Search results for " SOM"
showing 10 items of 346 documents
Specific forms of neural activity associated with tactile space awareness
2002
Left tactile extinction, in which a left tactile stimulus fails to access consciousness only when a right stimulus is presented simultaneously, offers a model for studying tactile awareness from its transitory absence. Pairs of transcranial magnetic stimuli (TMS) on the parietal cortex inhibit contralateral tactile perception when separated by an interval of 1 ms. We have applied this technique on the left parietal cortex of right brain damaged (RBD) patients and normal subjects and have shown a selective lack of paired TMS inhibitory effects on right tactile perception of patients during bimanual stimulation. TMS effects were normal during unimanual right stimulation. These results suggest…
Functional relevance of cross-modal plasticity in blind humans
1997
Functional imaging studies of people who were blind from an early age have revealed that their primary visual cortex can be activated by Braille reading and other tactile discrimination tasks1. Other studies have also shown that visual cortical areas can be activated by somatosensory input in blind subjects but not those with sight2,3,4,5,6,7. The significance of this cross-modal plasticity is unclear, however, as it is not known whether the visual cortex can process somatosensory information in a functionally relevant way. To address this issue, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt the function of different cortical areas in people who were blind from an early age as they i…
Combined EEG and MEG analysis of early somatosensory evoked activity in children and adolescents with focal epilepsies
2006
Abstract Objective The study aimed to evaluate differences between EEG and MEG analysis of early somatosensory evoked activity in patients with focal epilepsies in localizing eloquent areas of the somatosensory cortex. Methods Twenty-five patients (12 male, 13 female; age 4–25 years, mean 11.7 years) were included. Syndromes were classified as symptomatic in 17, idiopathic in 2 and cryptogenic in 6 cases. 10 patients presented with malformations of cortical development (MCD). 122 channel MEG and simultaneous 33-channel EEG were recorded during tactile stimulation of the thumb (sampling rate 769 Hz, band-pass 0.3–260 Hz). Forty-four hemispheres were analyzed. Hemispheres were classified as t…
Increased sensitivity of the neuronal nicotinic receptor alpha-2 subunit causes familial epilepsy with nocturnal wandering and ictal fear
2006
Sleep has traditionally been recognized as a precipitating factor for some forms of epilepsy, although differential diagnosis between some seizure types and parasomnias may be difficult. Autosomal dominant frontal lobe epilepsy is characterized by nocturnal seizures with hyperkinetic automatisms and poorly organized stereotyped movements and has been associated with mutations of the α4 and β2 subunits of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. We performed a clinical and molecular genetic study of a large pedigree segregating sleep-related epilepsy in which seizures are associated with fear sensation, tongue movements, and nocturnal wandering, closely resembling nightmares and sleep …
Anatomic Changes After Hyoid Suspension for Obstructive Sleep Apnea: An MRI Study
2005
Objective To assess the effects of isolated hyoid suspension on subjective and objective parameters of obstructive sleep apnea and to evaluate changes in upper airway anatomy with the help of standardized magnetic resonance imaging. Study design and setting Fifteen patients received isolated hyoid suspension. Changes in respiratory disturbance index were assessed with polysomnography, and anatomical changes with standardized magnetic resonance imaging. Snoring, daytime sleepiness, and functional parameters were assessed with questionnaires. Lateral x-ray cephalometry was performed preoperatively. Results Mean respiratory disturbance index was reduced from 35.2 ± 19.1 to 27.4 ± 26.2. Forty p…
Cortical representation of saccular vestibular stimulation: VEMPs in fMRI
2006
Short tone bursts trigger a vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP), an inhibitory potential which reflects a component of the vestibulocollic reflex (VCR). These potentials arise as a result of activation of the sacculus and are expressed through the vestibulo-collic reflex (VCR). Up to now, the ascending projections of the sacculus are unknown in humans, only the representation of the semicircular canals or the entire vestibular nerve has been demonstrated. The aim of this study was to determine whether a sacculus stimulus that evoked VEMPs could activate vestibular cortical areas in fMRI. To determine this, we studied the differential effects of unilateral VEMP stimulation in 21 heal…
The medical treatment with pasireotide in Cushing’s disease: an Italian multicentre experience based on “real-world evidence”
2019
A phase III study has demonstrated that 6-month pasireotide treatment induced disease control with good safety in 15–26% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). The aim of the current study was to evaluate the 6-month efficacy and safety of pasireotide treatment according to the real-world evidence. Thirty-two CD patients started pasireotide at the dose of 600 µg twice a day (bid) and with the chance of up-titration to 900 µg bid, or down-titration to 450 or 300 µg bid, on the basis of urinary cortisol (UC) levels or safety. Hormonal, clinical and metabolic parameters were measured at baseline and at 3-month and 6-month follow-up, whereas tumour size was evaluated at baseline and at 6-mont…
Differential effects on the laser evoked potential of selectively attending to pain localisation versus pain unpleasantness
2004
Abstract Objective : To determine the effects on the laser evoked potential (LEP) of selectively attending to affective (unpleasantness) versus sensory-discriminative (localisation) components of pain. Methods : LEPs, elicited by painful CO 2 laser stimulation of two areas of the right forearm, were recorded from 62 electrodes in 21 healthy volunteers, during three tasks that were matched for generalised attention: Localisation (report stimulus location), Unpleasantness (report stimulus unpleasantness), Control (report pain detection). LEP components are named by polarity, latency, and electrode. Results : N300-T7 peak amplitude was significantly greater during Localisation than Unpleasantn…
EDSS correlated analysis of median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials in multiple sclerosis
2001
Median nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) were recorded in 30 patients with multiple sclerosis. The examined patients had an expanded disability status scale (EDSS) between 0 and 6. The primary cortical potential N20, the subcortical potentials P14, N13b, N13a and the peripheral potential P9 were recorded simultaneously. In 5 patients normal SEP were observed (group 1), and in 6 patients there were consecutive disturbances of the somatosensory pathway (group 3). In 19 patients subcortical potentials were abnormal or absent while the following potentials were normal or identified which pattern corresponds to amplification within CNS structures (group 2). The EDSS of groups 1 and 2 w…
Effects of cumulative sleep restriction on self-perceptions while multitasking
2012
Summary This study addressed a rarely studied question of self-perceptions of performance and overall functional state during cumulative sleep restriction and the ensuing recovery period. Twenty healthy male volunteers, aged 19–29 years, were divided into a sleep restriction group (n = 13) and a control group (n = 7). On the first 2 nights, the sleep restriction group had an 8-h sleep opportunity that was restricted to 4 h for the next 5 nights, and then restored to 8 h for the last 2 nights. The control group had an 8-h sleep opportunity each night. Each day participants accomplished 50-min multitask sessions and gave self-ratings in their connection. Similar to our previous findings on mu…