Movement Neurophysiology - John N. Caviness

Electrophysiology of Brain Bank Subjects

The goal of this project is to correlate pathology diagnosis and neuronal abnormalities with neurophysiology changes measured by electrophysiology methods. Brain bank donors with neurodegenerative illness — such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and atypical parkinsonian syndromes — as well as normal controls undergo electroencephalography, surface electromyography and accelerometer recording.

Offline analysis allows pattern definition, back-averaging, frequency analysis and other techniques to be employed. When the brain donor subject comes to autopsy, routine pathology studies are performed. Tissue is also stored for other analyses. Movement disorders and cognitive status are the main subjects of this study, which is being done in collaboration with Banner Sun Health Research Institute.