BACKGROUND Chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP) is a frequent neurologic disorder in elderly persons. In view of the aging population, it is important to know the long-term prognosis of CIAP. OBJECTIVES To determine if CIAP is influenced by the superposition of the effects of aging and to evaluate the severity of CIAP according to the disease duration. DESIGN Controlled cohort st...

Mercury is known to alter neuronal function and has been shown to cross the placental barrier. These experiments were undertaken to examine if gestational exposure to mercury vapor (Hg(0)) would result in alterations in sensory neuronal function in adult offspring. Dams were exposed to 0 or 4 mg/m(3) Hg(0) for 2 h/day from gestational days 6-15. This exposure paradigm has been shown to approxim...

OBJECTIVE To characterize peripheral nerve involvement in patients with chronic progressive external ophthalmoplegia (CPEO) with single and multiple mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions, based on clinical scores and detailed nerve conduction studies. METHODS Peripheral nerve involvement was prospectively investigated in 33 participants with CPEO (single deletions n = 18 and multiple deletions ...

The objective of this study was to investigate the intra-examiner reliability of consecutive sensory nerve action potential amplitude measurements with short time intervals. Amplitudes were compared in repeated sensory nerve action potential recordings of the lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve on 63 healthy subjects. There were two sets of each two consecutive measurements, each set separated...

Within the limits of the Guillain-Barré syndrome, the pattern of clinical deficit is variable. Motor deficit may begin proximally or distally in the extremities and sensory deficit is sometimes, but not always present. Longitudinal studies were performed in 13 patients, starting during the progressive phase. The severity of the clinical deficit was related to the amplitude of the compound muscl...

Sensory conduction was studied in six patients with chronic sensory ataxic neuropathy of an idiopathic type and associated with Sjögren's syndrome. Motor nerve conduction velocities were normal in most cases, but sensory nerve potentials could not be evoked in a routine peripheral nerve conduction study. Cortical and cervical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) and evoked potentials from Erb...

The strength-duration time constant (tau SD) is a property of nodal membrane and, while it depends on a number of factors, its measurement may shed light on axonal properties when taken in conjunction with measurements of axonal excitability. For example, tau SD increases with demyelination as the exposed membrane is enlarged by inclusion of paranodal and internodal membrane, it decreases with ...

The amplitude of human, antidromic, sensory compound action potentials (CAP) recorded from median and ulnar digital nerves is greater in females than males. This sex difference is probably due entirely to females having digits of smaller circumference, resulting in digital nerves being closer to the recording ring electrode enclosing the digit. The negative linear correlation between CAP amplit...

Twenty lead-exposed men were selected on the basis of a maximum level of lead in the blood of 70-140 ,tg/l00 ml within the past year. There was no clinical evidence of neuropathy attributable to lead and haemoglobin levels were normal. In individuals, maximum motor and sensory conduction and the amplitude of the evoked potentials were normal or borderline in the median, peroneal and sural nerve...