RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Human ballistic arm abduction movements JF Neurology JO Neurology FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins SP 868 OP 868 DO 10.1212/WNL.34.7.868 VO 34 IS 7 A1 Baroni, Alberto A1 Benvenuti, Francesco A1 Fantini, Laura A1 Pantaleo, Tito A1 Urbani, Flora YR 1984 UL http://n.neurology.org/content/34/7/868.abstract AB In patients with Parkinson's disease who had never previously been treated with any antiparkinsonism drug, we studied the effects of L-dopa on ballistic arm abduction movement in a step-tracking task. L-Dopatreatment increased the mean velocity of the initial movement towards the target without loss of accuracy and with improved motor performance under open-loop conditions. Performance also improved in motor tasks with expected perturbation. EMG patterns of arm abduction movements showed abnormal features in untreated patients and improved after L-dopa treatment.