AIM The effect of electrical somatosensory stimulation on motor performance of the affected hand was investigated in 12 chronic subcortical stroke subjects. METHODS Subjects performed index finger and hand tapping movements as well as reach-to-grasp movements with both the affected and unaffected hand prior to (baseline conditions) and following (1) 2 h of electrical somatosensory stimulation...

Coincident hand and foot movements are more reliably performed in the same direction than in opposite directions. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to assess motor cortex function, we examined the physiological basis of these movements across three novel experiments. Experiment 1 demonstrated that upper limb corticomotor excitability changed in a way that facilitated isodirectional ...

BACKGROUND Recovering useful hand function after stroke is a major scientific challenge for patients with limited motor recovery. We hypothesized that sequential training beginning with proximal bilateral followed by unilateral task oriented training is superior to time-matched unilateral training alone. Proximal bilateral training could optimally prepare the motor system to respond to the more...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed at identifying the impact of subcortical stroke on the interaction of cortical motor areas within and across hemispheres during the generation of voluntary hand movements. METHODS Twelve subacute stroke patients with a subcortical ischemic lesion and 12 age-matched control subjects were scanned using 3-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects performed ...

adenosine acts as neuromodulator in the brain, which its involvement in a wide range of brain processes and diseases has been studied, such as epilepsy, sleep, anxiety, panic disorder, alzheimer’s disease, parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. adenosine receptors have been detected: a1r, a2ar (a2ar), a2br, and a3r. a1r and a2r inhibit camp production, while a2ar and a2br stimulate camp product...

Although recent neurological research has shed light on the brain's mechanisms of self-repair after stroke, the role that intact tissue plays in recovery is still obscure. To explore these mechanisms further, we used microelectrode stimulation techniques to examine functional remodeling in cerebral cortex after an ischemic infarct in the hand representation of primary motor cortex in five adult...

Background Clinical features of CharcoteMarieeTooth disease type 1A (CMT1A) include slowly progressive distal muscle weakness, atrophy and sensory loss. Upper-limb involvement results in reduced manual dexterity interfering with the execution of daily activities. Objective To identify which hand function impairments are determinants of manual dexterity in CMT1A. Methods In a cross-sectional, ob...

What determines the laterality of activation in motor cortex for words whose meaning is related to bodily actions? It has been suggested that the neuronal representation of the meaning of action-words is shaped by individual experience. However, core language functions are left-lateralized in the majority of both right- and left-handers. It is still an open question to what degree connections b...