The effects of a muscle twitch on the tremor of the extensor indicis muscle and of the tibial anterior muscle have been recorded in 14 patients with essential tremor and in 10 patients with Parkinson's disease. The muscle twitch evoked by the electrical stimulation of the motor nerve inhibits the tremor and synchronises it. The mean duration of the inhibition is 92.1 +/- 6.8 ms for essential tr...

Tremor is among the acute effects of nicotine exposure. Published studies have focused on smoking-related postural (static) hand tremor rather than kinetic tremor (tremor during hand use), and gender differences in smoking-related tremor have not been examined. In a group of adults who were sampled from a population (mean+/-S.D.=65.7+/-11.5 years, range=18-92 years), the investigator assessed w...

The factors influencing the response of essential tremor to prolonged administration of propranolol (120 mg daily for two weeks followed by 240 mg daily for a further two weeks) were investigated in a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled study in 16 patients. Hand tremor was assessed by means of accelerometers with off-line computer analysis. Propranolol was found to be superior to plac...

BACKGROUND Essential tremor (ET) is characterised by postural and action tremors with a frequency of 4-12 Hz. Previous studies suggest that the tremor activity originates in the cerebello-thalamocortical pathways. Alprazolam is a short-acting benzodiazepine that attenuates tremors in ET. The mechanisms that mediate the therapeutic action of alprazolam are unknown; however, in healthy subjects, ...

[1] We perform a systematic survey of triggered tremor along the San Andreas Fault in central California for the 31 teleseismic earthquakes with Mw 7.5 since 2001. We identify 10 teleseismic events associated with clear triggered tremor. About 52% of the tremor is concentrated south of Parkfield near Cholame, where ambient tremor has been identified previously, and the rest is widely distribute...

BACKGROUND The aim was to assess incidence, prevalence and risk factors of medication-induced tremor in African-Caribbean patients with severe mental illness (SMI). METHOD A prospective study of SMI patients receiving care from the only mental health service of the previous Dutch Antilles. Eight clinical assessments, over 18 years, focused on movement disorders, medication use, and resting tr...

INTRODUCTION Although syndromes that cause voice tremor have singular characteristics, the differential diagnosis of these diseases is a challenge because of the overlap of the existing signs and symptoms. OBJECTIVE To develop a task-specific protocol to assess voice tremor by means of nasofibrolaryngoscopy and to identify those tasks that can distinguish between essential and dystonic tremor...

BACKGROUND While tremor in Parkinson's Disease (PD) can be characterised in the consulting room, its relationship to treatment and fluctuations can be clinically helpful. OBJECTIVE To develop an ambulatory assessment of tremor of PD. METHODS Accelerometry data was collected using the Parkinson's KinetiGraph System (PKG, Global Kinetics). An algorithm was developed, which could successfully ...

The influence of alterations in visual guidance and somaesthetic sensory inputs was studied in five patients with kinetic and postural tremor characteristic of cerebellar impairment. The patients performed wrist flexion-extension movements or movements about the shoulder with or without visual guidance. Different types of mechanical loads were applied to oppose the wrist movements. The tremor w...