and quality of life of patients before and after BFT were investigated. All patients underwent lifestyle survey and anorectal physiology tests before BFT. Improvement in symptom scores was con...

This study investigated the relationship of thermal pain testing from three types of quantitative sensory testing (ie, supra-threshold stimulus response scaling, temporal summation, and after-sensation) at three anatomical sites (ie, upper extremity, lower extremity, and trunk). Pain ratings from these procedures were also compared with common psychological measures previously shown to be relat...