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  • 1995-1999  (10.971)
  • 1997  (10.971)
  • Chemistry  (10.047)
  • Life and Medical Sciences  (779)
  • Human  (145)
  • Nuclear reactions
Materialart
Erscheinungszeitraum
  • 1995-1999  (10.971)
Jahr
  • 1
    ISSN: 1432-1912
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Antimigraine drugs ; Arteriovenous ; anastomoses ; Avitriptan ; BMS-180048 ; Carotid artery ; Human ; Human coronary artery ; Migraine ; Pig ; Sumatriptan
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Several acutely acting antimigraine drugs, including ergotamine and sumatriptan, have the ability to constrict porcine arteriovenous anastomoses as well as the human isolated coronary artery. These two experimental models seem to serve as indicators, respectively, for the therapeutic and coronary side-effect potential of the compounds. Using these two models, we have now investigated the effects of avitriptan (BMS-180048; 3-[3-[4-(5-methoxy-4-pyrimidinyl)-1-piperazinyl]propyl]-N-methyl-1H-indole-5-methanesulfonamide monofumarate), a new 5-HT1B/1D receptor agonist. In anaesthetized pigs, avitriptan (10, 30, 100 and 300 μg·kg–1) decreased the total carotid blood flow by exclusively decreasing arteriovenous anastomotic blood flow; capillary blood flow was increased. The mean ± SEM i.v. dose of avitriptan eliciting a 50% decrease (ED50) in the porcine carotid arteriovenous anastomotic blood flow was calculated to be 76 ± 23 μg·kg–1 (132 ± 40 nmol·kg–1) and the highest dose (300 μg·kg–1) produced a 72 ± 4% reduction. In recent comparative experiments (DeVries et al. 1996), the mean ± SEM ED50 (i.v.) of sumatriptan in decreasing carotid arteriovenous anastomotic blood flow was 63 ± 17 μg·kg–1 (158 ± 43 nmol·kg–1), with a reduction of 76 ± 4% by 300 μg·kg–1, i.v. Both avitriptan (pD2: 7.39 ± 0.09; Emax: 13.0 ± 4.5% of the contraction to 100 mM K+) and sumatriptan (pD2: 6.33 ± 0.09; Emax: 15.5 ± 2.3% of the contraction to 100 mM K+) contracted the human isolated coronary artery. The above results suggest that avitriptan should be able to abort migraine headaches in patients, but may exhibit sumatriptan-like effects on coronary arteries. Initial clinical studies have demonstrated the therapeutic action of the drug in acute migraine.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 2
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology 355 (1997), S. 743-750 
    ISSN: 1432-1912
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Erythromycin ; Potassium channels ; Arrhythmias ; Kv1.5 ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Erythromycin administration has been associated with a prolongation of cardiac repolarization in certain clinical settings. This could be due to blockade of voltage-dependent K+ channels in the human heart. For this reason we examined the effects of erythromycin on a rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ channel (Kv1.5) cloned from human heart and stably expressed in human embryonic kidney cells. When examined using the whole-cell patch clamp technique, erythromycin (100 μM) blocked Kv1.5 current in a time-dependent manner but required prolonged exposure to do so. However, when we examined Kv1.5 current using inside-out macropatches, erythromycin applied to the cytoplasmic surface rapidly (within 1-2 min) inhibited Kv1.5 current with an IC50 value of 2.6 x 10-5M (1.7 - 3.9 x 10-5M, 95% C.L.). The main effect of erythromycin was to accelerate the rate of Kv1.5 current decay thereby reducing the current at the end of a prolonged voltage-clamp pulse. Erythromycin also blocked Kv1.5 current in both a voltage- and frequency-dependent manner but had little effect on the activation kinetics, deactivation kinetics, or the steady-state inactivation properties of Kv1.5. These data suggest that erythromycin acts as a blocker of an activated state of the Kv1.5 channel and that it may access its binding site from the intracellular face of the channel. This study is the first to examine the effects of erythromycin on a cloned human cardiac K+ channel. It is concluded that erythromycin blocks Kv1.5 at clinically relevant concentrations. Blockade of voltage-dependent K+ channels in the heart could contribute to the alterations in cardiac repolarization that have been observed with erythromycin.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 3
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology 356 (1997), S. 583-589 
    ISSN: 1432-1912
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Cannabinoid CB1 receptors ; Human ; hippocampus ; Guinea-pig hippocampus ; Noradrenaline release ; Presynaptic receptors ; cAMP accumulation ; WIN 55 ; 212-2 ; SR 141716
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract We examined the question of whether cannabinoid receptors modulating noradrenaline release are detectable in the brain of humans and experimental animals. For this purpose, hippocampal slices from humans, guinea-pigs, rats and mice and cerebellar, cerebrocortical and hypothalamic slices from guinea-pigs were incubated with [3H]noradrenaline and then superfused. Tritium overflow was evoked either electrically (0.3 or 1Hz) or by introduction of Ca2+ ions (1.3μM) into Ca2+-free, K+-rich medium (25μM) containing tetrodotoxin 1μM. Furthermore, the cAMP accumulation stimulated by forskolin 10μM was determined in guinea-pig hippocampal membranes. We used the following drugs: the cannabinoid receptor agonists (–)-cis-3-[2-hydroxy-4-(1,1-dimethylheptyl)phenyl]-trans-4-(3-hydroxypropyl)cyclohexanol (CP-55,940) and R(+)-[2,3-dihydro-5-methyl-3-[(morpholinyl)methyl]pyrrolo[1,2,3-de]-1,4-benzoxazin-yl]-(1-naphthalenyl)methanone (WIN 55,212-2), the inactive S(–)-enantiomer of the latter (WIN 55,212-3) and the CB1 receptor antagonist N-piperidino-5-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-4-methyl-3-pyrazole-carboxamide (SR 141716). The electrically evoked tritium overflow from guinea-pig hippocampal slices was reduced by WIN 55,212-2 (pIC30% 6.5) but not affected by WIN 55,212-3 up to 10μM. The concentration-response curve of WIN 55,212-2 was shifted to the right by SR 141716 (0.032μM) (apparent pA2 8.2), which by itself did not affect the evoked overflow. WIN 55,212-2 1μM also inhibited the Ca2+-evoked tritium overflow in guinea-pig hippocampal slices and the electrically evoked overflow in guinea-pig cerebellar, cerebrocortical and hypothalamic slices as well as in human hippocampal slices but not in rat and mouse hippocampal slices. SR 141716 (0.32μM) markedly attenuated the WIN 55,212-2-induced inhibition in guinea-pig and human brain slices. SR 141716 0.32μM by itself increased the electrically evoked tritium overflow in guinea-pig hippocampal slices but failed to do so in slices from the other brain regions of the guinea-pig and in human hippocampal slices. The cAMP accumulation stimulated by forskolin was reduced by CP-55,940 and WIN 55,212-2. The concentration-response curve of CP 55,940 was shifted to the right by SR 141716 (0.1μM; apparent pA2 8.3), which by itself did not affect cAMP accumulation. In conclusion, cannabinoid receptors of the CB1 subtype occur in the human hippocampus, where they may contribute to the psychotropic effects of cannabis, and in the guinea-pig hippocampus, cerebellum, cerebral cortex and hypothalamus. The CB1 receptor in the guinea-pig hippocampus is located presynaptically, is activated by endogenous cannabinoids and may be negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 4
    ISSN: 1432-069X
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Tape stripping ; Human ; Stratum corneum ; Penetration studies ; Skin furrows
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Tape stripping of human stratum corneum is widely used as a method for studying the kinetics and penetration depth of drugs. Several factors can influence the quantity of stratum corneum that is removed by a piece of tape, such as the manner of tape stripping, the hydration of the skin, cohesion between cells, body site and interindividual differences. However, few data are available about the influence of furrows in the human epidermis on the tape-stripping technique. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of tape stripping in removing complete cell layers from the superficial part of the human stratum corneum. A histological section of skin that was tape-stripped 20 times clearly showed nonstripped skin in the furrows, indicating persistent incomplete tape stripping. Replicas of tape-stripped skin surface demonstrated that even after removing 40 tape strips the furrows were still present. We validated the tape-stripping method further with X-ray microanalysis in the mapping mode by scanning electron microscopy, using a TiO2-containing compound as a marker. TiO2 applied to the skin before the tape-stripping procedures was still present after the tenth tape strip, and was specifically located on the rims of the furrows. We emphasize that results from studies using the tape-stripping method have to be viewed from the perspective that cells on one tape strip of the stratum corneum may be derived from different layers, depending on the position of the tape strip in relation to the slope of the furrow, and such results should be interpreted with considerable caution.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 5
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Archives of dermatological research 289 (1997), S. 466-470 
    ISSN: 1432-069X
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Alopecia areata ; Human ; Hair ; Cytokines ; Adhesion molecules ; MHC molecules ; Diphenylcyclopropenone
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The immune response present in untreated alopecia areata (AA) is characterized by overexpression of ICAM-1 and MHC molecules on dermal papilla cells of affected hair follicles and by a distinct cytokine pattern. After successful treatment with the potent contact allergen diphenylcyclopropenone (DCP), adhesion molecules are downregulated and a reversed pattern of cytokines is expressed. To determine which cytokines may be involved in this process we studied the expression and modulation of ICAM-1 and MHC class I and II molecules on cultured dermal papilla cells. Scalp biopsies were obtained from healthy donors and dermal papillae were isolated. The cells were treated with various cytokines and prostanoids. The surface molecules were labeled with FITC-conjugated antibodies, and the expression levels were quantified by FACScan analysis. Incubation with IFN-γ led to a time-dependent upregulation of the surface molecules studied. IL-1β and TNF-α synergistically increased the expression of ICAM-1, but they failed to induce MHC molecules. However, both cytokines significantly reduced the IFN-γ-induced HLA-DR expression. Pretreatment of cells with the cyclooxygenase inhibitor diclofenac, prostanoids, IL-10 or TGF-β1 did not alter the constitutive or IFN-γ-elicited expression of surface molecules. A neutralizing anti-IL-1β-antibody did not affect any cytokine-induced changes. We conclude that with regard to surface molecules we can partly imitate in vitro the situation of AA in vivo. Moreover, our results suggest that TNF-α, which is markedly increased under DCP treatment, might be an effector of the therapeutic response in AA.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 6
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Archives of dermatological research 289 (1997), S. 506-513 
    ISSN: 1432-069X
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Hydration ; Confocal laser scanning ; microscopy ; refractive index ; Image analysis ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The aim of this study was to characterize the swelling behaviour of the stratum corneum. Stratum corneum pieces isolated from the breast region of 20 different females were incubated in distilled water at two different temperatures (20° C and 45° C) for 90 min and 24 h, respectively. Half of the stratum corneum pieces were previously extracted with chloroformmethanol (2 : 1). The area-enlargement was photographically recorded. The thickness enlargement was determined using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The average swelling (99% confidence interval) in the area dimension at 20° C was 8.4% ± 1.4% (n = 20), which corresponded to an average swelling in the length (lateral) dimension of approximately 4.1%. The swelling in the thickness dimension was 26.3% ± 16.3% (n = 8). The swelling was most pronounced in the thickness dimension and was complete after 90 min of water immersion (P 〈 0.01, n = 5). In addition, the removal of the intercellular lipids with chloroform/methanol (2 : 1) induced a decreased swelling in the samples (P 〈 0.01, n = 20). An increase in temperature of the water from 20° C to 45° C resulted in an increase in swelling (P 〈 0.01, n = 20). Taken together our results support the idea that the mechanism of stratum corneum swelling is linked to the intercellular lipid structure and hence to skin barrier function.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 7
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Acta neuropathologica 93 (1997), S. 494-500 
    ISSN: 1432-0533
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Cystatins ; Transthyretin ; Brain tumors ; Pituitary adenomas ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The localization of cystatin C (CC) and transthyretin (TTR) synthesis was studied using Northern blot and immunohistochemical methods. Normal brain tissues from all sites studied contained CC mRNA. Immunoreactive CC was present in the choroid plexus epithelial cells, cerebral and cerebellar neurons, astrocytes, ependymal cells, macrophage-like cells of the arachnoid membrane and in neuroendocrine cells of the anterior pituitary lobe. TTR mRNA and TTR were restricted to the choroid plexus. In primary brain tumors, the transcript for CC was found in all 39 tumors examined, while the protein could only be demonstrated in 3/5 choroid plexus papillomas, 8/8 astrocytomas, 7/23 anaplastic astrocytomas and glioblastomas, 1/6 oligodendrogliomas, 1/1 oligoastrocytoma, 1/4 anaplastic oligodendrogliomas, 3/7 ependymomas, 0/1 anaplastic ependymoma, 0/5 primitive neuroectodermal tumors, 0/1 neuroblastoma, 3/11 meningiomas and 16/16 pituitary adenomas. CC cannot be used as a marker for any specific brain tumor type but the fact that the protein could be demonstrated more frequently in astrocytomas than in their more malignant counterparts suggests that the cellular production and secretion of CC changes with the malignant progression of these tumors. TTR mRNA and TTR were present only in the choroid plexus papillomas, indicating that TTR synthesis is mainly restricted to such brain neoplasms.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 8
    ISSN: 1432-0533
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Schwann cell ; Diabetic neuropathy ; Human ; Animal model ; Galactose ; Rat
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Despite early descriptions of hypertrophic Schwann cells and onion-bulb formation in patients with diabetic neuropathy, clinical and experimental studies have emphasized axonal pathology. In recent years, the Schwann cell has been further implicated in diabetic neuropathy because it is the primary intrafascicular location for the first enzyme of the polyol pathway, aldose reductase, which appears to have a role in modulating a variety of complications of diabetes, including diabetic neuropathy. To further explore the role of polyol pathway flux in the pathogenesis of Schwann cell injury, ultrastructural abnormalities of Schwann cells in human diabetic neuropathy (HDN) were compared with those in experimental galactose neuropathy (EGN), a well-characterized model of hyperglycemia without hypoinsulinemia. Similar to previous studies of EGN, reactive, degenerative and proliferative changes of Schwann cells were observed after 2, 4 and 24 months of galactose intoxication. Reactive changes included accumulation of lipid droplets, π granules of Reich and glycogen granules, increased numbers of subplasmalemmal vesicles, cytoplasmic expansion, and capping. Degenerative changes included enlargement of mitochondria and effacement of cristae, and disintegration of both abaxonal and adaxonal cytosol and organelles. Both demyelination and onion-bulb formation were seen at all time points, although supernumerary Schwann cells and axonal degeneration were most numerous after 24 months of galactose feeding. In sural nerve biopsy samples from patients with diabetes and progressive worsening of neuropathy, ultrastructural abnormalities in Schwann cells encompassed the full range of reactive, degenerative and proliferative changes described in galactose-fed rats. The concordance of fine-structural observations in nerves from galactose-fed rats and these adult-onset diabetic patients emphasizes the role of flux through aldose reductase in the complex pathology of diabetic neuropathy and points to the utility of galactose intoxication in helping to understand this metabolic disorder.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 9
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Auditory cortical activation ; Speech ; Monaural stimulation ; Cerebral blood flow ; Positron emission tomography ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract To investigate how auditory input from each ear contributes to spoken language processing, cortical activation by monaural speech sound stimulation was examined in 12 normal subjects using15O-labeled water positron emission tomography. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured under four different sound stimulation conditions: (1) silence, (2) white noise, (3) sequential Japanese sentences (“speech”), and (4) Japanese sentences played backward (“reversed speech”), and the results were evaluated by statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Noise induced significant rCBF increase in the contralateral Heschl’s gyrus. Speech and reversed speech stimuli caused significant rCBF increase in the contralateral Heschl’s gyrus and the bilateral superior temporal gyri, with contralateral activation broader than that in the ipsilateral hemisphere. Monaurally input speech sound signals that reach the contralateral Heschl’s gyrus may be processed chiefly and phonologically in the surrounding superior temporal gyrus in the same hemisphere. Comparison of speech activation with reversed speech activation failed to demonstrate a significant difference, which made it difficult to identify the area for lexical and semantic processing.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 10
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 153-157 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Saccade ; Acceleration ; Eye ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The pattern of acceleration was recorded during horizontal saccadic eye movements using a lightweight accelerometer fixed to a scleral contact lens. Horizontal saccades of 15–20° were dominated by either several pulses of acceleration, with a frequency of around 40 Hz, or a single acceleration-deceleration wave followed by lower amplitude polyphasic activity of about 80 Hz. These features are unlikely to be due to slippage or resonance in the contact lens-accelerometer system, as very similar patterns of acceleration were simultaneously recorded with an accelerometer taped over the closed eyelid of the contralateral eye. Analysis of simultaneous surface electromyogram recordings indicated that the multicomponent acceleration profiles were the product, at least in part, of the rhythmic and synchronous modulation of eye muscle discharge during saccades.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 11
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 189-199 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Finger movements ; Movement sequences ; Kinematics ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Pianists were asked to play short excerpts from several pieces on an electronic keyboard. In each piece, there were two phrases whose first few notes were played identically with the right hand. Thereafter, the two phrases were played differently. The aim of the investigation was to ascertain whether or not hand and finger kinematics diverged prior to the depression of the last common note. Such a divergence would imply an anticipatory modification of sequential movements of the hand, akin to the phenomenon of coarticulation in speech. The lack of such a divergence would imply a strictly serial organization of movement sequences with one hand, as was found previously to be the case for typing. The time at which each key was depressed and released and the speed with which the key was depressed was recorded via a MIDI interface to a laboratory computer. The motion of the right wrist and of the fingers of the right hand was recorded optoelectronically. Piano playing can invoke anticipatory modifications of hand and finger kinematics. The time at which two patterns of movements diverged varied considerably from piece to piece. Playing an ascending scale with the requirement of a “thumb-under” maneuver could evoke an anticipatory modification as much as 500 ms in advance of the last common note. In another piece, keypresses appeared to be executed in a strict serial ordering and a third piece gave results intermediate between these two extremes. We interpret the results to suggest that a strict serial execution of a movement sequence is favored as long as this is compatible with the demands of the task.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 12
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 273-282 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Thalamus ; Sleep ; Calcium spike ; Bursting ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The firing patterns of thalamic neurons in mammals undergo a dramatic change as the animal's state changes between sleep and wakefulness. During sleep the normal tonic firing of thalamic neurons changes into a slower bursting mode characterized by repetitive activation of a low-threshold calcium (Ca2+) current. The present report describes the patterns of thalamic neuronal firing during sleep and wakefulness in one human patient. Extracellular single neuron activity was recorded during functional stereotactic surgery in the thalamus of a patient with chronic pain, who was observed to fall asleep during the recording. Evolutive power spectra of the thalamic slow wave were used in place of cortical encephalography to confirm the patient's states of sleep and wakefulness. Twenty-nine sites were observed in motor and somatosensory thalamus (Vop, Vim, and Vc) that were characterized by the presence of neurons with bursting activity when the patient was asleep. Such bursting was not observed in the patient when she was awakened. At 14 of these sites we were able to discriminate the bursting activity of single units. In each case the cell stopped firing or its bursting was replaced by a tonic firing pattern when the patient was awakened. In three cases the patient began to lapse back into sleep and the neuron resumed firing in a bursting pattern once again. None of these units had a peripheral receptive field (RF), while several other units recorded in nearby regions that did not fire in a bursting pattern during sleep had kinesthetic or cutaneous RFs. Analysis of the intraburst firing pattern revealed increasing interspike intervals (ISI) for successive action potentials in a burst and that the duration of the first ISI in the burst decreased as the number of ISIs increased. This pattern is similar to that reported to occur as a result of a calcium spike. These data have confirmed for the first time that state-dependent changes in thalamic firing exist in the human and that the physiological substrates at the thalamic level that are involved in human sleep are similar to those observed in animals.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 13
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Parkinson’s disease ; Motor learning ; Interlimb coordination ; Basal ganglia ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The basal ganglia have traditionally been associated with motor control functions and this view has prevailed since the late nineteenth century. Recent experimental studies suggest that this neuroanatomical system is also critically involved in motor learning. In the present study, motor learning/transfer capabilities were compared between patients with Parkinson’s disease and a group of normal elderly people. Subjects practiced a bimanual coordination task that required continuous flexion-extension movements in the transverse plane with a 90° phase offset between the forearms. During acquisition, augmented visual feedback of the relative motions was provided in real time. The findings revealed improvements in the bimanual coordination pattern across practice in both groups when the augmented concurrent feedback was present. However, when transferred to performance conditions in which the augmented information was withheld, performance deteriorated (relative to the augmented condition) and this effect was more prevalent in the Parkinson patients. More specifically, no improvement in interlimb coordination was observed under nonaugmented feedback conditions across practice. Instead, a drift toward the preferred in-phase and anti-phase coordination patterns was evident. The present findings suggest that Parkinson patients can improve their performance on a new motor task, but they remain strongly dependent on augmented visual information to guide these newly acquired movements. The apparent adoption of a closed-loop control mode is accompanied with decreases in movement speed in order to use the feedback to ensure accuracy. When the augmented feedback is withheld and the movement pattern is to be controlled by means of intrinsic information feedback sources, performance is severely hampered. The findings are hypothesized to indicate that learning/transfer is affected in Parkinson patients who apparently prefer some constancy in the environmental contingencies under which practice takes place. The present findings are consistent with the notion that the basal ganglia form a critical neuroanatomical substrate for motor learning.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 14
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 207-213 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Isometric finger force ; Sensorimotor integration ; Vibration ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The influence of afferent feedback on isometric fine force resolution was studied in humans. Subjects performed the smallest possible isometric flexion force increments with the index finger while visual, cutaneous, and muscle spindle feedback conditions were varied. In the control conditions with visual feedback, isometric force resolution was finest and independent of cutaneous or muscle spindle feedback. In the absence of visual cues, force resolution was significantly coarser. When agonist muscle spindles were vibrated (100 Hz and 150 Hz), fine force resolution capabilities declined further. Diminution of cutaneous feedback per se did not affect fine force resolution. However, the effect of agonist vibration was attenuated when full cutaneous feedback was available. We conclude that in voluntary isometric contractions the degree of fine force resolution depends on the type of afferent feedback available for calibrating central motor commands. Visual feedback is more powerful than spindle feedback, which is more efficient than cutaneous feedback. The extent to which the central motor command itself contributes to the sensation of force is indirectly implied by reproducible, yet coarser force resolution levels when peripheral information is minimized.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 15
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Tremor ; Electromyogram ; Muscle vibration ; Frequency analysis ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The output from the central nervous system to muscles may be rhythmic in nature. Previous recordings investigating peripheral manifestations of such rhythmic activity are conflicting. This study attempts to resolve these conflicts by employing a novel arrangement to measure and correlate rhythms in tremor, electromyographic (EMG) activity and muscle vibration sounds during steady index finger abduction. An elastic attachment of the index finger to a strain gauge allowed a strong but relatively unfixed abducting contraction of the first dorsal interosseous (1DI). An accelerometer attached to the end of the finger recorded tremor, surface electrodes over 1DI recorded EMG signals and a heart-sounds monitor placed over 1DI recorded vibration. This arrangement enabled maintenance of a constant overall muscle contraction strength while still allowing measurement of the occurrence of tremulous movements of the finger. Ten normal subjects were studied with the index finger first extended at rest and then contracting 1DI to abduct the index finger against three different steady forces up to 50% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). Power spectral analysis of tremor, EMG activity and muscle vibration signals each revealed three frequency peaks occurring together at around 10 Hz, 20 Hz and 40 Hz. Coherence analysis showed that the same three peaks were present in the three signals. Phase analysis indicated a fixed time lag of tremor behind EMG of around 6.5 ms. This is compared with previous measurements of electromechanical delay. Other experiments indicated that the three peaks were of central nervous origin. Introducing mechanical perturbations or extra loading to the finger and making recordings under partial anaesthesia of the hand and forearm demonstrated preservation of all the peaks, suggesting that they did not originate from mechanical resonances or peripheral feedback loop resonances. It is concluded that, at least for a small hand muscle, there exist not one but a number of separate peak frequencies of oscillation during active contraction, and that these oscillations reflect synchronization of motor units at frequencies determined within the central nervous system. It is proposed that the multiple oscillations may be a means of frequency coding of motor commands.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 16
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Non-monosynaptic group I excitation ; Group II excitation ; Spinal reflexes ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Non-monosynaptic group I and group II excitation of human lower limb motoneurones was investigated. Changes in the firing probability of individual voluntarily activated motor units belonging to various muscles (soleus, gastrocnemius medialis, tibialis anterior, peroneus brevis, quadriceps and biceps femoris) were investigated after stimulation of various nerves (posterior tibial, common peroneal and femoral nerves) with weak (0.4–0.6×motor threshold) electrical stimuli. In all investigated motor nuclei, stimulation of the ”homonymous” nerve evoked a peak of increased firing probability with a latency that was 3–7 ms longer than the monosynaptic Ia latency. The more caudal the motor nucleus explored, the greater the central delay. This strongly suggests a transmission through neurones located above the lumbar enlargement. If one excepts the sural-induced excitation of peroneus brevis units, which seems to be mediated through a particular pathway, the main peripheral input to neurones mediating non-monosynaptic excitation evoked by these weak stimuli is group I in origin. The pattern of distribution of non-monosynaptic group I excitation was very diffuse, since stimulation of each nerve was able to evoke excitation in all investigated nuclei. In most cases, non-monosynaptic excitation evoked in a given motor unit by stimulation of one nerve was depressed on combined stimulation of two nerves, and evidence is presented that this lateral inhibition is exerted at a premotoneuronal level. By contrast, there was no evidence that increasing the afferent input in a given pathway evokes an ”autogenetic” inhibition in this pathway. The negative correlation found between non-monosynaptic group I-induced and late group II-induced facilitation of the quadriceps H-reflex when using high stimulus intensities applied on the common peroneal nerve suggests that these two effects could be mediated through common interneurones.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 17
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 25-34 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Reaction time ; Saccadic latency ; Saccadic eye movement ; Ocular motor system ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Recent neurophysiological studies of the saccadic ocular motor system have lent support to the hypothesis that this system uses a motor error signal in retinotopic coordinates to direct saccades to both visual and auditory targets. With visual targets, the coordinates of the sensory and motor error signals will be identical unless the eyes move between the time of target presentation and the time of saccade onset. However, targets from other modalities must undergo different sensory-motor transformations to access the same motor error map. Because auditory targets are initially localized in head-centered coordinates, analyzing the metrics of saccades from different starting positions allows a determination of whether the coordinates of the motor signals are those of the sensory system. We studied six human subjects who made saccades to visual or auditory targets from a central fixation point or from one at 10° to the right or left of the midline of the head. Although the latencies of saccades to visual targets increased as stimulus eccentricity increased, the latencies of saccades to auditory targets decreased as stimulus eccentricity increased. The longest auditory latencies were for the smallest values of motor error (the difference between target position and fixation eye position) or desired saccade size, regardless of the position of the auditory target relative to the head or the amplitude of the executed saccade. Similarly, differences in initial eye position did not affect the accuracy of saccades of the same desired size. When saccadic error was plotted as a function of motor error, the curves obtained at the different fixation positions overlapped completely. Thus, saccadic programs in the central nervous system compensated for eye position regardless of the modality of the saccade target, supporting the hypothesis that the saccadic ocular motor system uses motor error signals to direct saccades to auditory targets.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 18
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 137-146 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Arm aiming movements ; Fitts’ law ; Context dependency ; Sequential action ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Arm movements in the horizontal plane consisting of two segments were examined to determine whether the difficulty of the second segment influenced the kinematic characteristics of the first segment. The direction of the first segment was an elbow extension movement away from the trunk and remained constant throughout the experiment. The direction of the second segment varied between forearm extension and flexion movements. Based on Fitts’ law, two different indexes of difficulty (ID) of the second segment were utilized by changing target size and movement amplitude. The effects of changing ID were examined for two different movement amplitudes. All movements were single-joint movements employing elbow flexion/extension and were recorded by an x-y digitizer. Variations in the ID of the second segment produced context-dependent kinematic changes in the performance of the initial segment. Movement duration increased when the ID was increased by reducing target size for both extension-extension sequence and extension-flexion sequences. Peak velocity also decreased for higher ID targets in the extension-flexion sequence. However, there was an interaction between the ID and movement amplitude in the extension-flexion sequence. In this sequence the duration of movement for the high ID/large movement amplitude condition increased substantially compared with the low ID/small movement amplitude condition. In addition, changing ID of the second segment influenced the time between the two segments (intersegment interval) in the extension-flexion sequence. Collectively, these data suggest that the planning of complex movements is based in part on the accuracy demands of multiple segments of the sequence.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 19
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Sensorimotor control ; Centripetal gating ; Tibial nerve ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Attenuation of initial somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) gain becomes more pronounced with increased rates of movement. Manipulation of the range of movement also might alter the SEP gain. It could alter joint receptor discharge; it should alter the discharge of muscle stretch receptors. We hypothesized that: (1) SEP gain reduction correlates with both the range and the rate of movement, and (2) manipulation of range and rate of movement to achieve similar estimated rates of stretch of a leg extensor muscle group (the vasti) results in similar decreases in SEP gain. SEPs from Cz’, referenced to Fpz’ (2 cm caudal to Cz and Fpz, respectively, according to the International 10–20 System), along with soleus H-reflexes were elicited by electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve at the popliteal fossa. Stable magnitudes of small M-waves indicated stability of stimulation. A modified cycle ergometer with an adjustable pedal crank and electric motor was used to passively rotate the right leg over three ranges (producing estimated vasti stretch of 12, 24 and 48 mm) and four rates (0, 20, 40 and 80 rpm) of movement. Two experiments were conducted. Ranges and rates of pedalling movement were combined to produce two or three equivalent estimated rates of tissue stretch of the vasti muscles at each of 4, 16, 32 and 64 mm/s. Tibial nerve stimuli were delivered when the knee was moved through its most flexed position and the hip was nearing its most flexed position. Means of SEP, H-reflex and M-wave magnitudes were tested for rate and range effects (ANOVA). A priori contrasts compared means produced by equivalent estimated rates of vasti stretch. Increasing the rate of movement significantly increased the attenuation of SEP and H-reflex gain (P〈0.05). Increasing the range of movement also significantly increased these gain attenuations (P〈0.05). Combining these to achieve equivalent rates of stretch, through different combinations of rate and range, resulted in equivalent depressions of SEP gain. H-reflex gains were similarly conditioned. These results suggest that muscle stretch receptors play a more important role than joint or cutaneous receptors in regulating SEP gain consequent to movement. We note that the present calculation only considers the knee extensors; however, the biomechanical model of stretch applies also to receptors in the hip extensors. This paper and the companion one show that primary factors in the kinaesthetic components of the movement regulate activity-induced gain attenuation of SEPs.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 20
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 165-168 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Monosynaptic reflex ; Muscle afferents ; Motor unit ; Thumb ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The human thumb is controlled by a muscle, flexor pollicis longus (FPL), that is unique among mammals and contributes to manual dexterity. The present study sought to define whether the spinal reflex circuitry for this muscle differed from that for an adjacent muscle (flexor carpi radialis, FCR). In peri-stimulus time histograms, short-latency, largely monosynaptic excitation produced by median nerve stimulation was significantly less frequent and significantly smaller for FPL motor units than FCR motor units. Thus the motoneurone pools of adjacent muscles differ in their spinal reflex accessibility. The reflex control of FPL may thus be achieved by supraspinal pathways rather than the traditional monosynaptic arc.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 21
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Intersensory coordination ; Vision ; Proprioception ; Reaching movements ; Motor control ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  It is now well established that the accuracy of pointing movements to visual targets is worse in the full open loop condition (FOL; the hand is never visible) than in the static closed loop condition (SCL; the hand is only visible in static position prior to movement onset). In order to account for this result, it is generally admitted that viewing the hand in static position (SCL) improves the movement planning process by allowing a better encoding of the initial state of the motor apparatus. Interestingly, this wide-spread interpretation has recently been challenged by several studies suggesting that the effect of viewing the upper limb at rest might be explained in terms of the simultaneous vision of the hand and target. This result is supported by recent studies showing that goal-directed movements involve different types of planning (egocentric versus allocentric) depending on whether the hand and target are seen simultaneously or not before movement onset. The main aim of the present study was to test whether or not the accuracy improvement observed when the hand is visible before movement onset is related, at least partially, to a better encoding of the initial state of the upper limb. To address this question, we studied experimental conditions in which subjects were instructed to point with their right index finger toward their unseen left index finger. In that situation (proprioceptive pointing), the hand and target are never visible simultaneously and an improvement of movement accuracy in SCL, with respect to FOL, may only be explained by a better encoding of the initial state of the moving limb when vision is present. The results of this experiment showed that both the systematic and the variable errors were significantly lower in the SCL than in the FOL condition. This suggests: (1) that the effect of viewing the static hand prior to motion does not only depend on the simultaneous vision of the goal and the effector during movement planning; (2) that knowledge of the initial upper limb configuration or position is necessary to accurately plan goal-directed movements; (3) that static proprioceptive receptors are partially ineffective in providing an accurate estimate of the limb posture, and/or hand location relative to the body; and (4) that static visual information significantly improves the representation provided by the static proprioceptive channel.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 22
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 333-344 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Antisaccades ; Schizophrenia ; Family study ; Bipolar affective disorder ; Obsessive-compulsive disorder ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  This series of studies evaluated (1) hypotheses that poor antisaccade performance is attributable to confounding variables (e.g., visual attention deficits, incomplete understanding of task demands) and (2) the specificity of poor antisaccade performance to schizophrenia. In addition to self-correcting errors before being cued to do so, schizophrenia patients also showed the expected saccadic reaction time changes to fixation condition manipulations: decreased latencies for gap and increased latencies for overlap trials. These data suggest that schizophrenia patients are adequately engaged in and understand the antisaccade task. Schizophrenia patients made fewer correct antisaccade responses than other psychiatric patients (obsessive-compulsive and bipolar disorder) and normal subjects. The first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients also generated a decreased proportion of correct antisaccade responses compared with normal subjects. For schizophrenia patients who performed below the range of normal subjects, 26% of their relatives also performed below the normal range. Conversely, patients who performed normally did not have a single poor-performing relative. These data suggest that increased antisaccade error rates may index a liability for schizophrenia within a subset of families.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 23
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 469-478 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Reaching movements ; Direction ; Extent ; Amplitude ; Variable errors ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Invariant patterns in the distribution of the endpoints of reaching movements have been used to suggest that two important movement parameters of reaching movements, direction and extent, are planned by two independent processing channels. This study examined this hypothesis by testing the effect of task conditions on variable errors of direction and extent of reaching movements. Subjects made reaching movements to 25 target locations in a horizontal workspace, in two main task conditions. In task 1, subjects looked directly at the target location on the horizontal workspace before closing their eyes and pointing to it. In task 2, arm movements were made to the same target locations in the same horizontal workspace, but target location was displayed on a vertical screen in front of the subjects. For both tasks, variable errors of movement extent (on-axis error) were greater than for movement direction (off-axis error). As a result, the spatial distributions of endpoints about a given target usually formed an ellipse, with the principal axis oriented in the mean movement direction. Also, both on- and off-axis errors increased with movement amplitude. However, the magnitude of errors, especially on-axis errors, scaled differently with movement amplitude in the two task conditions. This suggests that variable errors of direction and extent can be modified independently by changing the nature of the sensorimotor transformations required to plan the movements. This finding is further evidence that the direction and extent of reaching movements appear to be controlled independently by the motor system.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 24
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Ménière’s disease ; Unilateral vestibular neurotomy ; Static posture ; Postural recovery ; Sensory strategies ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Vestibular inputs tonically activate the antigravitative leg muscles during normal standing in humans, and visual information and proprioceptive inputs from the legs are very sensitive sensory loops for body sway control. This study investigated the postural control in a homogeneous population of 50 unilateral vestibular-deficient patients (Ménière’s disease patients). It analyzed the postural deficits of the patients before and after surgical treatment (unilateral vestibular neurotomy) of their diseases and it focused on the visual contribution to the fine regulation of body sway. Static posturographic recordings on a stable force-plate were done with patients with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC). Body sway and visual stabilization of posture were evaluated by computing sway area with and without vision and by calculating the percentage difference of sway between EC and EO conditions. Ménière’s patients were examined when asymptomatic, 1 day before unilateral vestibular neurotomy, and during the time-course of recovery (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 1 year). Data from the patients were compared with those recorded in 26 healthy, age- and sex-matched participants. Patients before neurotomy exhibited significantly greater sway area than controls with both EO (+52%) and EC (+93%). Healthy participants and Ménière’s patients, however, displayed two different behaviors with EC. In both populations, 54% of the subjects significantly increased their body sway upon eye closure, whereas 46% exhibited no change or significantly swayed less without vision. This was statistically confirmed by the cluster analysis, which clearly split the controls and the patients into two well-identified subgroups, relying heavily on vision (visual strategy, V) or not (non-visual strategy, NV). The percentage difference of sway averaged +36.7%±10.9% and –6.2%±16.5% for the V and NV controls, respectively; +45.9%±16.8% and –4.2%±14.9% for the V and NV patients, respectively. These two distinct V and NV strategies seemed consistent over time in individual subjects. Body sway area was strongly increased in all patients with EO early after neurotomy (1 and 2 weeks) and regained preoperative values later on. In contrast, sway area as well as the percentage difference of sway were differently modified in the two subgroups of patients with EC during the early stage of recovery. The NV patients swayed more, whereas the V patients swayed less without vision. This surprising finding, indicating that patients switched strategies with respect to their preoperative behavior, was consistently observed in 45 out of the 50 Ménière’s patients during the whole postoperative period, up to 1 year. We concluded that there is a differential weighting of visual inputs for the fine regulation of posture in both healthy participants and Ménière’s patients before surgical treatment. This differential weighting was correlated neither with age or sex factors, nor with the clinical variables at our disposal in the patients. It can be accounted for by a different selection of sensory orientation references depending on the personal experience of the subjects, leading to a more or less heavy dependence on vision. The change of sensory strategy in the patients who had undergone neurotomy might reflect a reweighting of the visual and somatosensory cues controlling balance. Switching strategy by means of a new sensory selection of orientation references may be a fast adaptive response to the lesion-induced postural instability.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 25
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 351-358 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Monosynaptic Ia pathway ; Spinal reflexes ; Spinal cord ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Short-latency excitatory Ia reflex connections were determined between pairs of human wrist flexor and extensor muscles. Spindle Ia afferents were stimulated by either tendon tap or electrical stimulation. The activity of voluntarily activated single motor units was recorded intramuscularly from pairs of wrist flexor or extensor muscles. Cross-correlation between stimuli and the discharge of the motor units provided a measure of the homonymous or heteronymous excitatory input to a motoneurone. Homonymous motoneurone facilitation was generally stronger than that of the heteronymous motoneurones. The principal wrist flexors, flexor carpi radialis (FCR) and flexor carpi ulnaris (FCU), were tightly connected through a bidirectional short-latency reflex pathway. In contrast, the extensor carpi ulnaris (ECU) and the extensor carpi radialis (ECR) did not have similar connections. ECU motoneurones received no short-latency excitatory Ia input from the ECR. ECR motoneurones did receive excitatory Ia input from ECU Ia afferents; however, its latency was delayed by several milliseconds compared with other heteronymous Ia excitatory effects observed. The wrist and finger extensors were linked through heteronymous Ia excitatory reflexes. The reflex connections observed in humans are largely similar to those observed in the cat, with the exception of heteronymous effects from the ECU to the ECR and from the extensor digitorum communis (EDC) to the ECU, which are present only in humans. The differences in the reflex organization of the wrist flexors versus the extensors probably reflects the importance of grasping.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 26
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 375-380 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words H-reflex depression ; Homosynaptic depression ; Presynaptic inhibition ; Spinal cord ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The H-reflex is depressed for seconds if elicited following a single H-reflex or train of H-reflexes. Presynaptic inhibition from flexor afferents (tibialis anterior) onto soleus Ia afferents elicited by either single or trains of stimuli had no effect on the soleus H-reflex on a time scale of seconds. Postsynaptic inhibition was also excluded by magnetic stimulation tests that showed that the excitability of the motoneuron pool was not changed at latencies within a range of seconds. Homosynaptic depression localized at the presynaptic terminal seems to be the mechanism behind the H-reflex depression in humans.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 27
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 485-492 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Coordinate system ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The purpose of these experiments was to investigate whether visual perceptions of the earth-fixed vertical axis are more accurate than those of intrinsic body-fixed axes. In one experiment, nine neurologically normal young adult subjects’ abilities to position a luminescent rod vertically or parallel to the longitudinal axis of the head or trunk were studied in four conditions: (1) earth-fixed – subjects stood erect with the head aligned to the trunk and visually aligned a hand-held rod to vertical; (2) earth – subjects aligned the rod to vertical as in 1, but the orientations of the head and trunk were varied in the sagittal and frontal planes on each trial; (3) head – frontal and/or sagittal plane orientation of the subject’s head was varied on each trial and the rod was aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the head; (4) trunk – frontal and/or sagittal plane orientation of the subject’s trunk was varied on each trial and the rod was aligned parallel to the longitudinal axis of the trunk. Note that in conditions 2, 3, and 4 the head and trunk were never aligned with each other. Also, each condition was carried out in normal light and in complete darkness. Perceptual errors were measured in both the frontal and the sagittal planes. The results showed that the variable errors were significantly lower when subjects aligned the rod to vertical rather than to the longitudinal axis of the head or trunk. Also, errors were similar in size in the two planes and were unaffected by vision of the surrounding environment. In a second experiment, subjects were seated and controlled the position of a luminescent rod held by a robot. They aligned the rod either to the longitudinal axis of their head or to the vertical in complete darkness, under three conditions similar to those described above: (1) earth-fixed, (2) earth, and (3) head. There was no possibility of use of kinesthetic information for controlling rod position in this experiment as in the first experiment. The results were similar to those of the first experiment, as subjects aligned the rod more accurately to vertical than to the longitudinal axis of the head. These results show convincingly that visual perceptions of earth-fixed vertical are more accurate than perceptions of intrinsic axes fixed to the head or trunk.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 28
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 87-96 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Magnetic stimulation ; Resetting ; Motor cortex ; Rhythmical movement ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We studied the effects of changes in loading torque on the effectiveness of magnetic cortical stimulation in evoking phase resetting of voluntary wrist movement. Nine normal subjects were studied (five on two occasions), while making rhythmical movements of the right wrist, at their preferred rate, against extension torque loads of 0.35 Nm, 0.26 Nm and 0.18 Nm, flexion torque loads of 0.09 Nm and 0.18 Nm and without external load. The position records of individual trials were used to measure the effectiveness of resetting (resetting index: the slope of the phase-response curve) and the ”null phase”, the phase to which the trials were being reset. The loading torque had a strong influence upon both the resetting index and the null phase, generated by a constant intensity of cortical stimulation such that the largest resetting indices were obtained for movements made against the largest extension torque load (mean resetting index 0.72). The degree of resetting and null phase were related to the mean amplitude and direction of the first poststimulus position peak, which in turn was largely determined by the twitch induced by the cortical shock. The timings of the averaged poststimulus position peaks following the first were simple multiples of the prestimulus movement period. Our results indicate that loading conditions profoundly influence the effectiveness of magnetic cortical stimulation in resetting a voluntary movement and that these effects appear to be largely explicable by the changes in the muscle twitch evoked by the stimulus with the different loads. We suggest that the magnetic shock is therefore unlikely to reset voluntary movement by an action directly upon the motor programme. We propose that the main method by which magnetic cortical stimulation resets repetitive wrist movement is indirect: normal generation of repetitive wrist flexion and extension is disrupted by the cortical shock, following which afferent information related to the twitch induced is able to reset the movement.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 29
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 148-152 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Pointing ; On-line control ; Inverse kinematics ; Double-step stimulation ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The human arm is kinematically redundant, which may allow flexibility in the execution of reaching movements. We have compared reaching movements with and without kinematic redundancy to unpredictable double-step targets. Subjects sat in front of a digitising tablet and were able to view an arc of four targets reflected in the mirror as virtual images in the plane of the tablet. They were instructed to move, from a central starting point, in as straight a line as possible to a target. In one-third of trials, the target light switched to one of its neighbours during the movement. Subjects made 60 movements using shoulder, elbow and wrist and then another 60 movements in which only shoulder and elbow movement were allowed. By restraining the wrist, the limb was made non-redundant. The path length was calculated for each movement. In single-step trials, there was no significant difference between path lengths performed with and without wrist restraint. As expected there was a significant increase in path length during double-step trials. Moreover this increase was significantly greater when the wrist was restrained. The variability across both single- and double-step movements was significantly less while the wrist was restrained. Importantly the performance time of the movements did not alter significantly for single-step, double-step or restrained movements. These results suggest that the nervous system exploits the intrinsic redundancy of the limb when controlling voluntary movements and is therefore more effective at reprogramming movements to double-step targets.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 30
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Pain ; Capsaicin ; Cerebral blood flow ; Positron emission tomography ; Somatotopic organization ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Regional cerebral blood flow was measured with positron emission tomography (PET) in six healthy volunteers at rest and during experimentally induced, sustained cutaneous pain on the dorsum of the right hand or on the dorsum of the right foot. Pain was inflicted by intracutaneous injection of capsaicin, providing a mainly C-fibre nociceptive stimulus. Statistical analysis showed significant activations along the central sulcus (SI) area when comparing pain in the hand to pain in the foot. Separate comparison of both pain states to a baseline revealed different locations along the central sulcus for hand pain and foot pain. The encountered differences are consistent with what is previously known about the somatotopics of non-painful stimuli. When comparing painful stimuli to baseline, the contralateral anterior cingulate gyrus, the ipsilateral anterior insular cortex and the ipsilateral prefrontal cortex were implicated. The results are consistent with an involvement of SI in the spatial discrimination of acute cutaneous pain.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 31
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 465-474 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Arm movement ; EMG ; Motor learning ; Torque ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Nine young infants were followed longitudinally from 4 to 15 months of age. They performed multijoint reaching movements to a stationary target presented at shoulder height. Time-position data of the hand, shoulder, and elbow were collected using an optoelectronic measurement system. In addition, we recorded electromyographic activity (EMG) from arm extensors and flexors. This paper documents how control problems of proximal torque generation may account for the segmented hand paths seen during early reaching. Our analysis revealed the following results: first, muscular impulse (integral of torque) increased significantly between the ages of 20 (reaching onset) and 64 weeks. That is, as infants got older they produced higher levels of mean muscular flexor torque during reaching. Data were normalized by body weight and movement time, so differences are not explained by anthropometric changes or systematic variations in movement time. Second, while adults produced solely flexor muscle torque to accomplish the task, infants generated flexor and extensor muscle torque at shoulder and elbow throughout a reach. At reaching onset more than half of the trials revealed this latter kinetic profile. Its frequency declined systematically as infants got older. Third, we examined the pattern of muscle coordination in those trials that exhibited elbow extensor muscle torque. We found that during elbow extension coactivation of flexor and extensor muscles was the predominant pattern in 67% of the trials. This pattern was notably absent in comparable adult reaching movements. Fourth, fluctuations in force generation, as measured by the rate of change of total torque (NET) and muscular torque (MUS), were more frequent in early reaching (20–28 weeks) than in the older cohort (52–64 weeks), indicating that muscular torque production became increasingly smoother and task-efficient. Our data demonstrate that young infants have problems in generating smooth profiles of proximal joint torques. One possible reason for this imprecision in infant force control is their inexperience in predicting the magnitude and direction of external forces. That infants learned to consider external forces is documented by their increasing reliance on these forces when performing voluntary elbow extensions. The patterns of muscle coordination underlying active elbow extensions were basically the same as during the prereaching phase, indicating that the formation of functional synergies is based on a basal repertoire of innervation patterns already observable in very early, spontaneous movements.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 32
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 63-70 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Vision ; Locomotion ; Optic Flow Adaptation ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The effect of an optic flow pattern on human locomotion was studied in subjects walking on a self-driven treadmill. During walking an optic flow pattern was presented, which gave subjects the illusion of walking in a tunnel. Visual stimulation was achieved by a closed-loop system in which optic flow and treadmill velocity were automatically adjusted to the intended walking velocity (WV). Subjects were instructed to keep their WV constant. The presented optic flow velocity was sinusoidally varied relative to the WV with a cycle period of 2 min. The independent variable was the relative optic flow (rOF), ranging from −1, i.e., forward flow of equal velocity as the WV, and 3, i.e., backward flow 3 times faster than WV. All subjects were affected by rOF in a similar way. The results showed, firstly, an increase in stride-cycle variability that suggests a larger instability of the walking pattern than in treadmill walking without optic flow; and, secondly, a significant modulating effect of rOF on the self-chosen WV. Backward flow resulted in a decrease, whereas forward flow induced an increase of WV. Within the analyzed range, a linear relationship was found between rOF and WV. Thirdly, WV-related modulations in stride length (SL) and stride frequency (SF) were different from normal walking: whereas in the latter a change in WV is characterized by a stable linear relationship between SL and SF (i.e., an approximately constant SL to SF ratio), optic flow-induced changes in WV are closely related to a modulation of SL (i.e., a change of SL-SF ratio). Fourthly, this effect of rOF diminished by about 45% over the entire walking distance of 800 m. The results suggest that the adjustment of WV is the result of a summation of visual and leg-proprioceptive velocity informations. Visual information about ego-motion leads to an unintentional modulation of WV by affecting specifically the relationship between SL and SF. It is hypothesized that the space-related parameter (SL) is influenced by visually perceived motion information, whereas the temporal parameter (SF) remains stable. The adaptation over the entire walking distance suggests that a shift from visual to leg-proprioceptive control takes place.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 33
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Transcranial magnetic stimulation ; Motor cortex ; Motor-evoked potentials ; Silent period ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The sizes of the motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) and the durations of the silent periods after transcranial magnetic stimulation were examined in biceps brachii, brachioradialis and adductor pollicis in human subjects. Stimuli of a wide range of intensities were given during voluntary contractions producing 0–75% of maximal force (maximal voluntary contraction, MVC). In adductor pollicis, MEPs increased in size with stimulus intensity and with weak voluntary contractions (5% MVC), but did not grow larger with stronger contractions. In the elbow flexors, MEPs grew little with stimulus intensity, but increased in size with contractions of up to 50% of maximal. In contrast, the duration of the silent period showed similar changes in the three muscles. In each muscle it increased with stimulus intensity but was unaffected by changes in contraction strength. Comparison of the responses evoked in biceps brachii by focal stimulation over the contralateral motor cortex with those evoked by stimulation with a round magnetic coil over the vertex suggests an excitatory contribution from the ipsilateral cortex during strong voluntary contractions.
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  • 34
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 406-420 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Target interception ; Reaching ; Acceleration ; Coincidence timing ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We investigated the capacities of human subjects to intercept moving targets in a two-dimensional (2D) space. Subjects were instructed to intercept moving targets on a computer screen using a cursor controlled by an articulated 2D manipulandum. A target was presented in 1 of 18 combinations of three acceleration types (constant acceleration, constant deceleration, and constant velocity) and six target motion times, from 0.5 to 2.0 s. First, subjects held the cursor in a start zone located at the bottom of the screen along the vertical meridian. After a pseudorandom hold period, the target appeared in the lower left or right corner of the screen and traveled at 45º toward an interception zone located on the vertical meridian 12.5 cm above the start zone. For a trial to be considered successful, the subject’s cursor had to enter the interception zone within 100 ms of the target’s arrival at the center of the interception zone and stay inside a slightly larger hold zone. Trials in which the cursor arrived more than 100 ms before the target were classified as ”early errors,” whereas trials in which the cursor arrived more than 100 ms after the target were classified as ”late errors.” Given the criteria above, the task proved to be difficult for the subjects. Only 41.3% (1080 out of 2614) of the movements were successful, whereas the remaining 58.7% were temporal (i.e., early or late) errors. A large majority of the early errors occurred in trials with decelerating targets, and their percentage tended to increase with longer target motion times. In contrast, late errors occurred in relation to all three target acceleration types, and their percentage tended to decrease with longer target motion times. Three models of movement initiation were investigated. First, the threshold-distance model, originally proposed for optokinetic eye movements to constant-velocity visual stimuli, maintains that response time is composed of two parts, a constant processing time and the time required for the stimulus to travel a threshold distance. This model only partially fit our data. Second, the threshold-τ model, originally proposed as a strategy for movement initiation, assumes that the subject uses the first-order estimate of time-to-contact (τ) to determine when to initiate the interception movement. Similar to the threshold distance model, the threshold-τ model only partially fit the data. Finally, a dual-strategy model was developed which allowed for the adoption of either of the two strategies for movement initiation; namely, a strategy based on the threshold-distance model (”reactive” strategy) and another based on the threshold-τ model (”predictive” strategy). This model provided a good fit to the data. In fact, individual subjects preferred to use one or the other strategy. This preference was allowed to be manifested at long target motion times, whereas shorter target motion times (i.e., 0.5 s and 0.8 s) forced the subjects to use only the reactive strategy.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 35
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 501-509 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Eye movements ; Vestibulo-ocular reflex ; Vestibular injury ; Ocular torsion ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Abnormalities in the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) after unilateral vestibular injury may cause symptomatic gaze instability. We compared five subjects who had unilateral vestibular lesions with normal control subjects. Gaze stability and VOR gain were measured in three axes using scleral magnetic search coils, in light and darkness, testing different planes of rotation (yaw and pitch), types of stimulus (sinusoids from 0.8 to 2.4 Hz, and transient accelerations) and methods of rotation (active and passive). Eye velocity during horizontal tests reached saturation during high-velocity/acceleration ipsilesional rotation. Rapid vertical head movements triggered anomalous torsional rotation of the eyes. Gaze instability was present even during active rotation in the light, resulting in oscillopsia. These abnormal VOR responses are a consequence of saturating nonlinearities, which limit the usefulness of frequency-domain analysis of rotational test data in describing these lesions.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 36
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 525-538 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Walking ; Intentional on-line control ; Mechanical perturbation ; Neuromuscular synergy ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  In locomotion, the capability to control and modulate intentionally the propulsive forces is fundamental for the adaptation of the body’s progression, both in speed and direction. The purpose of this experiment was to determine how human beings can achieve such control on-line. To answer this question, four subjects walking steadily were faced with a linear increase in resistance (impeding forward displacement), lasting 3 s, once per minute. At the end of the variation, the new resistance was maintained. There were two tasks; in both tasks, in the initial steady state, the subjects had to walk steadily at 1.3 m s–1. As the resistance increased, subjects were either required to maintain their walking speed (compensation task) or to let the walking speed and amplitude adapt freely (no-intervention task). This provided an estimate of the effects of the perturbation alone. Throughout the experiment, the stride frequency (114 step min–1) was fixed by a metronome. Subjects maintained their stride frequency on both tasks. In the no-intervention task, walking speed was 1.3 and 1 m s–1 under normal and high resistance respectively. In the compensation task, under high steady resistance, walking speed was maintained by an increase in the activation gain of the neuromuscular synergy: all recorded muscles increased their EMG activity, but without any change in the shape of their activation profile throughout the cycle. During the transitional phases, however, as the resistance began to increase, the walking speed decreased temporarily (–2%) before returning rapidly to its initial value. By contrast, at the end of the resistance increase, no such changes in speed were observed. During the transitional phases, the on-line compensation for the resistance increase induced modifications in the shape of the activation burst in the medial gastrocnemius such that the transitional cycles clearly differed from the steady state cycles. The results observed in the compensation task suggest that the subjects used two different modes of control during steady states and transitional phases. In stable dynamic conditions, there appears to be an ”intermittent control” mode, where propulsive forces are globally managed for the entire stance phase. As a result, no compensation occurred at the beginning of the perturbation. During the resistance increase, subjects appeared to switch to an ”on-line control” mode in order to continuously adapt the propulsive forces to the time course of the external force, resulting in an observable compensation at the end of the resistance change.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 37
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    European journal of pediatrics 156 (1997), S. S9 
    ISSN: 1432-1076
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Stable isotopes ; Tracers ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Stable isotope tracers do not have approval for diagnostic use in humans. We assume that stable isotope tracers behave like natural compounds, because there is no evidence for the opposite despite a wide use in human studies. From this point of view, they are drugs comparable to unlabelled natural substances. Under this assumption a pharmacy is allowed to prepare isotope solutions by following the guideline for the preparation of infusion solutions using chemicals. The pharmacy has to perform tests for identification, content and purity following the U.S. pharmacopoeia or the corresponding national standard for the unlabelled drug. If these tests are passed then it can prepare the tracer solution. An approach is outlined which is designed to ensure sterility of the preparation as far as possible and an adequate pharmaceutical quality. From the regulation for the preparation we define requirements for an alternative preparation for immediate infusion by the physician.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 38
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Kinesthesia ; Coordination ; Cerebellum ; Muscle spindles ; Cutaneous mechanoreceptors ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract A coordinated triggering task requiring use of kinesthetic information was employed to assess the timing of use of kinesthetic information in normal subjects and patients with cerebellar dysfunction. Passive movements of varying velocity were imposed in the flexor direction about the metacarpophalangeal joint of the right index finger. Subjects attempted to depress a switch with their left thumb when the index finger moved, past a specified angle that was learned during a training session. The velocities ranged from 10°/s to 88°/s in 2°/s increments. After 200 trials, subjects were then instructed instead to react as quickly as possible (reaction-time task) to the onset of movement for an additional 200 trials. For the same movements, the timing of onset of responses of muscle spindle afferents and cutaneous mechanoreceptors was determined by recording the responses of these afferents using microneurography. For slow velocities, patients were able to perform similarly to normals but at faster velocities patients triggered too late compared with normals. Patients required more time to use kinesthetic information than did normal subjects. An estimate of kinesthetic processing was not longer in patients. The chief explanation for the prolonged time required to use kinesthetic information in patients was that their reaction times were prolonged by 93 ms. In addition, the movement time was also prolonged, but this accounted for only 23 ms. Impaired motor performance in tasks requiring the use of kinesthetic information in cerebellar patients can be explained largely by their prolonged reaction times. Muscle spindle afferents responded on average much sooner than cutaneous mechanoreceptors. Because of the limited time available to perfomr the kinesthetic triggering task, the role for cutaneous mechanoreceptors, to provide singals for on-line coordination of movement appears limited compared with muscle spindle afferents.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 39
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 104-116 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Electromyography ; Adaptation ; Space flight ; Locomotion ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Astronauts adopt a variety of neuromuscular control strategies during space flight that are appropriate for locomoting in that unique environment, but are less than optimal upon return to Earth. We report here the first systematic investigation of potential adaptations in neuromuscular activity patterns associated with postflight locomotion. Astronaut-subjects were tasked with walking on a treadmill at 6.4 km/h while fixating a visual target 30 cm away from their eyes after space flights of 8–15 days. Surface electromyography was collected from selected lower limb muscles and normalized with regard to mean amplitude and temporal relation to heel strike. In general, high correlations (more than 0.80) were found between preflight and postflight activation waveforms for each muscle and each subject; however, relative activation amplitude around heel strike and toe off was changed as a result of flight. The level of muscle cocontraction and activation variability, and the relationship between the phasic characteristics of the ankle musculature in preparation for toe off also were altered by space flight. Subjects also reported oscillopsia during treadmill walking after flight. These findings indicate that, after space flight, the sensory-motor system can generate neuromuscular-activation strategies that permit treadmill walking, but subtle changes in lower-limb neuromuscular activation are present that may contribute to increased lower limb kinematic variability and oscillopsia also present during postflight walking.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 40
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 158-164 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Posture ; Center of pressure ; Stochastic processes ; Development ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The stochastic processes of postural center-of-pressure profiles were examined in 3- and 5-year-old children, young adult students (mean 20 years), and an elderly age group (mean 67 years). Subjects stood still in an upright bipedal stance on a force platform under vision and nonvision conditions. The time evolutionary properties of the center-of-pressure dynamic were examined using basic stochastic process models. The amount of motion of the center of pressure decreased with increments of age from 3 to 5 years to young adult but increased again in the elderly age group. The availability of vision decreased the amount of motion of the center of pressure in all groups except the 3-year-old group, where there was less motion of the center of pressure with no vision. The stochastic properties of the center-of-pressure dynamic were assessed using both a two-process, random-walk model of Collins and De Luca and an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model that is linear and has displacement governed only by a single stiffness term in the random walk. The two-process open- and closed-loop model accounted for about 96% and the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model 92% of the variance of the diffusion term. Diffusion parameters in both models showed that the data were correlated and that they varied with age in a fashion consistent with developmental accounts of the changing regulation of the degrees of freedom in action. The findings suggest that it is premature to consider the trajectory of the center-of-pressure as a two-process, open- and closed-loop random-walk model given that: (a) the linear Ornstein-Uhlenbeck dynamic equation with only two parameters accommodates almost as much of the variance of the random walk; and (b) the linkage of a discontinuity in the diffusion process with the transition of open- to closed-loop processes is poorly founded. It appears that the nature of the stochastic properties of the random walk of the center-of-pressure trajectory in quiet, upright standing remains to be elucidated.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 41
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 243-248 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Visual motion ; Parallax ; Posture ; Balance ; Spatial orientation ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The purpose of this study was to establish whether visual motion parallax participates in the control of postural sway. Body sway was measured in ten normal subjects by photoelectric recordings of head movements and by force-plate posturography. Subjects viewed a visual display (“background”), which briefly moved (2 s) along the y (horizontal) axis, under three different conditions: (1) direct fixation of the background, (2) fixation of a stationary window frame in the foreground, and (3) fixation of the background in the presence of the window in the foreground (“through the window”). In response to background fixation, subjects swayed in the same direction as stimulus motion, but during foreground (window) fixation they swayed in the opposite direction. The earlier forces observed on the force platform occurred at circa 250 ms in both conditions. The results show that motion parallax generates postural responses. The direction of these parallax-evoked postural responses — opposite to other visually evoked postural responses reported so far — is appropriate for stabilizating posture in natural circumstances. The findings show that motion parallax is an important source of self-motion information and that this information participates in the process of automatic postural control. In the “fixating through the window” condition, which does not mimic visual conditions induced by body sway, no consistent postural responses were elicited. This implies that postural reactions elicited by visual motion are not rigid responses to optokinetic stimulation but responses to visual stimuli signalling self-motion.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 42
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 353-360 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Electromyography ; Kinesiology ; Neck muscles ; Head movement ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The patterns of activation of splenius capitis, semispinalis capitis, transversospinalis, and levator scapulae muscles were studied during various head-neck positions, movements, and isometric tests in 19 healthy human subjects. Myoelectric activities were recorded with intramuscular bipolar wire electrodes. Cervical computerized tomography of each subject was performed before the electromyography session in order to guide electrode insertion. Head motion was recorded using an electromechanical device. This report demonstrates that head motion results from a complex interaction of active muscular forces, passive ligamentous forces, and gravity. Splenius capitis has two main functions, i.e., cervical extension and ipsilateral rotation. Semi spinalis capitis and the transversospinalis are mainly extensors, and levator scapilae acts primarily on the shoulder girdle. Splenius capitis, semispinalis capitis, and transversospinalis play a subordinate part in ipsilateral tilting. In addition, most subjects' semispinalis capitis were gradually recruited during ipsilateral rotation. No signal was detected from the transversospinalis during rotation tests.
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  • 43
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 371-377 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Saccade ; Prediction ; Motion ; Pursuit eye movements ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The overall goals of the studies presented here were to compare (1) the accuracies of saccades to moving targets with either a novel or a known target motion, and (2) the relationships between the measures of target motion and saccadic amplitude during pursuit initiation and maintenance. Since resampling of position error just prior to saccade initiation can confound the interpretation of results, the target ramp was masked during the planning and execution of the saccade. The results suggest that saccades to moving targets were significantly more accurate if the target motion was known from the early part of the trial (e.g., during pursuit maintenance) than in the case of novel target motion (e.g., during pursuit initiation); both these types of saccades were more accuate than those when target motion information was not available. Using target velocity in space as a rough estimate of the magnitude of the extra-retinal signal during pursuit maintenance, the saccadic amplitude was significantly associated with the extra-retinal target motion information after accounting for the position error. In most subjects, this association was stronger than the one between retinal slip velocity and saccadic amplitude during pursuit initiation. The results were similar even when the smooth eye motion prior to the saccade was controlled. These results suggest that different sources of target motion information (retinal image velocity vs internal representation of previous target motion in space) are used in planning saccades during different stages of pursuit. The association between retinal slip velocity and saccadic amplitude is weak during initiation, thus explaining poor saccadic accuracy during this stage of pursuit.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 44
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 117-123 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Muscle contraction ; Electrical stimulation ; Motor unit recruitment ; Spike-triggered averaging ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The recruitment order of motor units (MU) was compared during voluntary and electrically induced contractions. With the use of spike-triggered averaging, a total of 302 MUs with recruitment thresholds ranging from 1% to 88% of maximal voluntary contraction were recorded in the human tibialis anterior muscle in five subjects. The mean (±SD) MU force was 98.3±93.3 mN (mean torque 16.8±15.9 mNm) and the mean contraction time (CT) 46.2±12.7 ms. The correlation coefficients (r) between MU twitch force and CT versus the recruitment threshold in voluntary contractions were +0.68 and –0.38 (P〈0.001), respectively. In voluntary contractions, MUs were recruited in order of increasing size except for only 6% of the cases; whereas, during transcutaneous electrical stimulation (ES) at the muscle motor point, MU pairs showed a reversal of recruitment order in 28% and 35% of the observations, respectively, when the pulse durations were 1.0 ms or 0.1 ms. This recruitment reversal during ES was not related to the magnitude of the difference in voluntary recruitment thresholds between MUs. It is concluded that if the reversal of MU recruitment observed during ES is biophysically controlled by differences in their nerve axon input impedance, in percutaneous stimulation at the motor point, other factors such as the size and the morphological organisation of the axonal branches can also influence the order of activation.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 45
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 130-137 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Motor control ; Somatosensory system ; Motor timing ; Arm kinematics ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The role of tactile information of the hand in the control of reaching to grasp movements was investigated. The kinematics of both reaching (or transport) and grasp components were studied in healthy subjects in two experimental conditions. In one condition (control condition) subjects were required to reach and grasp an object that could have two sizes and that could be located at two distances from the viewer. In the other condition (anaesthesia condition) the same movements were executed, but anaesthesia was provided to the subjects’ fingertips. In both conditions vision of the hand was prevented during movement. Anaesthesia affected mainly the kinematics of the first phase of grasping, that is, the finger-opening phase. This phase was lengthened and maximal finger aperture increased. In contrast, the duration of the successive phase (finger-closure) was poorly modified. The reaching component was also impaired by anaesthesia. Although the total extent of hand path and the spatial relations between the finger aperture and closure phases did not change between the two conditions, hand path variability increased. This occurred during transport deceleration phase and after the increase in variability of finger path. In addition, the whole movement was slowed down. The results of the present experiment suggest that tactile signals at the beginning and at the end of movement can be used to compute grasp time and to optimise grasp temporal parameters. Alternatively, signals from tactile receptors can be involved in encoding the position sense of the fingers. When this input is lacking, the control of grasp and in particular that of finger-opening phase can be impaired. Finally, the effect of the grasp impairment on the reaching component supports the notion that the coordination between reaching and grasping involves the whole temporal course of the two components.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 46
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 163-169 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Muscle receptors ; Joint receptors ; Cutaneous mechanoreceptors ; Plantar pressure ; Leg EMG signals ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible pathways in the somatosensory system that relate to the postural reflexes in the leg muscles during a sudden, toes-up platform rotation. The inputs to the cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the sole of the foot as well as to the joint receptors in the ankle joint were modulated by standing on different supporting surfaces and by immobilizing the ankle joints; and three leg muscle responses (characterized by short latency, medium latency, and long latency) to the platform movement were recorded in 15 healthy young subjects. It was found that: (1) the short latency was not affected by the changes in either plantar pressure or ankle joint movement; (2) the medium latency was regulated by the plantar pressures under the foot, as sensed by the cutaneous mechanoreceptors in the sole of the foot, and by the ankle joint movement, as perceived by the joint receptors in the ankle joint; (3) the long latency was also related to the ankle joint movement, but this relation seems to be modulated by the plantar pressures under the foot; and (4) both medium and long latencies were well correlated with the time derivative of the pressure difference between the forefoot and the rear foot regions (r=0.7), as well as with the static pressure in the antagonist foot region (r〉0.6).
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 47
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 170-183 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Visually guided reaching ; PET ; MRI ; Posterior parietal cortex ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to identify the brain areas involved in visually guided reaching by measuring regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in six normal volunteers while they were fixating centrally and reaching with the left or right arm to targets presented in either the right or the left visual field. The PET images were registered with magnetic resonance images from each subject so that increases in rCBF could be localized with anatomical precision in individual subjects. Increased neural activity was examined in relation to the hand used to reach, irrespective of field of reach (hand effect), and the effects of target field of reach, irrespective of hand used (field effect). A separate analysis on intersubject, averaged PET data was also performed. A comparison of the results of the two analyses showed close correspondence in the areas of activation that were identified. We did not find a strict segregation of regions associated exclusively with either hand or field. Overall, significant rCBF increases in the hand and field conditions occurred bilaterally in the supplementary motor area, premotor cortex, cuneus, lingual gyrus, superior temporal cortex, insular cortex, thalamus, and putamen. Primary motor cortex, postcentral gyrus, and the superior parietal lobule (intraparietal sulcus) showed predominantly a contralateral hand effect, whereas the inferior parietal lobule showed this effect for the left hand only. Greater contralateral responses for the right hand were observed in the secondary motor areas. Only the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices exhibited strong ipsilateral hand effects. Field of reach was more commonly associated with bilateral patterns of activation in the areas with contralateral or ipsilateral hand effects. These results suggest that the visual and motor components of reaching may have a different functional organization and that many brain regions represent both limb of reach and field of reach. However, since posterior parietal cortex is connected with all of these regions, we suggest that it plays a crucial role in the integration of limb and field coordinates.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 48
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 304-320 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Eccentric rotation ; Otolith organs ; Semicircular canals ; Vergence ; Vestibulo-ocular reflex ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We employed binocular magnetic search coils to study the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) and visually enhanced vestibulo-ocular reflex (VVOR) of 15 human subjects undergoing passive, whole-body rotations about a vertical (yaw) axis delivered as a series of pseudorandom transients and sinusoidal oscillations at frequencies from 0.8 to 2.0 Hz. Rotations were about a series of five axes ranging from 20 cm posterior to the eyes to 10 cm anterior to the eyes. Subjects were asked to regard visible or remembered targets 10 cm, 25 cm, and 600 cm distant from the right eye. During sinusoidal rotations, the gain and phase of the VOR and VVOR were found to be highly dependent on target distance and eccentricity of the rotational axis. For axes midway between or anterior to the eyes, sinusoidal gain decreased progressively with increasing target proximity, while, for axes posterior to the otolith organs, gain increased progressively with target proximity. These effects were large and highly significant. When targets were remote, rotational axis eccentricity nevertheless had a small but significant effect on sinusoidal gain. For sinusoidal rotational axes midway between or anterior to the eyes, a phase lead was present that increased with rotational frequency, while for axes posterior to the otolith organs phase lag increased with rotational frequency. Transient trials were analyzed during the first 25 ms and from 25 to 80 ms after the onset of the head rotation. During the initial 25 ms of transient head rotations, VOR and VVOR gains were not significantly influenced by rotational eccentricity or target distance. Later in the transient responses, 25–80 ms from movement onset, both target distance and eccentricity significantly influenced gain in a manner similar to the behavior during sinusoidal rotation. Vergence angle generally remained near the theoretically ideal value during illuminated test conditions (VVOR), while in darkness vergence often varied modestly from the ideal value. Regression analysis of instantaneous VOR gain as a function of vergence demonstrated only a weak correlation, indicating that instantaneous gain is not likely to be directly dependent on vergence. A model was proposed in which linear acceleration as sensed by the otoliths is scaled by target distance and summed with angular acceleration as sensed by the semicircular canals to control eye movements. The model was fit to the sinusoidal VOR data collected in darkness and was found to describe the major trends observed in the data. The results of the model suggest that a linear interaction exists between the canal and otolithic inputs to the VOR.
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  • 49
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 339-351 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Spatial attention ; Pointing ; Saccades ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The aim of the present study was to investigate how spatial attention influences directional manual and saccadic reaction times. Two experiments were carried out. In experiment 1 subjects were instructed to perform pointing responses toward targets that were located either in the same or the opposite hemifield with respect to the hemifield in which an imperative stimulus was presented. In experiment 2, they were instructed to make saccadic or pointing responses. The direction of the responses was indicated by the shape of the imperative stimulus. Reaction time (RT), movement time, and, in experiment 2, saccadic trajectory were measured. The imperative stimulus location was either cued (endogenous attention) or uncued. In the latter case the imperative stimulus presentation attracted attention (exogenous attention). The main results of the experiments were the following: First, exogenous attention markedly decreased the RTs when the required movement was directed toward the imperative stimulus location. This directional effect was much stronger for pointing than for ocular responses. Second, endogenously allocated attention did not influence differentially RTs of pointing responses directed toward or away the attended hemifield. In contrast, endogenous attention markedly favored the saccadic responses when made away from the cued hemifield. Third, regardless of cueing, the direction of movement affected both pointing and saccadic reaction times. Saccadic reaction times were faster when the required movement was directed upward, while manual reaction times were faster when the movement was directed downward. Fourth, lateralized spatial attention deviated the trajectory of the saccades contralateral to the attention location. This pattern of results supports the notion that spatial attention depends on the activation of the same sensorimotor circuits that program actions in space.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 50
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 492-499 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Hand-eye co-ordination ; Perceptual information ; Intra-modal/inter-modal matching ; Non-preferred hand ; Lateralization ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Inter- and intra-sensory modality matching by 8-year-old children diagnosed as having hand-eye co-ordination problems (HECP) and by a control group of children without such problems were tested using a target-location and pointing task. The task required the children to locate target pins visually (seen target), with the hand (felt target) or in combination (felt and seen target), while pointing to the located target was always carried out without vision. The most striking finding, for both the control and the HECP children, was the superiority of performance when the target had to be located visually. When combined scores for both hands were analysed, the HECP children showed inferior performance to the control children in both inter- and intra-modal matching. Analyses of the scores achieved with the preferred and non-preferred hand separately, however, demonstrated that the differences between the HECP and the control children could, in the main, be attributed to lowered performances when the non-preferred hand was used for pointing to the target. When pointing with the preferred hand, the only significant difference between the groups was when the target was visually located, the control children showing superior performance. Pointing with the non-preferred hand gave rise to significant differences, in favour of the control children, when the target was located visually, with the hand or in combination. These findings suggest that earlier studies, using only the preferred hand or a combination of the scores of both hands, might need to be qualified. Putative neurological disorders in the HECP children are invoked to account for the poor performance with the non-preferred hand.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 51
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 542-560 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Saccadic system ; Auditory system ; Visual system ; Eye-head movements ; Gaze control models ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The coordination between eye and head movements during a rapid orienting gaze shift has been investigated mainly when subjects made horizontal movements towards visual targets with the eyes starting at the centre of the orbit. Under these conditions, it is difficult to identify the signals driving the two motor systems, because their initial motor errors are identical and equal to the coordinates of the sensory stimulus (i.e. retinal error). In this paper, we investigate head-free gaze saccades of human subjects towards visual as well as auditory stimuli presented in the two-dimensional frontal plane, under both aligned and unaligned initial fixation conditions. Although the basic patterns for eye and head movements were qualitatively comparable for both stimulus modalities, systematic differences were also obtained under aligned conditions, suggesting a task-dependent movement strategy. Auditory-evoked gaze shifts were endowed with smaller eye-head latency differences, consistently larger head movements and smaller concomitant ocular saccades than visually triggered movements. By testing gaze control for eccentric initial eye positions, we found that the head displacement vector was best related to the initial head motor-error (target-re-head), rather than to the initial gaze error (target-re-eye), regardless of target modality. These findings suggest an independent control of the eye and head motor systems by commands in different frames of reference. However, we also observed a systematic influence of the oculomotor response on the properties of the evoked head movements, indicating a subtle coupling between the two systems. The results are discussed in view of current eye-head coordination models.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 52
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Movement-related magnetic field ; Movement-evoked field ; Magnetoencephalography ; Dipole source analysis ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We investigated the movement-related cortical fields (MRCFs) recorded by magnetoencephalography (MEG) to identify the motor and sensory brain activities at the instant of the unilateral finger movement using six normal subjects. We focused our investigation on the source analysis of the events tightly linked to movement onset, and we used brain electric source analysis (BESA) to model the sources generating MRCFs during the interval from 200 ms before to 150 ms after the movement onset. Four sources provided satisfactory solutions for MRCF activities in this interval. Sources 1 and 2, which were located in the pre-central regions in the hemisphere contralateral and ipsilateral to the moved finger, respectively, generated the readiness fields (RF), but source 1 was predominant just before movement onset. The motor field (MF), the peak of which was just after movement onset, was mainly generated by source 1. Sources 3 and 4 were located in the post-central regions in the hemisphere contralateral and ipsilateral to the moved finger, respectively. The first motor evoked field (MEF-I), the peak of which was about 80 ms after the movement, was mainly generated by source 3, but with the participation of sources 1, 2 and 4. The results indicated that the activities of both pre -and post-central regions in bilateral hemispheres were related to voluntary movements, although the predominant areas varied over time. This is the first noninvasive study to clarify the complex spatiotemporal activities relating movements in humans using a multi-channel MEG system.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 53
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 419-427 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Vestibular system ; Spatial orientation ; Motion perception ; Otolith-canal interaction ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Vestibular perception of whole-body passive rotation in the horizontal plane was studied by applying two-dimensional (2D) motion to eight blindfolded healthy volunteers: pure rotations in place, corner-like trajectories and arcs of a circular trajectory were randomly applied by means of a remotely controlled robot. Angles embedded in the 2D trajectories were 45°, 90°, 135° and 180°. Stimulation of semicircular canals was the same for all trajectories but was accompanied by concurrent otolith stimulation during circular motion. Subjects participated in two successive experimental sessions. In the first session they were instructed to use a pointer to reproduce the total angular displacement after the motion (REPRODUCTION); in the second session they had to keep pointing towards a remote (15 m) memorised target during the motion (TRACKING). In REPRODUCTION subjects tended to overestimate their rotation angle by 28 ± 11% (mean ± SD). There was no systematic effect of the trajectory. Overestimation also occurred when subjects were required to rotate in darkness by 180° (by controlling a joystick). In TRACKING there was virtually no overestimation (6 ± 17%) and the movement of the pointer matched the dynamics of angular motion. We conclude that (a) the brain can separate and memorise the angular component of complex 2D motion; however, a large inter-individual variability in estimating its amplitude exists; (b) in the range of linear accelerations used in the study, no appreciable effect of otolith-canal perceptual interaction was shown; (c) angular displacements can be dynamically transformed into matched pointing movements; (d) overestimation seems to be typical of delayed judgements of angular displacement and of self-controlled rotations in place. This could be due to the characteristics of the physiological calibration of the vestibular input.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 54
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Transcranial magnetic stimulation ; Transcranial electrical stimulation ; Motor cortex ; Inhibition ; Tibialis anterior ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The aim of the present study was to determine the characteristics of intracortical inhibition in the motor cortex areas representing lower limb muscles using paired transcranial magnetic (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (TES) in healthy subjects. In the first paradigm (n=8), paired magnetic stimuli were delivered through a double cone coil and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from quadriceps (Q) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscles during relaxation. The conditioning stimulus strength was 5% of the maximum stimulator output below the threshold MEP evoked during weak voluntary contraction of TA (33±5%). The test stimulus (67±2%) was 10% of the stimulator output above the MEP threshold in the relaxed TA. Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) from 1–15 ms were examined. Conditioned TA MEPs were significantly suppressed (P〈0.01) at ISIs of less than 5 ms (relative amplitude from 20–50% of the control). TA MEPs tended to be only slightly facilitated at 9-ms and 10-ms ISIs. The degree of MEP suppression was not different between right and left TA muscles despite the significant difference in size of the control responses (P〈0.001). Also, conditioned MEPs were not significantly different between Q and TA. The time course of TA MEP suppression, using electrical test stimuli, was similar to that found using TMS. In the second paradigm (n=2), the suppression of TA MEPs at 2, 3, and 4 ms ISIs was examined at three conditioning intensities with the test stimulation kept constant. For the pooled 2- to 4-ms ISI data, relative amplitudes were 34±6%, 61±5%, and 98±9% for conditioning intensities of 0.95, 0.90, and 0.85× active threshold, respectively (P〈0.01). In conclusion, the suppression of lower limb MEPs following paired TMS showed similar characteristics to the intracortical inhibition previously described for the hand motor area.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 55
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 457-464 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Prehension ; Spatiotemporal variability ; Motor control ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Human prehension movements have been studied with regard to the parallel processing of motor control and sensorimotor coordination. Temporal aspects of the movement (e.g., onset time and duration) have been studied extensively, while spatial aspects have not been studied systematically. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine spatiotemporal variability of the transport (wrist trajectory) and grasp (grip aperture between the index finger and the thumb) components. In this experiment, the extrinsic (e.g., distance) and intrinsic object properties (e.g., object size) were manipulated. Subjects were required to pick up an aluminum cylinder as quickly and accurately as possible using the index finger and the thumb. It was found that object size significantly affected both transport and grasp components. Distance mainly affected the transport component. These kinematic results were consistent with the findings of earlier studies. Furthermore, the distribution of mean within-subject variability across normalized movement time for the transport component was not the same as that of the grasp component, suggesting that the different motor control processes exist. The peak amplitudes in variability of the wrist trajectory and the grip aperture were obtained at similar points throughout movement time. Furthermore, the peak of wrist variability depended on distance not object size, while that of aperture variability depended on both distance and object size. These results strongly support the hypothesis that the grasp component is adjusted using dynamic information provided from the transport component as the wrist moves toward the object. We also found that wrist variability converged to the target point, while aperture variability was biphasic: it converged, at least, around the point of maximum aperture in the first phase and then remained constant in the second phase. This result suggests that the two components are under different control processes. We hypothesize that the transport component can be modeled as a single feedforward system, while the grasp component can be divided into two separate mechanisms.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 56
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Intensive care medicine 23 (1997), S. 896-902 
    ISSN: 1432-1238
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Tetanus ; Intrathecal ; Baclofen ; Benzodiazepine ; GABA ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Objective: Spasms in patients with generalized tetanus can be suppressed by a spinal intrathecal infusion of baclofen. We report on four patients and review reported cases treated by this method elsewhere. Design: Intrathecal baclofen infusion was started with a bolus dose (300–500 μg) and continued at a steady rate of 500–1000 μg/day. The dose was increased in daily steps as needed. Results: Doses of baclofen of 500, 1000, or 2000 μg/day were effective in three patients, while 1500 μg/day was insufficient in the fourth. Bradycardia and hypotonia occurred in one patient at a dose of 2000 μg/day but resolved after the dose was reduced to 1500 μg/day. Another patient developed hypotonia when a bolus of 500 μg was given after a steady infusion of 1500 μg/day. Voluntary movements were preserved in one and returned in two patients when sedation, induced by initial diazepam infusions, receded. The fourth patient needed diazepam during most of the treatment with intrathecal baclofen and required mechanical ventilation while being treated with baclofen. Conclusions: A catheter position higher than T11 would possibly have yielded better results. It may be necessary to adapt the dose during the course of the illness. The preservation of respiratory drive and voluntary movements is the main advantage of treating tetanus with intrathecal baclofen. Additionally it helps to reduce sympathetic hyperactivity. Mortality may thereby be reduced.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 57
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    International archives of occupational and environmental health 69 (1997), S. 491-497 
    ISSN: 1432-1246
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Dimethylhippuric acid ; Trimethylbenzene ; Toxicokinetics ; Urine ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The aim of this study was to determine the urinary excretion of dimethylhippuric acids (DMHAs) in humans after experimental chamber exposure to trimethylbenzene (TMB) vapor. The DMHAs have been put forward as suitable biomarkers of exposure to products containing TMBs such as white spirit and petrol. Ten healthy male volunteers were exposed to TMB vapor in an exposure chamber for 2 h at a work load of 50 W. The subjects were exposed on four occasions, to 25 ppm of 1,2,4-TMB, 1,2,3-TMB, and 1,3,5-TMB, respectively, and to 2 ppm of 1,2,4-TMB. Urine was collected from the onset of exposure until the following morning. All six possible DMHA isomers were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography. About 22% of the inhaled amount of 1,2,4-TMB was excreted as DMHAs within 24 h, mainly as 3,4-DMHA. The 24-h recovery of 1,2,3-TMB as DMHAs was 11%. Only 3% of the absorbed amount of 1,3,5-TMB was excreted as 3,5-DMHA. The half-times of the different DMHA isomers ranged from 4 to 16 h. In addition to analysis of DMHAs, the excretion of unconjugated dimethylbenzoic acids in urine was estimated to account for approximately 3% of the dose of all TMBs. In conclusion, the urinary excretion of DMHA isomers may serve as a good indicator of TMB exposure. In this controlled short-term-exposure study the sum of excretion rate of several DMHA isomers reflected exposure more closely than did the excretion rate of any single DMHA.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 58
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 124-129 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Otolith ocular reflex ; Linear acceleration ; Eye movements ; Vestibular function ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Eye movement responses were obtained from six normal subjects exposed to randomly ordered rightwards/leftwards linear acceleration steps of 0.05 g, 0.1 g or 0.24 g amplitude and 650 ms duration along the inter-aural axis. With the instruction to gaze passively into the darkness, compensatory nystagmus was evoked with slow-phase velocity sensitivity of 49° s−1 g −1. When subjects viewed earth-fixed targets at 30 cm, 60 cm or 280 cm, eye movements at 130 ms from motion onset were proportional to acceleration and inversely proportional to target distance, before the onset of visually guided eye movements. Our results show that a modulation with viewing distances of the earliest human otolith-ocular reflexes occurs in the presence of pure linear acceleration. However, full compensation was not attained for the nearer targets and higher accelerations.
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  • 59
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 235-245 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Manual prehension ; Visuomotor coordination ; Three-dimensional orientation ; Wrist joint ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  When reaching for an object, the proximity of the object, its orientation, and shape should all be correctly estimated well before the hand arrives in contact with it. We were interested in the effects of the object’s orientation on manual prehension. Subjects were asked to reach for an object at one of several possible orientations. We found that the trajectory of the hand and its rotation and opening were significantly affected by the object’s orientation within the first half of the movement. We also detected a slight delay of the wrist relative to the forearm and a small bias of the orientation of the fingers’ tips toward the orientation of the table on which the object lay. Finally, the aperture of the hand was proportional to the physical size of the object, which shows that size constancy was achieved from the variation of the object’s orientation. Taken together, these results indicate that the three components of the movement – the transport, rotation, and opening of the hand – have access to a common visual representation of the object’s orientation.
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  • 60
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 475-483 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Posture ; Somatosensation ; Fingertip ; Entrainment ; Velocity ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Light touch contact of a fingertip with a stationary surface can provide orientation information that enhances control of upright stance. Slight changes in contact force at the fingertip provide sensory cues about the direction of body sway, allowing attenuation of sway. In the present study, we asked to which extent somatosensory cues are part of the postural control system, that is, which sensory signal supports this coupling? We investigated postural control not only when the contact surface was stationary, but also when it was moving rhythmically (from 0.1 to 0.5 Hz). In doing so, we brought somatosensory cues from the hand into conflict with other parts of the postural control system. Our focus was the temporal relationship between body sway and the contact surface. Postural sway was highly coherent with contact surface motion. Head and body sway assumed the frequency of the moving contact surface at all test frequencies. To account for these results, a simple model was formulated by approximating the postural control system as a second-order linear dynamical system. The influence of the touch stimulus was captured as the difference between the velocity of the contact surface and the velocity of body sway, multiplied by a coupling constant. Comparison of empirical results (relative phase, coherence, and gain) with model predictions supports the hypothesis of coupling between body sway and touch cues through the velocity of the somatosensory stimulus at the fingertip. One subject, who perceived movement of the touch surface, demonstrated weaker coupling than other subjects, suggesting that cognitive mechanisms introduce flexibility into the postural control scheme.
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  • 61
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 33-43 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Postural control ; Development ; Electromyography ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The purpose of this study was to examine effects of experience with a postural task on components of the automatic postural response including: (1) probability of activation of functionally appropriate postural muscles; (2) number of functionally appropriate postural muscles activated; and (3) onset latencies of functionally appropriate postural muscles in infants. Infants (n=15; age 36–48 weeks old) able to pull themselves into a standing position but not able to walk independently were tested using a postural task requiring the infant to stand and balance, with support, following a forward or backward movement of the support surface (platform perturbation). Infants were tested twice at 5-day intervals. One-half of the infants, the training group, were given intense platform perturbation training on the days between test sessions. Infants in the second group were also brought into the laboratory on the days between test sessions but were not exposed to platform perturbations during those days. Electromyograms of six leg and trunk muscles were recorded during test sessions to provide muscle onset latencies, probability of muscle activation data, and the number of postural muscles activated following a perturbation. Training infants demonstrated significant increases in probability of activating functionally appropriate muscles with tibialis anterior, quadriceps, and abdominal muscles activated in response to backward sway and gastrocnemius muscle in response to forward sway. The number of functionally appropriate postural muscles activated in a single trial also increased in the training group. There were no significant changes in mean postural muscle onset latencies or number of trials with antagonist muscle coactivation for either training or control groups. These findings suggest that during development selective parameters of the automatic postural response are affected by experience with the postural task.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 62
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 377-383 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Action potential shape ; Concentric needle electrode ; Microneurography ; Myelinated fibres ; Single-unit recording ; Peripheral nerve ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Using standardised concentric needle electrodes 170 single units were recorded from myelinated cutaneous afferents in the human median or ulnar nerves. The unitary waveforms were of four types: single-peaked monophasic potentials (type I), double-peaked monophasic potentials (type II), biphasic potentials (type III) and triphasic potentials (type IV). Type II and IV occurred more frequently than the other types. Units of different functional classes had similar waveforms and there was no specific type of waveform distribution in any particular unit category. In some recording situations there were changes in unitary waveforms from one type to another. There was a tendency for the complex type IV, type III and type II waveforms to change to the simple type I. Adjustment of the electrode often provoked such waveform changes. The waveform profiles and waveform changes observed during recordings with concentric needles were significantly different from those encountered with conventional tungsten electrodes, which might be due to differences in recording properties between the two electrodes. Possible neural mechanisms underlying the observed waveforms and waveform transitions are discussed. In particular, our data suggest that concentric needle electrodes record single-unit activity from myelinated fibres extracellularly.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 63
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 61-70 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words First-and second-order motion ; Motion detection ; Perception ; Smooth-pursuit eye movements ; Compensating saccades ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The perception of the displacement of luminance-defined contours (i.e., first-order motion) is an important and well-examined function of the visual system. It can be explained, for example, by the operation of elementary motion detectors (EMDs), which cross-correlate the spatiotemporal luminance distribution. More recent studies using second-order motion stimuli, i.e., shifts of the distribution of features such as contrast, texture, flicker, or motion, extended classic concepts of motion perception by including nonlinear or hierarchical processing in the EMD. Smooth-pursuit eye movements can be used as a direct behavioral probe for motion processing. The ability of the visual system to extract motion signals from the spatiotemporal changes of the retinal image can be addressed by analyzing the elicited eye movements. We measured the eye movement response to moving objects defined by two different types of first-order motion and two different types of second-order motion. Our results clearly showed that the direction of smooth-pursuit eye movements was always determined by the direction of object motion. In particular, in the case of second-order motion stimuli, smooth-pursuit did not follow the retinal image motion. The latency of the initial saccades during pursuit of second-order stimuli was slightly but significantly increased, compared with the latency of saccades elicited by first-order motion. The processing of second-order motion in the peripheral visual field was less exact than the processing of first-order motion in the peripheral field. Steady state smooth-pursuit eye speed did not reflect the velocity of second-order motion as precisely as that of first-order motion, and the resulting retinal error was compensated by saccades. Interestingly, for slow second-order stimuli we observed that the eye could move faster than the target, leading to small, corrective saccades in the opposite direction to the ongoing smooth-pursuit eye movement. We conclude from our results that both visual perception and the control of smooth-pursuit eye movements have access to processing mechanisms extracting first- and second-order motion.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 64
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 3-9 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Joint nociceptors ; Arthritis ; Articular pain ; Perireceptor events ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Hyaluronan (sodium hyaluronate) is a glycosaminoglycan that is present in all joint tissues. Painful arthritic joints have been characterized by hyaluronan of reduced elastoviscosity. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether hyaluronan has an influence on joint nociceptor sensitivity and whether restoration of elastoviscosity would decrease nerve responses from nociceptive afferent fibers in arthritic joints. Nerve impulse activity was recorded from nociceptive afferent fibers of the medial articular nerve in anesthetized cats. An acute experimental arthritis was produced by intra-articular injection of kaolin and carrageenan. This caused, within 3 h, the development of ongoing nerve activity and enhancement of nerve impulse responses to passive movements in the normal range of the joint. Intra-articular injection of an elastoviscous solution of hylan, a hyaluronan derivative, significantly reduced both the ongoing activity and the movement-evoked responses in 1–2 h. This effect was not obtained when a nonelastoviscous solution of hylan was injected into the inflamed joint. The results indicate that intra-articularly injected elastoviscous solutions of hylan reduced nociceptive activity in inflamed joints through an elastoviscous, rheological effect on nociceptive afferent fibers through the intercellular matrix in which these fibers are embedded.
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  • 65
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 217-233 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Reaction time ; Motor preparation ; Coordinate transformations ; Vectorial planning ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We have previously demonstrated that, in preparing themselves to aim voluntary impulses of isometric elbow force to unpredictable targets, subjects selected default values for amplitude and direction according the range of targets that they expected. Once a specific target appeared, subjects specified amplitude and direction through parallel processes. Amplitude was specified continuously from an average or central default; direction was specified stochastically from one of the target directions. Using the same timed response paradigm, we now report three experiments to examine how the time available for processing target information influences trajectory characteristics in two-degree-of-freedom forces and multijoint movements. We first sought to determine whether the specification of force direction could also take the form of a discrete stochastic process in pulses of wrist muscle force, where direction can vary continuously. With four equiprobable targets (two force amplitudes in each of two directions separated by 22° or 90°), amplitude was specified from a central default value for both narrow and wide target separations as a continuous variable. Direction, however, remained specified as a discrete variable for wide target separations. For narrow target separations, the directional distribution of default responses suggested the presence of both discrete and central values. We next examined point-to-point movements in a multijoint planar hand movement task with targets at two distances and two directions but at five directional separations (from 30° to 150° separation). We found that extent was again specified continuously from a central default. Direction was specified discretely from alternative default directions when target separation was wide and continuously from a central default when separation was narrow. The specification of both extent and direction evolved over a 200-ms time period beginning about 100 ms after target presentation. As in elbow force pulses, extent was specified progressively in both correct and wrong direction responses through a progressive improvement in the scaling of acceleration and velocity peaks to the target. On the other hand, movement time and hand path straightness did not change significantly in the course of specification. Thus, the specification of movement time and linearity, global features of the trajectories, are given priority over the specific values of extent and direction. In a third experiment, we varied the distances between unidirectional target pairs and found that movement extent is specified discretely, like direction, when the disparity in distances is large. The implications of these findings for contextual effects on trajectory planning are discussed. The independence of extent and direction specification and the prior setting of response duration and straightness provide critical support for the hypothesis that point-to-point movements are planned vectorially.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 66
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 552-556 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Eating action ; Motor control ; Grasp ; Motor plan ; Neurophysiology ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The kinematic characteristics of the eating action in humans were assessed. Ten subjects were asked to bring to the mouth pieces of cheese of different sizes (0.7 cm and 2 cm). The pattern of mouth aperture with respect to the size of the food was similar to that found for grasping differently sized objects with the hand. Mouth aperture was appropriately scaled and the time of maximum aperture was reached earlier for the smaller than for the larger piece of cheese. The deceleration phase of the arm was prolonged when the small piece of cheese had to be brought to the mouth with respect to when the large piece of cheese had to be brought to the mouth. Temporal coupling between the time of maximum peak deceleration and the maximum mouth aperture was found in seven of the ten subjects. Taken together these preliminary results suggest that coordinated actions are subserved by the use of a common coordinating schema independently from the effectors involved.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 67
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 20-28 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Reflex and voluntary control of movement ; Shortening and lengthening contractions ; Long-latency reflex ; Elbow ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Stretch reflex responses in three elbow flexor muscles – the brachioradialis and the short and long heads of the biceps brachii – were studied during different motor tasks. The motor tasks were iso-velocity (8 deg/s) elbow flexion movements in which the muscles performed shortening or lengthening contractions, or were isometric contractions. Care was taken to maintain constant background electromyographic (EMG) activity in the brachoradialis muscle at a 50-deg elbow angle across the tasks by changing the magnitude of the initial load. During each task, mechanical perturbations (duration 170 ms) were applied at pseudorandom intervals when the elbow angle was 50 deg. The magnitude of the perturbation was varied across tasks in order to induce an elbow extension velocity of 80 deg/s over the first 50 ms after the onset of perturbation. The stretch reflex EMG responses in all muscles varied across the three tasks, despite a constant EMG level and similar perturbation-induced angular velocity in the direction of elbow extension. In particular, both the short- and long-latency reflex EMG components were reduced during the lengthening contractions. Further, the task-dependent variations in the early (M2) and the late (M3) components of the long-latency reflex were different, i.e., the magnitude of M3 was considerably enhanced during the shortening task as compared with that of M2. These findings suggest that central modification was responsible for the task-dependent modulation of late EMG responses.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 68
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Simple reaction time ; Electrical stimulation ; Transcranial magnetic stimulation ; Intersensory facilitation ; Motor cortex ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Subthreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the motor cortex can shorten the simple reaction time in contralateral arm muscles if the cortical shock is given at about the same time as the reaction stimulus. The present experiments were designed to investigate whether this phenomenon is due to a specific facilitatory effect on cortical circuitry. The simple visual reaction time was shortened by 20–50 ms when subthreshold TMS was given over the contralateral motor cortex. Reaction time was reduced to the same level whether the magnetic stimulus was given over the bilateral motor cortices or over other points on the scalp (Cz, Pz). Indeed, similar effects could be seen with conventional electrical stimulation over the neck, or even when the coil was discharged (giving a click sound) near the head. We conclude that much of the effect of TMS on simple reaction time is due to intersensory facilitation, although part of it may be ascribed to a specific effect on the excitability of motor cortex.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 69
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Transcranial magnetic stimulation ; Motor cortex ; D wave ; I wave ; Pyramidal tract neurons ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the human primary motor cortex (M1) evokes motor responses in the contralateral limb muscles. The latencies and amplitudes of those responses depend on the direction of induced current in the brain by the stimuli (Mills et al. 1992, Werhahn et al. 1994). This observation suggests that different neural elements might be activated by the differently directed induced currents. Using a figure-of-eight-shaped coil, which induces current with a certain direction, we analyzed the effect of direction of stimulating current on the latencies of responses to TMS in normal subjects. The latencies were measured from surface electromyographic responses of the first dorsal interosseous muscles and the peaks in the peristimulus time histograms (PSTHs) of single motor units from the same muscles. The coil was placed over the M1, with eight different directions each separated by 45°. Stimulus intensity was adjusted just above the motor threshold while subjects made a weak tonic voluntary contraction, so that we can analyse the most readily elicited descending volley in the pyramidal tracts. In most subjects, TMS with medially and anteriorly directed current in the brain produced responses or a peak that occurred some 1.5 ms later than those to anodal electrical stimulation. In contrast, TMS with laterally and posteriorly directed current produced responses or a peak that occurred about 4.5 ms later. There was a single peak in most of PSTHs under the above stimulation condition, whereas there were occasionally two peaks under the transitional current directions between the above two groups. These results suggest that TMS with medially and anteriorly directed current in the brain readily elicits I1 waves, whereas that with laterally and posteriorly directed current preferentially elicits I3 waves. Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies indicated that this direction was related to the course of the central sulcus. TMS with induced current flowing forward relative to the central sulcus preferentially elicited I1 waves and that flowing backward elicited I3 waves. Our finding of the dependence of preferentially activated I waves on the current direction in the brain suggests that different sets of cortical neurons are responsible for different I waves, and are contrarily oriented. The present method using a figure-of-eight-shaped coil must enable us to study physiological characteristics of each I wave separately and, possibly, analyse different neural elements in M1, since it activates a certain I wave selectively without D waves or other I waves.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 70
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 246-254 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Voluntary movement ; Hand ; Muscle spindle ; Fusimotor system ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Impulses of 16 muscle spindle afferents from finger extensor muscles were recorded from the radial nerve along with electromyographic (EMG) activity and kinematics of joint movement. Twelve units were classified as Ia and 4 as II spindle afferents. Subjects were requested to perform precision movements at a single metacarpophalangeal joint in an indirect visual tracking task. Similar movements were executed under two different conditions, i.e. with high and low error gain. The purpose was to explore whether different precision demands were associated with different spindle firing rates. With high error gain, a small but significantly higher impulse rate was found in pooled data from Ia afferents during lengthening movements but not during shortening movements, nor with II afferents. EMG was also significantly higher with high error gain in recordings with Ia afferents. When the effect of EMG was factored out, using partial correlation analysis, the significant difference in Ia firing rate vanished. The findings suggest that fusimotor drive as well as skeletomotor activity were both marginally higher when the precision demand was higher, whereas no indication of independent fusimotor adjustments was found. These results are discussed with respect to data from behaving animals and the role of fusimotor independence in various limb muscles proposed.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 71
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 114 (1997), S. 352-361 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words EEG ; Movement-related potentials ; Somatosensory evoked potentials ; Dipole source analysis ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The cerebral events related to limb movements can be studied noninvasively with the method of evoked potentials. In this study, a brain potential is analysed that follows the onset of a simple finger movement. Because this potential occurred after active as well as after passive movements, its previously alleged reafferent somatosensory nature is confirmed in this study. Detailed topographic analysis revealed that this potential has the same polarity and merges with the preceeding Bereitschaftspotential (BP; in the active movement) at central electrodes, whereas at parietal electrodes polarity is opposite to the BP. In individual subjects, the maximum of the BP and the peak of the reafferent potential are separated by a small gap, previously described as pre-motion positivity. A comparison with the N20 potential of the electrically evoked somatosensory potential showed similar potential topography, albeit opposite polarity. The dipole analysis supported the view that the reafferent and the electrically evoked potentials are likely to arise from the same cortical area, namely the primary somatosensory cortex.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 72
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 531-540 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Smooth pursuit ; Steady state pursuit ; Pursuit initiation ; Textured background ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We investigated the effects of stationary and moving textured backgrounds on the initiation and steady state of ocular pursuit using horizontally moving targets. We found that the initial eye acceleration was slightly reduced when a stationary textured background was employed, as compared to experiments with a homogeneous background. When a moving textured background was introduced, the initial eye acceleration was significantly larger when the target and the background moved in opposite directions than when the target and the background moved in the same direction. The use of stationary and moving textured backgrounds resulted in comparable effects on the initial eye acceleration when they were presented either as a large field or as a narrow, horizontal small field, only covering the trajectory of the target. Moreover, small-field stationary backgrounds slightly reduced the eye velocity during steady state pursuit. A small-field background moving in the opposite direction to the target distinctly reduced eye velocity, while a target and a background moving in the same direction sometimes even improved pursuit performance, when compared with a homogeneous background. The influences of small-field textured backgrounds on steady state pursuit were comparable with those of large-field backgrounds in both stationary and moving conditions.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 73
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Sensorimotor control ; Centrifugal gating ; Motor preparation ; Tibial nerve ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Movement-related gating of cerebral somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) occurs during active and passive movements of both the upper and the lower limbs. The general hypothesis was tested that the brain participates in setting the gain of the ascending path from somatosensory receptors of the human leg to the somatosensory cortex. In experiment 1, SEPs from Cz’ and soleus H-reflexes were evoked by electrical stimulation of the tibial nerve in the popliteal fossa during passive movement about the right ankle. Early SEPs and H-reflexes sampled during simple passive movement were significantly attenuated when compared with stationary controls (P〈0.05). The additional requirement of tracking the passive ankle movement with the other foot led to a significant relative facilitation of mean SEP, but not H-reflex amplitude, compared with means from passive movement alone (P〈0.05). In experiment 2, SEPs were evoked in the active (tracking) leg during a forewarned reaction-time task. Subjects were required to move in a preferred direction or to track the passive movement of their right foot with their left. Significant attenuation of early SEP components occurred 100 ms prior to EMG onset (P〈0.05), with no apparent effect due to tracking. In the 3rd experiment, SEPs and H-reflexes were evoked in the passively moved leg (the target for active movement of the left leg) during the same forewarned reaction-time task. During the warning period, SEPs were significantly attenuated compared with stationary controls for non-tracking movements, but not for movements involving tracking (P〈0.05). It is concluded that centrifugal factors are important in modulating SEP gain required by the kinaesthetic demands of the task.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 74
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 115 (1997), S. 479-484 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Saccadic reaction time ; Eye movements ; Event-related potentials ; Slow waves ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Saccades elicited by suddenly appearing targets show a broad distribution of reaction times. This may depend on variations in the subject’s state of preparation before target onset. To test this hypothesis, we recorded scalp event-related potentials from eight human subjects to investigate whether differences in saccadic reaction times (SRTs) are related to differences in cortical slow potentials prior to target onset. Compared with trials with medium SRTs (180–230 ms), trials with fast SRTs (130–180 ms) were found to be preceded by a more negative slow potential and trials with slow SRTs (230–280 ms) were found to be preceded by a more positive slow potential. These results support the hypothesis that cortical activation prior to target appearance influences SRTs.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 75
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 139-152 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Evoked magnetic fields ; Mismatch negativity ; Auditory cortex ; Speech perception ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Auditory-evoked mismatch fields (MMFs) elicited by vowel contrasts and plosive stop consonant place-of-articulation contrasts were recorded over the left hemisphere of neurologically and audiologically normal subjects. Two experiments were conducted: vowels were presented in isolation in experiment 1 and embedded in consonant-vowel syllables in experiment 2. Best-fit equivalent MMF sources were obtained using the model of a single, spatiotemporal current dipole in a sphere. In both experiments, MMF sources activated by place-of-articulation contrasts were later in latency and smaller in dipole moment amplitude than MMF sources excited by vowel contrasts. There was evidence, albeit not unambiguous, for the vowel-contrast MMF sources being located more posteriorly than the consonant-contrast MMF sources in experiment 1 and more laterally in experiment 2. In both experiments, the MMF source excited by the contrast between /da/ and /ga/ was more anterior than the MMF source excited by the contrast between /da/ and /ba/. The effects on latency and dipole moment may be interpreted to mirror differences in perceptual discriminability and auditory memory decay between consonantal place-of-articulation contrasts and vowel contrasts. Similarly, the effects on location may be interpreted to reflect featural specificity of the mismatch response. Interestingly, the dipole source analysis results show a correspondence to the pattern of preservation and loss of the mismatch response to vowel and consonant place-of-articulation contrasts recently observed in Wernicke’s aphasia.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 76
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 201-215 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Saccades ; Pursuit ; Saccadic velocity ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Smooth pursuit typically includes corrective catch-up saccades, but may also include such intrusive saccades away from the target as anticipatory or large overshooting saccades. We sought to differentiate catch-up from anticipatory and overshooting saccades by their peak velocities, to see whether the higher velocities of visually rather than nonvisually guided saccades in saccadic tasks may be found also in saccades in pursuit. In experiment 1, 12 subjects showed catch-up, anticipatory, and overshooting saccades to comprise 70.4% of all saccades in pursuit of periodic, 30°/s constant-velocity targets. Catch-up saccades were faster than the others. Saccadic tasks were run as well, on 19 subjects, including the 12 whose pursuit data were analyzed, with target-onset, target-remaining (saccade to the remaining target when the other three extinguish), and antisaccade tasks. For 17 of the 19 subjects, antisaccade velocities were lower than for either target-onset or target-remaining tasks. Velocities for the target-remaining task were near those for target onset, indicating that target presence, not its onset, defines visually guided saccades. Error and reaction-time data suggest greater cognitive difficulty for target remaining than for target onset, so that the cognitive difficulty of typical nonvisually guided saccade tasks is not sufficient to produce their lowered velocity. To produce reliably, in each subject, catch-up and anticipatory saccades with comparable amplitude distributions, nine new subjects were asked in experiment 2 to make intentional catch-up and anticipatory saccades in pursuit, and were presented with embedded target jumps to elicit catch-up saccades, all with periodic target trajectories of 15°/s and 30°/s. Velocities of intentional anticipatory saccades were lower than velocities of intentional catch-up saccades, while velocities of intentional and embedded catch-up saccades were similar. Target-onset and remembered-target saccadic tasks were run, showing the expected higher velocity for the target-onset task in each subject. Both experiments demonstrate higher peak velocities for catch-up saccades than for anticipatory saccades, suggesting that cortical structures preferentially involved in nonvisually guided saccades may initiate the anticipatory and overshooting saccades in pursuit.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 77
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 421-433 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Reaching ; Minimum jerk ; Target acceleration ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We studied the kinematic characteristics of arm movements and their relation to a stimulus moving with a wide range of velocity and acceleration. The target traveled at constant acceleration, constant deceleration, or constant velocity for 0.5–2.0 s, until it arrived at a location where it was required to be intercepted. For fast moving targets, subjects produced single movements with symmetrical, bell-shaped velocity profiles. In contrast, for slowly moving targets, hand velocity profiles displayed multiple peaks, which suggests a control mechanism that produces a series of discrete submovements according to characteristics of target motion. To analyze how temporal and spatial aspects of these submovements are influenced by target motion, we decomposed the vertical hand velocity profiles into bell-shaped velocity pulses according to the minimum-jerk model. The number of submovements was roughly proportional to the movement time, resulting in a relatively constant submovement frequency (∼2.5 Hz). On the other hand, the submovement onset asynchrony showed significantly more variability than the intersubmovement interval, indicating that the submovement onset was delayed more following a submovement with a longer duration. Examination of submovement amplitude and its relation to target motion revealed that the subjects achieved interception mainly by producing a series of submovements that would keep the displacement of the hand proportional to the first-order estimate of target position at the end of each submovement along the axis of hand movement. Finally, we did not find any evidence that information regarding target acceleration is properly utilized in the production of submovements.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 78
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 113 (1997), S. 144-152 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Inhibition ; Reaching-to-grasp ; Interference ; Attention ; Path-deviation ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that when a stimulus is to be ignored, the path of motion towards a target (saccade or manual reach) deviates away from the to-be-ignored stimulus. Path deviations in saccade and reaching tasks have, however, been observed in very different situations. In the saccade tasks subjects initially attended to a cue, then disengaged attention while saccading to a target. By contrast, in the selective reaching tasks attention was continuously withdrawn from the to-be-ignored stimulus, as this was irrelevant throughout the experiment. In the two experiments reported here, cues similar to those studied in saccade tasks are examined with selective reaching procedures. Experiment 1 shows that when a coloured light-emitting diode cue, upon which subjects engage and then subsequently disengage attention, is close to the responding hand, the hand deviates away from the cue. Experiment 2 confirms this cue avoidance by showing that, compared with central fixation alone, the hand veers away from a central cue. These results confirm that the path deviations observed in saccades can also be obtained in manual reaching movements. Such findings support the notion that eye and hand movements are both affected by inhibitory mechanisms of attention.
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  • 79
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Vestibular-collic reflex ; Cervico-collic reflex ; Head-righting ; Labyrinthine-defective ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Reflex head-righting in normal and labyrinthine-defective (LD) subjects was compared to identify the relative functional effectiveness of vestibular-collic and cervico-collic myotactic reflexes. To restrict stimuli largely to the head and neck, subjects lay supine, supported up to the shoulders on a horizontal bed with their head supported in a sling over the edge. The head fell freely as the sling was released with an electromagnetic catch. Head drops were delivered with the subjects instructed to relax and accept the fall passively or to actively right the head as fast as possible. With both instructions, righting responses in normal subjects commenced with electromyographic (EMG) bursts in the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) at 24.5 ms latency, which was reflected in a deceleration of the downwards head velocity. The latency of the earliest EMG responses in LD subjects was 67.4 ms, accompanied by similar deceleration. It is assumed that the earliest response in normal subjects is vestibular, whereas in LDs the SCM stretch reflex is the earliest response. These reflexes are followed at circa 100 ms by more intense EMG activity due to voluntary movement, but braking of head fall is evident before voluntary activity takes effect. Righting was more effective in normal subjects than in LDs, and when “active” normal subjects made more vigorous righting responses than when “passive”; whereas active righting in LDs was no better than passive. The results demonstrate that reflex responses contribute significantly to head-righting. The vestibular contribution gives an advantage over stretch reflexes alone and also assists in voluntary enhancement of reflex responses.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 80
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 273-280 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Time to contact ; Catching ; Prehension ; Visuomotor control ; Limb movements ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  In the present study, a kinematic analysis was made of unconstrained, natural prehension movements directed toward an object approaching the observer on a conveyor belt at one of three constant velocities, from one of three different directions (head-on or along the fronto-parallel plane coming either from the subject′s left or right). Subjects were required to grasp the object when it reached a target located 20 cm directly in front of the hand′s start position. The kinematic analysis revealed that both the transport and grasp components of the movement changed in response to the experimental manipulations, but did so in a manner that guaranteed that, for objects approaching from a given direction, hand closure would begin at a constant time prior to object contact (regardless of the object’s approach speed). The kinematic analysis also revealed, however, that the onset of hand closure began earlier with objects approaching from the right than from other directions – an effect which would not be predicted if time to contact was the key variable controlling the onset of hand closure. These results, then, lend only partial support to the theory that temporal coordination between the transport and grasp components of prehension is ensured through their common dependence on time to contact information.
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  • 81
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 341-345 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Unilateral neglect ; Space representation ; Gravitational information ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Right brain-damaged patients with left visuospatial neglect were required to bisect a line placed in front of them in two different body positions (upright and supine) and two different light conditions (light and dark). The neglect patients, unlike right brain-damaged patients without neglect, strongly reduced their rightward directional error in the supine compared with the upright position. No systematic changes were produced by the light-dark manipulation. The present result cannot be explained with an attentional interpretation of hemispatial neglect. We suggest that the present data provide futher evidence that hemineglect is the consequence of a mismatch between different afferent information integrated into an egocentric space representation. According to this model, the presence of a lateralized brain lesion produces asymmetries in some intermediate spatial representations (eye-head, head-trunk, body-environment) but not in the retinotopic one. Any experimental manipulation that reduces the asymmetry of the intermediate representation such as the reduction of gravitational inputs may improve the dynamic integration of the egocentric coordinates.
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  • 82
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 355-361 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Congenital nystagmus ; Dynamical systems analysis ; Fixed point ; Eigenvalues ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Congenital nystagmus is an oculomotor disorder in which fixation is disrupted by rhythmical, bilateral involuntary oscillations. Clinically these eye movements have been described with some degree of success in terms of their peak-to-peak amplitude, frequency, mean velocity and waveform shape. However, it has not proved possible to diagnose any underlying pathology from the nystagmus characteristics. Here, we propose a new approach to understanding the nystagmus using dynamical systems theory. Our approach is based on the use of delay embedding techniques, which allow one to relate a time series of scalar observations to the state space dynamics of the underlying dynamical system. Using this approach we quantify the dynamics of the nystagmus in the region of foveation and present evidence to suggest that it is low-dimensional and deterministic. Our results put new constraints on acceptable models of nystagmus and suggest a way to make a closer link between data analysis and model development. This approach raises the hope that techniques originally developed to stabilise chaotic systems, by using small perturbations, may prove useful in the control of nystagmus.
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  • 83
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 465-471 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Coordinate system ; Upper limb ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The purpose of this research was to investigate whether kinesthetic and proprioceptive perceptions of “straight ahead” were defined by a head- or trunk-fixed axis. Subjects were instructed to align the forearm with the head or trunk anterior-posterior (a/p) axis by elbow flexion or extension in the horizontal plane in five different conditions. In each condition the experimenter varied initial elbow and shoulder horizontal flexion or extension angles and head and/or trunk orientation (by rotation about a vertical axis) on each trial before the subject moved the forearm to align it with the head or trunk axis. The upper limb motion was voluntarily constrained to the horizontal plane through the shoulder. Variable errors were significantly lower when subjects aligned the forearm to the trunk-fixed a/p axis. Furthermore, the perceptual errors showed a greater dependence on body segment orientations when the forearm was aligned to the head axis than to the trunk axis. We conclude that the trunk a/p axis is preferred to the head a/p axis for specifying upper limb segment orientations in the horizontal plane at the kinesthetic perceptual level.
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  • 84
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 83-96 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Smooth pursuit ; Adaptation ; Peripheral motion signal ; Topography ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The main purpose of the present study was to investigate adaptive properties in human smooth-pursuit eye movements generated by a peripheral moving target. In adaptation trials, a target appeared in the peripheral visual field and immediately moved away at a constant speed, and a subject made a saccade and postsaccadic pursuit responses to track it. The target speed was, however, changed to a higher or lower constant speed (step-ramp-ramp target motion) at the termination of the saccade. This adaptation paradigm induced adaptive modifications in postsaccadic pursuit responses and our results revealed the following properties of the pursuit adaptation system. Topographic modification: Modification of the initial pursuit velocity depends on the position of a moving target. Pursuit gain change: Pursuit velocity is modified not by the addition of a constant bias to the pre-adaptation pursuit velocity, but by a change in the pursuit gain (pursuit velocity/target velocity). Lack of influence on saccade properties: Pursuit adaptation does not change the amplitude and latency of saccades either to a moving target or to a stationary target.
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  • 85
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 122-130 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Posture ; Arm movement ; Hand grip force ; Load force ; Anticipation ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The reactive forces and torques associated with moving a hand-held object between two points are potentially destabilising, both for the object’s position in the hand and for body posture. Previous work has demonstrated that there are increases in grip force ahead of arm motion that contribute to object stability in the hand. Other studies have shown that early postural adjustments in the legs and trunk minimise the potential perturbing effects on body posture of rapid voluntary arm movement. This paper documents the concurrent evolution of grip force and postural adjustments in anticipation of dynamic and static loads. Subjects held a manipulandum in precision grasp between thumb and index finger and pulled or pushed either a dynamic or a fixed load horizontally towards or away from the body (the grasp axis was orthogonal to the line of the load force). A force plate measured ground reaction torques, and force transducers in the manipulandum measured the load (tangential) and grip (normal) forces acting on the thumb and finger. In all conditions, increases in grip force and ground reaction torque preceded any detectable rise in load force. Rates of change of grip force and ground reaction torque were correlated, even after partialling out a common dependence on load force rate. Moreover, grip force and ground reaction torque rates at the onset of load force were correlated. These results imply the operation of motor planning processes that include anticipation of the dynamic consequences of voluntary action.
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  • 86
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 191-200 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Saccade ; Reaction time ; Antisaccade ; Fixation ; Gap effect ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We investigated the effect of different spatial and temporal parameters on the saccadic reaction times (SRTs) of the antisaccades and on the frequency and the SRTs of erratic prosaccades in five adult human subjects. The subjects were instructed to aim their saccades to the side opposite to where a visual go-stimulus occurred. Parameters under consideration were: the gap duration (between 0 and 600 ms, and an overlap paradigm); the stimulus size (sizes of 0.1°, 0.2°, and 0.4°, using the gap 200-ms paradigm); and the stimulus eccentricity (1°, 2°,4°, 8°, and 12°, with the gap 200-ms paradigm). A decrease in the anti SRTs and an increase in the error rate were observed with medium gap durations (200 ms, 250 ms), while the anti-SRTs were longer and the error rates lower with the shorter values (0 ms, 100 ms, and with the overlap paradigm) and with the long values (600 ms). A slight decrease in the anti-SRTs and an increase in the error frequency occurred with increasing eccentricity; the SRT distributions of the errors resembled closely those of prosaccades in corresponding prosaccade tasks with the same eccentricities. The stimulus size had only modest or no effects at all. Analysis of the distributions of the correction times of the erratic prosaccades showed that the intersaccadic intervals could be very short: in the range of express saccades, with a peak at 100 ms; or in some subjects even shorter, with a peak at 40–50 ms. It is concluded that the performance of antisaccades is influenced by parameters that interact with the fixation and/or attention system of oculomotor control. Parameters supporting a disengagement of fixation at the time of stimulus onset provoke a reduction of the saccadic reaction times not only of prosaccades but also of antisaccades. Moreover, a certain state of disengagement seems to facilitate the occurrence of reflex-like errors.
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  • 87
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 299-308 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Jaw movement ; EMG ; Stretch reflex ; Muscle spindle ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  We investigated phasic and tonic stretch reflexes in human jaw-opener muscles, which have few, if any, muscle spindles. Jaw-unloading reflexes were recorded for both opener and closer muscles. Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity was obtained from left and right digastric and superficial masseter muscles, and jaw orientation and torques were recorded. Unloading of jaw-opener muscles elicited a short-latency decrease in EMG activity (averaging 20 ms) followed by a short-duration silent period in these muscles and sometimes a short burst of activity in their antagonists. Similar behavior in response to unloading was observed for spindle-rich jaw-closer muscles, although the latency of the silent period was statistically shorter than that observed for jaw-opener muscles (averaging 13 ms). Control studies suggest that the jaw-opener reflex was not due to inputs from either cutaneous or periodontal mechanoreceptors. In the unloading response of the jaw openers, the tonic level of EMG activity observed after transition to the new jaw orientation was monotonically related to the residual torque and orientation. This is consistent with the idea that the tonic stretch reflex might mediate the change in muscle activation. In addition, the values of the static net joint torque and jaw orientation after the dynamic phase of unloading were related by a monotonic function resembling the invariant characteristic recorded in human limb joints. The torque-angle characteristics associated with different initial jaw orientations were similar in shape but spatially shifted, consistent with the idea that voluntary changes in jaw orientation might be associated with a change in a single parameter, which might be identified as the threshold of the tonic stretch reflex. It is suggested that functionally significant phasic and tonic stretch reflexes might not be mediated exclusively by muscle spindle afferents. Thus, the hypothesis that central modifications in the threshold of the tonic stretch reflex underlie the control of movement may be applied to the jaw system.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
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  • 88
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 116 (1997), S. 309-314 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography ; Cerebral blood flow velocity ; Somatosensory stimuli ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Preparing for and processing of sensory stimuli are energy-requiring processes. We attempted to assess the relative contributions of these processes to increases in regional cerebral perfusion. Nineteen healthy right-handed subjects were examined while they were engaged in detecting tactile stimuli to the index finger 5 s after a cueing tone. Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) modulations in the middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) were continuously measured by bilateral simultaneous transcranial Doppler ultrasonography. Tactile stimuli well above threshold per se did not produce a significant, relative CBFV increase in the contralateral MCA. However, when subjects were expecting a threshold tactile stimulus, there was a significant regional increase in CBFV in the hemisphere contralateral to the attended index finger for approximately 15 s, starting within the first seconds after the cueing. This increase was present even before the tactile stimulus was applied and also in sessions when the stimulus was omitted. We conclude that preparation of the cortex causes a stronger regional cerebral blood flow increase than the processing of the tactile stimulus itself.
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  • 89
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 30-42 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Kinematics ; Impedance ; Jumping ; Posture control ; Astronaut performance ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Astronauts exposed to the microgravity conditions encountered during space flight exhibit postural and gait instabilities upon return to earth that could impair critical postflight performance. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects of microgravity exposure on astronauts’ performance of two-footed jump landings. Nine astronauts from several Space Shuttle missions were tested both preflight and postflight with a series of voluntary, two-footed downward hops from a 30-cm-high step. A video-based, three-dimensional motion-analysis system permitted calculation of body segment positions and joint angular displacements. Phase-plane plots of knee, hip, and ankle angular velocities compared with the corresponding joint angles were used to describe the lower limb kinematics during jump landings. The position of the whole-body center of mass (COM) was also estimated in the sagittal plane using an eight-segment body model. Four of nine subjects exhibited expanded phase-plane portraits postflight, with significant increases in peak joint flexion angles and flexion rates following space flight. In contrast, two subjects showed significant contractions of their phase-plane portraits postflight and three subjects showed insignificant overall changes after space flight. Analysis of the vertical COM motion generally supported the joint angle results. Subjects with expanded joint angle phase-plane portraits postflight exhibited larger downward deviations of the COM and longer times from impact to peak deflection, as well as lower upward recovery velocities. Subjects with postflight joint angle phase-plane contraction demonstrated opposite effects in the COM motion. The joint kinematics results indicated the existence of two contrasting response modes due to microgravity exposure. Most subjects exhibited “compliant“ impact absorption postflight, consistent with decreased limb stiffness and damping, and a reduction in the bandwidth of the postural control system. Fewer subjects showed “stiff“ behavior after space flight, where contractions in the phase-plane portraits pointed to an increase in control bandwidth. The changes appeared to result from adaptive modifications in the control of lower limb impedance. A simple 2nd-order model of the vertical COM motion indicated that changes in the effective vertical stiffness of the legs can predict key features of the postflight performance. Compliant responses may reflect inflight adaptation due to altered demands on the postural control system in microgravity, while stiff behavior may result from overcompensation postflight for the presumed reduction in limb stiffness inflight.
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  • 90
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Experimental brain research 117 (1997), S. 120-130 
    ISSN: 1432-1106
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Motor unit ; Isometric tasks ; Movements ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  Simultaneous recordings of action potentials (APs) of multiple single motor units (MUs) were obtained in brachialis and biceps (caput breve) muscles during sinusoidally modulated isometric contractions of elbow flexor muscles and during sinusoidal flexion/extension movements in the elbow against a preload in the extension direction. The results show that MUs typically fire in one short burst for each sinusoidal cycle. The mean phase lead of the bursts of APs relative to a sinusoidally modulated isometric torque in the elbow joint or relative to sinusoidal movements in the elbow increases gradually with frequency. The increase of the mean phase lead during isometric contractions was very similar for all MUs and could be explained well by modeling the force production of MUs with a second-order linear low-pass system. For sinusoidal flexion/extension movements each MU reveals a specific, reproducible phase lead as a function of frequency. However, there is a large variability in phase behavior between MUs. Also, the modulation of the firing rate for sinusoidal isometric contractions versus sinusoidal movements appeared to be different for various MUs. In simultaneous recordings some MUs clearly revealed a larger firing rate in each burst for movements relative to isometric contractions, whereas other MUs revealed a smaller firing rate. This suggests that some MUs are preferentially activated during movements whereas others are preferably activated during isometric contractions. The results demonstrate task-dependent changes in the relative activation of MUs within a single muscle for sinusoidal isometric contractions and movements.
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  • 91
    ISSN: 1432-069X
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Viability ; Hairless mouse skin ; Human ; neonatal skin
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Background and design: Viable tissue is essential to assess the rate and extent of biotransformation during percutaneous absorption in vitro. We assessed the viability of hairless mouse whole skin (WS) and stratum corneum/epidermis (SCE) and human neonatal SCE following separation from the dermis by EDTA phosphate-buffered saline (EDTA-PBS) incubation or by heat treatment by measuring the conversion of dextrose to lactate. Lactate concentrations in receptor fluid samples were determined using a Sigma diagnostic lactate determination kit. A standard curve was prepared and samples assayed spectrophotometrically at 340 nm using a lambda 2β spectrophotometer. Standard curves were prepared for each experiment and correlation coefficient values ( r ) were calculated. Results: Our results showed that heirless mouse SCE was associated with glucose conversion to lactic acid at an increased rate if incubated in EDTA-PBS for 4 h and used immediately. Lactate production was greater with the dermis present (EDTA-PBS WS). The rate of glucose to lactate conversion in hairless mouse SCE was 20–25% of that found in WS. Compared with Dulbecco’s modified PBS (DMPBS)-treated WS controls, the rate of lactate production in EDTA-PBS-treated WS was nearly a 50% less. Heat treatment in water at 60° C to separate SCE from hairless mouse WS appeared to eliminate viability. Viability of hairless mouse SCE, as measured by glucose conversion to lactate, was comparable to human neonatal SCE. Conclusions: These results suggest that the dermis is a significant contributor to glucose metabolism and that incubation in EDTA-PBS is a contributing factor to the overall decrease in metabolic capacity of the tissue. As a result of these findings, hairless mouse SCE appears to be useful as a model for human neonatal SCE in percutaneous absorption studies.
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  • 92
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Hematology and cell therapy 38 (1997), S. 241-246 
    ISSN: 1279-8509
    Schlagwort(e): Human ; Bone marrow ; Fibroblasts ; Proliferation ; Cytokines
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Bone marrow fibroblasts regulate hematopoiesis by interacting directly (cell-to-cell contact) with hematopoietic cells and by secreting regulatory molecules (such as GM-CSF, M-CSF, IL6 and LIF) that modulate hematopoiesis either in a positive or a negative manner. Several cytokines (such as bFGF, EGF, PDGF and TGF-ß) affect the growth of human marrow fibroblasts in vitro. Further in vivo studies are still required to clarify the role of marrow fibroblasts and their interactions with hematopoietic progenitors during myelofibrosis and leukemic diseases.
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  • 93
    ISSN: 1279-8517
    Schlagwort(e): Human ; “Hamstrings” ; Nerve and vascular supply ; Fecal incontinence ; Muscle transposition
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Beschreibung / Inhaltsverzeichnis: Résumé La graciloplastie électro-stimulée est utilisée de plus en plus fréquemment dans le traitement chirurgical de l'incontinence anale. L'utilisation d'un autre muscle peut être intéressante si le muscle gracile n'est pas utilisable. 30 muscles semitendineux et 15 longs chefs du biceps fémoral ont été étudiés sur des cadavres humains. Ce travail a porté particulièrement sur l'innervation et la vascularisation de ces muscles, dont dépendent les possibilités de transposition. Le long chef du m. biceps fémoral recevait sa vascularisation principale de la première et de la deuxième artère perforante et son innervation d'une branche motrice venant du nerf sciatique, tel que cela est décrit dans la littérature. L'étude du m. semitendineux a montré de nouveaux aspects anatomiques dans sa vascularisation. Dans tous les cas ce muscle recevait sa vascularisation principale de l'artère circonflexe médiale près de la tubérosité ischiatique et de la deuxième a. perforante. Son innervation venait de deux branches motrices du nerf sciatique. Ces deux muscles répondaient aux critères nécessaires pour leur transposition comme néo sphincter. Cependant, compte-tenu de sa vascularisation et de son innervation, le m. semitendineux répond mieux aux impératifs anatomiques que le long chef du biceps et représente une alternative au muscle gracile pour la création d'un néo sphincter anal.
    Notizen: Summary Anal neosphincter formation with electrically stimulated gracilis muscle is used increasingly for the surgical treatment of fecal incontinence. An alternative to gracilis might be of interest if this muscle is not available. 30 semitendinosus muscles and 15 long heads of biceps femoris were investigated on human cadavers. In particular, the nerve and vascular supply of these muscles was studied, both representing basic factors for muscle transposition. The long head of biceps femoris m. was found to receive its dominant vascular supply from the first and second perforating artery and its nerve supply from one motor branch out of the sciatic nerve, both as described in literature. The examination of semitendinosus m., however, revealed new anatomical aspects in its vascular supply. In all cases semitendinosus m. was found to receive dominant vascular pedicles from the medial circumflex femoral artery close to the ischial tuberosity and the second perforating artery. The nerve supply consisted of two motor branches out of the sciatic nerve. Both muscles fulfilled several basic criterias for transposition to the anus. However, regarding these requirements, semitendinosus offered distinct advantages in comparison with the long head of biceps femoris. Due to its vascular and nerve topography, semitendinosus seems suitable to serve as an alternative to gracilis.
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  • 94
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 132 (1997), S. 375-381 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Cocaine ; Human ; Intravenous ; Self-administration ; Binge ; Cardiovascular effects ; Subjective effects
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Cocaine is frequently used in intermittent cycles of repeated dosing, or “binges.” This pattern of cocaine use has been difficult to study in humans because currently available laboratory models use only one daily session during which a single dose or multiple doses are administered. In the present study, seven adult male IV cocaine users completed a protocol investigating changes in cardiovascular and subjective responses during the repeated self-administration of cocaine. Volunteers participated in a 2-day and a 3-day access condition. On each day of access, they participated in two 2.5-h sessions, one at 1200 and another at 1600 hours. In the 2- and 3-day conditions, participants had access to cocaine on 2 or 3 consecutive days, respectively. During sessions, participants could self-administer up to six doses of IV cocaine (32 mg/70 kg) every 14 min. Participants chose not to self-administer cocaine on only 10% of the 420 trials. Acute tolerance developed to the cardiovascular and several subjective effects of cocaine. Heart rate was the only measure that tended to decrease across days of repeated cocaine self-administration. Ratings of “I want cocaine” decreased at the end of the last self-administration session during both 2- and 3-day conditions. There was no difference between the 2- and 3-day conditions for any measure. The laboratory model of “binge” cocaine use established in this study can be used to describe changes in cardiovascular and subjective effects of cocaine within and between bouts of repeated cocaine use.
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  • 95
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words [11C]FLB 457 ; D2-dopamine receptors ; Human ; Positron emission tomography ; Neuroleptic drug
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract We recently developed [11C]FLB 457 a substituted benzamide with the very high affinity of 20 pM for D2-dopamine receptors in vitro. The aim of the present exploratory study was to examine the anatomical distribution of [11C]FLB 457 binding in the human brain and to determine extrastriatal D2-receptor occupancy in antipsychotic drug-treated patients. [11C]raclopride was used to obtain reference values for D2-dopamine receptor occupancy in the putamen. After IV injection of [11C]FLB 457 there was a high concentration of radioactivity, not only in the caudate putamen but also in the thalamus and the temporal cortex. The concentration of radioactivity in the frontal cortex, the substantia nigra and the colliculi was slightly higher than in the cerebellum. Pretreatment with haloperidol and fluphenazine indicated that [11C]FLB 457 binding in extrastriatal regions to a high degree represents specific binding to D2-dopamine receptors. The D2-occupancy in antipsychotic drug-treated patients was on the same level in the thalamus and the temporal cortex as that determined with [11C]raclopride in the putamen. The study shows that [11C]FLB 457 has potential for quantitative PET-examination of D2-dopamine receptors in man.
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  • 96
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 134 (1997), S. 88-94 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Food deprivation ; Blood glucose ; Cognitive function ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The current study investigated the relationships between blood glucose levels, mild food deprivation, sympathetic arousal, and cognitive processing efficiency. Subjects (n = 82) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions, comprising combined manipulations of food deprivation and incentive motivation. Baseline and mid-session measurements of blood glucose, blood pressure and pulse rate were taken. Subjects completed a number of measures of cognitive processing efficiency and self report measures of affective and somatic state. Although glucose levels were lowered following food deprivation, there was no significant detrimental effect of food deprivation on task performance. However, improved recognition memory processing times were associated with deprivation. Incentive motivation was associated with faster simple reaction times and higher diastolic blood pressure. There were no significant relationships between glucose levels and task performance, further supporting the hypothesis that the brain is relatively invulnerable to short food deprivation.
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  • 97
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 130 (1997), S. 285-291 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Gaboxadol ; GABA ; GABAA receptor ; Sleep state ; Spectral analysis ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract Recent studies in the rat demonstrated that systemic administration of muscimol and THIP, both selective GABAA receptor agonists, elevates slow wave activity in the EEG during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. In this placebo-controlled study, we assessed the influence of an oral dose of 20 mg THIP on nocturnal sleep in young healthy humans. Compared to placebo, THIP increased slow wave sleep by about 25 min. Spectral analysis of the EEG within NREM sleep revealed significant elevations in the lower frequencies (〈8 Hz) and reductions in the spindle frequency range (≈10–16 Hz). In accordance with previous findings in the rat, these data imply that GABAA agonists promote deep NREM sleep, without suppressing REM sleep. These effects are opposite to those induced by agonistic modulators of GABAA receptors such as benzodiazepines and are at variance with established mechanisms according to which GABAA agonists and modulatory agonists would have similar effects. The sleep response to GABAA agonists is highly similar to that evoked by sustained wakefulness, suggesting that GABAA receptors may be implicated in the homeostatic regulation of sleep.
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  • 98
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 132 (1997), S. 311-314 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Alprazolam ; Human ; Residential laboratory ; Food intake ; Macronutrient ; Carbohydrate ; Protein ; Fat ; Benzodiazepines ; Hyperphagia
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The present study investigated the effect of alprazolam on the pattern of food intake in seven male participants living in a residential laboratory for 17 days. A wide selection of meals, snacks and beverages was freely available. Capsule administration occurred at 1300 and 1730 hours. Food intake on days when alprazolam (0.75 mg) was administered (days 2, 11) was compared to days when no capsule (days 1, 9) or placebo (days 3, 10) was administered. Alprazolam increased total caloric intake by approximately 975 kcal from a baseline of 2800 kcal. Alprazolam increased the number of eating occasions occurring in the evening (1700–2330 hour), without altering the size of eating occasions (kcal), or the proportion of total calories derived from carbohydrate, fat and protein. These data demonstrate alprazolam’s robust effects on food intake in humans.
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  • 99
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 130 (1997), S. 41-58 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Cocaine ; Drug discrimination ; Dopamine (DA) ; Human ; Rat ; Reuptake inhibitor ; Reinforcing effects ; Self-administration ; Serotonin (5-HT) ; 5-HT1A ; 5-HT2 ; 5-HT3 ; Subjective effects ; Stimulus effects
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract  The purpose of the present manuscript is to review the current status of the role of serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) systems in the stimulus and reinforcing properties of cocaine in non-humans and the subjective effects of cocaine in humans. Review of the current literature suggests that general enhancement (via precursor administration) or depletion of brain 5-HT content (via neurotoxin administration or tryptophan depletion) impact the reinforcing effects of cocaine in non-humans and its subjective effects in humans. Selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) enhance the discriminability of cocaine and decrease cocaine self-administration in animals, although data to the contrary also exist. Studies in humans suggest that SSRIs attenuate the subjective effects of cocaine in humans. Although few drugs with selectivity for 5-HT2 receptors have been studied systematically, a 5-HT2 agonist and several antagonists show some efficacy in enhancing and reducing, respectively, the reinforcing effects of cocaine in non-humans. Limited data from humans suggest that a 5-HT2 antagonist may also decrease the subjective effects of cocaine; thus, 5-HT2 compounds deserve further attention. The majority of studies evaluating the 5-HT3 antagonists have reported negative results across all paradigms. In summary, while the functional significance of 5-HT receptors has not been fully elucidated, these data suggest that changes in serotonergic activity can modulate the effects of cocaine in both animals and humans under a variety of experimental conditions. One commonality among the studies with positive findings is that cocaine effects are only partially modified by 5-HT agents regardless of the direction of change.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
    Bibliothek Standort Signatur Band/Heft/Jahr Verfügbarkeit
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  • 100
    Digitale Medien
    Digitale Medien
    Springer
    Psychopharmacology 131 (1997), S. 313-320 
    ISSN: 1432-2072
    Schlagwort(e): Key words Morphine ; Butorphanol ; Subjective ; Opiate ; Psychomotor ; Opioid ; Analgesia ; Pain ; Human
    Quelle: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Thema: Medizin
    Notizen: Abstract The purpose of this study was to characterize the effect of a painful stimulus on morphine and butorphanol effects in healthy non-drug abusing volunteers. Thirteen subjects with no history of opiate dependence participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial in which each subject received saline, 2 mg/70 kg butorphanol, and 10 mg/70 kg morphine, IV, in each of two conditions, periodic forearm immersions into either ice-cold water (2°C) or into warm water (37°C). Both opioids reduced self-reported ratings of pain intensity, indicative of analgesia. Several of the subjective effects of morphine were attenuated either during or in between cold-water immersions, including visual analog scale ratings of “coasting (spaced out),”“high (drug “high”),”“sleepy (drowsy, tired),” and “lightheaded”. In contrast, some of butorphanol’s subjective effects were increased by the cold-water manipulation. Morphine impaired psychomotor performance during one of the warm-water immersions, but not during the cold-water immersions. Psychomotor impairment induced by butorphanol was not affected by water temperature. This study provides evidence that opioid effects can be modulated by a painful stimulus in humans.
    Materialart: Digitale Medien
    Bibliothek Standort Signatur Band/Heft/Jahr Verfügbarkeit
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