Children with secondary dystonia due to cerebral palsy exhibit abnormal upper extremity postures and slow voluntary movement. However, the interaction between abnormal postures and abnormal movement in dystonia is still unclear. Some mechanisms by which postures are maintained in dystonia include stretch reflexes, overflow of muscle activation to other muscles, and direct coactivation of antago...

We assessed the prevalence of abnormal ankle reflexes in 1074 adult patients attending orthopaedic clinics and related it to age. Those with possible pathological causes of reflex loss were excluded. The absence of one or both reflexes was significantly related to increasing age; all patients under 30 years had both reflexes. Few had absent reflexes between 30 and 40 years, but over 40 years, t...

OBJECTIVE To examine test characteristics of laser Doppler vasomotor reflex testing for leprosy and to determine the prevalence of abnormal responses in leprosy patients, healthy contacts and controls. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional study including 89 leprosy patients (mean age 35 years, 74% male), 36 healthy contacts (29 years, 64% male) and 47 controls (30 years, 68% male), for a t...

Using five non-invasive tests, abnormalities of cardiovascular reflex function were found in 20 of 50 patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux. Abnormalities of pupil cycle time, an index of non-vagal parasympathetic function, were found in only a few patients, implying that the cardiovascular abnormalities observed were not part of a generalised parasympathetic defect. The findings are consiste...

Vascular reflexes were assessed in 17 adult patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease using the Valsalva manoeuvre, and the pulse rate and systolic blood pressure responses to standing. Six patients showed abnormalities consistent with an autonomic neuropathy. One patient had giant nerve fibre bundles in the myenteric plexus of bowel resected for co-existent Crohn's disease, indicating histolog...