Speech impairment is a frequent and often serious symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by a disorder of phonation, articulation and prosody. While research on the pathogenesis of the prominent limb motor symptoms has made considerable progress in recent years, the pathophysiology of PD speech impairment is still incompletely understood. To investigate the neural correlates of speech production in PD, EEG was recorded in 14 non-demented patients with idiopathic PD and preserved verbal fluency on regular dopaminergic medication (8 women; mean age ± SD: 69.5 ± 8.0 years). The control group consisted of 15 healthy age-matched individuals (7 women; age: 69.7 ± 7.0 years). All participants performed a visually-cued, overt speech production task; required utterances were papapa and pataka. During the preparatory phase of speech production, in a time window of 200-400 ms after presentation of the visual cue, β-power was significantly increased in PD patients compared to healthy controls. Previous research has shown that the physiological decrease of β-power preceding limb movement onset is delayed and smaller in PD patients off medication and normalizes under dopaminergic treatment. By contrast, our study demonstrates that β-power during preparation for speech production is higher in patients on dopaminergic therapy than controls. Thus, our results suggest that the mechanisms that regulate β-activity preceding limb movement and speech production differ in PD. The pathophysiological role of this increase in β-power during speech preparation needs to be determined.
Speech impairment is a frequent and often serious symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by a disorder of phonation, articulation and prosody. While research on the pathogenesis of the prominent limb motor symptoms has made considerable progress in recent years, the pathophysiology of PD speech impairment is still incompletely understood. To investigate the neural correlates of speech production in PD, EEG was recorded in 14 non-demented patients with idiopathic PD and preserved verbal fluency on regular dopaminergic medication (8 women; mean age ± SD: 69.5 ± 8.0 years). The control group consisted of 15 healthy age-matched individuals (7 women; age: 69.7 ± 7.0 years). All participants performed a visually-cued, overt speech production task; required utterances were papapa and pataka. During the preparatory phase of speech production, in a time window of 200-400 ms after presentation of the visual cue, β-power was significantly increased in PD patients compared to healthy controls. Previous research has shown that the physiological decrease of β-power preceding limb movement onset is delayed and smaller in PD patients off medication and normalizes under dopaminergic treatment. By contrast, our study demonstrates that β-power during preparation for speech production is higher in patients on dopaminergic therapy than controls. Thus, our results suggest that the mechanisms that regulate β-activity preceding limb movement and speech production differ in PD. The pathophysiological role of this increase in β-power during speech preparation needs to be determined.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 Jul 24;11:371. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00371. eCollection 2017.
Speech impairment is a frequent and often serious symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD), characterized by a disorder of phonation, articulation and prosody. While research on the pathogenesis of the prominent limb motor symptoms has made considerable progress in recent years, the pathophysiology of PD speech impairment is still incompletely understood. To investigate the neural correlates of speech production in PD, EEG was recorded in 14 non-demented patients with idiopathic PD and preserved verbal fluency on regular dopaminergic medication (8 women; mean age ± SD: 69.5 ± 8.0 years). The control group consisted of 15 healthy age-matched individuals (7 women; age: 69.7 ± 7.0 years). All participants performed a visually-cued, overt speech production task; required utterances were papapa and pataka. During the preparatory phase of speech production, in a time window of 200-400 ms after presentation of the visual cue, β-power was significantly increased in PD patients compared to healthy controls. Previous research has shown that the physiological decrease of β-power preceding limb movement onset is delayed and smaller in PD patients off medication and normalizes under dopaminergic treatment. By contrast, our study demonstrates that β-power during preparation for speech production is higher in patients on dopaminergic therapy than controls. Thus, our results suggest that the mechanisms that regulate β-activity preceding limb movement and speech production differ in PD. The pathophysiological role of this increase in β-power during speech preparation needs to be determined.
ttys is an wearable data acquisition device with a special focus on biomedical signals such as heart activity (ECG), muscle activity (EMG) and brain activity (EEG). It’s open firmware, open API and has open source applications on github in C++ and JAVA to encourage people to create their own custom versions for mobile devices, tablets and PC.
Die Eigenversorgung mit Ökostrom wird für Hausbesitzer und Unternehmen erheblich unattraktiver: Die Koalition will sie nach F.A.Z.-Informationen künftig einheitlich mit einer Abgabe von 40 Prozent der jeweils geltenden EEG-Umlage belasten.
Die Bundesregierung plant grundlegende Reformen zur Absicherung der Energiewende. Das wird schwer, kündigte Bundesumweltminister Peter Altmaier an. Und nicht billig, ergänzte Bundeswirtschaftsminister Philipp Rösler bei der Vorstellung des ersten Monitoring-Berichts „Energie der Zukunft“. Passend zum Thema veröffentlicht EurActiv.de das aktuelle YellowPaper „Energiewende“.
Die vier Betreiber von Höchstspannungsleitungen in Deutschland haben heute (Montag) die über den Strompreis zu zahlende Umlage zur Förderung erneuerbarer Energien für 2013 bekanntgegeben. Die EEG-Umlage steigt demnach um fast die Hälfte. EurActiv.de bringt eine Auswahl von Reaktionen betroffener Verbände.
L. Schmidt, und M. Domhardt. Biophysiologische Interfaces in der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion: 1. Berliner Fachtagung (Berlin 2009), Seite 21–28. Düsseldorf, VDI-Verlag, (2009)
M. Domhardt, und L. Schmidt. Arbeit, Beschäftigungsfähigkeit und Produktivität im 21. Jahrhundert: 55. Kongress der Gesellschaft für Arbeitswissenschaft (Dortmund 2009), Seite 105–108. Dortmund, GfA-Press, (2009)