No Turkey None None Article ID: WMC005017 ISSN 2046-1690 Gait Analysis in Uner Tan Syndrome Cases with Key Symptoms of Quadrupedal Locomotion, Mental Impairment, and Dysarthric or No Speech Peer review status: Corresponding Author: Submitting Author: Prof. Uner Tan, Senior Researcher, Cukurova University Medical School , Cukurova University, Medical School, Adana, 01330 - Article ID: WMC005017 Article Type: Research articles Submitted on:09-Nov-2015, 01:39:27 PM GMT Published on: 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:08 AM GMT Article URL: http://www.webmedcentral.com/article_view/5017 Subject Categories:NEUROSCIENCES Keywords:Uner Tan syndrome, quadrupedal locomotion, ataxia, gait, lateral sequence, diagonal sequence, evolution, primates How to cite the article:Tan U. Gait Analysis in Uner Tan Syndrome Cases with Key Symptoms of Quadrupedal Locomotion, Mental Impairment, and Dysarthric or No Speech. WebmedCentral NEUROSCIENCES 2015;6(11):WMC005017 Copyright: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Source(s) of Funding: Competing Interests: Additional Files: Illustration 1 ILLUSTRATION 2 ILLUSTRATION 3 ILLUSTRATION 4 ILLUSTRATION 5 ILLUSTRATION 6 WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 1 of 14 the ipsilateral limb interference is a of a WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM Gait Analysis in Uner Tan Syndrome Cases with Key Symptoms of Quadrupedal Locomotion, Mental Impairment, and Dysarthric or No Speech Author(s): Tan U Abstract sequence, on the lateral and on the diagonals." This child typically exhibited straight legs during quadrupedal standing. Introduction: Uner Tan syndrome (UTS) consists of A man with healthy legs walking on all fours was quadrupedal locomotion (QL), impaired intelligence discovered by Childs [3] in Turkey, 1917. Childs [3] and dysarthric or no speech. Previously, I described described this man as follows: "I saw that he was the walk of cases with UTS as diagonal sequence (DS) without thighs; that the knee-joint was at the hip, the because of ipsilateral limb interference, mostly leg rigid, and only half the usual length. With his grim observed in nonhuman primates with DS QL. The only bearded face thrust upwards, and the odd movements gait analysis performed for UTS were a few cases with of his little legs, he lacked only a stump of tail to make lateral sequence (LS) QL. The current work presents a me think I had come upon a satyr in life." This man gait analysis of UTS in more families. exhibited habitual QL with straight legs. He had Methods: Hip and knee angles during quadrupedal standing were measured in UTS cases, healthy controls with requested QL, and nonhuman primates. tattered and torn trousers (Illustration 1). Habitual QL, mental impairment, and poverty were the characteristics of all of the UTS cases [4]. Limb phases were assessed from video footages, as About a century later, in the years 2004-2005, Turkish the percent of the hind limb's stride durations. media reported five siblings of a consanguineous Results: UTS cases and nonhuman primates exhibited quadrupedal standing with straight legs nearly perpendicular to the ground. Healthy individuals could not walk quadrupedally like UTS cases. They could perform QL only with flexed legs. UTS cases family with 19 children, residing in a village near Iskenderun beneath the Syrian border. The five siblings exhibited habitual QL, accompanied by severe mental retardation, and dysarthric speech. At the time the discovery attracted little interest among scientists. and healthy individuals with free (flexed-leg) QL used Because I was deeply interested in, and had worked predominantly lateral sequence-diagonal couplet on, the extensor and flexor motor systems since 1960, (LSDC) walks. Terrestrial primates preferred DS gaits. I visited this family and investigated the affected The healthy individuals with free QL were similar to siblings neurologically, radiologically, and cognitively arboreal primates in quadrupedal posture. with my colleagues [4]. After an "Aha!" experience [5], Conclusions: Although these results do not seem to support the thesis of locomotor evolution in reverse, nobody knows with certainty who our ancestors were or how they walked, and so the possibility of UTS as an example for the ancestral reappearance of QL in human beings cannot be positively excluded. This locomotor evolution in reverse was supported by I realized the affected siblings were affected by a novel syndrome. This was called Uner Tan syndrome (UTS) after its discoverer [6,7]. I described the condition as "locomotor evolution in reverse in humans," or in short, "locomotor devolution" [6,7], to highlight the reappearance of an ancestral locomotion in human beings. experimental evidence, which proved reverse Despite obtaining extensive video recordings, I evolution as a scientific fact. performed no quantitative gait analysis of the UTS Introduction cases. Instead, I made simple gait analyses by observing that the still photos showed ipsilateral limb interferences. I therefore described their walk as (DS) because ipsilateral limb interferences frequently occur In 1887, Eadweard Muybridge reported the first case in nonhuman primates with DS walking, and indeed, of a person walking on all fours, in a child with a potential drawback paralyzed leg [1]. In this context, Price [2] noted "...not diagonal walk [8-10]. "DS gaits often result in limb only was the regular system of limb movements used, interference [11, 12]," as noted by Young et al. [13]; "a but the support of the body devolved, in their proper diagonal sequence/diagonal couplet walking gait WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 2 of 14 31). WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM creates a strong potential for interference between the ipsilateral hind and forelimbs" [12]; "...its associated ipsilateral limb interference in DS gait." [10]; " "ipsilateral interlimb interference is very high for DSDC walking" [14], in which the hind foot touchdowns are followed by the contralateral fore foot touchdowns. In a lateral sequence (LS) walking gait, the hind foot touch downs are followed by the ipsilateral fore foot touchdowns [13]. To assess the quadrupedal posture while standing on four extremities, the hip and knee angles were measured using the "Universal Desktop Ruler v3.6.3481" software. These measurements were performed on photographs of the UTS cases (Group 1, n = 32), adults with requested straight-leg QL (Group 2, n = 27), adults with free (flexed-leg) QL (Group 3, n = 53)), adult terrestrial primates (Group 4, n = 24: The idea that nonhuman primates exclusively prefer bonobos, baboons, chimps, gorillas, and rhesus the DS walking gait is not in accord with the scientific monkeys), and adult arboreal primates (Group 5, n = literature. Namely, Sellers et al. [15] found a mixture of 31): loris, lemur, propithecus, and marmoset), as DS and LS gaits in nonhuman primates when they depicted in Illustration 2. used a computer simulation of chimpanzee locomotion, suggesting a mixture distribution of the DS and LS walking in these primates. Hildebrand [8] and Cartmill et al. [9], early experts in gait analysis, also found a broad spectrum of gaits with footfall overlaps in nonhuman primates. The UTS cases (Group 1, n = 32) from 10 families voluntarily took part in the study, and video footages of them were used for the gait analyses. Group 2 included 27 healthy individuals asked to use QL keeping their legs straight; the adult terrestrial primates constituted Group 3 (n = 53); healthy In humans, Shapiro et al. [16] carried out a individuals using flexed-leg QL included Group 4 (n = biomechanical gait analysis of a few UTS cases 24); adult arboreal primates constituted Group 5 (n = belonging to a single family and a few healthy individuals requested to use QL. They reported the UTS cases exhibited LS walks almost exclusively, unlike the DS walking gaits of nonhuman primates. Consequently, these authors suggested the UTS . A gait analysis was performed on videos of UTS cases and other groups. The UTS cases were filmed with a digital video camcorder at 25 frames/sec. cases may not reflect a locomotor reappearance of Limb phases were measured from the video footage, ancestral human QL. That is, Tan's theory of reverse "as the percentage of a hind limb's stride duration that locomotor the touchdown of a forelimb follows that of the hind evolution in humans [6,7] would not be tenable, provided that nonhuman primates were our ancestors [16]. However, I had discovered 33 cases in 10 families since finding the first family with UTS in 2005 [17]. Thus, more families with UTS cases needed to be subjected to a quantitative gait analysis, to be conclusive about their type of QL. limb on the same side of the body", following Shapiro et al. [16]. Gait numbers (l imb phases), were as follows: 0 (or 100) corresponds to a pace, 1-24 represents LSLC, 25: LSSF, 26-49: LSDC, 50: trot (diagonal limbs landing simultaneously), 51-74: DSDC, 75: DSSF, and 76-99: DSLC. LS, LC, DS, SF, and DC were abbreviations for lateral sequence, lateral couplet, diagonal sequence, single foot, and diagonal couplet, The essential questions to be answered by a more respectively. Sequence meant the order of footfalls in comprehensive study of cases from the 10 families time. In a DS walk, a reference hind limb touches the were: (i) do the UTS cases use LS and/or DS walking ground and then the contralateral forelimb touches the gait?; (ii) how might the locomotion of UTS cases be ground. In an LS walk, a reference hind limb touches related to that of nonhuman primates?; (iii) are the the ground and then the ipsilateral forelimb touches UTS cases examples of a locomotor evolution in the ground [16]. Gait analysis included only the reverse, provided that present-day nonhuman symmetrical walking strides between 40 and 60% for primates could be considered to be similar to our the fore and hind limbs [11]. ancestors, at least with regard to locomotion. In the present work, a postural and locomotor gait analysis was performed on videos of a larger sample of UTS cases, with healthy individuals with requested and free QL, and nonhuman primates, to answer these questions. Informed and written consent was taken from a responsible person before the investigations. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the Cukurova University, following the Helsinki declaration. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS V. 22 (IBM Corp., 2012, USA). Methods WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 3 of 14 small percentage of 1,162 1 , 6 2 Gaits 4,84 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM Results Multiple comparisons yielded the following results: UTS cases > healthy individuals with free QL (flexed-legs); UTS cases > arboreal primates; healthy Hip and knee angles during standing on all fours individuals with requested QL > healthy individuals with free QL and arboreal primates; terrestrial primates Illustration 2 depicts quadrupedal standing postures > healthy individuals with free QL and arboreal of the UTS cases (A1-A3), healthy individuals with primates. healthy idividuals with free QL < UTS cases, requested straight-leg QL (B1-B3), terrestrial healthy individuals with requested straight-leg QL, < nonhuman primates (C1-C3), humans with free terrestrial primates. quadrupedal standing (D1-D3), and arboreal primates (E1-E3). The UTS cases stood on all fours with straight legs nearly perpendicular to the ground. The The univariate ANOVA test of between subjects healthy individuals with requested straight-leg effects indicated significant associations of the mean quadrupedal posture could not bend at the hip as limb phase values with groups (F = 37.1, p < .000). much as the UTS cases. The terrestrial nonhuman Illustration 5 shows the mean limb phase values (%) primates were able to stand on all fours with straight with their ± 2.0 SDs for the UTS cases (UTS), healthy legs like the UTS cases. The healthy individuals with individuals with requested QL (forced QL), and free QL free QL used flexed legs, i.e., bent at the knees, (free QL), babies (babies QL), and terrestrial primates contrary to the UTS cases and nonhuman primates, (primates QL). The single groups entirely below and but similar to the arboreal primates with a bent-knee above the 50% reference line were the healthy quadrupedal posture and mostly similar hip angles. individuals with requested QL (FORCED QL) and Hip and knee angles during standing on all fours terrestrial primates (PRIMATES QL), respectively. Otherwise, the mean l imb phase value was Means with SDs of the hip and knee angles of the significantly greater in UTS cases than the healthy UTS cases (Group 1), healthy individuals with individuals with requested QL, but significantly smaller requested QL using straight legs (Group 2), adult than the healthy individuals with free QL, babies with terrestrial primates (Group 3), healthy individuals with free QL, and the terrestrial primates (p< .000). free quadrupedal standing using flexed legs (Group 4), and adult arboreal primates (Group 5) were presented in Illustration 3. Illustration 6 presents the stride numbers and percentages of the LSDC and DSDC walks, including minimum and maximum limb phase values (%) in all 5 Univariate ANOVA showed the mean hip Angle groups. Accordingly, the limb phase values of the UTS (dependent variable) was significantly different cases mainly exhibited LSDC gaits (94.9%) with a between groups (F = 86.7, p < .000), but multiple DSDC gaits (5.1%), but the comparison tests indicated no significant difference healthy individuals with requested QL exclusively between the mean hip angles of the UTS cases exhibited LSDC gaits. The individuals with free QL (Group 1) and terrestrial primates (Group 3), and exhibited a mixture of walking gaits: 67.6% of the between the mean hip angles of the healthy streides LSDC, and 32.4% DSDC gait. Babies with individuals with free QL (flexed-legs), and arboreal free QL exhibited a similar gait pattern to the healthy primates: p = 1.000. Multiple comparisons further individuals with free QL, being 70.0% LSDC and indicated the mean hip angle was significantly greater 30.0% DSDC. On the contrary the terrestrial primates in healthy individuals with straight-legged quadrupedal exclusively exhibited only DSDC gait. standing (Group 2) than UTS cases (Group 1), p < .000. The mean hip angle was significantly gretar in Discussion UTS cases than healthy individuals with free QL (flexed-leg): p < .000, also being significantly greater than that of the arboreal primates with p < .05. The quintessential question this study sought to Illustration 4 depicts the mean hip (open circles) and answer was whether the quadrupedal locomotion knee angles (fil led circles) in UTS cases (UTS), characteristics of UTS cases were more similar to healthy individuals with requested QL (HEALTHY1), those of healthy humans or to those of nonhuman terrestrial primates (PRIMATES1), healthy individuals primates. Shapiro et al [16] found that individuals with with free QL (HEALTHY2), and arboreal primates UTS nearly exclusively used LS gaits, contrary to (PRIMATES2). Univariate ANOVA indicated the mean nonhuman primates with DS gaits, and claimed "the knee angle, as the independent variable, significantly quadrupedalism exhibited by individuals with UTS associated with groups (F = 200.8, p < .000). resembles that of healthy adult humans." The results WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 4 of 14 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM of the present work, however, did not entirely support primates also with flexed legs. So, the quadrupedal this claim. Although the UTS cases predominantly standing posture of arboreal primates was similar to used an LSDC walking style, and primates used that of healthy individuals freely standing on all fours. exclusively DSDC, the quadrupedal standing postures These results add support to the hypothesis that were the same in UTS cases and terrestrial primates. bipedal locomotion in human beings originated from Furthermore, the healthy individuals requested to walk arboreal primate life. Schmitt [19] emphasized the on all fours could not reproduce the UTS style of importance of stiff-leg (extended) locomotion and the walking, with straight legs nearly perpendicular to the role of arboreal l ife in the emergence of bipedal ground, or the standing posture of the UTS cases. The locomotion of human beings with the following neural mechanisms of this postural behavior would be statements: "...the evolution of bipedalism in humans the same throughout the tetrapods. In this context, involved a simple transition from a relatively Stuart [18] wrote: "Neural mechanisms that integrate stiff-legged quadrupedalism ...laboratory based posture with movement are widespread throughout the studies of primates also suggest that human central nervous system." bipedalism arose not from a terrestrial ancestor but Quadrupedal standing in humans and nonhuman rather from a climbing, arboreal forerunner." The primates results of the present study, indicating similarities The individuals with UTS kept their legs straight during between the flexed-leg quadrupedal posture of the quadrupedal standing and even locomotion, a fact that healthy human individuals and the arboreal primates, had not been reported previously. Healthy individuals support these statement. were asked to walk on all four extremities with straight Gaits in humans and nonhuman primates legs to imitate the UTS cases but were almost unable The UTS cases primarily used LSDC walking gaits to do so. They instead made very small steps and only (92.4%) with the remainder being DSDC. The healthy with great difficulty, despite being given a warm-up individuals with straight leg QL used only LSDC period of five minutes. Shapiro et al. [16] compared walking gaits, but the mean l imb phase was the gaits in a few UTS cases with healthy individuals, significantly different to that of the UTS cases; the but they did not report if their healthy participants distribution of the mean limb phase value in healthy walked freely with bent (flexed) or straight (extended) individuals using free QL was also significantly legs. They also did not include any pictures or video different to that of the UTS cases, contrary to the recordings exhibiting the quadrupedal standing conclusions of Shapiro et al [16]. The overall results of posture or locomotion of their healthy participants. In the present study showed UTS was unique in several light of the extreme difficulty of adopting UTS-like QL characteristics, as shown above. locomotion it seems likely that they analyzed the gaits in healthy individuals with flexed legs. Thus, their conclusion: "...although the habitual use of quadrupedalism by adults with UTS is unusual, the form of this quadrupedalism resembles that of healthy adults and is thus not at all unexpected" is not justified. The limb phase values showed overlaps among groups. In nonhuman primates all limb phase values were greater than 50, indicating exclusively DSDC walking gaits. The UTS cases, healthy individuals with free QL, and babies, shared many limb phase values with nonhuman primates, with 42.9% of babies The mean hip angles were not significantly different exhibiting LSDC, and 57.1% DSDC, for example. between the UTS cases and nonhuman primates. Trettien [20] also found a mixture distribution of Statistical analyses also found no significant walking gaits in human babies, with 50% using differences between the hip and knee angles of the diagonal crawling on hands and knees, 20% lateral UTS cases and the terrestrial primates. Thus, the UTS crawling on hands and knees, and 9% diagonal cases and the terrestrial primates exhibited similar crawling on hands and feet. Righetti et al. [21] postural characteristics while standing on all fours. As reported crawling on hands and knees in infants was expected, the mean hip and knee angles were very similar to the locomotion in nonhuman primates. significantly smaller in the healthy individuals with Patrick et al. [22] found infants on hands and knees flexed legs than in the UTS cases and terrestrial all inclined to move the diagonal limbs together, and primates. Thus, the healthy individuals freely standing concluded: "human crawling shares features both with on all fours-with flexed legs-did not resemble the UTS other primates and with nonprimate quadrupeds, cases or the terrestrial primates. suggesting similar underlying mechanisms." Using The mean hip and knee angles were not significantly hands and feet instead of hands and knees, the different between the healthy individuals freely babies in the present study constituted a different standing on all fours with flexed legs and the arboreal group from the UTS cases, with a significantly greater WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 5 of 14 UTS. WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM percentage of DSDC walking gaits and significantly found they used DS gait on the arboreal substrate and greater mean limb phases. These results also suggest LS gait on the ground. In light of these results, the the UTS cases belong to a unique group, contrary to locomotion of the UTS cases, with dominantly LS Shapiro et al.'s [16] claim that their locomotion was not walking gaits on the ground, resembles that of remarkable. arboreal primates on the ground, supporting the notion A small percentage of the UTS cases shared limb of the reappearance of ancestral QL in humans with phase values with those of nonhuman primates. This suggests UTS may share some gait characteristics Locomotor evolution in reverse; Darwinian with nonhuman primates, possibly as traces from medicine human ancestors using DSDC gaits, and as the In their gait analysis, Shapiro et al [16] rejected the reappearance of some primate locomotor traits. Our idea that the reappearance of quadrupedalism in ancestors probably also used a mixture of the walking contemporary human beings in the UTS cases gaits as found in UTS. The supraspinal motor control represented locomotor evolution in reverse in humans mechanisms and the spinal motor control are also or, in brief, "human locomotor devolution" [4]. The idea shared among human adults [23,24], infants [25,26], of evolution in reverse can also be considered within and all quadrupeds [27], with primates constituting a the framework of evolutionary or Darwinian medicine more or less distinct group because their upper limbs [36], a foundation for all medicine [37], which was are specialized for skilled hand movements with proposed to answer the question why serious specific supraspinal motor control [23]. In essence, " diseases still exist despite natural selection. Besides rhythmic arm movements are under the control of UTS, a recently recognized pathological condition, a cervical forelimb generators in quadrupeds as well as number of diseases were considered as Darwinian in humans," suggesting phylogenetic conservation of disorders, such as tuberculosis, Huntington's disease, the preserved spinal network organization [28], which depression, obesity, anxiety, pain, nausea, cough, may play a ro le in the re-emergence of fever, vomiting, fatigue, epilepsy, obsessive quadrupedalism in humans under certain genetic, compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia [38,39,40,41]. epigenetic, and/or environmental conditions [29]. Alzheimer's disease was also considered to be a " The characteristics of quadrupedal locomotion among phylogenic regression" or phylogenic disease. In this tetrapods vary, depending upon adaptive locomotor context, Ghika [42] stated "The highest level of gait changes [30]. In this context, Ivanenko et al. [31], for disorders including Uner Tan syndrome, with its instance, concluded: "human quadrupedalism is a simian-like gait and posture or apraxia, i.e., the behavior that can result from adaptive processes re-emergence of old automatism of pre-human gait, tr iggered by disorders in postural tone and may also be considered under these phylogenic environmental cues." With regard to the neural diseases." These considerations are in accord with the mechanisms of human quadrupedalism [32], Patrick et theory of "human locomotor evolution in reverse" [4]. al. [22] concluded that the shared features of the This theory was criticized by Shapiro et al [16], who crawling of humans and quadrupeds suggested the rejected the hypothesis that human quadrupedalism existence of similar underlying mechanisms. Dietz [32] appeared in UTS as an ancestral trait by comparing and Righetti et al. [21] also concluded that similar the gait characteristics of a few UTS cases with living supraspinal and spinal locomotor controls exist in nonhuman primates, as if the primates were our human infants, adults, and quadrupeds. ancestors. I would like to make two points: (i) they In a study by Zampagni et al. [33], human expert experimentally tested my theory of "human locomotor climbers exhibited a prominent diagonal gait evolution in reverse" or, in short "human locomotor resembling the diagonal walking gait of nonhuman devolution" as a scientific theory, since a theory is primates as an adaptive phenomenon. Human beings scientific only if it is falsifiable or testable, and if not it use a mixture of the limb phase patterns dominated by is unscientific, according to Popper [43]; (ii) they LSDC, but with the DS gait used if necessary. appeared to consider living primates as our ancestors. Similarly, nonhuman primates do not always use I agree with the first point with pleasure, but I do not purely LS or DS but also exhibit a mixed pattern in agree with the second point, since even though our diagonality. Primates alternating between DS and LS ancestors are not known with certainty they are not the gaits have been reported in several studies [8,34,35]. living primates. In this context, Huxley [44] stated: ". Wallace and Demes [10] investigated the walking gaits ..the stock whence two or more species have sprung, of two primates (Cebus apella) as they moved across need in no respect be intermediate between those terrestrial and simulated arboreal substrates, and also species." Indeed, the paleontological discoveries WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 6 of 14 27. 2012. WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM made on African fossils have not yet identified with This study was partly supported by the Turkish certainty our proposed common ancestors [45]. Academy of Sciences, Ankara, Turkey. I thank the Consequently, any gait analysis on living nonhuman participants for allowing me to make video films. primates would not be sufficient to reach an acceptable conclusion about the walking patterns of References our ancestors. Although Shapiro et al. [16] compared the locomotor characteristics of UTS cases with those of living primates to evaluate Tan's devolution 1. Muybridge E. The human figure in motion. London: hypothesis, Dawkins [46] pointed out that a theory has Chapman & Hall., Ltd, 1901. been proposed that, "chimpanzees and gorillas 2. Price M. 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The initiation of the swing to the labs: Darwinian medicine and epilepsy today. phase in human infant stepping: importance of hip Epilelpsy Behav, 2009; 16:388-390. WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 8 of 14 angles. angles WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM 40. Abed RT, Pauw KW. An evolutionary hypothesis quadrupedal standing (PRIMATE2). for obsessive compulsive disorder : a-psychological Illustration 5: Mean limb phases with ±2.0 SDs for immune system. Behav Neurol,1998; 11:245-250. five study groups. UTS cases (UTS); FORCED QL: 41. Pearlson GD, Folley BS. Schizophrenia, healthy individuals with requested straight-leg QL; psychiatric genetics, and Darwinian psychiatry: an FREE QL: healthy individuals with free QL; BABIES evolutionary framework. Schizophr Bull, 2008; QL: babies with QL; PRIMATES QL: terrestrial 34:722-733. nonhuman primates QL. Notice the differences and 42. Ghika J. Paleoneurology: neurodegenerative similarities in these subgroups. diseases are age-related diseases of specific brain Illustration 6: Percentages and minimum-maximum regions recently developed by homo sapiens. Med limb phase values for five study groups Hypotheses 2008; 71: 788-801. 43. Popper K. Falsification. New York, USA. Oxford Cover letter University Press; 1999. 44. Huxley TH. The origin of species. Collected essays Dear Editor: 1860; 2: 71-79. I would like to submit my revised paper entitled "Gait 45. White TD, Lovejoy CO, Asfaw B, Carlson JP, Analysis In Uner Tan Syndrome With Quadrupedal Suwa G. Neither chimpanzees nor human, Locomotion, Mental Impairment, And Dysarthric Ardipithecus reveals the surprising ancestry of both. Or No Speech, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2015; 112(16): 4877-4884. for possible publ icat ion in the Journal of 46. Dawkins R. The ancestor's tale. A pilgrimage to WebmedCentral). the dawn of evolution. A Mariner Book: Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston . New York (USA), 2004. Uner Tan syndrome was first identified in 2005 as a unique syndrome characterized by the habitual use of 47.Guertin PA. Central pattern generator for quadrupedal locomotion, severe truncal ataxia, locomotion: anatomical, physiological, and dysarthric or no speech, and severely impaired pathophysiological considerations. Front Neurol intellectual abilities. No quantitative gait analysis was February 2013; vol. 3, article 183. carried on these cases until 2014, when the QL was Figure legends characterized by others as lateral sequence similar to healthy human adults, but in a small sample size from only one family. The submitted work included a Illustration 1: First discovered man with habitual QL in Turkey in 1917 [3]. Notice the hip (1) and knee (2) representative sample size from 10 families hitherto discovered in Turkey, and reports a new quantitative gait analysis of Uner Tan syndrome cases, healthy human infants, healthy human individuals and Illustration 2: Quadrupedal postures in the UTS nonhuman primates. It addresses the fact that UTS cases (A1-A3), healthy individuals with straightleg cases walk with straight rather than flexed legs, and quadrupedal posture (B1-B3), nonhuman primates ( the results show that while the QL is mostly lateral C1: chimpanzee, C2: macaca mulatta, C3: macaque), sequence, there are similarities in gait characteristics healthy individuals with free (natural) quadrupedal with terrestrial primate locomotion, whereas the QL in postures (D1-D3), and nonhuman primates with healthy individuals had similarities with arboreal arboreal QL (E1: slow loris, E2: grey mouse lemur, E3: primate locomotion. These findings have implications propithecus. Notice primates with large (C: terrestrial) in the evolution of bipedal locomotion in human beings and small (E: arboreal) bodies. and in the quadrupedal locomotion in UTS cases. Illustration 3: Means and SDs of the hip and knee I hope the findings and conclusions in the paper all make this manuscript worthy of publishing. Illustration 4: Error bars with ±2.0 SD for the hip Yours faithfully, (open circles, red) and knee (filled circles, black) angles of the UTS cases (UTS), healthy individuals Prof. Dr. Uner Tan, M.D., Ph.D. with requested QL, straight legs (FORCED QL), Honorary member of the Turkish Academy of terrestrial primates with free quadrupedal standing Sciences, Ankara, Turkey (PRIMATE1), healthy individuals with free (flexed legs) E-mail: unertan37@yahoo.com QL (NORM QL), and arboreal primates with free WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 9 of 14 angles WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM Illustrations Illustration 1 First discovered man with habitual QL in Turkey in 1917 [3]. Notice the hip (1) and knee (2) Illustration 2 Quadrupedal postures in the UTS cases (A1-A3), healthy individuals with straightleg quadrupedal posture (B1-B3), nonhuman primates (C1: chimpanzee, C2: macaca mulatta, C3: macaque), healthy individuals with free (natural) quadrupedal postures (D1-D3), and nonhuman primates with arboreal QL (E1: slow loris, E2: grey mouse lemur, E3: propithecus. Notice primates with large (C: terrestrial) and small (E: arboreal) bodies. WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 10 of 14 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 11 of 14 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM Illustration 3 Means and SDs of the hip and knee angles Illustration 4 Error bars with Â±2.0 SD for the hip (open circles, red) and knee (filled circles, black) angles of the UTS cases (UTS), healthy individuals with requested QL, straight legs (FORCED QL), terrestrial primates with free quadrupedal standing (PRIMATE1), healthy individuals with free (flexed legs) QL (NORM QL), and arboreal primates with free quadrupedal standing (PRIMATE2) WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 12 of 14 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 13 of 14 WMC005017 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 10-Nov-2015, 08:43:10 AM Illustration 5 Mean limb phases with Â±2.0 SDs for five study groups. UTS cases (UTS); FORCED QL: healthy individuals with requested straight-leg QL; FREE QL: healthy individuals with free QL; BABIES QL: babies with QL; PRIMATES QL: terrestrial nonhuman primates QL. Notice the differences and similarities in these subgroups Illustration 6 Percentages and minimum-maximum limb phase values for five study groups WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 14 of