OBJECTIVES Recent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies demonstrate that motor cortex excitability is increased in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and that intracortical inhibitory phenomena are impaired. The aim of the present study was to determine whether hyperexcitability is due to the impairment of intracortical inhibitory circuits or to an independent abnormality of excitatory circuits...

In primary sensory cortices, there are two main sources of excitation: afferent sensory input relayed from the periphery and recurrent intracortical input. Untangling the functional roles of these two excitatory pathways is fundamental for understanding how cortical neurons process sensory stimuli. Odor representations in the primary olfactory (piriform) cortex depend on excitatory sensory affe...

patients with mitochondrial encephalopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (melas) present with recurrent and partially reversible neurological deficits. lesions of melas classically cause a signal change in both the grey and white matter, predominantly in the occipital and parietal lobes. these lesions mimic infarction. here, we reported a case of melas with rare neuroimaging finding...

Introduction Myofascial pain syndrome (MPS) is a common chronic pain disorder that lacks effective diagnostic criteria. To better understand neurophysiological changes in chronic pain, several trials exploring corticospinal excitability in different populations of patients with chronic pain have been performed. Objectives In this systematic review, we aimed to investigate the current literatu...

Reorganization of primary motor cortex (M1) is well-described in long-term lower limb amputees. In contrast cortical reorganization during the rehabilitation period after amputation is poorly understood. Thirteen transtibial amputees and 13 gender matched control participants of similar age were recruited. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to assess corticomotor and intracortical excit...

In mammalian visual cortex, neurons are organized according to their functional properties into multiple maps such as retinotopic, ocular dominance, orientation preference, direction of motion, and others. What determines the organization of cortical maps? We argue that cortical maps reflect neuronal connectivity in intracortical circuits. Because connecting distant neurons requires costly wiri...

tic processes involving bone. Most skeletal metastasis comes about from a hematogenous spread from an original tumor (1). The diagnosis of skeletal metastatic lesion is not generally difficult when multiple lesions are present and the clinical history is correlated with this. If the metastasis occurs in an unusual location as a single lesion, it is not easy to make a diagnosis. In some instance...