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Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of a new instrument for bedside testing of proximal arm and distal finger tapping performance in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Methods: Twenty healthy controls and 25 PD patients with subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation were investigated in different treatment conditions using three different tapping paradigms: (1) the standard tapping task of the CAPSIT-PD-protocol; (2) alternate pressing of two buttons on the new board by moving the arm at the elbow and shoulder (proximal tapping), and (3) alternate pressing of two closely collocated buttons on the new board by moving only the index finger (distal tapping) for 30 s. Results: The new tapping board was as sensitive as the standard board to distinguish untreated PD patients from controls. The relative improvements in tapping scores from the off treatment condition were largest for the proximal tapping task. The treatment effects of high frequency stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus or medication alone were comparable, whereas the combined treatment induced significantly higher tapping scores. Conclusion: The new tapping board represents a quick and easy to use bedside test, which may be routinely used to probe the efficacy of treatments on different aspects of motor control. Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to characterize impairments of hand function in individuals with myelomeningocele (MMC) using a quantitative method. A grip-lift task was studied in 29 individuals with MMC (17 females, 12 males; mean age 12 years 4 months, SD 5 years 6 months; range 4 to 28 years) and 29 age- and sex-matched control participants. A small object (weight 200 g) was grasped and lifted with a precision grip of the dominant hand and grip forces (GF) and time intervals were measured. Sensibility was examined with a two-point discrimination test. In those with MMC, the latency between GF onset of the thumb and index finger and ensuing preload duration were both significantly prolonged (p<0.01). Fingertip forces were excessively high and variable. Several parameters differed significantly between those with MMC and control individuals: GF peak, GF at start of loading, mean GF, and the SDs of the GF during static holding. Although the two-point discrimination task indicated deficits of sensibility, these did not correlate with grip force parameters. Results demonstrate that fine motor skills in patients with MMC are impeded by slowness and inadequate adjustments of manipulative forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor regarding objective assessment of gait after intrathecal baclofen in hereditary spastic paraplegia.

Deep brain stimulation of the thalamus (thalamic DBS) is an established therapy for medically intractable essential tremor and tremor caused by multiple sclerosis. In both disorders, motor disability results from complex interaction between kinetic tremor and accompanying ataxia with voluntary movements. In clinical studies, the efficacy of thalamic DBS has been thoroughly assessed. However, the optimal anatomical target structure for neurostimulation is still debated and has never been analysed in conjunction with objective measurements of the different aspects of motor impairment. In 10 essential tremor and 11 multiple sclerosis patients, we analysed the effect of thalamic DBS through each contact of the quadripolar electrode on the contralateral tremor rating scale, accelerometry and kinematic measures of reach-to-grasp-movements. These measures were correlated with the anatomical position of the stimulating electrode in stereotactic space and in relation to nuclear boundaries derived from intraoperative microrecording. We found a significant impact of the stereotactic z-coordinate of stimulation contacts on the TRS, accelerometry total power and spatial deviation in the deceleration and target period of reach-to-grasp-movements. Most effective contacts clustered within the subthalamic area (STA) covering the posterior Zona incerta and prelemniscal radiation. Stimulation within this region led to a mean reduction of the lateralized tremor rating scale by 15.8 points which was significantly superior to stimulation within the thalamus (P < 0.05, student's t-test). STA stimulation resulted in reduction of the accelerometry total power by 99%, whereas stimulation at the ventral thalamic border (68%) or within the thalamus proper (2.5%) was significantly less effective (P < 0.01). Concomitantly, STA stimulation led to a significantly higher increase of tremor frequency and decrease in EMG synchronization compared to stimulation within the thalamus proper (P < 0.001). In reach-to-grasp movements, STA stimulation reduced the spatial variability of the movement path in the deceleration period by 28.9% and in the target period by 58.4%, whereas stimulation within the thalamus was again significantly less effective (P < 0.05), with a reduction in the deceleration period between 6.5 and 21.8% and in the target period between 1.2 and 11.3%. An analysis of the nuclear boundaries from intraoperative microrecording confirmed the anatomical impression that most effective electrodes were located within the STA. Our data demonstrate a profound effect of deep brain stimulation of the thalamic region on tremor and ataxia in essential tremor and tremor caused by multiple sclerosis. The better efficacy of stimulation within the STA compared to thalamus proper favours the concept of a modulation of cerebello-thalamic projections underlying the improvement of these symptoms.

Patients with essential tremor (ET) or with cerebellar lesions have in common oculomotor abnormalities, with the exception of saccadic eye movements, which do not seem to be involved in ET. Since grasping is prolonged in ET and might be related to saccadic dysmetria, we tested whether simultaneous hand pointing could unmask it. Twelve ET patients and 14 controls performed saccades with and without simultaneous pointing movements to the same targets, and with and without a gap between the disappearance of the fixation point and the appearance of the target. Eye movements were recorded with the magnetic search-coil method, hand movements with an ultrasound-emitting probe. ET patients did not have saccadic dysmetria, and contrary to normal subjects their saccadic latency did not decrease during combined eye-hand movements compared with saccades performed in isolation. Hand movements had a longer duration in ET patients, with decreased peak acceleration, an increased latency of the peak velocity, and peak deceleration. In conclusion, this first study on eye-hand coordination in ET revealed abnormal kinematic changes in the early phase of pointing movements. These changes might be related to cerebellar disease but they are independent of the intention tremor component and saccade performance., ((c) 2005 Movement Disorder Society.)

Background: Recent animal experiments suggest an important role of descending input from basal ganglia to brainstem and via the reticulospinal tract (RST) to spinal cord in the genesis of motor symptoms in Parkinson disease (PD). In humans, a marker for RST activity is Ib mediated autogenic inhibition, which is reduced in PD patients. The authors investigated the effect of high frequency stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-HFS) on autogenic inhibition in PD., Methods: In 10 controls and 10 PD patients with chronically implanted STN electrodes, the soleus H-reflex conditioned by gastrocnemius nerve stimulation (interstimulus interval 2 to 10 msec) was used to examine the effect of STN-HFS on the activity of Ib spinal interneurons., Results: STN-HFS was able to restore the abnormally reduced autogenic inhibition. The H-reflex changes during STN-HFS significantly correlated with the clinical improvement of gait and posture., Conclusions: Observed changes in spinal autogenic inhibition may allow measurement of the contribution of subcortical routes to the STN-HFS induced motor benefit in PD.

Objective: To identify quantitative parameters that are sensitive enough to detect impairments and improvements of grasping in children after traumatic brain injury (TBI) by analyzing the isometric fingertip forces of a precision grip-lift task., Design: Follow-up and case-control study., Setting: Tertiary pediatric trauma rehabilitation center in Germany., Participants: Thirteen children (age range, 5-14 y) with moderate or severe TBI. Trauma severity was assessed with the Glasgow Coma Scale (score range, 3-9) and the Injury Severity Score (range, 16-66 points). Control data were obtained from 13 age- and gender-matched healthy children., Interventions: Not applicable., Main Outcome Measures: Children were examined 3 times (t0, t1, t2). The first date of examination (t0) was defined by the Barthel Index (part B, >20 points). Reexaminations followed after 1 (t1) and 5 (t2) months of inpatient rehabilitation. Quantitative measures included 3 grip-force parameters, 2 load force parameters, 1 parameter of the coordination between grip force and load force, and 3 timing parameters in a precision grip-lift task. Clinical improvements and recovery of activities of daily living were described with the Barthel Index (qualitative measure)., Results: Peak grip force, maximum negative load force, grip force in the static phase and its standard deviation, and grip-force/load-force ratio at maximum grip force showed significant improvements during the observation period (5 mo). Also, the preparation phase and preload duration, but not the load duration, changed significantly., Conclusions: Impairments and the recovery of grasping in children after TBI can be objectified with quantitative analyses of the precision grip. Several grip-force and timing parameters were sensitive for the description of restitution processes.

The function of low-frequency oscillations as correlates of physiological tremor in supplementary motor area (SMA) and M1 remains unclear. In epicortical recordings from M1 and SMA and surface electromyographic (EMG) recordings in an epileptic patient we found reproducibly significant coherence between all three recording sites in the 6- to 15-Hz band. The partial coherence between SMA and muscle, however, was not significant. There was a constant phase shift between SMA and M1 indicating synchronized activity. We conclude that the cortical correlates of physiological tremor may be involved in linking different cortical motor centers and might therefore play a role in cortical motor planning., (Copyright 2003 Movement Disorder Society)

Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) reduces akinesia in Parkinson's disease but its impact on fine motor functions was unknown. We assessed the effects of DBS and a levodopa (L-dopa) test on the timing of the precision grip in 18 patients. Improvement on UPDRS-items reflecting hand functions and the shortening of the first phases of the precision grip were more distinct in the L-dopa test than in the pure STN-DBS condition. Other akinesia items and the time for build-up of lifting force were equally improved in both conditions. This suggests that routine STN-DBS might not be equally effective on all aspects of fine motor functions., (Copyright 2003 Movement Disorder Society)

Deep-brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus appears to reduce levodopa-induced dyskinesias, but whether this effect is caused by the reduction of the total levodopa ingestion or represents a direct effect on the motor system is unknown. Precision grip force of grasping movements and levodopa-induced dyskinesias was analyzed in 10 parkinsonian patients before and after 3 months of deep-brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus. Peak grip force was abnormally increased before surgery in the off-drug state and, particularly, in the on-drug state (sensitization). This grip force upregulation normalized with chronic deep-brain stimulation in both conditions (desensitization). Peak-dose dyskinesias also improved, and off-dystonia was completely abolished. Mean dosage of dopaminergic drugs was reduced, but force overflow and dyskinesias were equally improved in 2 patients without a reduction. Despite the same single levodopa test dose, force excess and levodopa-induced dyskinesias were drastically reduced after 3 months of deep-brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus. This indicates that direct effects of deep-brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus on levodopa-induced dyskinesias are likely to occur. Grip force overflow is a promising parameter to study the desensitizing effect of chronic deep-brain stimulation on levodopa-induced dyskinesias.

We assessed force coordination of the hand in Parkinson's disease and its relationship to motor complications of levodopa therapy, particularly to levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LID). We studied two groups of Parkinson's disease patients with (Parkinson's disease + LID, n = 23) and without levodopa-induced dyskinesias (Parkinson's disease - LID, n = 10), and age-matched healthy controls. The motor score of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, a dyskinesia score and force in a grip-lift paradigm were assessed ON and OFF levodopa. A pathological increase of forces was seen in ON-state in Parkinson's disease + LID only. In Parkinson's disease + LID, the force involved in pressing down the object before lifting was significantly increased by levodopa (by 61%, P < 0.05). An overshooting of peak grip force by 51% (P < 0.05) and of static grip force by 45% (P < 0.01) was observed in the ON- compared with the OFF-drug condition. In contrast, no excessive force was found in Parkinson's disease - LID. Peak grip force in ON-state was 140% (P < 0.05) higher in Parkinson's disease + LID than in Parkinson's disease - LID, while static grip force was increased by 138% (P < 0.01) between groups. Severity of peak-dose dyskinesias was strongly correlated with grip force in ON-state (r = 0.79 with peak force, P < 0.01). No correlation was observed between forces and the motor score as well as with the daily dose of dopaminergic medication. Force excess was only observed in patients with LID and motor fluctuations. A close relationship was seen between the overshooting of forces and dyskinesias in the ON-drug condition. We postulate that both LID and grip force excess share common pathophysiological mechanisms related to motor fluctuations.

Physiologic tremor (PT) consists of a peripheral mechanical oscillation at the limbs' resonance frequency and an independent central component in the 6-15 Hz band. This central component has mainly been attributed to spinal interneuronal systems or subcortical oscillators but more recently also to cortical rhythms. We recorded PT electromyographically and accelerometrically from different parts of the arm in parallel to epicortical recordings from grid electrodes covering the primary sensorimotor areas of the contralateral cortex in six epileptic patients. Previous bipolar electrical stimulation of the cortical electrodes resulted in a somatotopic map of the primary cortex underlying the grid. Spectral and cross-spectral analysis including coherence spectra between epicortical electrodes and EMG and the corresponding phase spectra were performed off-line. We found significant corticomuscular coherence in the 6-15 Hz range in four out of the six patients. This coherence was focal on the cortex and it was distributed somatotopically mainly within the primary motor area. The frequency band of the coherence mostly corresponding to the EMG frequency remained stable with added inertia, while the main accelerometric frequency was clearly reduced following the resonance frequency. The phase spectra between electrocorticogram (ECoG) and EMG showed a clear delay between cortex and muscle in two of the patients, which was compatible with conduction in fast pyramidal pathways. These findings indicate that the 6-15 Hz coherence between cortex and EMG reflects a corticomuscular transmission of the oscillation rather than peripheral feedback to the cortex. We conclude that cortical networks are involved in the generation of physiologic tremor.

Gait disturbances of patients with essential tremor (ET) have been described anecdotally, but have never been investigated quantitatively. Recent studies provided evidence for a cerebellar-like hand tremor in some patients with ET. Therefore, we designed a study to assess cerebellar-like abnormalities of leg function. Twenty-five patients with ET, eight patients with cerebellar diseases (CD) and 21 age-matched healthy subjects were studied for their normal and tandem gait using a three-dimensional gait analysis system. During normal walking, CD and ET patients showed only slight abnormalities. However, ET patients exhibited abnormalities in tandem gait with an increased number of mis-steps and a broad-based, ataxic and dysmetric gait which was indistinguishable from the findings in CD. When ET patients were separated into groups of those with or without intention tremor of the hands, the gait disorder was found to be much more pronounced in the intention tremor group. Patients with this gait disorder were more severely disturbed in their activities of daily living, and suffer from an advanced stage of ET. The present results quantitatively describe a gait disturbance in advanced ET which affects tandem gait, but leaves normal gait almost unaffected. This is strong evidence for a cerebellar-like disturbance in ET.

The cerebellum is assumed to play a major role in the pathophysiology of essential tremor (ET). As intention tremor is considered one of the classical features of cerebellar disease, we have assessed a large group of patients with ET for the semiology of the tremor and have performed objective quantitative analysis of a grasping movement in patients with ET, cerebellar disease and a normal control group. We found 25% of the patients to have a moderate or severe kinetic tremor with clear-cut features of a classical intention tremor. Another 33% of the patients had a mild intentional component of their kinetic tremor. Patients with intention tremor (ET(IT)) did not differ from those with predominant postural tremor (ET(PT)) with respect to alcohol sensitivity of the tremor and the frequency of a family history. ET(IT) patients were older and more often showed head and trunk involvement. The onset of this intention tremor has been assessed retrospectively. It was found to begin at a randomly distributed time interval after the onset of the postural tremor, but older patients had a shorter time to development of intention tremor. Quantitative accelerometry of postural tremor showed similar tremor frequencies in both patient groups, but ET(IT) patients had a slightly larger tremor amplitude. Quantitative analysis of a grasping movement using an infrared-camera system was performed in two subgroups of the patients with ET(PT) and ET(IT) and control groups with cerebellar disease or normal subjects. The intention tremor could be quantified objectively as an increased amplitude of curvature during the deceleration and target phase of the movement. The amplitude measurements of intention tremor were clearly abnormal and of comparable magnitude for ET(PT) and cerebellar disease. Additionally, the patients with ET(IT) had a significantly slowed grasping movement during the deceleration and target period. Hypermetria was significantly increased for the patients with ET(IT) and cerebellar disease. We conclude that intention tremor is a feature of ET. ET(IT) patients have abnormalities of their upper limb function compatible with cerebellar disease. This suggests that patients with more advanced ET show abnormalities of cerebellar functions.