Frequency-Selective Suppression of Essential Tremor via Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Essential tremor (ET) is a common debilitating condition, yet current treatments often fail to provide satisfactory relief. Transcutaneous spinal cord electrical stimulation (tSCS) has emerged as a potential noninvasive neuromodulation technique capable of disrupting the oscillatory activity underlying tremors. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the potential of tSCS to disrupt tremor in a frequency-dependent manner in a cohort of patients with ET. METHODS: Eighteen patients with ET completed the study. The experiment consisted of 60-s postural tremor recording, during tSCS at tremor frequency, at 1 Hz, at 21 Hz, no stimulation, and trapezius stimulation. Tremor frequency and amplitude were analyzed and compared across the conditions. RESULTS: We found tremor amplitude reduction at tremor frequency stimulation significant only during the second half of the stimulation. The same stimulation resulted in the highest number of responders. tSCS at 1 Hz showed a trend toward decreased tremor amplitude in the latter half of stimulation. tSCS at 21 Hz did not produce any significant alterations in tremor, whereas trapezius stimulation exacerbated it. Notably, during tremor frequency stimulation, a subgroup of responders exhibited consistent synchronization between tremor phase and delivered stimulation, indicating tremor entrainment. CONCLUSIONS: Cervical tSCS holds promise for alleviating postural tremor in patients with ET when delivered at the subject's tremor frequency. The observed changes in tremor amplitude likely result from the modulation of spinal cord circuits by tSCS, which disrupts the oscillatory drive to muscles by affecting afferent pathways or spinal reflexes. However, the possibility of an interplay between spinal and supraspinal centers cannot be discounted. © 2024 The Author(s). Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Differential cell motion: A mathematical model of anterior posterior sorting.

Here, we investigate how a subpopulation of cells can move through an aggregate of cells. Using a stochastic force-based model of Dictyostelium discoideum when the population is forming a slug, we simulate different strategies for prestalk cells to reliably move to the front of the slug while omitting interaction with the substrate thus ignoring the overall motion of the slug. Of the mechanisms that we simulated, prestalk cells being more directed is the best strategy followed by increased asymmetric motive forces for prestalk cells. The lifetime of the cell adhesion molecules, while not enough to produce differential motion, did modulate the results of the strategies employed. Finally, understanding and simulating the appropriate boundary conditions are essential to correctly predict the motion.

PDE1 Inhibition Modulates Cav1.2 Channel to Stimulate Cardiomyocyte Contraction.

[Figure: see text].