Figure 1.
Subject T2-5 shows bilateral dysmelic malformations with missing thumbs on both sides and symmetric foreshortening of both arms. The particular shape of the arms is due to bilaterally missing humeri (A). The residual finger in subjects T3-2 is attached directly to the shoulder (B).
Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of thalidomide-exposed subjects with compromised hand-function included in this study.
Table 2.
Group-size with sex-ratio in brackets and age-range (years.) with means in brackets for groups T1–T3, TC and C.
Figure 2.
Grey matter increase related to occasional foot use.
Areas within the sensorimotor ROI (outlined in blue) showing an increase (p<0.05, uncorrected) in grey matter values for subjects who occasionally use their feet for fine-motor skills when compared to control subjects [T2 vs TC,C]. The green line marks the border between cytoarchitectonic areas BA4 and BA6 based on the Juelich maximum probability maps. Clusters of significant differences are overlaid on the T1-weighted single-subject MNI standard template.
Figure 3.
Grey matter increases related to frequent, hand-like foot use.
Areas within the sensorimotor ROI (outlined in blue) showing an increase in grey matter values for group T3 when compared to the control subjects [T3 vs TC,C]. Clusters of significant differences are overlaid on the T1-weighted single-subject MNI standard template. (A–D) p<0.05, corrected, and (E) p<0.15, corrected. In T3 subjects, using their feet in a bipedal fashion, increases were more pronounced for the dominant (left) hemisphere as might have been expected from their overall preference for the right foot.
Table 3.
Localization of peak differences, together with Z- and uncorrected p-values, for contrasts showing significant (p<0.05, corrected) grey matter value increases.
Figure 4.
Cytoarchitectonic specification of group differences.
This figure shows the spatial relationship of areas with foot use related increases in grey matter values and the cytoarchitectonic anatomy of sensorimotor cortex. The outline of areas showing increased grey matter values for group T3 were overlaid on cytoarchitectonic maximum probability maps. Together they are displayed on the T1-weighted single-subject MNI standard template in axial planes. Green: BA6, blue: BA4a, light blue: BA4p, pink: BA3a, red: BA3b, yellow: BA1, white: BA2. (A) Lateral cluster, (B) bilateral medial cluster. (A) and (B) are based on the [T3 vs TC,C] contrast, thresholded at p<0.05, corrected.