Basic and Translational Applications of the Network Theory for Dystonia

Aasef G Shaikh, MD,PhD is a Penni and Stephen Weinberg Chair in Brain Health at University Hospitals Cleveland. He is a Professor and Vice-Chair for research in Neurology at Case Western Reserve University. Dr Shaikh directs National VA Parkinson Consortium Center at Cleveland VA and is a principal investigator in Daroff DellOsso Oculomotor Laboratory. His interdisciplinary research focuses on motor systems, eye movement and vestibular control. The overarching goal of his research program is to study mechanistic underpinning of complex neurological disorders affecting the eye and head movements and vestibular function.Dr Anna Sadnicka BSc MBChB MRCP PhDAnna is a Clinical Lecturer fascinated by the neural control of movement and how this is disturbed in movement disorders.  Her award-winning research combines behavioural experiments, electrophysiology, and computational models to shed light on dystonia mechanism.  She has a particular emphasis on translating her research into novel movement retraining and neuromodulation strategies.

• Editorial.- Dystonia in childhood - how insights from paediatric research enrich the network theory of dystonia.- Focal Dystonia and the Stress-Network.- Limbic influences in Musicians dystonia.- Network perspective on task-specific dystonia.- Electromyography as a method for distinguising dystonia-like behavior in mice.- Deep brain stimulation of the interposed cerebellar nuclei in a mouse model of dystonia.- Applications of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for understanding and treating dystonia.- Brain connectivity in dystonia: evidence from Magnetoencephalography.- Dysfunctional networks in functional dystonia.- Collicular-pulvinar-amygdala axis and adult-onset idiopathic focal dystonia syndrome.- Neuromodulation in dystonia.- Electrophysiological properties of pallidal cells in cervical dystonia patients undergoing unilateral DBS.- Clinical implications of dystonia as a neural network disorder.