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Introduction: To evaluate the sensitivity of F-wave minimal latencies, we compared F-waves with motor and sensory nerve conduction studies (MNCS and SNCS) in patients with peripheral neuropathy.Methods:A retrospective chart review conducted in 484 patients confirmed the clinical evidence of a polyneuropathy, and studies of F-wave minimal latencies as well as MNCS and SNCS in each patient.Results: Overall rate of abnormality reached 469/484 (96.9%) for F-wave minimal latencies as compared to 374/484 (77%) for nerve conduction studies ( p< 0.0001). Nerve-specific abnormalities of F-waves showed 290/354 (82%), 140/171 (82%), 367/398 (92%) and 357/376 (95%) for median, ulnar, peroneal and tibial nerves, respectively. Corresponding values for MNCS consisted of 108/354 (31%), 29/171 (17%), 258/398 (65%) and 189/376 (50%) (allp< 0.0001). In contrast, SNCS revealed abnormalities in 120/333 (36%), 60/159 (38%) and 266/474 (56%) of median, ulnar and sural nerves.Conclusion:F-wave minimal latencies serve as the best predictor of polyneuropathy followed by SNCS and then MNCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial nanofiber nerve guides have gained huge interest in bridging nerve gaps and associated peripheral nerve regeneration due to its high surface area, flexibility and porous structure. In this study, electrospun poly (ε-caprolactone)/gelatin (PCL/Gel) nanofibrous mats were fabricated, rolled around a copper wire and fixed by medical grade adhesive to obtain a tubular shaped bio-graft, to bridge 10 mm sciatic nerve gap in in vivo rat models. Stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous tooth (SHED) were transplanted to the site of nerve injury through the nanofibrous nerve guides. In vivo experiments were performed in animal models after creating a sciatic nerve gap, such that the nerve gap was grafted using (i) nanofiber nerve guide (ii) nanofiber nerve guide seeded with SHED (iii) suturing, while an untreated nerve gap remained as the negative control. In vitro cell culture study was carried out for primary investigation of SHED-nanofiber interaction and its viability within the nerve guides after 2 and 16 weeks of implantation time. Walking track analysis, plantar test, electrophysiology and immunohistochemistry were performed to evaluate functional recovery during nerve regeneration. Vascularization was also investigated by hematoxilin/eosine (H&E) staining. Overall results showed that the SHED seeded on nanofibrous nerve guide could survive and promote axonal regeneration in rat sciatic nerves, whereby the biocompatible PCL/Gel nerve guide with cells can support axonal regeneration and could be a promising tissue engineered graft for peripheral nerve regeneration. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 102A: 4554-4567, 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biometric characteristics of the human body can play a decisive role in the accuracy of automatic signature verification systems due to their stability over time and resistance to variability in different conditions. In this study, the accuracy of an automatic handwritten signature verification system is checked for nine months. In this system, the electromyography (EMG) signals from the hand muscles of people during signing are recorded at different times up to nine months, and after the pre-processing of the signals, muscle synergy patterns are extracted by the non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) method. Finally, the patterns extracted by the SVM classifier are classified into two classes: genuine and forgery signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) often complain of prominent pain in shoulder and arm, also there are patients that have pain in their shoulder and arm which is due to myofascial trigger point (MTP) located in their upper trapezius muscle. Despite the frequency of this observation, few studies have previously sought to establish possible relationship between the CTS and MTP in shoulder area., Methods: Samples were 160 patients (221 hands) consist of 130 females and 30 males, with suspected diagnosis of CTS, from March 2008 to October 2008. In this study after performing electrodiagnosis searches, another evaluation was performed to find out if there was any sign of myofascial trigger point. The correlation between these two was sought., Results: It was found that all of 36 hands with normal electrodiagnostic findings had myofascial trigger points in their upper trapezius muscle. Out of 185 hands, 130 hands (70%) with electrophysiological evidences of CTS showed myofascial trigger points in their trapezius muscles. Statistical analysis revealed significant (p < 0.001) reverse correlation between the severity of CTS and the presence of MTP., Conclusions: The findings of this study imply the significant correlation between occurrence of CTS and MTP. It is suggested that clinicians consider the probability of existence of MTP in patients referred for diagnosis of CTS.