Search results for " Motor"
showing 10 items of 1044 documents
Extreme duration exercise affects old and younger men differently.
2022
Aim & Methods: Extreme endurance exercise provides a valuable research model for understanding the adaptive metabolic response of older and younger individuals to intense physical activity. Here, we compare a wide range of metabolic and physiologic parameters in two cohorts of seven trained men, age 30 ± 5 years or age 65 ± 6 years, before and after the participants travelled ≈3000 km by bicycle over 15 days. Results: Over the 15-day exercise intervention, participants lost 2–3 kg fat mass with no significant change in body weight. V̇O2max did not change in younger cyclists, but decreased (p = 0.06) in the older cohort. The resting plasma FFA concentration decreased markedly in both gro…
Changes in Cerebello-motor Connectivity during Procedural Learning by Actual Execution and Observation
2011
Abstract The cerebellum is involved in motor learning of new procedures both during actual execution of a motor task and during observational training. These processes are thought to depend on the activity of a neural network that involves the lateral cerebellum and primary motor cortex (M1). In this study, we used a twin-coil TMS technique to investigate whether execution and observation of a visuomotor procedural learning task is related to modulation of cerebello-motor connectivity. We observed that, at rest, a magnetic conditioning pulse applied over the lateral cerebellum reduced the motor-evoked potentials obtained by stimulating the contralateral M1, indicating activation of a cerebe…
Magnetic stimulation study in patients with myotonic dystrophy
1997
To further define motor nervous system alterations in myotonic dystrophy (MD), motor potentials to transcranial and cervical magnetic stimulation (MEPs) were recorded from the right abductor pollicis brevis muscle in 10 patients with MD and in 10 healthy controls. Cortical and cervical latencies, central motor conduction time (CMCT), stimulus threshold intensity and cortical MEP amplitudes expressed both as absolute values and as %M were analysed. MEP cervical latency, absolute or relative amplitude and excitability threshold did not significantly differ in patients and controls. The mean cortical motor latency and CMCT were significantly prolonged in MD patients with respect to normal subj…
Increased gait variability during robot-assisted walking is accompanied by increased sensorimotor brain activity in healthy people
2019
Abstract Background Gait disorders are major symptoms of neurological diseases affecting the quality of life. Interventions that restore walking and allow patients to maintain safe and independent mobility are essential. Robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) proved to be a promising treatment for restoring and improving the ability to walk. Due to heterogenuous study designs and fragmentary knowlegde about the neural correlates associated with RAGT and the relation to motor recovery, guidelines for an individually optimized therapy can hardly be derived. To optimize robotic rehabilitation, it is crucial to understand how robotic assistance affect locomotor control and its underlying brain act…
Hypo-excitability of cortical areas in patients affected by Friedreich ataxia: A TMS study
2005
The aim of the study was to explore excitability of a motor and a non-motor (visual) area in patients affected by Friedreich ataxia and to correlate neurophysiological data with clinical parameters. Seven patients (3M/4F) and ten healthy controls (5M/5F) participated in the study. The hot-spot for activation of right abductor pollicis brevis was checked by means of a figure-of-eight coil and the motor threshold (MT) on this point was recorded. The phosphene threshold (PT) was measured by means of a focal coil over the occipital cortex as the lower intensity of magnetic stimulation able to induce the perception of phosphenes. The patients showed a significantly higher mean PT (p<.03) and MT …
Heterogeneous presentation of caspr2 antibody‐associated peripheral neuropathy – A case series
2019
Contactin-associated protein 2-like (caspr2) antibodies have been discovered recently. Since then a multitude of patients with caspr2 antibodies presenting with different neurological symptoms have been reported. Here, we describe three patients with caspr2 antibodies with different types of pain/no pain in combination with peripheral neuropathy. The first patient, a 33-year-old woman, presented with erythromelalgia-like pain and autonomic symptoms; the second patient, a 58-year-old man, with paresthesia and pain while walking together with signs of peripheral motor neuron hyperexcitability in combination with optic neuritis, and the third patient, a 74-year-old man, without any pain but wi…
Manual motor speed dysfunction as a neurocognitive endophenotype in euthymic bipolar disorder patients and their healthy relatives. Evidence from a 5…
2017
Background: Few studies have examined Manual Motor Speed (MMS) in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this longitudinal, family study was to explore whether dysfunctional MMS represents a neurocognitive endophenotype of BD. Methods: A sample of 291 subjects, including 131 BD patients, 77 healthy first-degree relatives (BD-Rel), and 83 genetically-unrelated healthy controls (HC), was assessed with the Finger-Tapping Test (En) on three occasions over a 5-year period. Dependence of FTT on participants' age was removed by means of a lineal model of HC samples, while correcting simultaneously the time and learning effect. Differences between groups were evaluated with an ANOVA test. Results: The p…
Laterality effects in motor learning by mental practice in right-handers.
2014
Converging evidences suggest that mental movement simulation and actual movement production share similar neurocognitive and learning processes. Although a large body of data is available in the literature regarding mental states involving the dominant arm, examinations for the nondominant arm are sparse. Does mental training, through motor-imagery practice, with the dominant arm or the nondominant arm is equally efficient for motor learning? In the current study, we investigated laterality effects in motor learning by motor-imagery practice. Four groups of right-hander adults mentally and physically performed as fast and accurately as possible (speed/accuracy trade-off paradigm) successive…
The ipsilateral corticospinal responses to cross-education are dependent upon the motor-training intervention
2018
This study aimed to identify the ipsilateral corticospinal responses of the contralateral limb following different types of unilateral motor-training. Three groups performing unilateral slow-paced strength training (SPST), non-paced strength training (NPST) or visuomotor skill training (VT) were compared to a control group. It was hypothesised that 4 weeks of unilateral SPST and VT, but not NPST, would increase ipsilateral corticospinal excitability (CSE) and reduce short-interval cortical inhibition (SICI), resulting in greater performance gains of the untrained limb. Tracking error of the untrained limb reduced by 29 and 41% following 2 and 4 weeks of VT. Strength of the untrained limb in…
Significant reduction of physical activity in patients with neuromuscular disease during COVID-19 pandemic: the long-term consequences of quarantine
2020
Abstract Background Quarantine was the measure taken by governments to control the rapid spread of COVID-19. This restriction resulted in a sudden change in people’s lifestyle, leading to an increase in sedentary behavior and a related decrease in the practice of physical activity (PA). However, in neuromuscular diseases patients need to perform regular PA to counteract the negative consequences of the disease. Hence, the aim of this study was to estimate the levels of PA, measured as energy expenditure (MET–minute/week), among patients with neuromuscular disease (NMD) before and during the last week of quarantine. Methods A total of 268 Italian subjects, living in Sicily, completed an adap…