[Effect of small doses of L-dopa on synergic tonic reaction in patients with childhood cerebral palsy].

As many as 8 patients aged 8-19 years suffering from infantile cerebral paralysis (ICP) with torsion dystonia, akinetic, rigid, spastic and hypotonically atactic syndromes were examined for the maximum amplitude of EMG activity of the musculus tibialis anterior in voluntary rear flexion of the foot and in Strümpell's tibial synkinesia before treatment and after intake of small doses of L-DOPA (nakom, 62 mg/day). It has been established that the amplitude of voluntary EMG activity and the rate of impulse transmission in efferents of the tibial nerve remained practically unchanged during treatment; in all the cases, the synergic EMG activity, discharges of EMG and prolonged activity decreased; the scope of active movements in the talocrural joint increased by 10-20 degrees. The greatest decrease of synergic EMG activity (by 40%) was recorded in patients with rigid muscle tone, the mean in patients with spastic and spastic -dystonic (by 25-33%), the least one (17%) in muscle hypotonia.

[Electromyographic characteristics of recovery of motor function in patients with lesions of the cervical division of the spinal cord].

Electromyographic examination used for determining spontaneous activity of the muscles in patients with an injury at the level of C3-C6 showed that at the first stage the most significant sign was the presence of at least weak activity in the muscles of the lower extremities. This was usually a precursor of the successful restoration of motor functions and indicated the smallest volume of the injury and the absence of complications. At the later stages of treatment of these patients EMG revealed considerable activity in all major muscle groups ensuring walking and the maximum independence of the patient.

[The relationship between achievement of a simple movement and changes in the individual components of an evoked potential].

Various moments of preparation and performance of a simple voluntary movement were tested in man with the aid of somatosensory, auditory, and visual evoked responses. An obvious attenuation of somatosensory responses closely related to the movement but independent of the spontaneous EEG changes and unaffected by the ischaemic deafferentation of the active limb, was observed. The time course of the amplitude changes was different for separate components of the same evoked response.

[The relationship between strength and the amplitude of evoked response components in the human somatosensory cortex].

The intensity curves were determined for the individual components of the human somatosensory evoked response, led off from the contra and ipsilateral motor and contralateral visual areas. The amplitude of the early components steeply increased, reached "saturation" and decreased with more intensive stimuli, their peak latencies being constant. The late components were characterised by continuous increase of amplitude, and the decrease of peak latencies for the lowest part of the curve.