Intra- and interrater reliabilities of the Myotonometer when assessing the spastic condition of children with cerebral palsy.

The purposes of this study were to assess intra- and interrater reliabilities by novice users of the Myotonometer (Neurogenic Technologies, Inc., Missoula, MT), a portable electronic device that quantifies muscle tone (stiffness) and paresis, in assessing children with cerebral palsy. Two raters used the Myotonometer to assess the biceps brachii and medial gastrocnemius muscles of 10 children with spastic-type cerebral palsy.

Comparison of surface electromyography and myotonometric measurements during voluntary isometric contractions.

Objectives: Muscle stiffness increases during muscle contraction. The purpose of this study was to determine the strength of the correlation between myotonometric measurements of muscle stiffness and surface electromyography (sEMG) measurements during various levels of voluntary isometric contractions of the biceps brachii muscle.

Subjects: Eight subjects (four female; four male), with mean age of 30.

Myotonometer intra- and interrater reliabilities.

Objectives: To assess the intra- and interrater reliabilities of the Myotonometer, a hand-held, computerized, electronic device that quantifies muscle stiffness (tone/compliance).

Design: Reliability study.

Setting: Research laboratory.

[The use of the procedures of functional biocontrol in the combined treatment of amblyopia].

Thirty children with dysbinocular and anisometric amblyopia were treated making use of a method based on the use of a physiologically based functional bioregulation. It is known that in this condition EEG changes recorded in the occipital sectors of the brain are indicative of a weakened specific activation reaction. To improve vision acuity, the patients were trained to enhance activation reaction by EEG monitoring that was used to create an external feedback (EEG status-dependent brightness of the screen when watching an animated cartoon).

[Mechanisms of the selective development of neuronal structures].

The review deals with a complex of problems concerned with interneuronal relationship formation in the central nervous system. Hypothesis of neuronal selection, role of trophic factors in formation and maintenance of interneuronal connections, mechanism of their synaptic stabilization are analyzed. It is noted then signals ingoing from afferent inputs in the process of development modulate the activity of neurones and thus interact with the mechanisms of nervous system self-organization.