Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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During wakefulness, nociceptive thermal stimulation can trigger a rapid and transient rise in heart rate (HR). During sleep, HR variations are different across sleep stages; HR is more variable in stage 2 and in REM than in stages 3 and 4. The aim of this study was to assess the HR response to experimental thermal stimulation during different sleep stages. ⋯ The brief increase in cardiac activity with experimental nociceptive stimulation suggests that during sleep, the autonomic-cardiac nervous system remains reactive to external sensory inputs and is part of the physiological response to preserve body safety and sleep integrity in the face of potentially harmful stimulation.
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Comparative Study
Sensitivity of recordings at sphenoidal electrode site for detecting seizure onset: evidence from scalp, superficial and deep foramen ovale recordings.
Some authors have recently stressed that the position of the tip of sphenoidal electrodes plays a crucial role in their efficacy in detecting ictal onset. An opportunity to test this hypothesis is provided by recordings from the most superficial contacts of foramen ovale (FO) electrode bundles because these contacts are located at the FO, in a position equivalent to that of optimally located sphenoidal electrodes. To simplify wording, recordings obtained by superficial FO electrodes will hereafter be called sphenoidal recordings, although they have not been obtained with standard sphenoidal electrodes. The sensitivities of simultaneous scalp and sphenoidal recordings for detecting ictal onset have been compared with each other, and with a 'gold standard' provided by simultaneous deep intracranial FO recordings from the mesial aspect of the temporal lobe. ⋯ Extracranial electrodes located next to the FO at the sphenoidal electrode site yield an improvement over suitable surface electrodes in the identification of ictal onset in only 5.4-7% of seizures. Such improvement derives from the fact that the low amplitude signals often seen at seizure onset may show higher amplitude on sphenoidal than on scalp recordings.
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Phase coupling between EEG channel pairs in various frequency bands was evaluated during propofol anesthetic induction and recovery periods. ⋯ Induction and recovery from propofol anesthesia changes the phase synchronization between the EEG channels. The passband and location-specific behavior of these changes reveals the effects of the anesthetic to the different neural mechanisms.
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To investigate whether afferent-induced suppression of cortical somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) occurs at a spinal site along the transmission route of afferent signals from the tibial nerve to the primary somatosensory cortex. ⋯ These results indicate that afferent-induced suppression of the initial complex of the SEP can be mediated at a spinal synapse.
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Clinical Trial
Subliminal visual oddball stimuli evoke a P300 component.
To provide evidence that a P300 component can be elicited by subliminal stimuli in an oddball paradigm. ⋯ Results provide evidence that an endogenous component can be elicited by undetectable subliminal stimuli in an oddball paradigm. Implications are discussed for comparing conscious and unconscious information processing, unconscious learning, and the measurement of ERPs to subliminal stimuli.