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Gender Differences in Processing Emotional Prosody
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Society Proceedings / Clinical Neurophysiology 118 (2007) e9–e116
Intracortical inhibition and facilitation in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis—A Szele´nyi 3, A Szele´nyi 1, M 2 2 Rauschmann , A Mayer , U Ziemann 3 (1 Klinik fu¨r Neurochirurgie, Klinikum JWG Universita¨ t, Frankfurt a.M., 2 Klinik fu¨ r Orthopa¨ die, Stiftung Friedrichsheim, Klinikum JWG Universita¨t, Frankfurt a.Main, 3 Klinik fu¨r Neurologie, Klinikum JWG Universita¨t, Frankfurt a.M.)
Fig. 2.
Functional output performance in paraplegic cycling propelled by leg stimulation with middle frequency alternating current—J Szecsi, P Krause, S Krafczyk, T Brandt, A Straube (Zentrum fu¨r Sensomotorik der Neurologischen Klinik der LMU, Mu¨nchen) Introduction: A requirement of functional electrical stimulation (FES), which is used extensively in rehabilitation of paraplegics, is that the stimulation should elicit a sufficiently powerful muscle contraction with minimum discomfort and fatigue. Although low frequency rectangular pulsed current (LFRP) is usually used, information has been increasing, that middle frequency alternating current (MFAC) reduces the fatigue rate more than LFRP. Additionally could be expected that MFAC causes less pain, thus allowing stimulation of sensory incomplete paraplegics. Because such MFAC stimulation-induced lower fatigue rate is a tradeoff with force reduction, it is important to determine whether MFAC stimulation is a realistic option for FES of paraplegics. Objective: To compare the isometric force, power, and pain sensations during FES cycling of paraplegics during electrical stimulation using MFAC or standard LFRP. Methods: Eleven complete paraplegic subjects participated. Isometric torques of the leg muscles and the pedaling power generated in the first 20 min during ergometer cycling were collected during stimulation (Fig. 1) with 20 Hz LFRP or 4 KHz sinusoidal modulated with 50 Hz MFAC (a total of four sessions). Subjectively sensed pain was quantitatively recorded during ergometer cycling at maximal stimulation with the visual analogue scale (VAS) method. Results: Isometric torque elicited during MFAC stimulation was significantly lower (p < 0.02). Moreover, mean pedaling power generated during MFAC was highly and significantly lower (p < 0.001) than during standard LFRP stimulation (Fig. 2). While there were no complains registered during LFRP stimulation, four of 11 participants reported an abdominal, tugging discomfort during MFAC stimulation (mean VAS = 3.2). Conclusion: From a clinical viewpoint MFAC is not a viable option for enhancing functional output or for minimizing discomfort during FES of complete and incomplete paraplegics. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.237
Objective: The etiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is still unknown. As this spine deformity parallels spine deformities in patients with Parkinson’s disease or dystonia, it is discussed that AIS might be caused by a movement disorder, e.g. a form of dystonia. In dystonia short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) of motor cortex is significantly reduced compared to healthy subjects. This study assessed SICI and intracortical facilitation (ICF) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in patients with AIS and age-matched healthy subjects. Methods: In 11 patients with AIS (15.3 ± 1.7; seven females, three male; right convex thoracic scoliosis) and nine healthy subjects (15.6 ± 2.3 years; eight females, one male) SICI and ICF were evaluated with a paired pulse paradigm (interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 1, 2, 3, 10 and 15 ms). For each ISI, eight stimuli were randomly applied with a figure-of-8-coil (MagStim Co, Uk) over the left and right hemispheric hot spots of the motor cortex hand area. According to the Kujirai protocol [J Physiol 1993, 471: 501], the intensity of the conditioning stimulus was set at 80% of the resting motor threshold and the test stimulus was set to evoke an MEP of 1.5 mV amplitude. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right and left Abd. pollicis brevis muscles (APB). SICI and ICF were quantified as percentage of conditioned over unconditioned MEP amplitudes. Results: Patients with AIS and healthy adolescents showed a similarly marked SICI at ISIs of 1, 2 and 3 ms in the right APB (26 ± 18%/28 ± 26%; 50 ± 41%/49 ± 34%; 35 ± 18%/30 ± 16%; n.s.) and left APB (35 ± 22%/27 ± 18%; 48 ± 39%/51 ± 27%; 41 ± 22%/30 ± 16%; n.s.). Patients with AIS and healthy adolescents also demonstrated a similar ICF at the ISIs of 10 and 15 ms in the right APB (121 ± 64%/152 ± 61%; 139 ± 52%/145 ± 65%, n.s) and left APB (146 ± 46%/130 ± 45%; 188 ± 113%/ 123 ± 46%, n.s.). Conclusion: The normal SICI and ICF in patients with AIS is in contrast to one previous report [Domenech, Neurology 1997;48:A344] and findings of reduced SICI in focal dystonia. Therefore, our findings do not support the view that AIS is a form of focal dystonia. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.238
Gender Differences in Processing Emotional Prosody—F. Szymanowski 1, F. Szymanowski 1, S.A. Kotz 2, C. Schro¨der 1, M. Rotte 3, R. Dengler 1 (1 Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Neurologische Klinik mit Klinischer Neurophysiologie, 2 Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Leipzig, 3 Neurologische Klinik II, Ottovon-Guericke-Universita¨t Magdeburg) Social interaction requires appropriate understanding and processing of emotional communicative facets. This allows to infere which emotional state a person is in as well as to predict their
Society Proceedings / Clinical Neurophysiology 118 (2007) e9–e116
actions and to adapt ones own behaviour. In speech there are two channels for encoding emotions: (1) semantics – that is the emotional meaning of words and sentences, and (2) prosody – that is the emotional melody of speech. To date, the neural basis of emotional prosodic and semantic information processing is not completely understood. However, we know that the inferior frontal (IFG) and the superior and middle temporal gyri (STG, MTG) play a decisive role in emotional speech processing. For processing semantic anomalies left and bilateral IFG activations and right and bilateral STG/ MTG activatons are reported. In comparison, similar but more right-accentuated activations are reported for prosodic processing. These results are not unanimous, and some studies even implicate gender differences in speech processing. The aim of the current study was to further specify (1) which brain areas are processing and integrating emotional semantic and emotional prosodic information, respectively, and (2) to investigate gender specific differences in the processing and interaction of the two information types. Twenty native German, right-handed participants (ten female) listened to 256 sentences via headphones. Each sentence was spoken by a trained female speaker of German with three intonation contours and three semantic contents (negative, positive or neutral) in either matching or mismatching conditions. All sentences were presented in a pseudorandomized order. Participants were asked to evaluate via button press whether they had listened to negative, positive or neutral emotional prosody. For each sentence two functional MR images were acquired (18 slices, TR 3.5 s). Overall, female participants responded more correctly than male participants. Functional MR reveals brain activations in the IFG, STG, MTG bilaterally and in additional several frontal areas. Activation of the IFG bilaterally in mismatch vs. match conditions show gender differences. The results will be discussed with respect to proposed networks underlying emotional prosodic processing. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.239
Non invasive detection of hypoperfusion and deoxygenation by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in acute ischemic stroke—C. Terborg, K. Gro¨schel, O.W. Witte, A. Kastrup (Klinik fu¨r Neurologie, FSU Jena) Background: Non-invasive monitoring cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation might be of major importance in acute ischemic stroke. The aim of our study was to measure cerebral blood flow and tissue oxygenation in middle cerebral artery infarction by NIRS and indocyanine green (ICG) and compare it with perfusion-weighted MRI (PW-MRI). Patients and methods: In 21 patients with acute infarction of the middle cerebral artery we measured cerebral perfusion by monitoring kinetics of an intravenous bolus of ICG, and tissue oxygenation 2.0 ± 2.3 days after stroke onset. NIRS optodes were placed bitemporally with an interoptode distance of 4 or 5 cm, and absolute concentration changes were measured. For ICG kinetics, time-to-peak, maximum ICG concentration, time interval between 0 and 100% ICG maximum (interval), rise time (time between 10% and 90% ICG maximum), slope (maximum ICG/interval), and blood flow index (BFI = maximum ICG/rise time) were calculated. In seven patients PW-MRI and NIRS-measurements were performed within 24 h.
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Results: Patients with ischemic stroke had increased time-topeak (p < 0.01), time interval (p < 0.01), and rise time (p < 0.02), while ICG maximum (p < 0.02), slope (p < 0.01), and BFI (p < 0.01) were diminished at the site of infarction as compared to the unaffected hemisphere. In patients measured within the first 3 days after stroke onset tissue oxygenation was diminished at the affected hemisphere (p = 0.02). In patients with simultaneous PWMRI and NIRS interhemispheric differences of the parameter interval were closely correlated (r = 0.7). Conclusions: Non-invasive measurement of cerebral ICG kinetics and NIRS provide useful informations about decreased cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke, and parameters correlate with those assessed by PWI-MR. If measurements were performed early after stroke, diminished tissue oxygenation can be detected at the site of infarction. NIRS monitoring might, therefore, guide therapy in order to optimize cerebral perfusion and oxygenation in patients with ischemic stroke. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.240
Preattentive auditory processing – A comparison between traditional and optimized paradigms in EEG and MEG—H. Thoennessen 1, M. Zvyagintsev 1, K.C. Harke 1, F. Boers 2, J. Dammers 2, C. Eulitz 3, K. Mathiak 1, C. Norra 4 (1 Klinik fu¨r Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universita¨tsklinikum, Aachen, 2 Institut fu¨r Medizin, Forschungszentrum Ju¨ lich, 3 Institut fu¨ r Linguistik, Universita¨ t Konstanz, 4 Max-Planck-Institut fu¨ r Experimentelle Medizin, Go¨ ttingen) Aims: The Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential (ERP) which provides an index of automatic context-dependent information processing and auditory sensory memory. MMN studies using traditional ‘‘oddball’’ paradigms (e.g. 80% standards, 20% deviants) replicated deficits in preattentive information processing especially in schizophrenia. In a so-called ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm with only 50% standards but 50% deviants (Na¨a¨ta¨nen et al. 2003) MMN responses are still maintained but assessment time is considerably shortened with advantage of investigating several deviants simultaneously. The present study compared the ‘‘oddball’’ with the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm as well as EEG and MEG measures. We hypothesized the highest sensitivity in the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm with MEG, i.e. the best signalto-noise ratio. Methods: Twelve healthy right-handed volunteers were investigated in a combined EEG und MEG study comparing between (a) the traditional ‘‘oddball’’ paradigm and the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm, (b) between several deviants and (c) between the methods EEG (64-channel) and 148-channel whole-head MEG. Data analysis was preformed with Matlab (Mathworks Inc. USA). Results: Both, the evoked potentials/fields for EEG/MEG showed the typical topographic distribution for auditory ERP i.e. MMN in the preliminary data analysis. Prominent peaks of the averaged dipole strengths corresponded to P50 and N100 components (peak latency: 50–80 and 100–130 ms after stimulus onset). MEG responses showed relatively stronger and prolonged P50 responses as compared to the ERPs suggesting a higher sensitivity to early cortical processes. In MEG deviants elicited reliable mismatch responses over both hemispheres, but presenting
Society Proceedings / Clinical Neurophysiology 118 (2007) e9–e116
Intracortical inhibition and facilitation in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis—A Szele´nyi 3, A Szele´nyi 1, M 2 2 Rauschmann , A Mayer , U Ziemann 3 (1 Klinik fu¨r Neurochirurgie, Klinikum JWG Universita¨ t, Frankfurt a.M., 2 Klinik fu¨ r Orthopa¨ die, Stiftung Friedrichsheim, Klinikum JWG Universita¨t, Frankfurt a.Main, 3 Klinik fu¨r Neurologie, Klinikum JWG Universita¨t, Frankfurt a.M.)
Fig. 2.
Functional output performance in paraplegic cycling propelled by leg stimulation with middle frequency alternating current—J Szecsi, P Krause, S Krafczyk, T Brandt, A Straube (Zentrum fu¨r Sensomotorik der Neurologischen Klinik der LMU, Mu¨nchen) Introduction: A requirement of functional electrical stimulation (FES), which is used extensively in rehabilitation of paraplegics, is that the stimulation should elicit a sufficiently powerful muscle contraction with minimum discomfort and fatigue. Although low frequency rectangular pulsed current (LFRP) is usually used, information has been increasing, that middle frequency alternating current (MFAC) reduces the fatigue rate more than LFRP. Additionally could be expected that MFAC causes less pain, thus allowing stimulation of sensory incomplete paraplegics. Because such MFAC stimulation-induced lower fatigue rate is a tradeoff with force reduction, it is important to determine whether MFAC stimulation is a realistic option for FES of paraplegics. Objective: To compare the isometric force, power, and pain sensations during FES cycling of paraplegics during electrical stimulation using MFAC or standard LFRP. Methods: Eleven complete paraplegic subjects participated. Isometric torques of the leg muscles and the pedaling power generated in the first 20 min during ergometer cycling were collected during stimulation (Fig. 1) with 20 Hz LFRP or 4 KHz sinusoidal modulated with 50 Hz MFAC (a total of four sessions). Subjectively sensed pain was quantitatively recorded during ergometer cycling at maximal stimulation with the visual analogue scale (VAS) method. Results: Isometric torque elicited during MFAC stimulation was significantly lower (p < 0.02). Moreover, mean pedaling power generated during MFAC was highly and significantly lower (p < 0.001) than during standard LFRP stimulation (Fig. 2). While there were no complains registered during LFRP stimulation, four of 11 participants reported an abdominal, tugging discomfort during MFAC stimulation (mean VAS = 3.2). Conclusion: From a clinical viewpoint MFAC is not a viable option for enhancing functional output or for minimizing discomfort during FES of complete and incomplete paraplegics. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.237
Objective: The etiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is still unknown. As this spine deformity parallels spine deformities in patients with Parkinson’s disease or dystonia, it is discussed that AIS might be caused by a movement disorder, e.g. a form of dystonia. In dystonia short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) of motor cortex is significantly reduced compared to healthy subjects. This study assessed SICI and intracortical facilitation (ICF) by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in patients with AIS and age-matched healthy subjects. Methods: In 11 patients with AIS (15.3 ± 1.7; seven females, three male; right convex thoracic scoliosis) and nine healthy subjects (15.6 ± 2.3 years; eight females, one male) SICI and ICF were evaluated with a paired pulse paradigm (interstimulus intervals (ISI) of 1, 2, 3, 10 and 15 ms). For each ISI, eight stimuli were randomly applied with a figure-of-8-coil (MagStim Co, Uk) over the left and right hemispheric hot spots of the motor cortex hand area. According to the Kujirai protocol [J Physiol 1993, 471: 501], the intensity of the conditioning stimulus was set at 80% of the resting motor threshold and the test stimulus was set to evoke an MEP of 1.5 mV amplitude. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the right and left Abd. pollicis brevis muscles (APB). SICI and ICF were quantified as percentage of conditioned over unconditioned MEP amplitudes. Results: Patients with AIS and healthy adolescents showed a similarly marked SICI at ISIs of 1, 2 and 3 ms in the right APB (26 ± 18%/28 ± 26%; 50 ± 41%/49 ± 34%; 35 ± 18%/30 ± 16%; n.s.) and left APB (35 ± 22%/27 ± 18%; 48 ± 39%/51 ± 27%; 41 ± 22%/30 ± 16%; n.s.). Patients with AIS and healthy adolescents also demonstrated a similar ICF at the ISIs of 10 and 15 ms in the right APB (121 ± 64%/152 ± 61%; 139 ± 52%/145 ± 65%, n.s) and left APB (146 ± 46%/130 ± 45%; 188 ± 113%/ 123 ± 46%, n.s.). Conclusion: The normal SICI and ICF in patients with AIS is in contrast to one previous report [Domenech, Neurology 1997;48:A344] and findings of reduced SICI in focal dystonia. Therefore, our findings do not support the view that AIS is a form of focal dystonia. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.238
Gender Differences in Processing Emotional Prosody—F. Szymanowski 1, F. Szymanowski 1, S.A. Kotz 2, C. Schro¨der 1, M. Rotte 3, R. Dengler 1 (1 Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Neurologische Klinik mit Klinischer Neurophysiologie, 2 Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Kognitions- und Neurowissenschaften, Leipzig, 3 Neurologische Klinik II, Ottovon-Guericke-Universita¨t Magdeburg) Social interaction requires appropriate understanding and processing of emotional communicative facets. This allows to infere which emotional state a person is in as well as to predict their
Society Proceedings / Clinical Neurophysiology 118 (2007) e9–e116
actions and to adapt ones own behaviour. In speech there are two channels for encoding emotions: (1) semantics – that is the emotional meaning of words and sentences, and (2) prosody – that is the emotional melody of speech. To date, the neural basis of emotional prosodic and semantic information processing is not completely understood. However, we know that the inferior frontal (IFG) and the superior and middle temporal gyri (STG, MTG) play a decisive role in emotional speech processing. For processing semantic anomalies left and bilateral IFG activations and right and bilateral STG/ MTG activatons are reported. In comparison, similar but more right-accentuated activations are reported for prosodic processing. These results are not unanimous, and some studies even implicate gender differences in speech processing. The aim of the current study was to further specify (1) which brain areas are processing and integrating emotional semantic and emotional prosodic information, respectively, and (2) to investigate gender specific differences in the processing and interaction of the two information types. Twenty native German, right-handed participants (ten female) listened to 256 sentences via headphones. Each sentence was spoken by a trained female speaker of German with three intonation contours and three semantic contents (negative, positive or neutral) in either matching or mismatching conditions. All sentences were presented in a pseudorandomized order. Participants were asked to evaluate via button press whether they had listened to negative, positive or neutral emotional prosody. For each sentence two functional MR images were acquired (18 slices, TR 3.5 s). Overall, female participants responded more correctly than male participants. Functional MR reveals brain activations in the IFG, STG, MTG bilaterally and in additional several frontal areas. Activation of the IFG bilaterally in mismatch vs. match conditions show gender differences. The results will be discussed with respect to proposed networks underlying emotional prosodic processing. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.239
Non invasive detection of hypoperfusion and deoxygenation by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in acute ischemic stroke—C. Terborg, K. Gro¨schel, O.W. Witte, A. Kastrup (Klinik fu¨r Neurologie, FSU Jena) Background: Non-invasive monitoring cerebral hemodynamics and oxygenation might be of major importance in acute ischemic stroke. The aim of our study was to measure cerebral blood flow and tissue oxygenation in middle cerebral artery infarction by NIRS and indocyanine green (ICG) and compare it with perfusion-weighted MRI (PW-MRI). Patients and methods: In 21 patients with acute infarction of the middle cerebral artery we measured cerebral perfusion by monitoring kinetics of an intravenous bolus of ICG, and tissue oxygenation 2.0 ± 2.3 days after stroke onset. NIRS optodes were placed bitemporally with an interoptode distance of 4 or 5 cm, and absolute concentration changes were measured. For ICG kinetics, time-to-peak, maximum ICG concentration, time interval between 0 and 100% ICG maximum (interval), rise time (time between 10% and 90% ICG maximum), slope (maximum ICG/interval), and blood flow index (BFI = maximum ICG/rise time) were calculated. In seven patients PW-MRI and NIRS-measurements were performed within 24 h.
e103
Results: Patients with ischemic stroke had increased time-topeak (p < 0.01), time interval (p < 0.01), and rise time (p < 0.02), while ICG maximum (p < 0.02), slope (p < 0.01), and BFI (p < 0.01) were diminished at the site of infarction as compared to the unaffected hemisphere. In patients measured within the first 3 days after stroke onset tissue oxygenation was diminished at the affected hemisphere (p = 0.02). In patients with simultaneous PWMRI and NIRS interhemispheric differences of the parameter interval were closely correlated (r = 0.7). Conclusions: Non-invasive measurement of cerebral ICG kinetics and NIRS provide useful informations about decreased cerebral blood flow in patients with acute stroke, and parameters correlate with those assessed by PWI-MR. If measurements were performed early after stroke, diminished tissue oxygenation can be detected at the site of infarction. NIRS monitoring might, therefore, guide therapy in order to optimize cerebral perfusion and oxygenation in patients with ischemic stroke. doi:10.1016/j.clinph.2006.11.240
Preattentive auditory processing – A comparison between traditional and optimized paradigms in EEG and MEG—H. Thoennessen 1, M. Zvyagintsev 1, K.C. Harke 1, F. Boers 2, J. Dammers 2, C. Eulitz 3, K. Mathiak 1, C. Norra 4 (1 Klinik fu¨r Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Universita¨tsklinikum, Aachen, 2 Institut fu¨r Medizin, Forschungszentrum Ju¨ lich, 3 Institut fu¨ r Linguistik, Universita¨ t Konstanz, 4 Max-Planck-Institut fu¨ r Experimentelle Medizin, Go¨ ttingen) Aims: The Mismatch negativity (MMN) is an event-related potential (ERP) which provides an index of automatic context-dependent information processing and auditory sensory memory. MMN studies using traditional ‘‘oddball’’ paradigms (e.g. 80% standards, 20% deviants) replicated deficits in preattentive information processing especially in schizophrenia. In a so-called ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm with only 50% standards but 50% deviants (Na¨a¨ta¨nen et al. 2003) MMN responses are still maintained but assessment time is considerably shortened with advantage of investigating several deviants simultaneously. The present study compared the ‘‘oddball’’ with the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm as well as EEG and MEG measures. We hypothesized the highest sensitivity in the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm with MEG, i.e. the best signalto-noise ratio. Methods: Twelve healthy right-handed volunteers were investigated in a combined EEG und MEG study comparing between (a) the traditional ‘‘oddball’’ paradigm and the ‘‘optimum’’ paradigm, (b) between several deviants and (c) between the methods EEG (64-channel) and 148-channel whole-head MEG. Data analysis was preformed with Matlab (Mathworks Inc. USA). Results: Both, the evoked potentials/fields for EEG/MEG showed the typical topographic distribution for auditory ERP i.e. MMN in the preliminary data analysis. Prominent peaks of the averaged dipole strengths corresponded to P50 and N100 components (peak latency: 50–80 and 100–130 ms after stimulus onset). MEG responses showed relatively stronger and prolonged P50 responses as compared to the ERPs suggesting a higher sensitivity to early cortical processes. In MEG deviants elicited reliable mismatch responses over both hemispheres, but presenting