scholarly journals Modeling and Simulations in Time Domain of a Stimulation Set-up for Cortical Applications

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schweigmann ◽  
Frank Kirchhoff ◽  
Klaus P. Koch

Electrical stimulation is used for example to treat neuronal disorders and depression with deep brain stimulation or transcranial electrical stimulation. Depending on the application, different electrodes are used and thus different electrical characteristics exist, which have to be handled by the stimulator. Without a measuring device the user would have to rely on the stimulator being able to deliver the needed stimulation signal. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present a method to increase the level of confidence with characterization and modelling of the electrical behavior by using the example of one channel of our stimulation device for experimental use. In several simulation studies with an electrode model with values in a typical range for cortical applications the influence of the load onto the stimulator and the possibility to pre-estimate measuring signals in complex networks are shown.

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Convento ◽  
Cristina Russo ◽  
Luca Zigiotto ◽  
Nadia Bolognini

Abstract. Cognitive rehabilitation is an important area of neurological rehabilitation, which aims at the treatment of cognitive disorders due to acquired brain damage of different etiology, including stroke. Although the importance of cognitive rehabilitation for stroke survivors is well recognized, available cognitive treatments for neuropsychological disorders, such as spatial neglect, hemianopia, apraxia, and working memory, are overall still unsatisfactory. The growing body of evidence supporting the potential of the transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) as tool for interacting with neuroplasticity in the human brain, in turn for enhancing perceptual and cognitive functions, has obvious implications for the translation of this noninvasive brain stimulation technique into clinical settings, in particular for the development of tES as adjuvant tool for cognitive rehabilitation. The present review aims at presenting the current state of art concerning the use of tES for the improvement of post-stroke visual and cognitive deficits (except for aphasia and memory disorders), showing the therapeutic promises of this technique and offering some suggestions for the design of future clinical trials. Although this line of research is still in infancy, as compared to the progresses made in the last years in other neurorehabilitation domains, current findings appear very encouraging, supporting the development of tES for the treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 639
Author(s):  
David Bergeron ◽  
Sami Obaid ◽  
Marie-Pierre Fournier-Gosselin ◽  
Alain Bouthillier ◽  
Dang Khoa Nguyen

Introduction: To date, clinical trials of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for refractory chronic pain have yielded unsatisfying results. Recent evidence suggests that the posterior insula may represent a promising DBS target for this indication. Methods: We present a narrative review highlighting the theoretical basis of posterior insula DBS in patients with chronic pain. Results: Neuroanatomical studies identified the posterior insula as an important cortical relay center for pain and interoception. Intracranial neuronal recordings showed that the earliest response to painful laser stimulation occurs in the posterior insula. The posterior insula is one of the only regions in the brain whose low-frequency electrical stimulation can elicit painful sensations. Most chronic pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia, had abnormal functional connectivity of the posterior insula on functional imaging. Finally, preliminary results indicated that high-frequency electrical stimulation of the posterior insula can acutely increase pain thresholds. Conclusion: In light of the converging evidence from neuroanatomical, brain lesion, neuroimaging, and intracranial recording and stimulation as well as non-invasive stimulation studies, it appears that the insula is a critical hub for central integration and processing of painful stimuli, whose high-frequency electrical stimulation has the potential to relieve patients from the sensory and affective burden of chronic pain.


ReCALL ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Wong ◽  
Agnès Fauverge

This paper reports on the experimental use of a broadband computer network hypermedia environment for language learning (French, English and Spanish). Using Web-based resources, students engage in a collaborative task over a network which offers high quality video-conferencing, application sharing and access to authentic multimedia resources. One of the main aims was to establish the practicalities of providing learners of languages with opportunities to engage in reciprocal peer tutoring. After outlining the pedagogical assumptions, and describing the set-up of the network-based learning environment, the trials are analysed, and the effectiveness of network-based language learning in supporting collaborative learning is discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 251524592097262
Author(s):  
Don van Ravenzwaaij ◽  
Alexander Etz

When social scientists wish to learn about an empirical phenomenon, they perform an experiment. When they wish to learn about a complex numerical phenomenon, they can perform a simulation study. The goal of this Tutorial is twofold. First, it introduces how to set up a simulation study using the relatively simple example of simulating from the prior. Second, it demonstrates how simulation can be used to learn about the Jeffreys-Zellner-Siow (JZS) Bayes factor, a currently popular implementation of the Bayes factor employed in the BayesFactor R package and freeware program JASP. Many technical expositions on Bayes factors exist, but these may be somewhat inaccessible to researchers who are not specialized in statistics. In a step-by-step approach, this Tutorial shows how a simple simulation script can be used to approximate the calculation of the Bayes factor. We explain how a researcher can write such a sampler to approximate Bayes factors in a few lines of code, what the logic is behind the Savage-Dickey method used to visualize Bayes factors, and what the practical differences are for different choices of the prior distribution used to calculate Bayes factors.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thusharika D. Dissanayaka ◽  
Maryam Zoghi ◽  
Michael Farrell ◽  
Gary F. Egan ◽  
Shapour Jaberzadeh

AbstractSham stimulation is used in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to assess the efficacy of active stimulation and placebo effects. It should mimic the characteristics of active stimulation to achieve blinding integrity. The present study was a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literature to identify the effects of sham transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) – including anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS, c-tDCS), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) and transcranial pulsed current stimulation (tPCS) – on corticospinal excitability (CSE), compared to baseline in healthy individuals. Electronic databases – PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Science Direct and MEDLINE (Ovid) – were searched for RCTs of tES from 1990 to March 2017. Thirty RCTs were identified. Using a random-effects model, meta-analysis of a-tDCS, c-tDCS, tACS, tRNS and tPCS studies showed statistically non-significant pre-post effects of sham interventions on CSE. This review found evidence for statically non-significant effects of sham tES on CSE.


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