Laboratory for Rehabilitation Neuroscience
Abstract Rasagiline is a monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor that possesses no amphetamine-like properties, and provides symptomatic relief in early and late stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Data in animal models of PD suggest that chronic administration of rasagiline is associated with structural changes in the substantia nigra, and raise the question whether the structure […]
Link to paper Abstract Conventional single tensor diffusion analysis models have provided mixed findings in the substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease, but recent work using a bi-tensor analysis model has shown more promising results. Using a bi-tensor model, free-water values were found to be increased in the posterior substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease compared with […]
Abstract Pain-related adaptions in movement require a network architecture that allows for integration across pain and motor circuits. Previous studies addressing this issue have focused on cortical areas such as the midcingulate cortex. Here we focus on pain and motor processing in the human cerebellum. The goal in the current study was to identify areas […]
Abstract There is a clear need to develop non-invasive markers of substantia nigra progression in Parkinson’s disease. We previously found elevated free-water levels in the substantia nigra for patients with Parkinson’s disease compared with controls in single-site and multi-site cohorts. Here, we test the hypotheses that free-water levels in the substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease […]
Abstract Precise motor control requires the ability to scale the parameters of movement. Theta oscillations across the cortex have been associated with changes in memory, attention, and sensorimotor processing. What has proven more elusive is pinpointing the region-specific frequency band oscillations that are associated with specific parameters of movement during the acceleration and deceleration phases. […]
Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the parkinsonian variant of multiple system atrophy (MSAp) are neurodegenerative disorders that can be difficult to differentiate clinically. This study provides the first characterization of the patterns of task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) changes across the whole brain in MSAp. We used fMRI during a precision grip force task […]
Abstract Measures from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging reflect changes in the substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease. It is the case, however, that partial volume effects from free-water can bias diffusion measurements. The bi-tensor diffusion model was introduced to quantify the contribution of free-water and eliminates its bias on estimations of tissue microstructure. Here, we test […]
Kurani et al. 2014 Neurobiology of Aging PDF Link Here Abstract: Previous research has indicated increased functional connectivity between subthalamic nucleus (STN) and sensorimotor cortex in off-medication Parkinson’s disease (PD) compared with control subjects. It is not clear if the increase in functional connectivity between STN and sensorimotor cortex occurs in de novo PD, which […]
Neely et al. (2014) Cerebral Cortex PDF Link Here Abstract It is well-established that during goal-directed motor tasks, patients with essential tremor have increased oscillations in the 0–3 and 3–8 Hz bands. It remains unclear if these increased oscillations relate to activity in specific brain regions. This study used task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging to […]
PLoS One. 2014 Feb 4;9(2):e88105. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088105. eCollection 2014. Dose-response effect of isometric force production on the perception of pain. Misra G, Paris TA, Archer DB, Coombes SA. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24505397 Isometric contractions can influence the way that we perceive pain, but conclusions on the dose-response effect of force amplitude on pain perception are limited because previous […]