Acute prior activity of the inspiratory muscles can enhance inspiratory muscle strength and reduce effort perception during subsequent inspiratory efforts. However, the mechanisms subserving these changes are poorly understood. Responses to magnetic stimulation in 10 subjects were studied after an acute bout of nonfatiguing inspiratory muscle loading (IML), corresponding to 40% of subjects' ini...

Cortical motor mapping in pre-surgical applications can be performed using motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitudes evoked with neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation. The MEP latency, which is a more stable parameter than the MEP amplitude, has not so far been utilized in motor mapping. The latency, however, may provide information about the stress in damaged motor pathways, e.g. comp...

To explore the effects of qualitative or quantitative changes in walking on motor cortical excitability, a transcranial magnetic stimulation procedure was used to examine the alterations of motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude following walking. Eight healthy participants completed a series of two walking tasks on a treadmill at 2 km/h. The ratio of the left stance duration to the right stanc...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the clinical significance of quantitative parameters in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-induced motor evoked potentials (MEP) which can be adopted to predict functional recovery of the upper limb in stroke patients in the early subacute phase. METHODS One hundred thirteen patients (61 men, 52 women; mean age 57.8±12.2 years) who suffered faiarst-ever stroke we...

Planning for numeric goals is an important problem. Only one of the many participants from the 2002 international planning competition (Metric-FF) can effectively handle problems containing numeric goal expressions. We report on planner S-MEP (Sequential More Expressive Planner) in this paper. S-MEP handles non-linear as well as linear expressions in preconditions, effects and goal. Metric-FF h...

Respiratory problems are a major cause of death in the acute and chronic phases of cervical spinal cord injury (CSCI); CSCI paralyzes the intercostal and abdominal muscles, reducing ability to cough and clear secretions. Impaired cough due to neuromuscular disorders can be assessed with the maximum expiratory pressure (MEP). This study consists of two experiments with CSCI patients. In the firs...

A metalloprotease (MEP) secreted by Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from an alkaline protease-deficient mutant after the fungus was cultivated in the presence of collagen as the sole nitrogen and carbon source. The enzyme was purified 50-fold from the culture supernatant after adsorption to hydroxylapatite and carboxy-methyl-Sephadex and after gel filtration. The molecular mass was determine...

objectives the aim of this study was to investigate the relation between respiratory muscle strength and the severity of chf, and the influence of respiratory muscle strength on abnormal ventilation during exercise in chf patients. conclusions respiratory muscle strength is related to the severity of chf, and associated with rapid and shallow ventilation or excessive ventilation during exercise...

OBJECTIVE Prediction of outcome of ambulatory capacity and hand function in tetraplegic patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) using neurologic examination, according to the protocol of the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) and motor-evoked potentials (MEP). DESIGN Correlation study on a prospective cohort. SETTING SCI center, university hospital. PATIENTS Thirty-six patients with...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate sarcopenic indices in relation to respiratory muscle strength (RMS) in elderly people. METHODS This study included 65 volunteers over the age of 60 (30 men and 35 women). The skeletal muscle mass index (SMI) was measured using bioimpedance analysis. Limb muscle function was assessed by handgrip strength (HGS), the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), and gait speed...