The cerebellum is important for perceptual and motor timing in the mature brain, but the timing function of the cerebellum in the immature brain is less well understood. We investigated timing in children with spina bifida meningomyelocele (SB), a neural tube defect that involves cerebellar dysgenesis, and in age-matched controls. Specifically, we studied perceptual timing (judgements of 400 ms...

Substantial research and standardization efforts already exist to make it easier for people with physical impairments to perceive and interact with web pages. This paper describes work aimed at catering the content of web pages to the needs of different users, including elderly people and users with vision and motor impairments. The AVANTI system and related efforts in the AVANTI project will b...

Only a few studies have considered changes in brain structures other than sensory and motor cortex after spinal cord injury, although cognitive impairments have been reported in these patients. Spinal cord injury results in chronic brain neuroinflammation with consequent neurodegeneration and cognitive decline in rodents. Regarding the hippocampus, neurogenesis is reduced and reactive gliosis i...

Objectives: Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of disorders in the development of movement and posture in the developing brain. The main aim of this study was to determine the distribution of motor impairment and associated disorders in a population of children with CP. Methods: This study was carried out in 2011 during three months, on 200 CP children. Multiple sources of ascertainment w...

This study examined the effects of blocking neural activity in sensory motor cortex during early postnatal development on prehension. We infused muscimol, either unilaterally or bilaterally, into the sensory motor cortex of cats to block activity continuously between postnatal weeks 3-7. After stopping infusion, we trained animals to reach and grasp a cube of meat and tested behavior thereafter...

This study explores the clinical features of neurodegenerative disease patients with tremor. We study the motor impairments in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET). Since uncertainty exists on whether Parkinson's disease (PD) and essential tremor (ET) patients have similar degree of impairment during motor tasks, this study based on the self-developed computerized ha...

Although Parkinson’s disease (PD) is classically considered to be a motor system disease, subtle cognitive impairments can be observed even during the early phases of PD. In this article we review behavioral and neurochemical studies on the cognitive alterations observed in rats treated with intranigral infusion of the neurotoxin MPTP. The critical role of dopamine release in the dorsal striatu...

In this study, we compared the effects of Type I benzodiazepine receptor-selective agonists (zolpidem, quazepam) and Type I/II non-selective agonists (zopiclone, triazolam, nitrazepam) with either an ultra-short action (zolpidem, zopiclone, triazolam) or long action (quazepam, nitrazepam) on motor coordination (rota-rod test) and muscle relaxation (traction test) following the recovery from thi...

Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychotomimetic compound from Cannabis sativa that presents antipsychotic, anxiolytic, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects. In Parkinson's disease patients, CBD is able to attenuate the psychotic symptoms induced by L-DOPA and to improve quality of life. Repeated administration of reserpine in rodents induces motor impairments that are accompanied by cognit...

Due to the relative success of therapeutic interventions aimed at treating the overt motor symptoms evident in Parkinson's disease (PD), a greater appreciation of the non-motor aspects of the disease has emerged in recent time. Indeed, evidence suggests that impairments in emotional processing, behavioural control and cognitive function may emerge early in the onset of the disease. Decades of e...