0000000000652984
AUTHOR
T. Vogt
Pituitary Function and the Somatotrophic System in Patients with Idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease Under Chronic Dopaminergic Therapy
Idiopathic Parkinson's disease and dopaminergic medication may influence pituitary hormone secretion. The present study aimed to reveal any abnormalities of the somatotrophic system induced by the disease itself and/or the dopaminergic therapy. Investigations of other pituitary hormones under basal and stimulated conditions, as well as an analysis of body composition, were also performed. This was a controlled diagnostic study in which luteinising hormone-releasing hormone, thyroid-releasing hormone, corticotrophin-releasing hormone and arginine hydrochloride were administered to ten patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease under dopaminergic medication. Basal and stimulated hormone con…
Relationship between electrical and mechanical properties of motor units.
In six healthy volunteers, the size of the motor unit action potential (MUAP) was related to its contractile behaviour. Electrical activity was determined by measuring amplitude and area of the potential, using the macro electromyography (EMG) technique. The mechanical response was characterised by contraction time, twitch force and relaxation time, recorded with the spike triggered averaging technique. With increasing tension of the whole muscle corresponding to an increasing threshold, the force of single units enlarged exponentially compared to their EMG. There was only a weak relationship between contraction time and electrical activity and none between EMG and relaxation time.
Corticobulbar tract involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A transcranial magnetic stimulation study
We investigated corticobulbar tract function by recording from the tongue and orofacial muscles and using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in 30 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in order to improve the diagnostic yield in the detection of subclinical upper motor neuron (UMN) dysfunction. A UMN lesion was assumed when the peripheral conduction time and amplitude of the M-wave were within normal range and either the response to cortical stimulation was absent, or the central conduction time was delayed (> mean + 2.5 SD). Only two patients showed clinical evidence of UMN involvement in the cranial nerves, while TMS demonstrated corticobulbar tract dysfunction in the oro…