Quantitative evaluation of position sense in patients with parietal lesion

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshihiro Itaguchi

A position reproduction task was performed, in a controlled experimental environment, by seven patients with a parietal lobe lesion. We obtained mainly three findings: (a) even for patients who failed a thumb localization test, the accuracy of position reproduction was adequate and did not deviate from the range of error observed in healthy young participants, (b) the patients showed a centralizing tendency in localization, and (c) they initially moved in the wrong direction when reproducing the remembered positions. The study also indicated that patients whose lesion sites included the postcentral gyrus exhibited stronger exploratory movements than those who had no such lesions and lacked smoothness of movement. In patients without the lesion of the postcentral gyrus, a higher-order dysfunction, rather than the pure position sense problem, was suggested to contributed to their task performance. The present study provided fundamental data for sensorimotor skills of patients with parietal lesion, and these quantitative findings would also contribute to reconsideration of current assessments and rehabilitations for sensory deficits.

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobin Huang ◽  
Di Zhang ◽  
Yuchen Chen ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Cunnan Mao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Functional connectivity (FC) has been used to investigate the pathophysiology of migraine. Accumulating evidence is pointing toward malfunctioning of brainstem structures, i.e., the red nucleus (RN) and substantia nigra (SN), as an important factor in migraine without aura (MwoA). We aimed to identify atypical FC between the RN and SN and other brain areas in patients with MwoA and to explore the association between RN and SN connectivity changes and performance on neuropsychological tests in these patients. Methods Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were obtained from 30 patients with MwoA and 22 age-, sex-, and years of education-matched healthy controls (HC). The FC of the brainstem structures was analyzed using a standard seed-based whole-brain correlation method. The results of the brainstem structure FC were assessed for correlations with other clinical features. Results Patients with MwoA exhibited reduced left RN-based FC with the left middle frontal gyrus, reduced right RN-based FC with the ipsilateral superior parietal lobe, and increased FC with the ipsilateral cerebellum. Additionally, patients with MwoA demonstrated significantly decreased right SN-based FC with the right postcentral gyrus, left parietal lobule, and left superior frontal gyrus. Hypo-connectivity between the right SN and right postcentral gyrus was negatively correlated with disease duration (r = − 0.506, P = 0.004). Additionally, increased connectivity of the right RN to the ipsilateral cerebellar lobes was positively correlated with the Headache Impact Test-6 scores (r = 0.437, P = 0.016). Conclusions The present study suggested that patients with MwoA have disruption in their RN and SN resting-state networks, which are associated with specific clinical characteristics. The changes focus on the regions associated with cognitive evaluation, multisensory integration, and modulation of perception and pain, which may be associated with migraine production, feedback, and development. Taken together, these results may improve our understanding of the neuropathological mechanism of migraine.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 117954761770946
Author(s):  
Suneil A Raju ◽  
Charles R Swift ◽  
Karna Dev Bardhan

Our patient, aged 73 years, had background peripheral neuropathy of unknown cause, stable for several years, which caused some difficulty in walking on uneven ground. He attended for a teaching session but now staggered in, a new development. He had apparent weakness of his right arm, but there was difficulty in distinguishing motor weakness from impaired spatial awareness suggestive of parietal lobe dysfunction. With the patient seated, eyes closed, and left arm outstretched, S.A.R. lifted the patient’s right arm and asked him to indicate when both were level. This confirmed motor weakness. Urgent computed tomographic scan confirmed left subdural haematoma and its urgent evacuation rapidly resolved the patient’s symptoms. Intrigued by our patient’s case, we explored further and learnt that in rehabilitation medicine, the awareness of limb position is commonly viewed in terms of joint position sense. We present recent literature evidence indicating that the underlying mechanisms are more subtle.


2015 ◽  
Vol 352 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Ashkan Mowla ◽  
Haris Kamal ◽  
S. Ali Nabavizadeh
Keyword(s):  

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semyon M. Slobounov ◽  
Shannon T. Poole ◽  
Robert F. Simon ◽  
Elena S. Slobounov ◽  
Jill A. Bush ◽  
...  

Assessment and enhancement of joint position sense is an inexact science at best. Anew method of evaluating and improving this sense using motion-tracking technology that incorporates computer visualization graphics was examined. Injured and healthy subjects were evaluated for their abilities to determine shoulder joint position, after abduction, in two tasks. The first was active reproduction of a passively placed angle. The second was visual reproduction of such an angle. A training protocol was added to determine the effectiveness of proprioceptive training in conjunction with 3-D visualization techniques. The primary findings were (a) a significant difference (p= .05) in the level of joint position sense in injured vs. healthy subjects; (b) significantly less accurate reproduction of larger shoulder abduction vs. the smaller movement in the active reproduction task; (c) significantly greater ability to accurately reproduce angles actively vs. visually; and (d) that proprioception training using 3-D visualization techniques significantly increased activeandvisual reproductions of passively placed angles.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 830-831
Author(s):  
Anar Amgalan ◽  
Alexander Mayer ◽  
Michelle Ha ◽  
Andrei Irimia

Abstract The extent to which brain functional correlations (FCs) are modulated by age and sex is unknown. We studied default mode network (DMN) FC changes in 136 participants with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI; 52 females, age range: 19 – 79 years, age μ = 42, age σ = 17; 72 participants younger than 40). Structural and functional magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were acquired ~1 week and ~6 months post-injury; the FreeSurfer Functional Analysis STream (FS-FAST) was used for group-level FC comparisons across sexes and age groups (younger vs. older than 40). FC seeds were two sub-networks of the DMN, M1 and M2, defined by the standard Yeo parcellation scheme. For M1, clusters with significant FC differences across sexes were in the right paracentral lobule, central sulcus, postcentral gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, and precentral sulcus (p = 0.0001), and in the left paracentral lobule and central sulcus (p = 0.022). For M2, clusters spanned the right postcentral gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, transverse occipital sulcus, and central sulcus (p = 0.0001), the left precuneus and inferior parietal lobe (p = 0.0096). Females either exhibited no significant FC change or underwent FC increases. Males underwent significant FC decreases within all clusters, suggesting their increased vulnerability to mTBI-related effects. Clusters whose FCs differed significantly across age groups were localized to the left superior temporal gyrus (p = 0.0078), highlighting the vulnerability of temporal regions to age effects. Future studies should explore the age × sex interaction and uncover the mechanisms for these observed findings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. e000003
Author(s):  
Han Dai ◽  
Li Mei ◽  
Mei Minjun ◽  
Sun Xiaofei

BackgroundAlexithymia is a multidimensional personality construct.ObjectiveThis study aims to investigate the neuronal correlates of each alexithymia dimension by examining the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of intrinsic brain activity in a resting situation.MethodsFrom university freshmen, students with alexithymia and non-alexithymia were recruited. Their alexithymic traits were assessed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. The ReHo was examined using a resting-state functional MRI approach.ResultsThis study suggests significant group differences in ReHo in multiple brain regions distributed in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe and insular cortex. However, only the ReHo in the insula was positively associated with difficulty identifying feelings, a main dimension of alexithymia. The ReHo in the lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus and postcentral gyrus was positively associated with difficulty describing feelings in participants with alexithymia. Lastly, the ReHo in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC_R) was negatively related to the externally oriented thinking style of participants with alexithymia.ConclusionIn conclusion, these results suggest that the main dimensions of alexithymia are correlated with specific brain regions’ function, and the role of the insula, lingual gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus and DMPFC_R in the neuropathology of alexithymia should be further investigated.


2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhisa Sakurai ◽  
Yoshinobu Onuma ◽  
Gaku Nakazawa ◽  
Yoshikazu Ugawa ◽  
Toshimitsu Momose ◽  
...  

Objective:To characterize various dysgraphic symptoms in parietal agraphia.Method:We examined the writing impairments of four dysgraphia patients from parietal lobe lesions using a special writing test with 100 character kanji (Japanese morphograms) and their kana (Japanese phonetic writing) transcriptions, and related the test performance to a lesion site.Results:Patients 1 and 2 had postcentral gyrus lesions and showed character distortion and tactile agnosia, with patient 1 also having limb apraxia. Patients 3 and 4 had superior parietal lobule lesions and features characteristic of apraxic agraphia (grapheme deformity and a writing stroke sequence disorder) and character imagery deficits (impaired character recall). Agraphia with impaired character recall and abnormal grapheme formation were more pronounced in patient 4, in whom the lesion extended to the inferior parietal, superior occipital and precuneus gyri.Conclusion:The present findings and a review of the literature suggest that: (i) a postcentral gyrus lesion can yield graphemic distortion (somesthetic dysgraphia), (ii) abnormal grapheme formation and impaired character recall are associated with lesions surrounding the intraparietal sulcus, the symptom being more severe with the involvement of the inferior parietal, superior occipital and precuneus gyri, (iii) disordered writing stroke sequences are caused by a damaged anterior intraparietal area.


Perception ◽  
1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hécaen ◽  
C Tzortzis ◽  
M C Masure

Previous studies on brain-damaged patients have shown impairments in orientation. When the results have been based on a route-finding test the impairment was found in both left and right parietal lesion groups, while when maze tests have been used, the impairment correlated clearly only with lesions of the right hemisphere. In the present study the route-finding test was given to 77 right-handed patients with unilateral cortical lesions (33 right-sided, and 44 left-sided), and to 24 controls. In order to evaluate the possible influence of kinesthetic afferents, the test was carried out under two different conditions: active (walking) and passive (in a pushchair). The results show the performances of subjects with lesions on the left side are significantly poorer than those of the controls, but better than those of subjects with lesions on the right side. For both groups the impairment associated with the lesion is the same under active and passive conditions, which does not support the hypothesis of the possible role of the kinesthetic afferents. Posterior lesions produce significantly more failures in both groups. The importance of the parietal lobe, however, was clearly seen only in subjects with lesions on the right side.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 988-999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Perrine Ruby ◽  
Jean Decety

Perspective-taking is a complex cognitive process involved in social cognition. This positron emission tomography (PET) study investigated by means of a factorial design the interaction between the emotional and the perspective factors. Participants were asked to adopt either their own (first person) perspective or the (third person) perspective of their mothers in response to situations involving social emotions or to neutral situations. The main effect of third-person versus first-person perspective resulted in hemodynamic increase in the medial part of the superior frontal gyrus, the left superior temporal sulcus, the left temporal pole, the posterior cingulate gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobe. A cluster in the postcentral gyrus was detected in the reverse comparison. The amygdala was selectively activated when subjects were processing social emotions, both related to self and other. Interaction effects were identified in the left temporal pole and in the right postcentral gyrus. These results support our prediction that the frontopolar, the somatosensory cortex, and the right inferior parietal lobe are crucial in the process of self/ other distinction. In addition, this study provides important building blocks in our understanding of social emotion processing and human empathy.


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