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. 2014 Jul 22;9(7):e102328.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102328. eCollection 2014.

Tactile and proprioceptive temporal discrimination are impaired in functional tremor

Michele Tinazzi  1 , Alfonso Fasano  2 , Alessia Peretti  1 , Francesco Bove  3 , Antonella Conte  4 , Carlo Dallocchio, Carla Arbasino  5 , Giovanni Defazio  6 , Mirta Fiorio  1 , Alfredo Berardelli  4
Affiliations

Tactile and proprioceptive temporal discrimination are impaired in functional tremor

Michele Tinazzi et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

  • PLoS One. 2014;9(10):e111287. Dall'Occhio, Carlo [corrected to Dallocchio, Carlo]

Abstract

Background and methods: In order to obtain further information on the pathophysiology of functional tremor, we assessed tactile discrimination threshold and proprioceptive temporal discrimination motor threshold values in 11 patients with functional tremor, 11 age- and sex-matched patients with essential tremor and 13 healthy controls.

Results: Tactile discrimination threshold in both the right and left side was significantly higher in patients with functional tremor than in the other groups. Proprioceptive temporal discrimination threshold for both right and left side was significantly higher in patients with functional and essential tremor than in healthy controls. No significant correlation between discrimination thresholds and duration or severity of tremor was found.

Conclusions: Temporal processing of tactile and proprioceptive stimuli is impaired in patients with functional tremor. The mechanisms underlying this impaired somatosensory processing and possible ways to apply these findings clinically merit further research.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist and that the co-author Alfonso Fasano is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. As specifically requested, the authors confirm that this does not alter their adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. TDT and TDMT in patients with ET, FT and healthy controls.
A) Tactile temporal discrimination thresholds (TDT) obtained in healthy controls (HC), patients with essential tremor (ET) and functional tremor (FT) after stimuli applied separately to the right (blue bars) and left (grey bars) hand; B) Temporal discrimination movement thresholds (TDMT) obtained in HC, and patients with ET, and FT after stimuli applied separately to the right (blue bars) and left (grey bars) first dorsal interosseous (FDI); C) and flexor carpii radialis (FCR) muscles.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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