Natural interfaces and virtual environments for the acquisition of street crossing and path following skills in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: a feasibility study.

Background: Lack of social skills and/or a reduced ability to determine when to use them are common symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here we examine whether an integrated approach based on virtual environments and natural interfaces is effective in teaching safety skills in adults with ASD. We specifically focus on pedestrian skills, namely street crossing with or without traffic lights, and following road signs.

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) in lacunar syndromes.

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) evoked in the biceps, thenar and tibialis anterior muscles by electrical stimulation of the scalp and of the spinal regions were recorded in 32 patients with focal deficits due to minor cerebral ischemia of the lacunar type and in a control group. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were also recorded. The central motor conduction times (CMCTs) and the threshold intensities for eliciting MEPs in the relaxed muscles were significantly increased on the affected side.

Motor and sensory evoked potentials in progressive supranuclear palsy.

Motor potentials evoked in the biceps, thenar, and tibialis anterior muscles by electrical stimulation of the scalp and of the spinal regions were recorded in 12 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and in a control group. Abnormalities of central motor conduction for at least one muscle were present in five patients (41.7%), characterized by a long illness duration.

Abnormalities of parietal and prerolandic somatosensory evoked potentials in Huntington's disease.

Cervical, parietal and prerolandic somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation at the wrist were recorded with an earlobe reference in 24 patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and in 24 age-matched normal controls. Cortical responses of abnormal wave form and reduced amplitude were constantly observed in HD patients. SEP changes affected more severely the prerolandic (P22/N30) pattern, which could not be recognized in two-thirds of patients, than the parietal (N20/P27) pattern, which could be identified in all cases.

Selective effects of repetition rate on frontal and parietal somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs).

The effects of changing the stimulus presentation rate on early parietal (N20-P25) and frontal (P22-N30) somatosensory potentials (SEPs), evoked by median nerve stimulation, were investigated in 15 normal subjects. Stimuli were presented at 0.1, 0.

Generalized dystonia with bilateral striatal computed-tomographic lucencies in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

We report the case of a 36-year-old, drug-addicted woman with laboratory evidence of human immunodeficiency virus infection in the central nervous system. The patient presented with generalized dystonia involving both axial and segmental muscles, mainly in the legs, and with minimal additional neurological abnormalities. A computed-tomographic scan revealed bilateral and symmetrical lucencies in the putaminal region.

Impaired habituation of long-latency stretch reflexes of the wrist muscles in Huntington's disease.

Electromyographic responses to sudden wrist extension were recorded from the forearm and finger flexor muscles in 10 patients with Huntington's disease (HD) and in 10 normal controls. Stretch reflexes were characterized by a short-latency (SL) and a long-latency (LL) component both in patients and controls. Latency, duration, and size of the SL component were not different in the two groups, whereas the LL component was delayed in latency and reduced in size in HD patients.

Somatosensory-evoked potentials in the diagnosis of lacunar syndromes: comparison with EEG findings.

Somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) and EEG were recorded in 45 patients with lacunar syndrome due to CT-verified lacunar infarcts. Abnormalities of SEP chronological parameters were observed in 22 subjects. SEP changes occurred independently of clinical features and were related more to the lesion location than to its size.

Electrical stimulation of the motor tracts in cervical spondylosis.

Motor action potentials evoked by percutaneous electrical stimulation of the scalp and of the cervical (or lumbar) vertebral region were recorded from the biceps, thenar and tibialis anterior muscles in 30 patients with cervical spondylosis. Twelve normal controls were matched for age and height. Abnormalities of central motor conduction (absence or increased central delay of cortical responses) for at least one muscle were observed in all (but one) the patients with myelopathy alone or combined with radiculopathy.

Somatosensory evoked potentials in lacunar syndromes.

Parietal and prerolandic somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to median nerve stimulation were recorded from 40 patients with lacunar syndromes due to CT-verified lacunar infarcts. The control group consisted of 30 age-matched normal controls. Nineteen patients showed SEP abnormalities, mainly an increase of height-covariated latency of cortical components and/or of the central conduction time.

Parietal and prerolandic somatosensory evoked responses in carotid artery reversible ischemic attacks (RIA).

Somatosensory potentials evoked by median nerve stimulation were recorded bilaterally from the prerolandic and parietal scalp in 36 patients with reversible ischemic attacks in one carotid artery distribution. Responses recorded from the affected and unaffected hemisphere were compared. SEP abnormalities were observed over the affected hemisphere in 22 subjects (61.

Electrophysiological analysis of motor control in patients with vascular hemichorea.

An EMG analysis of motor control was performed in 4 patients with unilateral choreic movements of sudden onset, 3 of whom presented CT scan evidence of lacunar infarcts involving the contralateral striatum. The choreic dyskinesias were correlated with EMG bursts of variable duration occurring with a random order of activation. Ballistic elbow flexion movements were performed with a normal triphasic EMG pattern, but both size and duration of the first agonist burst were increased on the affected side.

Long-term prognosis of patients with lacunar syndromes.

A follow-up study of 107 patients with lacunar syndromes has been performed using the analysis of the survival curves and the recurrence curves for new focal cerebrovascular acute episodes. At the end of the 7th year of follow-up, the survival rate of lacunar patients was 479 per 1000, lower than the survival rate of the normal population matched for sex and age (755 per 1000). A more severe prognosis was observed in subjects over 65 years of age, in patients with pseudobulbar syndrome, hypertension and higher degree of disability.

Thalamic dementia: report of a case with unusual lesion location.

Thalamic dementia usually results from a bilateral paramedian thalamic infarction. We report a case with typical clinical and neuropsychological features of thalamic dementia, but with CT evidence of an unusual and asymmetrical location of ischemic lesions. Somatosensory evoked potential recordings were consistent with a left medial thalamic infarction, associated with a contralateral lesion, possibly at lemniscal level.

Headache in transient ischemic attacks (TIA).

The evaluation of headache in patients with transient ischemic attacks (TIA) has various sources of difficulty, the definition of TIA being the most relevant. The classical definition needs to be supplemented with a normal CT scan if a misleading diagnostic statement is to be avoided. The clinical features of 90 patients suffering from TIA and who had contrast-enhanced CT scans are reported.