Üner Tan Syndrome: Review and Emergence of Human Quadrupedalism in Self-Organization, Attractors and Evolutionary Perspectives

Tan, Üner; Tamam, Yusuf; Karaca, Sibel; Tan, Meliha

doi:10.5772/28675

Cited by 8 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 153 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This gait unstable initially apparently becomes stable with practice during childhood, so that they later move with great ease, speed, and well-developed balance. On the other hand, the locomotor self-organizing process may take a long time in some UTS cases with late emergence of QL at about puberty, see [16,17], a period associated with hormonal changes with beneficial effects on the motor system, accelerating the self-organizing processes, resulting in the emergence of a most suitable locomotor pattern to travel around, walking on all four extremities.…”

Section: Dynamics Of Locomotor Development In Humansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Truncal ataxia was present in all cases, but muscle tone was normal with strong arms and legs in these adult cases. The results of the neurological examinations, MRI and PET scans, and cognitive tests were presented in two review articles [16,17]. The clinical characteristics of the affected cases of the families from Turkey are summarized in Table 1.…”

Section: Neurological Examinationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Humans Walking on all Four Extremities with Mental Retardation and Dysarthric or no Speech: A Dynamical Systems Perspective

Karaca¹,

Tan²,

Tan³

2013

Developmental Disabilities - Molecules Involved, Diagnosis, and Clinical Care

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Dynamics Of Locomotor Development In Humansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Neurological Examinationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans Walking on all Four Extremities with Mental Retardation and Dysarthric or no Speech: A Dynamical Systems Perspective

Karaca¹,

Tan²,

Tan³

2013

Developmental Disabilities - Molecules Involved, Diagnosis, and Clinical Care

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…This is consistent with the unpredictability of the outcomes of dynamical complex systems with a strong tendency to self-organize (Guarini and Onofri, 1993; Gribble, 2001). The extremely slow locomotor development in the UTS Type-II cases may be due to the slow progression of the self-organized, adaptive developmental processes (Tan, 2010; Tan et al, 2012; Karaca et al, 2013). The nature of UTS as a developmental disorder was recently dealt with in detail in a book chapter (Karaca et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nearly 100 years later from the first quadruped man discovered by Childs ( 1917 ), a consanguineous family with 19 siblings, 6 of them exhibiting a novel syndrome with habitual QL, mental retardation and impaired speech was reported, and their condition was named Uner Tan syndrome (Tan, 2005 , 2006a , b , c ; see Tan, 2010 ; Tan et al, 2012 for reviews).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two families with quadrupedalism, mental retardation, no speech, and infantile hypotonia (Uner Tan Syndrome Type-II); a novel theory for the evolutionary emergence of human bipedalism

Tan

2014

Front. Neurosci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Two consanguineous families with Uner Tan Syndrome (UTS) were analyzed in relation to self-organizing processes in complex systems, and the evolutionary emergence of human bipedalism. The cases had the key symptoms of previously reported cases of UTS, such as quadrupedalism, mental retardation, and dysarthric or no speech, but the new cases also exhibited infantile hypotonia and are designated UTS Type-II. There were 10 siblings in Branch I and 12 siblings in Branch II. Of these, there were seven cases exhibiting habitual quadrupedal locomotion (QL): four deceased and three living. The infantile hypotonia in the surviving cases gradually disappeared over a period of years, so that they could sit by about 10 years, crawl on hands and knees by about 12 years. They began walking on all fours around 14 years, habitually using QL. Neurological examinations showed normal tonus in their arms and legs, no Babinski sign, brisk tendon reflexes especially in the legs, and mild tremor. The patients could not walk in a straight line, but (except in one case) could stand up and maintain upright posture with truncal ataxia. Cerebello-vermial hypoplasia and mild gyral simplification were noted in their MRIs. The results of the genetic analysis were inconclusive: no genetic code could be identified as the triggering factor for the syndrome in these families. Instead, the extremely low socio-economic status of the patients was thought to play a role in the emergence of UTS, possibly by epigenetically changing the brain structure and function, with a consequent selection of ancestral neural networks for QL during locomotor development. It was suggested that UTS may be regarded as one of the unpredictable outcomes of self-organization within a complex system. It was also noted that the prominent feature of this syndrome, the diagonal-sequence habitual QL, generated an interference between ipsilateral hands and feet, as in non-human primates. It was suggested that this may have been the triggering factor for the attractor state “bipedal locomotion” (BL), which had visual and manual benefits for our ape-like ancestors, and therefore enhancing their chances for survival, with consequent developments in the psychomotor domain of humans. This was put forward as a novel theory of the evolution of BL in human beings.

show abstract

“…In this context, the cognitive functioning in UTS cases was never analyzed in detail. Intellectual disability, one of the main symptoms of UTS, was previously reported, but only using the MMSE test (Tan et al, 2012), which superficially assesses the cognitive ability of patients in clinical sessions. A more comprehensive IQ test to gain more accurate information about their cognitive abilities, such as WAIS-R, was never applied to UTS cases.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Co-Variations Among Cognition, Cerebellar Disorders and Cortical Areas With Regional Glucose-Metabolic Activities in a Homogeneous Sample with Uner Tan Syndrome: Holistic Functioning of the Human Brain

Tan

2014

Neuroquantology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Patients with Uner Tan syndrome (UTS) exhibit habitual quadrupedal locomotion (QL), intellectual disability, dysarthric speech and truncal ataxia. Examination of cognitive ability in this syndrome has not yet been demonstrated in the scientific literature. Aims: (i) To analyze the cognitive abilities of the siblings with UTS; (ii) to assess the grade of their ataxia in relation to cerebellar disorders; (iii) to measure the metabolic activities of various cerebral regions in comparison with healthy individuals; (iv) to detect the interrelationships among all of the measured variables (IQ test scores, ataxia scores, cerebro-cerebellar areas and their metabolic activity levels) to reveal the holistic activity of the brain. The Minimental State Examination (MMSE) and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-R) were applied to the affected cases and healthy subjects. Cerebellar disorders were assessed by the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS). Brain MRI scans were performed and cerebro-cerebellar areas were measured on MRI scans, including their metabolic activities (SUV), measured by positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. MMSE and WAIS-R scores both correlated with cerebro-cerebellar areas. Cerebello-vermial areas and their metabolic activities were significantly smaller in patients than in normal controls; areas of the remaining structures were not significantly different between patients and healthy subjects. Brain areas significantly inter-correlated: ICARS negatively correlated with WAIS-R, MMSE scores, SUV, and cerebro-cerebellar areas, which significantly correlated with each other. The results suggested (i) ICARS may not only be a test for cerebellar disorders, but also may be related to global functioning of all of the cerebro-cerebellar regions; (ii) ICARS, WAIS-R and MMSE may be measures of emergent properties of the holistic activity of the brain; (iii) the psychomotor disorders in UTS may be related to decreased brain metabolism.

show abstract

Üner Tan Syndrome: Review and Emergence of Human Quadrupedalism in Self-Organization, Attractors and Evolutionary Perspectives

Cited by 8 publications

References 153 publications

Humans Walking on all Four Extremities with Mental Retardation and Dysarthric or no Speech: A Dynamical Systems Perspective

Humans Walking on all Four Extremities with Mental Retardation and Dysarthric or no Speech: A Dynamical Systems Perspective

Two families with quadrupedalism, mental retardation, no speech, and infantile hypotonia (Uner Tan Syndrome Type-II); a novel theory for the evolutionary emergence of human bipedalism

Co-Variations Among Cognition, Cerebellar Disorders and Cortical Areas With Regional Glucose-Metabolic Activities in a Homogeneous Sample with Uner Tan Syndrome: Holistic Functioning of the Human Brain

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About