title: Motor impairment in Wilson's disease, II: Slowness of speech.
abstract: The maximal syllable production rate (MSPR) and the ability to reproduce a given target frequency in the 1 to 8 Hz range by repeating the short syllable "ta" was tested in 20 patients with Wilson's disease (WD) and 20 normal subjects. MSPR was significantly reduced in the WD-patients. In the 1 to 5 Hz range normal subjects as well as WD-patients tended to produce slightly higher frequencies than the target frequencies. This hastening was maximal in normals between 4 to 5 Hz whereas in the WD-patients hastening mainly occurred between 3 to 4 Hz. The test results showed a considerable variation across the patients. This variation can be interpreted on the basis of the theory of coupled oscillators. Comparison of speech and finger movements revealed a highly significant correlation between MSPR and the highest possible frequency of voluntary alternating index finger movements. As an application of the presented test treatment effects on speech movements were demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Düsseldorf, Germany.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hefter
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Arendt
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stremmel
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Freund
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006527:Hepatolenticular Degeneration / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008838:Microcomputers; D008875:Middle Aged; D009119:Muscle Contraction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D010396:Penicillamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D013018:Sound Spectrography / Q000295:instrumentation; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D010396:Penicillamine