45 documents found, page 1 of 5
Subclinical involvement of small hand muscles in early amyotrophic lateral scle...
Carvalho, Mamede; Oliveira Santos, Miguel; Swash, MichaelObjectives: Split-hand phenomenon is common in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), but it is unknown if first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and abductor pollicis brevis (ABP) are affected earlier than abductor digiti minimi (ADM). We aimed to address this issue. Methods: One clinically normal hand from ALS patients was investigated, including needle EMG of the FDI, motor amplitude, distal latency, F-...
Segmental motor neuron dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Insights f...
Castro, José; Oliveira Santos, Miguel; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeIntroduction/aims: In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the role of spinal interneurons in ALS is underrecognized. We aimed to investigate pre- and post-synaptic modulation of spinal motor neuron excitability by studying the H reflex, to understand spinal interneuron function in ALS. Methods: We evaluated the soleus H reflex, and three different modulation paradigms, to study segmental spinal inhibitory mech...
F-waves responses derived from low-intensity electrical stimulation: a method t...
Lopes, Miguel; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeObjectives: The "split-hand syndrome" is a common clinical sign in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), being characterized by more severe atrophy of the hand muscles on the radial side of the hand compared to the ulnar side. We aimed to investigate possible physiological differences between relevant hand muscles using low-intensity F-wave stimulation to assess spinal motoneuron excitability. Methods: We recrui...
Imaging the fasciculating motor unit
Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeFasciculations are a common early feature of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), prompting a stream of research reports on their characteristic features based on clinical observation, surface EMG, concentric needle EMG, multipoint surface recordings, ultrasound detection within muscles, and now, MR imaging (Heskamp et al., 2024). This has revealed transient signal voids in pulsed gradient spin echo (PGSE) diff...
The cutaneous silent period as a measure of upper motor neuron dysfunction in a...
Castro, José; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeObjectives: We investigated the cutaneous silent period (CutSP) as a measure of upper motor neuron (UMN) dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Methods: The onset latency, duration, and amount of EMG suppression of the CutSP were compared with clinical UMN signs in 24 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). UMN signs were quantified using a clinical index and transcranial magnetic stimulation ...
Mirror movements: a simple algorithm for mirror activity signal processing and ...
Castro, José; Pedrosa, Tomás; Castro, Isabel; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeMirror activity is an involuntary activation of a muscle when the respective contralateral muscle is contracting. This phenomenon has been described primarily in children and in disease states, and, more recently, also in healthy adults. Different ways of assessing mirror activity have been described. In this work we propose a simple protocol for quantifying the amount of mirror activity during a brief isolated...
Respiratory phenotypes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as determined by respir...
Pinto, Susana; Oliveira Santos, Miguel; Gromicho, Marta; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeBackground and purpose: Respiratory insufficiency and its complications are the main cause of death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Respiratory symptoms are scored in questions Q10 (dyspnoea) and Q11 (orthopnoea) of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale-Revised (ALSFRS-R). The association of respiratory test alterations with respiratory symptoms is unclear. Methods: Patients with ALS...
Exploring the split hand phenomenon with the neurophysiological index
Santos Silva, Cláudia; Swash, Michael; Carvalho, MamedeIn 164 subjects of different age groups, we studied the neurophysiological index (NI) ([CMAP amplitude/Distal motor latency] *[F-wave frequency]; CMAP=compound muscle action potential) for three hand muscles (APB= abductor pollicis brevis; FDI= first dorsal interosseous; ADM= abductor digiti minimi). A split hand index based on CMAP amplitude (SHI_CMAP) and NI (SHI_NI) were calculated ([APB CMAP amplitude or NI...
Vulvodynia: a neuroinflammatory pain syndrome originating in pelvic visceral ne...
Bornstein, Jacob; Palzur, Eilam; Swash, Michael; Petros, PeterThis short opinion aimed to present the evidence to support our hypothesis that vulvodynia is a neuroinflammatory pain syndrome originating in the pelvic visceral nerve plexuses caused by the failure of weakened uterosacral ligaments (USLs) to support the pelvic visceral nerve plexuses, i.e., T11-L2 sympathetic and S2-4 parasympathetic plexuses. These are supported by the USLs, 2 cm from their insertion to the ...
Respiratory function tests in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: the role of maxima...
Carvalho, Mamede; Fernandes, Sofia Rita; Pereira, Mariana; Gromicho, Marta; Oliveira Santos, Miguel; Alves, Inês; Pinto, Susana; Swash, MichaelBackground: Pulmonary function tests are routinely used to measure progression in ALS. This study aimed to assess the change of various respiratory tests, in particular maximal voluntary ventilation (MVV), which evaluates respiratory endurance. Methods: A group of 51 patients were assessed 3 times (T1, T2, T3, separated by 5.4 months), including slow (SVC) and forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volu...