02 (comparing the top versus bottom quartile of CRP; 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 1.52-2.68), adjusted for cigarette smoking, diabetes, systolic blood pressure,

body mass index, and cholesterol. The association between past-year AZD5363 MDD and IHD was independent of CRP (odds ratio = 1.55; 95% Cl = 1.01-2.37, with adjustments as above, and additionally for CRP). Conclusions: Evidence from this study is supportive of an association between MDD and CRP although it suggests that CRP does not account for the association between MDD and future IHD.”
“EV71 is the primary pathogenic cause of hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD), but an effective antiviral drug currently is unavailable. Rupintrivir, an inhibitor against human rhinovirus (HRV), has potent antiviral activities against EV71. We determined the high-resolution crystal structures of the EV71 3C(pro)/rupintrivir complex, showing that although rupintrivir interacts with EV71 3C(pro) similarly to HRV 3C(pro), the C Entrectinib terminus of

the inhibitor cannot accommodate the leaving-group pockets of EV71 3C(pro). Our structures reveal that EV71 3C(pro) possesses a surface-recessive S2′ pocket that is not present in HRV 3C(pro) that contributes to the additional substrate binding affinity. Combined with mutagenic studies, we demonstrated that catalytic Glu71 is irreplaceable for maintaining the overall architecture of the active site and, most importantly, the productive conformation of catalytic His40. We discovered the role of a previously uncharacterized residue, Arg39 of EV71 3C(pro), that can neutralize the negative charge of Glu71, which may subsequently assist deprotonation of His40 during proteolysis.”
“Obesity has been characterized as a state of chronic inflammation. Inflammatory signaling not only causes peripheral insulin selleck screening library resistance, but also promotes neuronal insulin and leptin resistance,

which further propagates a positive energy balance. Upon development of obesity, numerous conditions, including increased circulating cytokine concentrations and cell autonomous dysregulation of homeostatic signaling pathways, such as the endoplasmic reticulum stress response, promote activation of stress kinases, to cause peripheral insulin as well as central insulin and leptin resistance. Recently, activation of toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling has been recognized as an alternative activator of obesity-induced inflammation. In this paper, we review recent progress in defining the molecular basis of obesity-associated TLR activation and its role in the development of metabolic syndrome.”
“Objective: To determine the extent to which levels of membrane eicosapentaenoic (EPA) +docosahexaenoic acids (DHA) (the omega-3 index) were associated with depression in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Depression is associated with worse cardiovascular (CV) outcomes in patients with ACS.

Positive predictive value was only slightly higher if mBFV exceeded 180 cm/s.

CONCLUSION: Increased TCD flow velocities imply only a mild incremental risk of DO after SAH, with maximal

sensitivity by day 8. Nearly 40% of patients with DCI never attained an mBFV more than 120 cm/s during the course of monitoring. Given the poor overall sensitivity of TCD, improved methods for identifying patients at high risk for DO after SAH are needed.”
“Inadequate drug delivery to tumours is now recognised as a key factor that limits the efficacy of anticancer drugs. Extravasation Stattic cost and penetration of therapeutic agents through avascular tissue are critically important processes if sufficient drug is to be delivered to be therapeutic. The purpose of this study is to develop an in silica model that will simulate the transport of the clinically used cytotoxic drug doxorubicin across multicell layers (MCLs) in vitro. Three cell lines were employed: DLD 1 (human colon carcinoma), MCF7 (human breast carcinoma) Cl-amidine mw and NCI/ADR-Res (doxorubicin resistant and P-glycoprotein [Pgp] overexpressing ovarian cell line). Cells were cultured on transwell culture inserts to various

thicknesses and doxorubicin at various concentrations (100 or 50 mu M) was added to the top chamber. The concentration of drug appearing in the bottom chamber was determined as a function of time by HPLC-MS/MS. The rate of drug penetration was inversely proportional to the thickness of the MCL. The rate and extent of doxorubicin penetration was no different in the presence of NCI/ADR-Res cells Flucloronide expressing Pgp compared to MCF7 cells. A mathematical model based upon the premise that the transport of doxorubicin across cell membrane bilayers occurs by a passive “”flip-flop”" mechanism of the drug between two membrane leaflets was constructed. The mathematical model treats the transwell apparatus

as a series of compartments and the MCL is treated as a series of cell layers, separated by small intercellular spaces. This model demonstrates good agreement between predicted and actual drug penetration in vitro and may be applied to the prediction of drug transport in vivo, potentially becoming a useful tool in the study of optimal chemotherapy regimes. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“OBJECTIVE: Approximately 25% of patients with carotid artery stenosis treated with carotid endarterectomy develop cognitive dysfunction (CD) between 1 day and 1 month after surgery compared with a control group. We hypothesized that patients with carotid artery stenosis treated with carotid artery stenting (CAS) performed under cerebral embolic protection also develop CD at similar time points compared with a control group.

Call & A Tomasello, 2005). Fluent social interaction in adult humans implies efficient processing of beliefs, yet direct tests suggest that belief reasoning is cognitively demanding, even for adults (e.g., I. A. Apperly, D. Samson, & G. W. Humphreys, 2009). The authors interpret these findings by drawing an analogy with the domain of number cognition, where similarly contrasting results have been observed.

They propose that the success of infants and nonhuman animals on some belief reasoning tasks may be best explained by a cognitively efficient but inflexible capacity for tracking belief-like states. In humans, this capacity persists in parallel with a later-developing, more flexible but more cognitively demanding theory-of-mind abilities.”
“The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) plays a critical role in regulating the behavioral response to selleck kinase inhibitor stress. Stressors that activate the BNST also activate serotonergic (5-HT) systems. Hence, maladaptive

changes of 5-HT receptor expression may contribute to stress-induced anxiety disorders. The BNST contains three neuronal types, Type I-Ill neurons. However, little is known about 5-HT receptor subtypes mRNA expression in these neurons, or whether it can be modulated by stress. Whole-cell patch clamp recording from Type I-Ill neurons was used in conjunction with single cell reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to characterize 5-HT receptor mRNA expression, and examine

the effects of stress on this expression. We report that Type I neurons expressed mRNA transcripts predominantly for selleck inhibitor 5-HT1A and 5-HT7 receptors. Type II neurons expressed transcripts for every 5-HT receptor except the 5-HT2C receptor. Type II neurons were divided into three sub-populations: Type IIA in which transcripts for 5-HT3 and 5-HT7 receptors predominate, PDK3 Type IIB that mainly express 5-HT1B and 5-HT4 receptor transcripts, and Type IIC in which transcripts for 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors predominate. Type Ill neurons were also subdivided into two sub-populations; one that predominantly expressed transcripts for 5-HT1A, 5-HT1B and 5-HT2A receptors, and another that mainly expressed transcripts for 5-HT2C receptor. Unpredictable shock stress (USS) caused a long-lasting increase in anxiety-like behavior, and a concomitant decrease in 5-HT1A transcript expression in Type I-III neurons, as well as an up-regulation of a transcriptional repressor of 5-HT1A gene expression, deformed epidermal autoregulatory factor 1 (Deaf-1). Significantly USS decreased 5-HT1A protein level, and increased the level of Deaf-1. USS also increased 5-HT1B transcript expression in Type Ill neurons, as well as 5-HT7 expression in Type I and II neurons. These data suggest that cell type-specific disruption of 5-HT receptor expression in BNSTALG neurons may contribute to stress-induced anxiety disorders. (c) 2012 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

This new compound induced relaxation with efficacy similar to that of SNP, although its potency is lower. The time elapsed until maximum relaxation is achieved (E(max) = 240 s) is similar to measured for SNP (210 s). Vascular reactivity experiments demonstrated that aortic relaxation by RuBPY is inhibited by the soluble guanylyl-cyclase inhibitor 1H-[1,2,4] oxadiozolo[4,3-a]quinoxaline-1-one (ODQ 1 mu M). In a similar way, 1 mu M ODQ also reduces NO release from the

complex as measured with DAF-2 DA by confocal Selleckchem CX-6258 microscopy. These findings suggest that this new complex RuBPY that has nitrite in its structure releases NO inside the vascular smooth muscle cell. This ruthenium complex releases significant amounts of NO only in the presence of the aortic tissue. Reduction of nitrite to NO is most probably dependent on the

soluble guanylyl-cyclase enzyme, since NO release is inhibited by ODQ. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”
“Restricting amplification of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA to wild-type (WT) HCMV is useful to exclude PCR contaminations by laboratory strains from viral cultures. A set of UL141-specific TaqMan PCRs was developed to amplify (1) WT HCMV and laboratory strain Towne(long), but not strain AD169, (2) only WT HCMV. The performance was compared to a PCR targeting the conserved sequence LY2109761 of HCMV glycoprotein B using 46 serum and urine samples from blood donors with primary CMV infection. Amplification was restricted to the targeted strains with the exception of Towne(long) being amplified also by PCR (2), but new at a distinctly lower efficiency than WT HCMV. The coefficient of regression for linear dilutions

of two clinical samples with a high concentration of HCMV DNA was 0.999 and 0.997, respectively. The correlation between both WT PCRs and the generic HCMV PCR was good, with coefficients of regression of 0.891 and 0.871 for PCR (1) and (2), respectively. The limit of detection was calculated to be 1.5 genome equivalents per PCR. The set of HCMV TaqMan PCRs enables rapid differentiation between WT and laboratory strains, which can be especially useful as even virus lysate can contaminate sensitive PCRs without prior DNA isolation. A standardized WT HCMV control would be useful to evaluate WT-specific PCR methods. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”
“Objectives: A comparison between the atheroprotective and osteoprotective effects of the selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) raloxifene and those of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has not been made in elderly women.

Methods: A randomized prospective controlled trial was performed in a cohort of 32 elderly Japanese women with osteoporosis receiving HRT (estriol plus medroxyprogesterone) for more than 1 year. In 16 randomly selected subjects, HRT was changed to raloxifene therapy (60 mg/day, 71.4 +/- 3.4 years, SERM group).

These results suggest an imbalance

between automatic and controlled processes in FOG, leading to a breakdown in both motor and cognitive response control. (C) 2012 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the major causes of cancer death and is radio- and chemoresistant. Urine of 29 healthy E7080 mouse subjects and 39 clear cell RCC patients were analyzed using the ClinProt technique to search for possible biomarkers for early RCC diagnosis. A cluster of three signals (marker A = at m/z 1827 +/- 8 Da, marker B = 1914 +/- 8 Da and marker C = 1968 +/- 8 Da) was able to discriminate patients from controls. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed values of area under the curve (AUC) higher than 0.9 for marker A and B, corresponding to a sensitivity of 85-90% and a specificity of 90%, while marker C gave a lower AUC (0.84) corresponding to sensitivity of 70% and specificity of 100%. The combination of three markers lead to an improvement in diagnostic efficacy, with specificity and sensitivity of 100% and 95%, respectively, in the training test and of 100% and of 85% in the test experiment. The efficacy of this cluster of signals to distinguish RCC patients grouped by tumor stage showed a sensibility of 100% for patients at the primary tumor 1

stage. One of MLN2238 mouse the signals present in the cluster was identified as a fragment of Tamm-Horsfall protein.”
“Purpose: We describe the safety of sipuleucel-T using an integrated analysis of 4 randomized, controlled studies in patients with prostate cancer.

Materials and Methods: Adverse events, survival data and laboratory evaluations were examined

for common, rare and latent events.

Results: In 5% or more of sipuleucel-T cases some adverse events were reported at a rate at least twice that in controls, including chills in 53.1%, pyrexia in 31.3%, headache in 18.1%, myalgia in 11.8%, influenza-like illness in 9.7% and hyperhidrosis in 5.0%. These events generally occurred within 1 day of infusion, were grade 1 or 2 in severity and resolved in 2 days or less. The incidence of serious adverse events reported was 24.0% in sipuleucel-T cases and 25.1% in controls. Grade 3 or greater adverse events were reported within 1 day of infusion in 40 of 601 Benzatropine sipuleucel-T cases (6.7%) and 7 of 303 controls (2.3%). The incidence rate of reported cerebrovascular events was 3.5% for sipuleucel-T cases and 2.6% in controls.

Conclusions: Sipuleucel-T therapy in patients with prostate cancer has a side effect profile that is characterized by mild to moderate, short-term, reversible adverse events. There was no evidence of a treatment related increase in autoimmune complications or secondary malignancies after treatment with sipuleucel-T. Sipuleucel-T can be administered safely in the outpatient setting.”
“The nucleus accumbens shell (NAcS) has been implicated in controlling stress responses through corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF).

We randomly allocated patients 1:1 by use of a computer-generated sequence with a mixed block design (blocks often and four) to receive HSCT, 200 mg/kg intravenous cyclophosphamide, and 6.5 mg/kg intravenous rabbit antithymocyte globulin or to receive 1.0 g/m(2) intravenous cyclophosphamide once per Selonsertib nmr month for 6 months. The primary outcome for all enrolled patients was improvement at 12 months’ follow-up, defined as a decrease in mRSS (>25% for

those with initial mRSS >14) or an increase in forced vital capacity by more than 10%. Patients in the control group with disease progression (>25% increase in mRSS or decrease of >10% in forced vital capacity) despite treatment with cyclophosphamide could switch to HSCT 12 months after enrolment. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00278525.

Findings Between Jan 18, 2006, and Nov 10, 2009 we enrolled 19

patients. All ten patients randomly Alisertib order allocated to receive HSCT improved at or before 12 months’ follow-up, compared with none of nine allocated to cyclophosphamide (odds ratio 110, 95% CI 14.04-infinity; p=0.00001). Eight of nine controls had disease progression (without interval improvement) compared with no patients treated by HSCT (p=0.0001), and seven patients switched to HSCT. Compared with baseline, data for 11 patients with follow-up to 2 years after HSCT suggested that improvements in mRSS (p<0.0001) and forced vital capacity (p<0.03) persisted.

Interpretation Non-myeloablative autologous HSCT improves skin and pulmonary function in patients

with systemic sclerosis for up to 2 years and is preferable to the current standard of care, but longer follow-up is needed.”
“BACKGROUND: Transtemporal approaches require surgeons to drill Isotretinoin the temporal bone to expose target lesions while avoiding the critical structures within it, such as the facial nerve and other neurovascular structures. We envision a novel protective neuronavigation system that continuously calculates the drill tip-to-facial nerve distance intraoperatively and produces audiovisual warnings if the surgeon drills too close to the facial nerve. Two major problems need to be solved before such a system can be realized.

OBJECTIVE: To solve the problems of (1) facial nerve segmentation and (2) calculating a safety zone around the facial nerve in relation to drill-tip tracking inaccuracies.

METHODS: We developed a new algorithm called NerveClick for semiautomatic segmentation of the intratemporal facial nerve centerline from temporal bone computed tomography images. We evaluated NerveClick’s accuracy in an experimental setting of neuro-otologic and neurosurgical patients.

We observed increased C7 deposition at the dermal-epidermal junction in five

of the six recipients, albeit without normalization of anchoring fibrils. Five recipients were alive 130 to 799 days after transplantation; one died at 183 days as a consequence of graft rejection and infection. The six recipients had substantial proportions of donor cells in the skin, and none had detectable anti-C7 antibodies.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased C7 deposition and a sustained presence of donor cells were found in the skin of children with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Further studies are needed to assess the long-term risks and benefits of such therapy in patients with this disorder. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00478244.)”
“BACKGROUND

Whether

EPZ5676 mw it is possible to reduce the intensity of treatment in early (stage I or II) Hodgkin’s lymphoma with a favorable prognosis remains unclear. We therefore conducted a multicenter, randomized Torin 2 in vivo trial comparing four treatment groups consisting of a combination chemotherapy regimen of two different intensities followed by involved-field radiation therapy at two different dose levels.

METHODS

We randomly assigned 1370 patients with newly diagnosed early-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma with a favorable prognosis to one of four treatment groups: four cycles of doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (ABVD) followed by 30 Gy of radiation therapy (group 1), four cycles of ABVD followed by 20 Gy of radiation therapy (group 2), two cycles of ABVD followed by 30 Gy of radiation therapy (group 3), or two cycles of ABVD followed by 20 Gy of radiation

therapy (group 4). The primary end point was freedom from treatment failure; secondary end points included efficacy and toxicity Histamine H2 receptor of treatment.

RESULTS

The two chemotherapy regimens did not differ significantly with respect to freedom from treatment failure (P = 0.39) or overall survival (P = 0.61). At 5 years, the rates of freedom from treatment failure were 93.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 90.5 to 94.8) with the four-cycle ABVD regimen and 91.1% (95% CI, 88.3 to 93.2) with the two-cycle regimen. When the effects of 20-Gy and 30-Gy doses of radiation therapy were compared, there were also no significant differences in freedom from treatment failure (P = 1.00) or overall survival (P = 0.61). Adverse events and acute toxic effects of treatment were most common in the patients who received four cycles of ABVD and 30 Gy of radiation therapy (group 1).

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with early-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma and a favorable prognosis, treatment with two cycles of ABVD followed by 20 Gy of involved-field radiation therapy is as effective as, and less toxic than, four cycles of ABVD followed by 30 Gy of involved-field radiation therapy.

Several behavioral paradigms in rodents produce changes in behavior that resemble symptoms of MOD and these behavioral changes are

sensitive to antidepressant treatments. Here we review two animal models in which MOD-like behavioral changes are elicited by exposure to an acute traumatic event during adulthood, learned helplessness (LH) and conditioned defeat. In LH, exposure of rats to inescapable, but not escapable, tailshock produces a constellation of behavioral changes that include deficits in fight/flight responding and enhanced anxiety-like behavior. In conditioned defeat, exposure of Syrian hamsters to a social defeat by a more aggressive KU55933 purchase animal leads to a loss of territorial aggression and an increase in submissive and defensive behaviors in subsequent encounters with non-aggressive conspecifics. Investigations into the neural substrates that control LH and conditioned defeat revealed that increased 5-HT activity in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) is critical for both models. Other

key brain regions that regulate the acquisition and/or expression of behavior in these two paradigms include the basolateral amygdala (BLA), central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST). In this review, we compare and contrast the role of each of these neural structures in mediating LH and conditioned defeat, and discuss the relevance of these data in developing Bucladesine research buy a better understanding of the

mechanisms underlying trauma-related depression.

This article is part of a Special Issue entitled ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Neural activity in the mammalian CNS is determined by both observable processes, such as sensory stimuli or motor output, and covert, internal cognitive processes that cannot be directly observed. We propose methods to identify these cognitive processes by examining the covert structure within the apparent ‘noise’ in spike trains. Contemporary analyses of neural codes include encoding (tuning curves derived from spike trains and behavioral, sensory or motor variables), decoding (reconstructing behavioral, sensory or motor variables from spike trains and hypothesized tuning curves) and generative models (predicting Tideglusib the spike trains from hypothesized encoding models and decoded variables). We review examples of each of these processes in hippocampal activity, and propose a general methodology to examine cognitive processes via the identification of dynamic changes in covert variables.”
“Background: Inflammatory and immune alterations occur and may be relevant in patients with schizophrenia. Chemokines are a subgroup of cytokines that play a major role in the recruitment of determined subsets of leukocytes into tissues. To date no study has evaluated whether levels of chemokines are altered in patients with schizophrenia.

Co-treatment of VPA with the mood stabilizer lithium antagonizes the anti-proliferative effects of VPA on adult NSCs and abolishes VPA activation of Egr1 Co-treatment of VPA with the MEK1/2 inhibitor PD980589 similarly abolishes Egr1 activation consistent with VPA activation and lithium antagonism of MEK-ERK signaling in adult NSCs. However, Western blot reveals VPA significantly suppresses ERK2 phosphorylation in adult NSCs grown in proliferating culture

conditions and that lithium co-treatment does not attenuate this effect. Combined the data indicate VPA inhibition selleck chemical of adult NSC proliferation and activation of Egr1 by VPA, along with the antagonism of these effects by lithium, Thiazovivin order are the effects of cumulative changes in multiple signaling pathways and are not attributable

to a common kinase target. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.”
“Purpose: We evaluated predictors of progression after starting active surveillance, especially the role of prostate specific antigen and immediate confirmatory prostate biopsy.

Materials and Methods: A total of 238 men with prostate cancer met active surveillance eligibility criteria and were analyzed for progression with time. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to evaluate predictors of progression. Progression was evaluated using 2 definitions, including no longer meeting 1) full and 2) modified criteria, excluding prostate specific antigen greater than 10 ng/ml as a criterion.

Results: Using full criteria 61 patients

progressed during followup. The 2 and 5-year progression-free probability was 80% and 60%, respectively. With prostate specific 4-Aminobutyrate aminotransferase antigen included in progression criteria prostate specific antigen at confirmatory biopsy (HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.14-1.46, p < 0.0005) and positive confirmatory biopsy (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.01-3.04, p = 0.047) were independent predictors of progression. Of the 61 cases 34 failed due to increased prostate specific antigen, including only 5 with subsequent progression by biopsy criteria. When prostate specific antigen was excluded from progression criteria, only 32 cases progressed, and 2 and 5-year progression-free probability was 91% and 76%, respectively. Using modified criteria as an end point positive confirmatory biopsy was the only independent predictor of progression (HR 3.16, 95% CI 1.41-7.09, p = 0.005).

Conclusions: Active surveillance is feasible in patients with low risk prostate cancer and most patients show little evidence of progression within 5 years. There is no clear justification for treating patients in whom prostate specific antigen increases above 10 ng/ml in the absence of other indications of tumor progression. Patients considering active surveillance should undergo confirmatory biopsy to better assess the risk of progression.

Methods: Spectral analysis of heart rate (HR) and blood pressure was performed on 30 PD and 10 HC participants during an orthostatic challenge (head-up tilt). Results: PD patients presented higher HR (p < .001), lower heart rate variability (HRV) (p < .015), higher mean diastolic blood pressure (p < .006), higher low-frequency component of HR (p < .001), and a higher

ratio of low-frequency to high-frequency component of FIR (LF/HF) (p < .022) than HC at baseline. During tilt, PD patients responded with higher HR (p < .039), lower HRV (p < .043), increased mean diastolic blood pressure (p < .028), and a mild increase in LF/HF, whereas controls responded with a five-fold increase in LF/HF (p < .022). Patients with MDV3100 solubility dmso higher illness severity ratings (Clinical Global Impression Scale) showed higher HR (p < .002), lower HRV (p < .026), and a lower total power of systolic blood pressure (p < .02) compared with less ill

patients. Conclusion: GSK1120212 These findings demonstrate a consistently higher or deregulated autonomic arousal in PD patients at rest and during orthostatic challenge compared with HC. These data also reveal a possible association between the level of anxiety illness severity and sympathovagal balance, which may imply greater cardiac risk.”
“Motor imagery is a mental representation of motor behavior which has been widely used to study the cognitive basis of movement. The assumption

that real movements and motor imagery (virtual movements) use the same neurobiological basis has been questioned by functional magnetic resonance data. The functional similarity in the planning of real and virtual movements was studied here by analyzing event-related EEG recordings of the Mu-activity in the sensitive-motor cortex, pre-motor cortex and supplementary motor cortex. A visual stimulus (an arrow) which displayed the information needed for planning a motion (which can be executed eltoprazine or imaged later after the display of a second stimulus) induced a short-lasting phase-locked Mu-response (PLr) which was wider and more widespread when it was used for the motor planning of real or virtual movements than when it was passively watched. The phase-locked Mu-response was accompanied by a persistent decrease of the Mu-rhythms which were not phase-locked to stimuli (NPLr), a response which also was more marked and generalized when stimuli were used for motor planning than when they were passively observed. PLr and NPLr were similar during motor testing and imagery testing, suggesting that both tasks activated the Mu rhythms to a similar degree. This congruency between real and virtual movements was observed in the three cortical areas studied, where the amplitude, latency and duration of the phase-locked and non-phase-locked Mu response was similar in both cases.