Sensory recovery 1 year after bridging digital nerve defects with collagen tubes.

Purpose: To investigate digital nerve regeneration following implantation of collagen tubes in a prospective study.

Methods: Forty-five digital nerve defects (≤ 2.6 cm) in the hand were reconstructed in 35 patients (6 female, 29 male; mean age, 47 y).

Altered callosal function in cerebral microangiopathy.

Callosal dysfunction is known to be evident in a variety of neurodegenerative and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system. Cerebral microangiopathy (CMA) may also affect callosal pathways by chronic demyelination. The aim of the present study was to investigate callosal function with respect to the extent of CMA.

Evaluation of coated oxygenators in cardiopulmonary-bypass systems and their impact on neurocognitive function.

Introduction: Coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is assumed to be associated with a decline of neurocognitive functions. This study was designed to analyse the neurocognitive function of patients with coronary heart disease before and after CABG and to determine possible protective effects of oxygenator surface coating on neurological outcome.

Methods: Forty patients scheduled for selective CABG were prospectively randomized into two groups of 20 patients each according to the type of hollow-fibre membrane oxygenator used.

Paired associative stimulation.

Paired associative stimulation (PAS) refers to a paradigm consisting of slow-rate repetitive low-frequency median nerve stimulation combined with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the contralateral motor cortex. This protocol has been shown to induce plastic changes of excitability in the human motor cortex. Its principles of design were shaped after associative long-term potentiation (LTP) in experimental animals, a cellular mechanism likely to be relevant for learning and memory.

Timing-dependent plasticity in human primary somatosensory cortex.

Animal experiments suggest that cortical sensory representations may be remodelled as a consequence of changing synaptic efficacy by timing-dependent associative neuronal activity. Here we describe a timing-based associative form of plasticity in human somatosensory cortex. Paired associative stimulation (PAS) was performed by combining repetitive median nerve stimulation with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the contralateral postcentral region.

Measurements of transcallosally mediated cortical inhibition for differentiating parkinsonian syndromes.

Clinicopathologic evidence suggests differential involvement of cortex and corpus callosum (CC) in various disorders presenting with a parkinsonian syndrome. We tested the hypothesis of whether neurophysiologic and morphometric assessments of CC as surrogate parameters of cortical involvement could be helpful in differential diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders. The integrity of CC was assessed neurophysiologically by measuring the ipsilateral silent period (iSP) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a total of 25 patients with idiopathic parkinsonian syndromes (IPS), corticobasal ganglionic degeneration (CBD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), or multiple system atrophy (MSA).

A temporally asymmetric Hebbian rule governing plasticity in the human motor cortex.

Synaptic plasticity is conspicuously dependent on the temporal order of the pre- and postsynaptic activity. Human motor cortical excitability can be increased by a paired associative stimulation (PAS) protocol. Here we show that it can also be decreased by minimally changing the interval between the two associative stimuli.

Mechanisms of enhancement of human motor cortex excitability induced by interventional paired associative stimulation.

Associative stimulation has been shown to enhance excitability in the human motor cortex (Stefan et al. 2000); however, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. An interventional paired associative stimulation (IPAS) was employed consisting of repetitive application of single afferent electric stimuli, delivered to the right median nerve, paired with single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the optimal site for activation of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle (APB) to generate approximately synchronous events in the primary motor cortex.