0000000000393316

AUTHOR

Sara Määttä

P27-S Sex differences and cortical excitability in healthy adolescents

Background Sex is known to influence brain development. However, sex differences in cortical excitability and their relationship to motor functions is unclear. Aim We examined the sex related differences in the degree of handedness, left and right motor cortex excitability and manual dexterity. Methods 28 healthy adolescents (age 16–19 years,19 girls) were studied. The degree of right-handedness was determined by the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire. Motor threshold (MT) of the abductor pollicis brevis was measured on both hemispheres. Box and block test (BBT) was used for manual dexterity. Independent samples t-test was used in statistical analysis. Results There were no differences betwe…

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Maturation changes the excitability and effective connectivity of the frontal lobe : A developmental TMS-EEG study

The combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation with simultaneous electroencephalography (TMS–EEG) offers direct neurophysiological insight into excitability and connectivity within neural circuits. However, there have been few developmental TMS–EEG studies to date, and they all have focused on primary motor cortex stimulation. In the present study, we used navigated high‐density TMS–EEG to investigate the maturation of the superior frontal cortex (dorsal premotor cortex [PMd]), which is involved in a broad range of motor and cognitive functions known to develop with age. We demonstrated that reactivity to frontal cortex TMS decreases with development. We also showed that although fron…

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Longitudinal study on modulated corticospinal excitability throughout recovery in supratentorial stroke

Corticospinal excitability (CSE) is modulated by stroke-induced lesions affecting the brain. This modulation is known to be dependent on the timing of the evaluation, and strongest abnormalities are often found in the acute stage. Our study aimed to characterize changes in CSE asymmetry between the affected and the unaffected hemisphere (AH and UH) during the first month after stroke onset and at 6 month follow-up. Neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) was used to assess the CSE of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle of the hand and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of the leg in 16 patients over 5 time-points. AH excitability recovered significantly during 6 months, whe…

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P26-S Left and right motor cortical excitability and relationship to motor functions in healthy adolescents

Background The interhemispheric difference in cortical excitability and its relationship to motor functions is unclear. Aim We examined the relationship between handedness, left and right motor cortex excitability and fine and gross motor functions in adolescence. Methods 28 healthy adolescents (age 16–19 years, 19 girls) were studied. Handedness was determined by the Waterloo Handedness Questionnaire. Motor threshold (MT) of the abductor pollicis brevis was measured on both hemispheres using biphasic stimulation, and on the left hemisphere also with monophasic stimulation. Box and block test (BBT) was used for manual dexterity, line run and standing long jump for gross motor tasks. Spearma…

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