BACKGROUND To assess the role of 1H MRS in the detection of changes in cerebral metabolite levels in pyramidal tracts after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) and to compare metabolite alterations to the clinical status (Glasgow Coma Scale). MATERIAL/METHODS Study group consisted of 25 patients after mild traumatic brain injury, with a score of 11 to 15 in GCS. The MR studies were performed w...

In this review we bring together three different lines of evidence to bear on the issue of local shaping of function in the motor cortex. The first line of evidence comes from the description by Cajal (1904) of the recurrent collaterals of pyramidal cell axons in the precentral gyrus. The second line of evidence comes from the electrophysiological study of the functional effects of these collat...

The present study was undertaken to analyse further the interrelations between different parts of the extrapyramidal motor system. This cortico-strio-nigral hierarchy has, since the work of Kinnier Wilson,28 been recognized as concerned primarily with the maintenance of the postural phases of motor activity. Localized disturbances in the system are held responsible for certain resting "tremors"...

The results of recent experiments using either intracortical stimulation or stimulation of the surface of the motor cortex were reviewed from the point of view of "muscle" and "movement" cortical representation. It has been concluded that there is no satisfactory evidence for location of the pyramidal tract (PT) cells which project directly (monosynaptically) to motoneurones of one muscle in pr...

Precise spatiotemporal patterns in neural discharge are a possible mechanism for information encoding in the brain. Previous studies have found that such patterns repeat and appear to relate to key behavioral events. Whether these patterns occur above chance levels remains controversial. To address this question, we have made simultaneous recordings from between two and nine neurons in the prim...

We report that diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and tractography (DTT) of the pyramidal tracts using multi-band (MB) EPI could be a useful tool with a 1.5T MRI. We compared images using single-band EPI (SB-EPI) and MB-EPI. MB-EPI could reduce the scanning time by about 40%. We demonstrated that it is comparable between image qualities of SB-EPI and MB-EPI using tract-specific analysis and dice co...

The plantar response is a reflex that involves not only the toes, but all muscles that shorten the leg. In the newborn the synergy is brisk, involving all flexor muscles of the leg; these include the toe 'extensors', which also shorten the leg on contraction and therefore are flexors in a physiological sense. As the nervous system matures and the pyramidal tract gains more control over spinal m...

A 50-year-old man presented with 9-years history of pro gressive ataxia. His father had undiagnosed ataxia. Exa mi nation showed ataxia and pyramidal signs. Brain MRI: olivopontocerebellar atrophy; spine MRI: global spinal cord atrophy (Figure). Genetic test confirmed spinocerebellar ataxia type-1 (SCA1). SCA1 is characterized by cerebellar ataxia with va riable degrees of ophthalmoplegia, pyra...

the hereditary ataxias comprise a wide spectrum of heterogeneous disorders that share three features: ataxia, involvement of cerebellum or its connections, and heritability. in many hereditary ataxias, the underlying gene mutations have been identified. knowledge of the causative mutations allows a rational classification of hereditary ataxias as autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant or mater...