Peto法对脑性瘫痪患儿运动功能恢复的疗效

目的观察Peto法对脑性瘫痪患儿运动功能康复的疗效。方法56例脑性瘫痪患儿随机分为观察组及对照组。对照组采用上田法、Vojta神经生理学方法治疗,观察组在此基础上加用Peto法。疗程结束后比较2组治疗结果及不同病情间的疗效。结果治疗后运动功能评分,观察组明显优于对照组(64.88±18.76和53.16±13.45),差异有显著性(t=2.726,P<0.01);2组不同病情治疗后运动功能评分观察组轻度78.15±14.36,中度45.35±9.25,重度41.99±9.42;对照组轻度62.04±9.18,中度38.43±7.43,重度37.23±8.14,2组比较差异有显著性(t=5.112,P<0.01;t=3.105,P<0.01;t=2.026,P<0.05)。结论加用Peto法可提高不同病情程度脑性瘫痪患儿运动功能康复的疗效。     

部分肌松下多组颅神经监护在小脑桥脑角区肿瘤切除术患者中的应用

目的 评价全身麻醉下小脑桥脑角区肿瘤切除术患者中,在部分肌松条件下多组颅神经监护的效率.方法 70例择期行小脑桥脑角区肿瘤显微手术患者,随机分为两组,一组术中只进行面神经监护(FN组,n=35),另一组则除了面神经外,尚监护三叉神经、舌咽神经或副神经、舌下神经(MN组,n=35).两组均根据监护结果调整手术操作,患者颅神经监护期间均采用TOF肌松临测,连续输注维库溴铵维持TOF值为3.术前和术后第8天评价所监护神经支配的肌肉功能.结果 术中两组患者在TOF=3的部分肌松条件下均能得到清晰可辨的肌电图波形.FN组和MN组术后面神经功能恶化(从H-B Ⅰ～Ⅱ级至Ⅲ～Ⅳ级)的均增加4例,另外FN组新增1例舌咽神经损伤,而MN组新增1例舌下神经损伤.结论 全麻下在部分肌松条件下进行术中多组颅神经监护是可行的,但在小脑桥脑角区肿瘤显微手术中多组神经联合面神经监护似乎并不增加术后短期颅神经的保护效率.     

Analgesic effect of vibration and cooling on pain induced by intraneural electrical stimulation

Psychophysical experiments were carried out on 16 human subjects to determine how low intensity mechanical and thermal skin stimuli interfere with the sensation of pain. Moderate or intense pain was induced by low frequency (2 Hz) electrical stimulation within cutaneous fascicles of the median nerve at wrist level, and vibration, pressure, cooling or warming were applied for short periods (usually 20-60 sec) within or outside the skin area to which the pain was projected. Vibration within the area of projected pain reduced the sensation of pain more efficiently than vibration outside that area. Moderate pain was sometimes completely inhibited but intense pain was only moderately reduced. Pressure and cooling produced some pain relief whereas mild warming had an ambiguous effect. Since the painful input derived from stimulation of fibres in the nerve trunk, and not from peripheral nociceptors, the pain suppressing effects of vibration and cooling are not explicable in terms of lowered excitability of the nociceptive nerve endings in the skin. Instead, the results indicate that activity in low threshold mechanoreceptive and cold sensitive units suppresses pain at central (probably segmental) levels.     

Frequency-dependent modulation of cerebellar excitability during the application of non-invasive alternating current stimulation

Backgroundit is well-known that the cerebellum is critical for the integrity of motor and cognitive actions. Applying non-invasive brain stimulation techniques over this region results in neurophysiological and behavioural changes, which have been associated with the modulation of cerebellar-cerebral cortex connectivity. Here, we investigated whether online application of cerebellar transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) results in changes to this pathway.Methodsthirteen healthy individuals participated in two sessions of cerebellar tACS delivered at different frequencies (5Hz and 50Hz). We used transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure cerebellar-motor cortex (M1) inhibition (CBI), short-intracortical inhibition (SICI) and short-afferent inhibition (SAI) before, during and after the application of tACS.Resultswe found that CBI was specifically strengthened during the application of 5Hz cerebellar tACS. No changes were detected immediately following the application of 5Hz stimulation, nor at any time point with 50Hz stimulation. We also found no changes to M1 intracortical circuits (i.e. SICI) or sensorimotor interaction (i.e. SAI), indicating that the effects of 5Hz tACS over the cerebellum are site-specific.Conclusionscerebellar tACS can modulate cerebellar excitability in a time- and frequency-dependent manner. Additionally, cerebellar tACS does not appear to induce any long-lasting effects (i.e. plasticity), suggesting that stimulation enhances oscillations within the cerebellum only throughout the stimulation period. As such, cerebellar tACS may have significant implications for diseases manifesting with abnormal cerebellar oscillatory activity and also for future behavioural studies.     

Recording conventional and amplitude-integrated EEG in neonatal intensive care unit

Neonatal electroencephalography (EEG) presents a challenge due to its difficult interpretation that differs significantly from interpretation in older children and adolescents. Also, from the technological point of view, it is more difficult to perform and is not a standard procedure in all neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). During recent years, long-term cerebral function monitoring by the means of amplitude-integrated EEG (aEEG) has become popular in NICUs because it is easy to apply, allows real-time interpretation by the neonatologist treating the newborn, and has predictive value for outcome. On the other side, to record conventional EEG (cEEG), which is still considered the gold standard of neonatal EEG, the EEG technician should not only be well trained in performing neonatal EEG but also has to adapt to suboptimal working conditions. These issues need to be understood when approaching the neonatal cEEG in NICU and the main structure of the article is dedicated to this technique. The authors discuss the benefits of the digitalization and its positive effects on the improvement of NICU recording. The technical aspects as well as the standards for cEEG recording are described, and a section is dedicated to possible artifacts. Thereafter, alternative and concomitant use of aEEG and its benefits are briefly discussed. At the end there is a section that presents a review of our own cEEG and aEEG recordings that were chosen as the most frequently encountered patterns according to Consensus statement on the use of EEG in the intensive care unit.     

Clinical neurophysiology of visual and auditory processing in dyslexia: A review

Neurophysiological studies on children and adults with dyslexia provide a deeper understanding of how visual and auditory processing in dyslexia might relate to reading deficits. The goal of this review is to provide an overview of research findings in the last two decades on motion related and contrast sensitivity visual evoked potentials and on auditory event related potentials to basic tone and speech sound processing in dyslexia. These results are particularly relevant for three important theories about causality in dyslexia: the magnocellular deficit hypothesis, the temporal processing deficit hypothesis and the phonological deficit hypothesis. Support for magnocellular deficits in dyslexia are primarily provided from evidence for altered visual evoked potentials to rapidly moving stimuli presented at low contrasts. Consistently ERP findings revealed altered neurophysiological processes in individuals with dyslexia to speech stimuli, but evidence for deficits processing certain general acoustic information relevant for speech perception, such as frequency changes and temporal patterns, are also apparent.     

Increased variability of motor cortical excitability to transcranial magnetic stimulation in migraine: a new clue to an old enigma

Increased, decreased or normal excitability to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been reported in the motor (M1) and visual cortices of patients with migraine. Light deprivation (LD) has been reported to modulate M1 excitability in control subjects (CS). Still, effects of LD on M1 excitability compared to exposure to environmental light exposure (EL) had not been previously described in patients with migraine (MP). To further our knowledge about differences between CS and MP, regarding M1 excitability and effects of LD on M1 excitability, we opted for a novel approach by extending measurement conditions. We measured motor thresholds (MTs) to TMS, short-interval intracortical inhibition, and ratios between motor-evoked potential amplitudes and supramaximal M responses in MP and CS on two different days, before and after LD or EL. Motor thresholds significantly increased in MP in LD and EL sessions, and remained stable in CS. There were no significant between-group differences in other measures of TMS. Short-term variation of MTs was greater in MP compared to CS. Fluctuation in excitability over hours or days in MP is an issue that, until now, has been relatively neglected. The results presented here will help to reconcile conflicting observations.     

Auditory brainstem functioning in individuals with misophonia

PurposeMisophonia is not investigated much from an audiological perspective. Our study aims to examine the processing of the auditory retro-cochlear pathways in individuals with misophonia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among university students who had misophonia. The revised Amsterdam Misophonia Scale was used to determine the severity of misophonia. Participants were divided into mild and moderate-severe misophonia and compared with the healthy control group. Auditory Brainstem Response testing was recorded from all the individuals with misophonia. The absolute latency, amplitude, inter-peak latency difference, and inter-rate latency difference were compared between the groups.ResultsOne-way ANOVA result showed no significant difference in all the parameters of auditory brainstem response between the groups. These results are suggestive of normal brainstem processing in individuals with misophonia.ConclusionsThe study concludes that the auditory pathway up to brainstem areas is intact in individuals with misophonia. Further studies are essential on a larger population for generalizing the results.