Mutations in the unc-52 locus of Caenorhabditis elegans have been classified into three different groups based on their complex pattern of complementation. These mutations result in progressive paralysis (class 1 mutations) or in lethality (class 2 and 3 mutations). The paralysis exhibited by animals carrying class 1 mutations is caused by disruption of the myofilaments at their points of attac...

BACKGROUND Current management of permanent facial paralysis centers on nerve grafting and muscle transfer; however, limitations of those procedures call for other options. OBJECTIVES To determine the durability and biocompatibility of implanted artificial muscle in a gerbil model and the degree of inflammation and fibrosis at the host tissue-artificial muscle interface. METHODS Electroactiv...

In patients with diaphragm paralysis, ventilation to the basal lung zones is reduced, whereas in patients with paralysis of the rib cage muscles, ventilation to the upper lung zones in reduced. Inspiration produced by either rib cage muscle or diaphragm contraction alone, therefore, may result in mismatching of ventilation and perfusion and in gas-exchange impairment. To test this hypothesis, w...

The aim of this study was to analyze bone microarchitecture and macroarchitecture of tibia in a disuse model in growing rats. Eight-weeks-old Copenhagen rats were injected intramuscularly with 1.5 units BTX in the quadriceps muscle of the right hind limb. Saline injection was done at the left hind limb to serve as control. Five rats were killed at day 1 and represented the baseline group (D1), ...

purpose: to report a patient with exotropia due to medial rectus muscle entrapment as a complication of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (edcr). case report: a 34-year-old female was referred with left exotropia 18 days after edcr for treatment of primary nasolacrimal duct obstruction. she had a large angle left exotropia in primary position as well as complete limitation of adduction and parti...

OBJECTIVE We explored the potential of embryonic stem cell-derived motor neurons to functionally replace those cells destroyed in paralyzed adult rats. METHODS We administered a phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor and dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate to overcome myelin-mediated repulsion and provided glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor within the sciatic nerve to attract transplante...

Sharrard, Zachary, Lorber and Bruce (1963) in a study offorty children with spina bifida cystica, eighteen of whom survived three months, concluded that “operative closure of myelomeningocele should be regarded as a surgical emergency”. They believed that it was ethically unjustifiable to continue their controlled trial of treatment. Following this paper there was a wide acceptance of early clo...

SUMMARY A 23-year-old female student presented with a five-year history of abnormal sleep in which she would sit up or stand up for brief periods in the early morning, talk loudly for a couple of minutes and then lie back down. When woken by family members she would remember vivid dreams and nightmares. In one episode she had a fall that resulted in a subdural hematoma. On presentation at the p...

Paralysis is a disease where muscles lose its functionality. Few patients are affected with partial paralysis, where a single limb functions while the other doesn’t function. The developed lower leg assistive device serves as a comfortable, low cost, and compatible and can be used in all physiotherapy and rehabilitation purposes. This particular kind of assistive device can also be effective fo...

The nondystrophic myotonias and primary periodic paralyses are an important group of genetic muscle diseases characterized by dysfunction of ion channels that regulate membrane excitability. Clinical manifestations vary and include myotonia, hyperkalemic and hypokalemic periodic paralysis, progressive myopathy, and cardiac arrhythmias. The severity of myotonia ranges from severe neonatal presen...