Effect of Propranolol on Motor Cortex Excitability in Essential Tremor: An Exploratory Study.

Background: Essential tremor, the world's most prevalent movement disorder, lacks a clear understanding of its pathophysiology. Propranolol, a non-specific beta-blocker capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier, is a primary choice for essential tremor treatment. While its tremor-reducing effects are generally attributed to peripheral actions, various uses hint at central adrenergic effects.

Brain-Computer Interface Coupled to a Robotic Hand Orthosis for Stroke Patients' Neurorehabilitation: A Crossover Feasibility Study.

Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) coupled to robotic assistive devices have shown promise for the rehabilitation of stroke patients. However, little has been reported that compares the clinical and physiological effects of a BCI intervention for upper limb stroke rehabilitation with those of conventional therapy. This study assesses the feasibility of an intervention with a BCI based on electroencephalography (EEG) coupled to a robotic hand orthosis for upper limb stroke rehabilitation and compares its outcomes to conventional therapy.

Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation Over the Right Orbitofrontal Cortex Impairs Conscious Olfactory Perception.

The right orbitofrontal cortex (rOFC) has been proposed as the region where conscious olfactory perception arises; however, evidence supporting this hypothesis has all been collected from neuroimaging and lesion studies in which only correlation and not a temporal pattern can be established. Continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) causes a reversible disruption of cortical activity and has been used successfully to disrupt orbitofrontal activity. To overcome intrinsic limitations of current experimental research, a crossover, double-blind, prospective and longitudinal study was carried out in which cTBS was applied over the rOFC to evaluate its effect on odorant stimuli detection.

Therapeutic Interventions for Vascular Parkinsonism: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Vascular parkinsonism (VP) is defined as the presence of parkinsonian syndrome, evidence of cerebrovascular disease, and an established relationship between the two disorders. However, the diagnosis of VP is problematic, particularly for the clinician confronted with moving from diagnosis to treatment. Given the different criteria used in the diagnosis of VP, the effectiveness of available therapeutic interventions for this disease are currently unknown.

Psychiatric comorbidities in movement disorders.

Psychiatric comorbidities are common in movement disorders. This review provides a practical approach to help clinicians to recognize psychiatric disorders in the most frequent movement disorders. However, the extent of neurodegeneration, as well as the impact of medications with considerable CNS effects, influences the diverse psychiatric presentations that, in turn, are influenced by the stress of living with a movement disorder.

Sleep deprivation and oxidative stress in animal models: a systematic review.

Because the function and mechanisms of sleep are partially clear, here we applied a meta-analysis to address the issue whether sleep function includes antioxidative properties in mice and rats. Given the expansion of the knowledge in the sleep field, it is indeed ambitious to describe all mammals, or other animals, in which sleep shows an antioxidant function. However, in this paper we reviewed the current understanding from basic studies in two species to drive the hypothesis that sleep is a dynamic-resting state with antioxidative properties.

Rational pharmacological approaches for cognitive dysfunction and depression in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is not a single entity but rather a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder. The present study aims to conduct a critical systematic review of the literature to describe the main pharmacological strategies to treat cognitive dysfunction and major depressive disorder in PD patients. We performed a search of articles cited in PubMed from 2004 to 2014 using the following MeSH terms (Medical subject headings) "Parkinson disease"; "Delirium," "Dementia," "Amnestic," "Cognitive disorders," and "Parkinson disease"; "depression," "major depressive disorder," "drug therapy.