The invariant left-right asymmetry of animal body plans raises fascinating questions in cell, developmental, evolutionary, and neuro-biology. While intermediate mechanisms (e.g., asymmetric gene expression) have been well-characterized, very early steps remain elusive. Recent studies suggested a candidate for the origins of asymmetry: rotary movement of extracellular morphogens by cilia during ...

PURPOSE Too investigate asymmetry in eyelid movements with blinking, the stability of the asymmetry, and its modifiability in normal humans. METHODS Differences in the start time and amplitude between the two eyelids were assessed for voluntary blinks and reflex blinks evoked by supraorbital trigeminal nerve stimulation. These variables were also measured before and up to 18 months after 2 ho...

IMPORTANCE Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a brain-based pervasive developmental disorder, which-by growing consensus-is associated with abnormal organization of functional networks. Several previous studies of ASD have indicated atypical hemispheric asymmetries for language. OBJECTIVE To examine the asymmetry of functional networks using a data-driven approach for a comprehensive investiga...

BACKGROUND Mirror movements (MM) are not widely appreciated in parkinsonism and no report has evaluated this clinical sign in detail. OBJECTIVES To define the parkinsonian clinical features associated with MM in patients with early, asymmetric parkinsonism. METHODS Twenty seven patients with early Parkinson's disease were evaluated using a standardised videotaping protocol. MM were scored f...

OBJECTIVES Although changes in novelty seeking and harm avoidance have been reported among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), the findings regarding the neurochemical correlates of such changes are inconsistent. This study was designed to examine the hypothesis that different patterns of motor and neurochemical asymmetry in PD may have contributed to the conflicting results. METHODS Fort...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Advancing age is associated with declines in motor function; understanding age-related changes in the basal ganglia, therefore, is imperative for comprehension of such functional changes. The purpose of this study was to examine the age, sex, and hemispheric differences in volume of the caudate nucleus, the putamen, and the globus pallidus. METHODS In a sample of 148 he...

OBJECTIVE Anthropometry (measurement of body dimensions) has been used for clinical diagnosis of growth and developmental disorders during pregnancy and after birth. Different brain volumes have also been shown in abnormal developmental disorders. This study compares the different horizontal diameters of the left- and right-hand thumbnails and asymmetry of lateral cerebral ventricles in childre...

The aims of the study were to investigate the differences in kinematics and kinetics between the dominant and nondominant leg during single-leg jumps without arm swing, and to determine the relationship between bilateral asymmetry in isokinetic knee strength and the single-leg jump. Isokinetic knee strength and single-leg jump kinematics and kinetics were measured in 11 male participants. The b...

Time irreversibility, a fundamental property of nonequilibrium systems, should be of importance in assessing the status of physiological processes that operate over a wide range of scales. However, measurement of this property in living systems has been limited. We provide a computational method derived from basic physics assumptions to quantify time asymmetry over multiple scales and apply it ...

BACKGROUND In hemiplegic gait, step length typically differs in magnitude between paretic and nonparetic sides. However, the direction of step-length asymmetry varies across stroke patients. OBJECTIVE The study sought to understand directional variations in step-length asymmetry in terms of asymmetries in forward foot placement relative to the trunk and trunk progression. METHODS A total of...