OBJECTIVES To determine the prognosis in patients with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) without small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and to analyse longitudinal clinical, electrophysiological, and immunological data on each patient to establish prognostic factors for long term outcome. METHODS The retrospective and part prospective study of 47 patients with LEMS was undertaken from data rec...

Small drug molecules usually bind to multiple protein targets or even unintended off-targets. Such drug promiscuity has often led to unwanted or unexplained drug reactions, resulting in side effects or drug repositioning opportunities. So it is always an important issue in pharmacology to identify potential drug-target interactions (DTI). However, DTI discovery by experiment remains a challengi...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the conduction parameters of nerve bundles of median and ulnar nerves that innervate proximal and distal muscles. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Thirty male and 30 female healthy volunteers between 18 and 70 years of age were enrolled in the study. The conduction parameters were recorded from the proximally located flexor carpi ulnaris, pro...

OBJECTIVE Intertrial variability (ITV) of motor responses to peripheral (CMAP) and transcranial (MEP) stimulation prevents their use in follow-up studies. Our purpose was to develop strategies to reduce and measure CMAP and MEP ITV to guide long-term monitoring of conduction slowing and conduction failure of peripheral and central motor pathway in the individual patient. METHODS Maximal compo...

OBJECTIVES There is a need for better, noninvasive quantitative biomarkers for assessing the rate of progression and possible response to therapy in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In this study, we compared three electrophysiological measures: compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude, motor unit number estimate (MUNE), and electrical impedance myography (EIM) 50 kHz phase values in a m...

INTRODUCTION Several studies have shown a significant amplitude decrement in compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) on repetitive nerve stimulation (RNS) of muscles involved in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In ALS, muscle wasting preferentially affects the thenar muscles (APB) rather than the hypothenar muscles (ADM). METHODS We performed RNS studies in the APB and ADM muscles of 32...

Despite the extensive use of botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) in treatments for glabellar frown lines, the dose-response effect in the glabellar muscles remains unknown. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled prospective study was to characterize the neurophysiological parameters that correlate with the effect of BoNT-A in the glabellar muscles and its diffusion to surround...

Despite the extensive use of botulinum toxin A (BoNTA) in medical and cosmetic treatments, the potential spreading of BoNTA to surrounding tissues remains unknown. A patient with hemifacial paralysis upon blepharospasm treatment with low dose of BoNTA, prompted us to investigate the spreading effect. A randomised, double-blind study was conducted in which 5 healthy women (33-52 years) were trea...

The Socio-Cognitive Systems (SCS) Section at Defence Research and Development Canada—Toronto (DRDC Toronto) has undertaken a Technology Investment Fund (TIF) Project entitled “A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Armed Non-state Actors (ANSAs): Strategic Roles and Operational Dynamics.” The aim of this Project is to advance our understanding of (a) the strategic roles of ANSAs in the contex...

INTRODUCTION Compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scans are detailed stimulus-response curves which provide information about motor unit properties in neuromuscular disorders. This study assessed a method of automatic motor unit number estimation (MUNE) from 5-min CMAP scans. METHODS A preliminary model, derived from the variance and slope of the scan, is refined to fit the CMAP scan more ...