Facial recognition, laterality judgement, alexithymia and resulting central nervous system adaptations in chronic primary headache and facial pain-A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Patients with chronic headaches and chronic oro-facial pain commonly present psychosocial issues that can affect social interactions. A possible reason could be that patients with these disorders might present impairments in facial recognition, laterality judgement and also alexithymia. However, a systematic review summarizing the effects of facial emotion recognition, laterality judgement and alexithymia in individuals with headaches and oro-facial pain is still not available.

Finegoldia magna and Mucorales molds co-infection in a severe case of SARS-CoV-2 disease.

Introduction: Rhino-orbito-cerebral mucormycosis has been reported as a sequela after coronavirus disease in immunocompromised patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. Most cases have been identified in India, with only 19 reported elsewhere.

Methodology: We herein report the results of clinical, imaging, microbiological, and histopathological studies in an immunocompetent 67-year-old male with rhino-orbital infection by Finegoldia magna and Mucorales molds following severe SARS-CoV-2 disease associated with new-onset decompensated diabetes mellitus.

Enhanced corticospinal excitability in the tibialis anterior during static stretching of the soleus in young healthy individuals.

Corticospinal excitability is known to be affected by afferent inflow arising from the proprioceptors during active or passive muscle movements. Also during static stretching (SS) afferent activity is enhanced, but its effect on corticospinal excitability received limited attention and has only been investigated as a single average value spread over the entire stretching period. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) the present study was conducted to explore the time course of corticospinal excitability during 30 seconds SS.

Reduced Cerebellar Brain Inhibition and Vibrotactile Perception in Response to Mechanical Hand Stimulation at Flutter Frequency.

The cerebellum is traditionally considered a movement control structure because of its established afferent and efferent anatomical and functional connections with the motor cortex. In the last decade, studies also proposed its involvement in perception, particularly somatosensory acquisition and prediction of the sensory consequences of movement. However, compared to its role in motor control, the cerebellum's specific role or modulatory influence on other brain areas involved in sensory perception, specifically the primary sensorimotor cortex, is less clear.

Mixed Reality Prototype of Multimodal Screening for Early Detection of Cognitive Impairments in Older Adults: Protocol Development and Usability Study.

Background: The early diagnosis of cognitive impairments is an important step in the adequate management of dementia. The project "Smart Cognition & Behaviour Screening powered by Augmented Reality" (SCOBES-AR) aims to develop a multimodal screening tool (MST) for the early detection of cognitive impairments using augmented and virtual reality. The first project phase selected validated assessments for combination with the MST and tested it in 300 healthy older adults.

Modulation of proper name recall by transcranial direct current stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes.

We often fail to recall another person's name. Proper names might be more difficult to memorize and retrieve than other pieces of knowledge, such as one's profession because they are processed differently in the brain. Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies associate the bilateral anterior temporal lobes (ATL) in the retrieval of proper names and other person-related knowledge.

The Recovery of Muscle Spindle Sensitivity Following Stretching Is Promoted by Isometric but Not by Dynamic Muscle Contractions.

It is often suggested that stretching-related changes in performance can be partially attributed to stretching-induced neural alterations. Recent evidence though shows that neither spinal nor cortico-spinal excitability are susceptible of a long-lasting effect and only the amplitude of stretch or tap reflex (TR) is reduced up to several minutes. Since afferents from muscle spindles contribute to voluntary muscle contractions, muscle stretching could be detrimental to muscle performance.

Dissociating Arithmetic Operations in the Parietal Cortex Using 1 Hz Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: The Importance of Strategy Use.

The triple-code model (TCM) of number processing suggests the involvement of distinct parietal cortex areas in arithmetic operations: the bilateral horizontal segment of the intraparietal sulcus (hIPS) for arithmetic operations that require the manipulation of numerical quantities (e.g., subtraction) and the left angular gyrus (AG) for arithmetic operations that require the retrieval of answers from long-term memory (e.

Age-Dependent Effect of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation on Motor Skill Consolidation.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is the application of subthreshold, sinusoidal current to modulate ongoing brain rhythms related to sensory, motor and cognitive processes. Electrophysiological studies suggested that the effect of tACS applied at an alpha frequency (8-12 Hz) was state-dependent. The effects of tACS, that is, an increase in parieto-occipital electroencephalography (EEG) alpha power and magnetoencephalography (MEG) phase coherence, was only observed when the eyes were open (low alpha power) and not when the eyes were closed (high alpha power).

Transcranial magnetic stimulation and bladder function: A systematic review.

Objective: We aimed at assessing the usefulness of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) for exploring the integrity of striated sphincters and pelvic floor motor innervation in normal subjects and of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS (rTMS) in patients with neurogenic bladder dysfunction.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed and Embase.

Results: We identified, reviewed and discussed 11 articles matching the inclusion criteria.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in subjects with phantom pain and non-painful phantom sensations: A systematic review.

Several studies have applied transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the attempt to further explore the pathophysiological mechanisms of phantom-limb pain (PLP) and non-painful phantom sensations (PS). We performed a systematic review of available evidence of this emerging technology in this indication. We identified studies which report a reduced intracortical inhibition and increased intracortical facilitation in the hemisphere contralateral to the PLP.

Five minutes static stretching influences neural responses at spinal level in the background of unchanged corticospinal excitability.

Objectives: Corticospinal tract excitability and spinal reflex pathways are transiently affected by short applications of static stretching. However, it remains unclear whether the duration and magnitude of these neurophysiological responses can be increased with a longer duration of the applied stretch. The purpose of this study was to investigate alterations in cortical and spinal excitability following five minutes static stretching.

Pathophysiology of corticobasal degeneration: Insights from neurophysiological studies.

Background: Several studies have applied electrophysiological techniques to physiologically characterize corticobasal degeneration (CBD).

Methods: We performed a systematic literature search of these studies and reviewed all 25 identified articles.

Results: Conventional electroencephalography (EEG) is usually normal even in the late stages of disease.

Adult Gross Motor Learning and Sleep: Is There a Mutual Benefit?

Posttraining consolidation, also known as offline learning, refers to neuroplastic processes and systemic reorganization by which newly acquired skills are converted from an initially transient state into a more permanent state. An extensive amount of research on cognitive and fine motor tasks has shown that sleep is able to enhance these processes, resulting in more stable declarative and procedural memory traces. On the other hand, limited evidence exists concerning the relationship between sleep and learning of gross motor skills.

Soleus H-Reflex Inhibition Decreases During 30 s Static Stretching of Plantar Flexors, Showing Two Recovery Steps.

During the period when the ankle joint is kept in a dorsiflexed position, the soleus (SOL) H-reflex is inhibited. The nature of this inhibition is not fully understood. One hypothesis is that the decrease in spinal excitability could be attributed to post-activation depression of muscle spindle afferents due to their higher firing rate during the stretch-and-hold procedure.

The effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at individual alpha peak frequency (iAPF) on motor cortex excitability in young and elderly adults.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can modulate brain oscillations, cortical excitability and behaviour. In aging, the decrease in EEG alpha activity (8-12 Hz) in the parieto-occipital and mu rhythm in the motor cortex are correlated with the decline in cognitive and motor functions, respectively. Increasing alpha activity using tACS might therefore improve cognitive and motor function in the elderly.

Transient Increase in Cortical Excitability Following Static Stretching of Plantar Flexor Muscles.

Spinal excitability in humans is inhibited by both passively holding a static position with the muscle lengthened (static stretching) and by a single non-active lengthening movement. However, whilst immediately after a passive lengthening movement the inhibition persists for several seconds, there seem to be an immediate recovery following static stretching. This result is counter intuitive and could be attributed to methodological procedures.

Decrease of motor cortex excitability following exposure to a 20 Hz magnetic field as generated by a rotating permanent magnet.

Objectives: Rotation of a static magnet over the motor cortex (MC) generates a transcranial alternating magnetic field (tAMF), and a linked alternating electrical field. The aim of this transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) study is to investigate whether such fields are able to influence MC excitability, and whether there are parallels to tACS induced effects.

Methods: Fourteen healthy volunteers received 20 Hz tAMF stimulation over the MC, over the vertex, and 20 Hz tACS over the MC, each with a duration of 15 min.

Cortical involvement in myopathies: Insights from transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Objective: There is increasing evidence that an involvement of central nervous system (CNS) can occur in several myopathies. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may represent a valuable tool for investigating important neurophysiological and pathophysiological aspects of cortical involvement in neuromuscular disorders. In this review paper we aimed to perform a systematic search of the studies employing TMS techniques in subjects suffering from myopathies.

One minute static stretch of plantar flexors transiently increases H reflex excitability and exerts no effect on corticospinal pathways.

What is the central question of this study? What mediates neural responses following static stretching, and how long do these influences last? What is the main finding and its importance? This study shows that 1 min of static stretching inhibits the tendon tap reflex and facilitates the H reflex without influencing motor-evoked potentials. The results indicate that at least two different mechanisms mediate neural responses after static stretching. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the neural responses observed after static stretching are mediated by sensitivity of muscle spindles, spinal excitability or cortical excitability and how long these influences last.

Abnormal cortical synaptic plasticity in minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) represents the earliest stage of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). MHE is characterized by cognitive function impairment in the domains of attention, vigilance and integrative function, while obvious clinical manifestations are lacking. In the present study, we aimed at assessing whether subjects with MHE showed alterations in synaptic plasticity within the motor cortex.

Effects of passive pedaling exercise on the intracortical inhibition in subjects with spinal cord injury.

Cortical reorganization can be induced by exercise below the level of the lesion after spinal cord injury (SCI). The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of passive and active pedaling exercise on leg motor cortical area excitability of subjects with traumatic SCI. Ten subjects with chronic cervical or thoracic SCI were enrolled in the study.

Abnormal short-latency synaptic plasticity in the motor cortex of subjects with Becker muscular dystrophy: a rTMS study.

We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to further investigate motor cortex excitability in 13 patients with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD), six of them with slight mental retardation. RTMS delivered at 5Hz frequency and suprathreshold intensity progressively increases the size of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in healthy subjects; the rTMS-induced facilitation of MEPs was significantly reduced in the BMD patients mentally retarded or classified as borderline when compared with age-matched control subjects and the BMD patients with normal intelligence. The increase in the duration of the cortical silent period was similar in both patient groups and controls.