Previous studies have shown that proliferation of endogenous neural precursor cells cannot alone compensate for the damage to neurons and axons. From the perspective of neural plasticity, we observed the effects of functional electrical stimulation treatment on endogenous neural precursor cell proliferation and expression of basic fibroblast growth factor and epidermal growth factor in the rat ...

Functional assessment of animals following experimental cerebral ischemia is often difficult due to the passive nature of many neurologic exams. We attempted to increase the objectivity of motor function evaluation by adapting quantifiable behavioral tests and actively testing rats' motor capability following a cerebral ischemic insult. It was hypothesized that active testing would reveal motor...

During the regeneration of the tail in the arboreal New Zealand gecko (Hoplodactylus maculatus) a new set of tail scales, modified into pads bearing setae 5-20 μm long, is also regenerated. Stages of the formation of these specialized scales from epidermal pegs that invaginate the dermis of the regenerating tail are described on the basis of light and electron microscopic images. Within the peg...

Electrophysiological recordings from monkeys, as well as functional imaging and neuropsychological work with humans, have suggested that a region in the anterior portion of the intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) is involved in prehensile movements. With recent methodological advances using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we can now causally attribute anatomy with function to more precisely de...

The performance of patients with vascular parkinsonism (VPD) on a reach-to-grasp task was compared with that of patients affected by idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) and age-matched control subjects. The aim of the study was to determine how patients with VPD and IPD compare at the level of the kinematic organization of prehensile actions. We examined how subjects concurrently executed the ...

Many useful tasks require both mobility and manipulation — one or more mobile robots must move to a given location and perform some task with an object there. Our research has focused on mobile robots with nonprehensile (i.e., nongrasping) manipulators. Such manipulators are mechanically simpler than their prehensile counterparts and have the additional advantage of being able to manipulate a w...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of early motor balance and coordination training on functional recovery and brain plasticity in an ischemic rat stroke model, compared with simple locomotor exercise. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats with cortical infarcts were trained under one of four conditions: nontrained control, treadmill training, motor training on the Rota-rod, or both Rota...

OBJECTIVE The Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure (SHAP) evaluates the functionality of normal, injured or prosthetic hands. The aim was to evaluate the learning effects of SHAP tasks and the appropriateness of the time limits applied per task in novice prosthetic users. METHODS Right-handed unimpaired volunteers (n = 24, mean age 21.8 years) completed 8 SHAP sessions over 5 consecutive day...

Snakes are a remarkably diverse and successful group today, but their evolutionary origins are obscure. The discovery of snakes with two legs has shed light on the transition from lizards to snakes, but no snake has been described with four limbs, and the ecology of early snakes is poorly known. We describe a four-limbed snake from the Early Cretaceous (Aptian) Crato Formation of Brazil. The sn...