The relation of fibromyalgia and fibromyalgia symptoms to self-reported seizures.

Objective: Several epidemiological and clinical reports associate fibromyalgia (FM) with seizure disorders, and clinical studies associate FM diagnosis with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures. However, these associations rely on self-reports of being diagnosed with FM or unstandardized clinical diagnosis in combination with small samples. We investigated the association of FM and self-reported seizures using a large rheumatic disease databank and the current established self-reported, symptom-based FM diagnostic criteria.

Bilateral synchronous gamma range firing of bulbar motor units during tonic seizures.

We present a patient with tonic seizures of the bulbar muscles. Video-EEG recording during the multiple attacks showed no ictal EEG abnormalities. The tonic seizures were clearly visible as EMG artefacts on the EEG recording and consisted of 3-6 symmetric tonic bursts of EMG activity of 2-4 seconds and an interval of 2-6 seconds.

The difficulty of diagnosing NCSE in clinical practice; external validation of the Salzburg criteria.

To improve the diagnostic accuracy of electroencephalography (EEG) criteria for nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE), external validation of the recently proposed Salzburg criteria is paramount. We performed an external, retrospective, diagnostic accuracy study of the Salzburg criteria, using EEG recordings from patients with and without a clinical suspicion of having NCSE. Of the 191 EEG recordings, 12 (12%) was classified as an NCSE according to the reference standard.

Standards for quantification of EMG and neurography.

This document is an update and extension of ICCN Standards published in 1999. It is the consensus of experts on the current status of EMG and Neurography methods. A panel of authors from different countries with different approach to routines in neurophysiological methods was chosen based on their particular interest and previous publications.

Value of re-interpretation of controversial EEGs in a tertiary epilepsy clinic.

Objective: Diagnostic value and efficacy of re-interpretation of previous EEGs in 100 patients admitted to a tertiary epilepsy center with EEG results conflicting with the clinical diagnosis after the first visit.

Methods: EEGs were reclassified. A matched control group was included to assess the efficiency of the re-interpretation process.

Myotonic discharges discriminate chloride from sodium muscle channelopathies.

Non-dystrophic myotonic syndromes represent a heterogeneous group of clinically quite similar diseases sharing the feature of myotonia. These syndromes can be separated into chloride and sodium channelopathies, with gene-defects in chloride or sodium channel proteins of the sarcolemmal membrane. Myotonia has its basis in an electrical instability of the sarcolemmal membrane.

Growth hormone therapy, muscle thickness, and motor development in Prader-Willi syndrome: an RCT.

Objective: To investigate the effect of physical training combined with growth hormone (GH) on muscle thickness and its relationship with muscle strength and motor development in infants with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS).

Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 22 infants with PWS (12.9 ± 7.

The role of central and peripheral muscle fatigue in postcancer fatigue: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Postcancer fatigue is a frequently occurring problem, impairing quality of life. Little is known about (neuro)physiological factors determining postcancer fatigue. It may be hypothesized that postcancer fatigue is characterized by low peripheral muscle fatigue and high central muscle fatigue.

Quantitative muscle ultrasound and quadriceps strength in patients with post-polio syndrome.

Introduction: We investigated whether muscle ultrasound can distinguish muscles affected by post-polio syndrome (PPS) from healthy muscles and whether severity of ultrasound abnormalities is associated with muscle strength.

Methods: Echo intensity, muscle thickness, and isometric strength of the quadriceps muscles were measured in 48 patients with PPS and 12 healthy controls.

Results: Patients with PPS had significantly higher echo intensity and lower muscle thickness than healthy controls.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and volumetric measurements of the brain in patients with postcancer fatigue: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Postcancer fatigue is a frequently occurring problem, impairing quality of life. Until now, little is known about (neuro) physiological factors determining postcancer fatigue. For non-cancer patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, certain characteristics of brain morphology and metabolism have been identified in previous studies.

Cumulative effect of 5 daily sessions of θ burst stimulation on corticospinal excitability in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Introduction: Excitotoxicity plays an important role in the pathogenesis of the preferential motor neuron death observed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) by transcranial magnetic stimulation has an inhibitory effect on corticospinal excitability (CSE). We characterized the neurophysiological changes induced by cTBS in ALS.

Abnormal muscle membrane function in fibromyalgia patients and its relationship to the number of tender points.

Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder characterised by chronic widespread pain in soft tissues, especially in muscles. Previous research has demonstrated a higher muscle fibre conduction velocity (CV) in painful muscles of FM patients. The primary goal of this study was to investigate whether there is also a difference in CV in non-painful, non-tender point (TP) related muscles between FM patients and controls.

Muscle fiber velocity and electromyographic signs of fatigue in fibromyalgia.

Introduction: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a disorder of widespread muscular pain. We investigated possible differences in surface electromyography (sEMG) in clinically unaffected muscle between patients with FM and controls.

Methods: sEMG was performed on the biceps brachii muscle of 13 women with FM and 14 matched healthy controls during prolonged dynamic exercises, unloaded, and loaded up to 20% of maximum voluntary contraction.

Physiological and neurophysiological determinants of postcancer fatigue: design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Postcancer fatigue is a frequently occurring, severe, and invalidating problem, impairing quality of life. Although it is possible to effectively treat postcancer fatigue with cognitive behaviour therapy, the nature of the underlying (neuro)physiology of postcancer fatigue remains unclear. Physiological aspects of fatigue include peripheral fatigue, originating in muscle or the neuromuscular junction; central fatigue, originating in nerves, spinal cord, and brain; and physical deconditioning, resulting from a decreased cardiopulmonary function.

Motor unit number index (MUNIX) versus motor unit number estimation (MUNE): a direct comparison in a longitudinal study of ALS patients.

Objective: To evaluate how the motor unit number index (MUNIX) is related to high-density motor unit number estimation (HD-MUNE) in healthy controls and patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Methods: Both MUNIX and HD-MUNE were performed on the thenar muscles in 18 ALS patients and 24 healthy controls. Patients were measured at baseline, within 2 weeks, and after 4 and 8 months.

Muscle ultrasonography: a diagnostic tool for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: In a prospective study we tested whether muscle ultrasonography can differentiate between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and mimics. Furthermore, we assessed the ability of ultrasonography to identify subclinical lower motor neuron involvement.

Methods: In 59 patients, suspected for adult onset motor neuron disease, ultrasound scans were made of 12 different muscle groups.

Diagnostic yield of muscle fibre conduction velocity in myopathies.

We prospectively assessed diagnostic yield of muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) studies in patients with signs and symptoms suggestive of a myopathy. Results were analysed with respect to the final diagnosis, and compared to the reference standard, which was qualitative electromyography (EMG), turns-amplitude analysis (TAA), and muscle biopsy. We included 125 patients, in whom a myopathy was diagnosed in 71, and a neuromuscular disorder was excluded in 54.

Fasciculations and their F-response revisited: high-density surface EMG in ALS and benign fasciculations.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of fasciculation potentials (FPs) with F-responses between patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and patients with benign fasciculations.

Methods: In seven patients with ALS and seven patients with benign fasciculations, high-density surface EMG was recorded for 15 min from the gastrocnemius muscle. Template matching was used to search for pairs of FPs with a repetition within 10-110 ms.

Reproducibility and validity of patient-rated assessment of speech, swallowing, and saliva control in Parkinson's disease.

Objective: To report on the development and psychometric evaluation of the Radboud Oral Motor Inventory for Parkinson's Disease (ROMP), a newly developed patient-rated assessment of speech, swallowing, and saliva control in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Design: Reliability and validity study.

Setting: Tertiary-care Parkinson center for multidisciplinary assessment.

Transcranial direct current stimulation does not modulate motor cortex excitability in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Introduction: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive disease caused by the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons. The etiology of ALS is unclear, but there is evidence that loss of cortical inhibition could be related to motor neuron degeneration. We sought to determine whether cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can reduce cortical excitability in patients with ALS.

Malignant migrating partial seizures in a 4-month-old boy.

Malignant migrating partial seizures in infancy is an epilepsy syndrome characterised by an onset before the age of six months, multifocal seizures and an EEG pattern consisting of seizures which occur independently and sequentially from both hemispheres. The clinical course of a four-month-old boy with this syndrome, illustrated by video material of the seizures and EEG recordings, is described. The possible neurophysiological mechanism of epileptogenic activity alternating or 'migrating' from one hemisphere to the other is discussed.