8 mm) which

are attached to precisely defined positions on moving body parts. The ultrasonic system evaluates transmission times of ultrasound impulses (40 kHz), emitted from these markers and received by three microphones mounted on a stationary frame. Thus, a local coordinate system is determined, and three-dimensional coordinates of the markers can be derived by triangulation (Figure 1. ). By this technique, the spatial positions of the markers are sampled at a frequency of up to 100 Hz, which corresponds Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a temporal resolution of 10 ms. The spatial resolution of the system is less than 0.6 mm. Many spatial and temporal motor parameters can be computed by using special software packages. Excellent, reproducibility and accuracy of the device has been demonstrated in several Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical studies.23,24 Figure 1. Ultrasonic movement analysis: calculation of the three-dimensional spatial position (coordinates: x, y, z) of ultrasonic emitters on the different transmission times (t1-3) of the ultrasound signals to the three microphones. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical US, ultrasonic. Analysis of gait disturbances in patients By using this system, we PF-02341066 mouse assessed the locomotor patterns of gait in schizophrenic patients and differentiated intrinsic effects of the illness from those caused by conventional and atypical neuroleptic treatment.25

Gait parameters of 16 drug-nai’ve, 25 conventionally treated (halopcridol: n=17, mean dose 6.4 +/- standard deviation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical [SD] 3.4 mg/day; fluphenazine: n=5, 11.2 +/- SD 7.7 mg/day; flupentixol:

n=3, 6.7 +/- SD 2.9 mg/day) and 25 atypically treated patients (olanzapine: n=20, mean dose 16.2 +/- SD 6.3 mg/day; amisulpridc: n=5; 560 +/- SD 89 mg/day), as well as 25 control subjects, were evaluated. Differences in gait, velocity and in stride length between the four investigated groups were highly significant, (analysis of variance [ANOVA]: P<0.001). Mean gait velocities of all patient groups were significantly slower Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical than those of controls, with the most, striking difference observed between the control group and patients treated with conventional neuroleptics (P<0.001). Amongst the patient, groups, significant differences were detected between patients treated with conventional neuroleptics, and both patients treated with atypical neuroleptics and drug-nai've patients (P<0.05), but not between untreated whatever and atypically treated patients. In all patient, groups the reduction in gait velocity was due to a smaller mean stride length, while the cadence (steps per minute) was not, changed. These results indicate that schizophrenia causes a primary disturbance of stride length regulation. Conventional antipsychotic treatment, intensifies this deficit, whereas atypical antipsychotic treatment docs not cause any additional gait, disturbances.