The demonstration of cortical representational shifts in adult animals subsequent to deafferentation from amputation or dorsal rhizotomy has spurred attempts to elucidate the perceptual correlates of reorganization. Because the hand is flanked by the face and the trunk on the cortical homunculus it has been suggested that cortical remapping in arm amputees leads to a mislocalization of sensatio...

We report a follow-up study on seven arm amputees in whom magnetic source imaging had originally revealed a strong correlation between the amount of cortical invasion of the deafferented cortex and the amount of pain evoked sensation mislocalized to the phantom limb. This re-examination was performed in order to corroborate the phenomenon of mislocalization. On follow-up examination for misloca...

Although it is difficult in fully clarifying its mechanisms and effects, Deqi still can be considered as an instant "sign" of acupuncture response of the patient and acupuncturist, which has a significant value in clinic and research. This paper aims to take a history trace to the development of Deqi theory, understand the connotation of Deqi based on Chinese medicine theory, and establish an e...

Most amputees experience phantom limbs, or the sensation that their amputated limb is still attached to the body. Phantom limbs can be perceived in the location previously occupied by the intact limb, or they can gradually retract inside the stump, a phenomenon referred to as "telescoping".  Telescoping is relevant from a clinical point of view, as it tends to be related to increased levels of ...

Hearing loss often results in tinnitus and auditory cortical map changes, leading to the prevailing view that the phantom perception is associated with cortical reorganization. However, we show here that tinnitus is mediated by a cortical area lacking map reorganization. High-frequency hearing loss results in two distinct cortical regions: a sensory-deprived region characterized by a decrease i...

Tinnitus refers to the persistent sensation of sound in the absence of a corresponding physical source. We suggest that both the perceptual and the affective aspects of this phantom sensation arise from a distributed cerebral network whereby the functional coupling between neural nodes involved would be realised through phase-synchrony of neural oscillations. In this study, we sought to excite ...

Up to 80% of amputees report phantom limb pain (PLP), the management of which remains a considerable challenge. Here I describe the successful treatment with scalp acupuncture (SA) of a woman with PLP. A 71-year-old woman with no significant medical history was injured in a road-traffic accident in January 2010, leaving her with a fracture of the right elbow and right scapula, and multiple lace...

We introduce a novel two-degree-of-freedom haptic display capable of reproducing the sensation of sliding contact on a fingertip. The modular device can be attached to a PHANTOM haptic interface and generates tactile sensations by actuating a ball positioned under the user’s index finger. Specifications for the device and mechanical design considerations are presented. Integration of the slip d...

background: date (phoenix dactylifera l.) is one of the most important agricultural crops in iran. this study was carried out to determine the possibility of using date paste for manufacturing a new ready-to-eat food product. methods: various formulations were prepared by mixing mazafati date paste, bread, oil (animal and olive), nuts and spices but only six formulas were chosen according to se...