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At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Aging and oral motor function: evidence for altered performance among older persons.

A physical examination procedure was used to evaluate oral motor functions in a population of 257 community-dwelling males and females ranging in age from 23-88 yr. An increased prevalence of altered motor performance with age was found for parameters measuring lip posture and masticatory muscle function. Also, males, but not females, showed a higher prevalence of alterations in tongue function and in swallowing.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Management of children with non-organic (hysterical) disorders of motor function.

Five children aged between 10 and 13 years are discribed whose disorders of motor function were found to have a non-organic (hysterical) cause. In most cases extensive investigations had been made to establish an organic cause before the hysterical basis was diagnosed. The three essentials of management of such cases are to limit further investigations to the essential minimum, to institute quickly a programme of graduated physical rehabilitation, and to establish and treat the underlying psychological problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Canine esophageal motor function: effects of arterial and intravenous vasopressin.

The effect of vasopressin infusion on esophageal motor function was evaluated in 11 anesthetized dogs. Gastric fundic, lower esophageal sphincteric, and esophageal body pressures were measured during and after 1 hr infusion of vasopressin into the superior mesenteric artery or a systemic vein. Lower esophageal sphincteric pressures started to decrease significantly 10-15 min after the start of vasopressin infusion, reached the lowest level at 45-60 min, and returned to the control level or higher 1 hr after the end of infusion. No statistically significant difference was found between the effects of intravenous and intraarterial vasopressin infusions. Esophageal body and gastric fundic pressures remained unchanged. The result is inconsistent with the hypothesis that esophageal smooth muscle contractions reduce esophageal variceal hemorrhage during vasopressin infusions.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Common cortical and thalamic mechanisms for language and motor functions.

Evidence for common mechanisms in the human brain for motor and language functions is reviewed, particularly evidence derived from electrical-stimulation mapping during cortical and thalamic operations in awake patients. Several systems in the dominant hemisphere are identified where language and motor function share common mechanisms, including a lateral thalamic attentional system and a lateral perisylvian cortical system common to sequential movement and speech sound identification, where precise timing may be a common mechanism.

Cerebral Cortex↗
PubMed1994

The influence of neonatal intensive care unit caregiving practices on motor functioning of preterm infants.

OBJECTIVES: Experimental design intervention studies have demonstrated that a model of individualized developmental care based on specific behavioral observation improves medical and behavioral outcome for very small preterm infants. It is proposed that infants who were not directly involved in an experimental intervention study per se, but were patients in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) where such studies took place and the model was adopted as the standard of care, demonstrate some of the same benefits as the infants in the experimental study. METHOD: The study was a retrospective descriptive analysis of an existing data set. The functioning of two cohorts of infants, comparable medically and demographically and cared for in an NICU where developmental care research was conducted and subsequently adopted as the standard of care, was measured after discharge with the Assessment of Preterm Infants' Behavior (APIB). Cohort I was cared for before the first study of individualized developmental care in the NICU; Cohort II was cared for after the individualized developmental care approach was adopted as the standard of care for the NICU. RESULTS: Cohort II infants demonstrated better scores than Cohort I infants on 8 out of 23 summary variables, 6 of which reflect improved motor functioning. They also showed significantly better scores on 7 of the 17 specific motor variables of the APIB. CONCLUSION: Infants cared for in an NICU with an individualized developmental care approach showed improved motor system functioning compared to infants cared for in the same NICU before the approach was adopted. It is speculated that the individualized developmental approach to care based in the synactive theory of development contributed to the documented improvements. This finding would indicate that functioning of preterm infants, particularly in terms of their motor systems, can be influenced by modification in caregiving.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1988

Does healing of esophagitis improve esophageal motor function?

This study investigates whether healing of erosive esophagitis leads to an improvement of esophageal motor abnormalities. Manometric studies were performed in 18 patients with erosive esophagitis before and after healing of the mucosal lesions and in 15 healthy controls. Nine patients were treated with a Nissen fundoplication and nine with H2-receptor antagonists. After healing, patients were followed for a mean duration of 3.0 +/- 0.4 years. Compared to controls, patients had significantly lower contraction amplitudes and lower esophageal sphincter pressures (P less than 0.01), while the duration and velocity of esophageal contractions was similar in both groups. Lower esophageal sphincter pressure increased after surgical treatment, while no such changes were observed in medically treated patients. In both groups amplitude, duration, and velocity of esophageal contractions were not affected by healing of esophagitis. On extended follow-up, all surgically treated patients remained asymptomatic while eight of nine medically treated patients developed a symptomatic relapse which was accompanied by erosive esophagitis in six of them. The lack of improvement in esophageal motor function after healing of esophagitis may contribute to the frequent occurrence of relapse in medically treated patients.

Esophagitis, Peptic↗
PubMed1987

[Dynamics of the recovery of motor functions after the stereotaxic removal of intracerebral hematomas (clinical computed tomographic study)].

The recovery of impaired motor functions in patients with intracerebral haemorrhages depends on many factors. It has been proved that surgical removal of intracerebral hematomas improves the survival rate. Yet, the results of recovery primarily depend on the type of surgery. A new method of stereotaxic removal of intracerebral hematomas has a number of advantages over the open method, primarily low traumatism. The prognosis of the recovery of motor ability is determined by not only the type of surgery but by a number of other factors as well, namely, the volume and localization of the hematoma, the degree of deformation of the brain stem and the timing of surgical intervention. The results of clinical employment of the new method in 51 patients should be considered encouraging while the operation of stereotaxic removal of intracerebral hematomas appears rather promising.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

[A developmental study of visual-motor function in cerebral palsied children (author's transl)].

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the disorder in the visual-motor function of cerebral palsied children was affected by specific defects or by the distortion in perceptual motor system or by mere developmental lag in the function of recognition and reconstruction using the method of multiple choice and Shochi's Block Design Test (1971). The results were as follows : Cerebral palsied children's developmental lag in the function of recognition was not conspicuous but the development in the function of reconstruction was obviously inferior to that of normal children. There was the difference in reconstruction ability by children with the types of cerebral palsy and intellectual levels and design-constructive patterns. Those factors and the developmental lag cause visual-motor disorders.

Cerebral Palsy↗
PubMed1987

Importance of the projection from the sensory to the motor cortex for recovery of motor function following partial thalamic lesion in the monkey.

Motor deficits produced by thalamic lesions were studied using adult cynomolgus monkeys. Lesioned areas included n. ventralis anterior (VA), ventralis lateralis (VL), n. ventralis posterolateralis pars oralis (VPLo), pars caudalis (VPLc) n. subthalamus (STN) and n. centrum medianum (CM). When the lesion included VA, VL and VPLo, there was a cerebellar syndrome, i.e., ataxia and dysmetria. When the lesion included VPLo and VPLc, the animal was paralyzed. When the lesion included VPLo and rostral part of VPLc, there was loss of orientation in hand movement and clumsiness of finger manipulation. These motor deficits gradually disappeared within 1-2 weeks and the function recovered near to normal except for when VPLo and VPLc were totally destroyed. After recovery of motor function, the somatic sensory cortex (areas 1, 2, 3b) ipsilateral to the thalamic lesion was removed. Removal of the sensory cortex resulted in abolition of the recovered function, but when the border area between VPLo and VPLc was intact, the function recovered again. On the other hand, when the thalamic lesion included this border area, succeeding cortical lesion permanently abolished the recovered function or the reappeared function was substantially worse than that before the cortical lesion. Neuronal mechanisms subserving these differences are discussed and it is concluded that when direct sensory input to the motor cortex was interrupted by lesion of the border area between VPLo and VPLc, the lost function was compensated by reorganization of the projection from the sensory cortex to the motor cortex.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Motor function in the normal aging population: treatment with levodopa.

In normal elderly humans there is progressive motor dysfunction and loss of nigrostriatal neurons and brain dopamine similar to, although of a milder degree than, that seen in Parkinson's disease. Ten healthy elderly volunteers were given carbidopa/levodopa or placebo in a double-blind crossover study. We measured movement velocity, reaction time, tremor, visual evoked response (VER), and electroretinography (ERG). Significant changes were seen only in ERG. Motor functions and VER were unchanged. Although there appeared to be pharmacologic activity (ie, changes in ERG), levodopa, in adequate antiparkinson dosage, had no impact on the mild extrapyramidal impairment of normal elderly subjects.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Alterations in cognitive performance and affect-arousal state during fluctuations in motor function in Parkinson's disease.

Sixteen patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease were selected who were all showing severe fluctuations in motor function ("on-off" phenomenon). Measures of cognitive function and of subjective affect/arousal state were taken on two occasions, once when "on" and once when "off". Twenty-five matched normal controls were also assessed on the same measures. Results revealed, on the average, a drop in cognitive function plus an adverse swing in affect/arousal state, in the patient group in the "off" condition, compared to the levels when "on". Analysis of the data suggested that the main factor associated with cognitive function when "off" was not the severity of disability but the level of affect/arousal. The fluctuations in cognitive function found tended to be mild relative to the severe changes in motor ability, and were present in only a proportion of patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The objective rating of oral-motor functions during feeding.

The Schedule for Oral Motor Assessment (SOMA) was developed to record oral-motor skills objectively in infants between ages 8 and 24 months postnatal. Its aim is to identify areas of dysfunction that could contribute to feeding difficulties. The procedure takes approximately 20 min to administer, and is intended to be rated largely from a videorecording of a structured feeding session. A series of foodstuffs of varying textures, including liquids, is presented to the child in a standardized manner. Oral-motor skills are evaluated in terms of discrete oral-motor movements. The schedule distinguishes these from skills at more aggregated levels of functioning such as jaw, lip, and tongue control. A total of 127 children have been studied with the instrument, including normal healthy infants and samples with nonorganic failure to thrive, and cerebral palsy. Interrater and test-retest reliabilities were determined on a subset of 10 infants who each took part in three trials rated by 2 therapists. Excellent levels of interrater reliability (kappa > 0.75) were obtained for the presence/absence of 69% of discrete oral-motor behaviors. Test-retest reliability was similarly excellent for 85% of ratable behaviors. For the first time an assessment of oral-motor functioning has been shown to have adequate reliability for children aged 8-24 months. The validation of the SOMA on a large sample of normally developing infants and its application to clinical groups is presented in an accompanying paper [1].

Bottle Feeding↗
PubMed1990

Hemicerebellectomy and motor behaviour in rats. I. Development of motor function after neonatal lesion.

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of a neonatal hemicerebellectomy (HCb) on the motor development of rats and to determine whether various aspects of motor behaviour were affected to a similar degree. Postnatal development of postural reflexes, locomotion and dynamic postural adjustments was examined during the first four months of life in normal and in neonatal HCbed rats. The results indicate that classes of motor responses are controlled by cerebellar networks to clearly different extents. Emergence of quadruped stance, placing reactions and swimming development were unaffected by neonatal cerebellar lesion. Righting reflexes, cliff avoidance and geotaxic reactions, pivoting and crawling all showed a delayed development although the subsequent recovery was almost complete. The complex postural adjustments required in crossing a narrow path or in suspending on a wire remained permanently impaired. Finally, some behaviours developed normally and only subsequently became defective. This "growing into a deficit" was displayed by the progressively reduced hindlimb grasping and the development of a vestibular drop response with a directional bias. An impressive finding was the shifting of postural asymmetries from the lesion side to the contralateral one occurring around the third postnatal week. These data providing a description of the effect of HCb on motor development are interpreted as indicating a progressive involvement of the archi- and neo-cerebellar structures in the motor function of the rat.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Anorectal sensory and motor function in neurogenic fecal incontinence. Comparison between multiple sclerosis and diabetes mellitus.

We measured anorectal sensory and motor function in 11 patients with multiple sclerosis and fecal incontinence, 11 continent patients with multiple sclerosis, 10 diabetics with fecal incontinence, and 12 healthy control subjects. The threshold volume at which patients with multiple sclerosis and fecal incontinence experienced rectal sensation was higher than that in healthy controls (42.7 +/- 6.2 mL vs. 13.3 +/- 2.8 mL; P less than 0.01) and was similar to that in incontinent diabetics (36.5 +/- 5.7 mL). Patients with multiple sclerosis and incontinent diabetics also showed increased thresholds of phasic external sphincter contraction compared with controls (P less than 0.05). Diabetics with incontinence had reduced resting and maximal voluntary anal sphincter pressures compared with controls (P less than 0.05), whereas patients with multiple sclerosis and incontinence showed only decreased maximal voluntary anal sphincter pressures (P less than 0.01 vs. controls and diabetics). Incontinent patients with multiple sclerosis also required smaller volumes of rectal distention to inhibit internal sphincter tone compared with diabetics and controls (P less than 0.01). Decreased maximal voluntary squeeze pressures were less severe in continent patients with multiple sclerosis than in incontinent patients with multiple sclerosis. We conclude that impaired function of the external anal sphincter and decreased volumes of rectal distention to inhibit the internal anal sphincter or both may contribute to fecal incontinence in multiple sclerosis. In addition, increased thresholds of conscious rectal sensation in some incontinent patients with multiple sclerosis and diabetes mellitus may contribute to fecal incontinence by impairing the recognition of impending defecation.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

[Dynamics of the activities of postural asymmetry factors and of the recovery of motor function in damage to the neocortex of the left and right hemispheres].

The role of postural asymmetry factors in the recovery of motor function after unilateral cortical lesions was investigated. The differences in the time-course of motor reactions recovery after left- and right-sided cortical damage was found. A more effective compensation of motor defects in animals with left-sided damage was accompanied by stable activity of postural asymmetry factors. The reported results indicate an important role of postural asymmetry factors in the early compensatory intra-central rearrangements.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Motor function compensation in patients with infantile residual encephalopathy and epilepsy following hemispherectomy].

The author studied the time-course of motor function in the paretic and healthy limbs of 12 patients who underwent hemispherectomy. The neurological symptomatology, H-reflex parameters, and the results of a series of motor tests were appraised. In the acute postoperative period, the short-lived signs of central shock in the paretic limbs were observed, which were then replaced by increased excitability of the central nervous system on the side of the hemiparesis. Besides cessation of attacks and epileptic activity on the ECG in the late period, the author recorded total rise of the threshold of H-reflex production and improvement in the performance of the motor tests in unispheric patients, which were regarded as signs of epilepsy compensation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Effects of sensory and motor functioning on adult intellectual performance.

This study examined longitudinal health and intelligence data to determine whether sensory or motor deficits account for some of the age-related intellectual changes that are commonly seen from midlife onward. Although sensory and motor functioning did not account for the age-related decrements in performance on speeded, visual perceptual tasks found for this sample in previous work, we did find that hearing deficits added error variance to performance estimates on two verbal subtests of the Wechsler scales.

Adult↗