The 'Brussels 4': essential requirements for implantable brain-computer interface user autonomy.

Implantable brain-computer interfaces (iBCIs) hold great promise for individuals with severe paralysis and are advancing toward commercialization. The features required to achieve autonomous use of an iBCI may be under recognized in traditional academic measures of iBCI function and deserve further consideration to achieve successful clinical translation and patient adoption. Here, we present four key considerations to achieve autonomous use, reflecting the authors' perspectives based on discussions during various sessions and workshops across the 10th International BCI Society Meeting, Brussels, 2023: (1) immediate use, (2) easy to use, (3) continuous use, and (4) stable system use.

Building consensus on clinical outcome assessments for BCI devices. A summary of the 10th BCI society meeting 2023 workshop.

The 10th International Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Society Meeting, 'Balancing Innovation and Translation', was held from the 6th to 9th of June 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. This report provides a summary of the workshop 'Building Consensus on Clinical Outcome Assessments (COAs) for BCI Devices'. This workshop was intended to give participants an overview of the current state of BCI, future opportunities, and how different countries and regions provide regulatory oversight to support the BCI community to develop safe and effective devices for patients.

Endovascular Brain-Computer Interfaces in Poststroke Paralysis.

Stroke is a leading cause of paralysis, most frequently affecting the upper limbs and vocal folds. Despite recent advances in care, stroke recovery invariably reaches a plateau, after which there are permanent neurological impairments. Implantable brain-computer interface devices offer the potential to bypass permanent neurological lesions.

Comparison of Hemodynamic Brain Responses Between Big Wave Surfers and Non-big Wave Surfers During Affective Image Presentation.

Background: Big wave surfers are extreme sports athletes who expose themselves to life-threatening risk when training and competing. Little is known about how and why extreme sports athletes choose to participate in their chosen sports. This exploratory study investigated potential neurophysiological and psychometric differences between big and non-big wave surfers.

Evaluating the clinical benefit of brain-computer interfaces for control of a personal computer.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enabling the control of a personal computer could provide myriad benefits to individuals with disabilities including paralysis. However, to realize this potential, these BCIs must gain regulatory approval and be made clinically available beyond research participation. Therefore, a transition from engineering-oriented to clinically oriented outcome measures will be required in the evaluation of BCIs.

Parkinson's Disease With Visual Hallucinations Is Associated With Epileptiform Activity on EEG.

Visual hallucinations (VHs) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are the cardinal symptoms which declare the onset of PD psychosis (PDP). The anthropomorphic and zoomorphic VHs of PD resemble those of Charles Bonnet syndrome and temporal lobe epilepsy. In both of these disorders electroencephalography (EEG) abnormalities have been described.

Safety and Tolerability of a Wearable, Vibrotactile Stimulation Device for Parkinson's Disease.

Resting tremor is a cardinal symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that contributes to the physical, emotional, and economic burden of the disease. The goal of this study was to investigate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary effectiveness of a novel wearable vibrotactile stimulation device on resting tremor in individuals with PD. Using a randomized cross-over design, subjects received two different vibrotactile stimulation paradigms (high amplitude patterned and low amplitude continuous) on two separate laboratory visits.

Singing In The Mask: Effects Of A Variably Occluded Face Mask On Singing.

Objective: A limitation of traditional semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTE) is the single sustained vowel task that precludes co-articulated singing. This study investigated immediate effects of a variably occluded face mask (VOFM) on vocal effort, acoustic, and aerodynamic measures in sung low and high pitches of healthy singers.

Design: Single-group, pre-post intervention study.

Electrocorticography reveals thalamic control of cortical dynamics following traumatic brain injury.

The return of consciousness after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is associated with restoring complex cortical dynamics; however, it is unclear what interactions govern these complex dynamics. Here, we set out to uncover the mechanism underlying the return of consciousness by measuring local field potentials (LFP) using invasive electrophysiological recordings in patients recovering from TBI. We found that injury to the thalamus, and its efferent projections, on MRI were associated with repetitive and low complexity LFP signals from a highly structured phase space, resembling a low-dimensional ring attractor.

Music Augmented With Isochronic Auditory Beats or Vibrotactile Stimulation Does Not Affect Subsequent Ergometer Cycling Performance: A Pilot Study.

Methods to enhance the ergogenic effects of music are of interest to athletes of all abilities. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the ergogenic effects of two commercially available methods of music augmentation: auditory beats and vibrotactile stimulation. Six male and five female cyclists/triathletes cycled for 7 minutes at three different intensities: a rate of perceived exertion (RPE) of 11 ("light"), RPE of 15 ("hard"), and a 7-minute time-trial.

Post-stimulus beta responses are modulated by task duration.

Modulation of beta-band neural oscillations during and following movement is a robust marker of brain function. In particular, the post-movement beta rebound (PMBR), which occurs on movement cessation, has been related to inhibition and connectivity in the healthy brain, and is perturbed in disease. However, to realise the potential of the PMBR as a biomarker, its modulation by task parameters must be characterised and its functional role determined.

An automated, electronic assessment tool can accurately classify older adult postural stability.

Current methods of balance assessment in the clinical environment are often subjective, time-consuming and lack clinical relevance for non-ambulatory older adults. The objective of this study was to develop a novel method of balance assessment that utilizes data collected using the Microsoft Kinect 2 to create a Berg Balance Scale score, which is completely determined by statistical methods rather than by human evaluators. 74 older adults, both healthy and balance impaired, were recruited for this trial.

Modeling the return to consciousness after severe traumatic brain injury at a large academic level 1 trauma center.

Objective: Severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) carries significant morbidity and mortality. It remains difficult to counsel families on functional prognosis and plan research initiatives aimed at treating traumatic coma. In order to better address these problems, the authors set out to develop statistical models using retrospective data to identify admission characteristics that correlate with time until the return of consciousness, defined as the time to follow commands (TFC).

Robotic Rehabilitation and Spinal Cord Injury: a Narrative Review.

Mobility after spinal cord injury (SCI) is among the top goals of recovery and improvement in quality of life. Those with tetraplegia rank hand function as the most important area of recovery in their lives, and those with paraplegia, walking. Without hand function, emphasis in rehabilitation is placed on accessing one's environment through technology.

Modulation of post-movement beta rebound by contraction force and rate of force development.

Movement induced modulation of the beta rhythm is one of the most robust neural oscillatory phenomena in the brain. In the preparation and execution phases of movement, a loss in beta amplitude is observed [movement related beta decrease (MRBD)]. This is followed by a rebound above baseline on movement cessation [post movement beta rebound (PMBR)].

Prolonged infrapatellar tendon vibration does not influence quadriceps maximal or explosive isometric force production in man.

Purpose: The influence of muscle/tendon vibration on maximal muscle performance is unclear. This study examined the effect of a prolonged tendon vibration stimulus on maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) and explosive voluntary contraction (EVC) performance.

Methods: Eighteen young healthy males (nine strength trained and nine untrained) completed a series of isometric unilateral knee extensions (EVCs, electrically evoked octet responses, MVCs, ramp contractions) pre and post two separate 30-min intervention trials; infrapatellar tendon vibration (80 Hz), and quiet sitting (control).

The Pleistocene history of the sheepshead minnow (Cyprinodon variegatus): Non-equilibrium evolutionary dynamics within a diversifying species complex.

The sheepshead minnow, Cyprinodon variegatus, is a widespread fish species that typically inhabits coastal tidal marsh and mangrove swamp environments, ranging from Cape Cod, Massaschusetts to northern Mexico and into the Caribbean. This wide range crosses several biogeographic boundaries which are coincident with genetic structuring within numerous species originating in the Pleistocene. In addition, the more northerly reaches of this species range have been further subject to the evolutionary consequences of Pleistocene glaciation due to local extinction and recolonization of formerly glaciated sites.

The tripartite associations between bacteriophage, Wolbachia, and arthropods.

By manipulating arthropod reproduction worldwide, the heritable endosymbiont Wolbachia has spread to pandemic levels. Little is known about the microbial basis of cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) except that bacterial densities and percentages of infected sperm cysts associate with incompatibility strength. The recent discovery of a temperate bacteriophage (WO-B) of Wolbachia containing ankyrin-encoding genes and virulence factors has led to intensifying debate that bacteriophage WO-B induces CI.

Cytonuclear coevolution: the genomics of cooperation.

Without mitochondria we would be in big trouble, and there would be a global biological energy crisis if it were not for chloroplasts. Fortunately, genomic evolution over the past two billion years has ensured that the functions of these key organelles are with us to stay. Whole-genome analyses have not only proven that mitochondria and chloroplasts are descended from formerly free-living bacteria, but have also shown that it is difficult to define eukaryotes without reference to the fusion and coevolution of host and endosymbiont genomes.

Nuclear-mitochondrial epistasis and drosophila aging: introgression of Drosophila simulans mtDNA modifies longevity in D. melanogaster nuclear backgrounds.

Under the mitochondrial theory of aging, physiological decline with age results from the accumulated cellular damage produced by reactive oxygen species generated during electron transport in the mitochondrion. A large body of literature has documented age-specific declines in mitochondrial function that are consistent with this theory, but relatively few studies have been able to distinguish cause from consequence in the association between mitochondrial function and aging. Since mitochondrial function is jointly encoded by mitochondrial (mtDNA) and nuclear genes, the mitochondrial genetics of aging should be controlled by variation in (1) mtDNA, (2) nuclear genes, or (3) nuclear-mtDNA interactions.