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We have presented studies on FES control commands from central nervous system. This paper aimed to clarify how to detect the intention for movement before or without execution. The activity of 782 neurons was recorded from the forelimb and shoulder area of the primary motor cortex and premotor cortex of a monkey. A significant increase or decrease in neuronal activity was detected preceding the execution of a trained reaching movement. The activity in 317 neurons has enabled a computer to predict the reaching direction before movement onset by using a new analysis method of differences in neuronal activities among reaching direction. These results suggest that neuronal activities of these areas may be used as the control commands for FES.

This paper reports the findings of a pioneering study of central conduction in 21 leprosy patients. Somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) and compound nerve action potentials (CHAP) are recorded after electrical stimulation of median nerves of subjects. The data fro. both the SEPs and the CHAPs were subjected to time domain, frequency domain and discriminant analyses. The amplitudes and power spectra of the SEPs and the discriminating power of the central conduction time unambiguously prove that the central nervous system (CNS) is spared in leprosy. In contrast, the significant changes in the characteristics of CNAPs indicate a high degree of peripheral nerve abnormality. Thus, that the mycobacterium leprae do not infect the CNS is electrophysiologically established for the first time.

The 2-deoxyglucose labelling method provides simultaneous functional maps of all components of the central nervous system in unanesthesized laboratory animals under basal or various physiological, pharmachological and pathological conditions. This paper presents the image processing techniques used to associate brain metabolic pattern and function with neuroanatomy and to objectively compare the metabolic activity of various structures. Specifically, we described the techniques used for three-dimentional (3-D) reconstruction of the brain and spinal cord of rats, their 3-D visualization and the registration of the volumes reconstructed from images of histological slides and autoradiographs.