Background: The association between motor-related cortical activity and peripheral stimulation with temporal precision has been proposed as a possible intervention to facilitate cortico-muscular pathways and thereby improve motor rehabilitation after stroke. Previous studies with patients have provided evidence of the possibility to implement brain-machine interface platforms able to decode mot...

Movement takes place in multiple dimensions, including the temporal dimension, which itself may be made up of dissociable aspects. From this perspective, the present research tests three hypotheses: first, that the generation of regular, repetitive movement frequency is neurophysiologically dissociable from the generation of appropriate phase relations, or latencies, of such movements with resp...

To investigate the effect of genetic and environmental influences on cerebral motor function, we determined similarities and differences of movement-related cortical fields (MRCFs) in middle-aged and elderly monozygotic (MZ) twins. MRCFs were measured using a 160-channel magnetoencephalogram system when MZ twins were instructed to repeat lifting of the right index finger. We compared latency, a...

Spontaneous membrane potential fluctuations of striatal spiny projection neurons play a crucial role in their spike generation. Previous intracellular recording studies in anesthetized rats have shown that the membrane potential of striatal spiny neurons shifts between the depolarized "up" state and the hyperpolarized "down" state. Here we report evidence for the occurrence of such two-state me...

introduction:  carpal tunnel syndrome (cts) is the most common compressive neuropathy. several surgical and nonsurgical treatments have been proposed for this syndrome, but there is no consensus regarding the prioritization of the suggested nonsurgical treatments. the goal of this study was to compare the long term effects of laser therapy versus local corticosteroid injection in the treatment ...

Parameters of the median nerve F wave and peripheral motor nerve conduction in 51 healthy male and female human subjects 67 to 89 years of age are described. F wave responses were elicited by stimulation of the nerve at the wrist. Motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV) was determined for the forearm segment. Major results of this study of an older group of subjects demonstrate that: 1) the shor...

In Loligo opalescens, a sudden visual stimulus (flash) elicits a stereotyped, short-latency escape response that is controlled primarily by the giant axon system at 15 C. We used this startle response as an assay to examine the effects of acute temperature changes down to 6 C on behavioral and physiological aspects of escape jetting. In free-swimming squid, latency, distance traveled and peak v...

This study examined the influence of "motor set" on the response of neurons in the deep cerebellar nuclei to peripheral afferent inputs. Two monkeys were trained to perform arm movements which were triggered by imposed displacements of their forelimb. Imposed displacements were generated by a torque motor which was coupled to a handle held by the monkey. The direction of the triggered movements...

In daily activities, there is a close spatial and temporal coupling between eye and hand movements that enables human beings to perform actions smoothly and accurately. If this coupling is disrupted by inadvertent saccade intrusions, subsequent motor actions suffer from delays, and lack of coordination. To examine how saccade intrusions affect subsequent voluntary actions, we used two tasks tha...