Brain vital signs as a quantitative measure of cognition: Methodological implementation in a care home environment.

Introduction: Managing cognitive function in care homes is a significant challenge. Individuals in care have a variety of scores across standard clinical assessments, such as the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE), and many of them have scores that fall within the range associated with dementia. A recent methodological advance, brain vital sign monitoring through auditory event-related potentials, provides an objective and sensitive physiological measurement to track abnormalities, differences, or changes in cognitive function.

Blink-Related Oscillations Provide Naturalistic Assessments of Brain Function and Cognitive Workload within Complex Real-World Multitasking Environments.

Background: There is a significant need to monitor human cognitive performance in complex environments, with one example being pilot performance. However, existing assessments largely focus on subjective experiences (e.g.

Towards ubiquitous and nonintrusive measurements of brain function in the real world: assessing blink-related oscillations during simulated flight using portable low-cost EEG.

Blink-related oscillations (BRO) are newly discovered neurophysiological phenomena associated with spontaneous blinking and represent cascading neural mechanisms including visual sensory, episodic memory, and information processing responses. These phenomena have been shown to be present at rest and during tasks and are modulated by cognitive load, creating the possibility for brain function assessments that can be integrated seamlessly into real-world settings. Prior works have largely examined the BRO phenomenon within controlled laboratory environments using magnetoencephalography and high-density electroencephalography (EEG) that are ill-suited for real-world deployment.

Blink-related EEG oscillations are neurophysiological indicators of subconcussive head impacts in female soccer players: a preliminary study.

Introduction: Repetitive subconcussive head impacts can lead to subtle neural changes and functional consequences on brain health. However, the objective assessment of these changes remains limited. Resting state blink-related oscillations (BROs), recently discovered neurological responses following spontaneous blinking, are explored in this study to evaluate changes in BRO responses in subconcussive head impacts.

Artificial intelligence in brain MRI analysis of Alzheimer's disease over the past 12 years: A systematic review.

Introduction: Multiple structural brain changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have been revealed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). There is a fast-growing effort in applying artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze these data. Here, we review and evaluate the AI studies in brain MRI analysis with synthesis.

Event Related Potential Signal Capture Can Be Enhanced through Dynamic SNR-Weighted Channel Pooling.

Background: Electroencephalography (EEG)-derived event-related potentials (ERPs) provide information about a variety of brain functions, but often suffer from low inherent signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To overcome the low SNR, techniques that pool data from multiple sensors have been applied. However, such pooling implicitly assumes that the SNR among sensors is equal, which is not necessarily valid.

White Matter Neuroplasticity: Motor Learning Activates the Internal Capsule and Reduces Hemodynamic Response Variability.

Numerous studies have noted the importance of white matter changes in motor learning, but existing literature only focuses on structural and microstructural MRI changes, as there are limited tools available for investigations of white matter function. One method that has gained recent prominence is the application of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI to white matter, with high-field scanners now being able to better detect the smaller hemodynamic changes present in this tissue type compared to those in the gray matter. However, fMRI techniques have yet to be applied to investigations of neuroplastic change with motor learning in white matter.

B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells mediate RANK-RANKL-dependent bone destruction.

Although most children survive B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), they frequently experience long-term, treatment-related health problems, including osteopenia and osteonecrosis. Because some children present with fractures at ALL diagnosis, we considered the possibility that leukemic B cells contribute directly to bone pathology. To identify potential mechanisms of B-ALL-driven bone destruction, we examined the ; ; triple mutant (TM) mice and ; double mutant (DM) mouse models of spontaneous B-ALL.

Differential neural processing of spontaneous blinking under visual and auditory sensory environments: An EEG investigation of blink-related oscillations.

Blink-related oscillations (BROs) are a recently discovered neurophysiological response associated with spontaneous blinking, distinct from the well-known oculomotor and visual suppression effects. BROs strongly activate the bilateral precuneus along with other cortical regions involved in visuospatial processing and associative episodic memory, and are believed to represent environmental monitoring processes that occur following blink-induced visual interruptions. Although these responses have been reported across multiple imaging modalities under both resting and cognitive loading conditions, it is yet unknown whether these responses also exist under external sensory stimulation conditions.

Distant Sensor Prediction of Event-Related Potentials.

Objective: The ability to measure event-related potentials (ERPs) as practical, portable brain vital signs is limited by the physical locations of electrodes. Standard electrode locations embedded within the hair result in challenges to obtaining quality signals in a rapid manner. Moreover, these sites require electrode gel, which can be inconvenient.

Novel Signal Processing Technique for Capture and Isolation of Blink-Related Oscillations Using a Low-Density Electrode Array for Bedside Evaluation of Consciousness.

Objective: Blink-related oscillations derived from electroencephalography (EEG) have recently emerged as an important measure of awareness. Combined with portable EEG hardware with low-density electrode arrays, this neural marker may crucially augment the existing bedside assessments of consciousness in unresponsive patients. Nonetheless, the close relationship between signal characteristics of the neural response of interest and blink-induced oculomotor artifacts poses particular challenges when measuring blink-related oscillations using a point-of-care platform.

Brain Vital Signs: Expanding From the Auditory to Visual Modality.

The critical need for rapid objective, physiological evaluation of brain function at point-of-care has led to the emergence of brain vital signs-a framework encompassing a portable electroencephalography (EEG) and an automated, quick test protocol. This framework enables access to well-established event-related potential (ERP) markers, which are specific to sensory, attention, and cognitive functions in both healthy and patient populations. However, all our applications to-date have used auditory stimulation, which have highlighted application challenges in persons with hearing impairments (e.

Brain vital signs detect concussion-related neurophysiological impairments in ice hockey.

There is a growing demand for objective evaluations of concussion. We developed a portable evoked potential framework to extract 'brain vital signs' using electroencephalography. Brain vital signs were derived from well established evoked responses representing auditory sensation (N100), basic attention (P300), and cognitive processing (N400) amplitudes and latencies, converted to normative metrics (six total).

Accessing knowledge of the 'here and now': a new technique for capturing electromagnetic markers of orientation processing.

Objective: The ability to orient with respect to the current context (e.g. current time or location) is crucial for daily functioning, and is used to measure overall cognitive health across many frontline clinical assessments.

Point-of-care brain injury evaluation of conscious awareness: wide scale deployment of portable HCS EEG evaluation.

Survivors of severe brain injury may remain in a decreased state of conscious awareness for an extended period of time. Clinical scales are used to describe levels of consciousness but rely on behavioural responses, precipitating misdiagnosis. We have previously utilized event-related potentials (ERPs) to circumvent reliance on behavioural responses.

Cognitive loading via mental arithmetic modulates effects of blink-related oscillations on precuneus and ventral attention network regions.

Blink-related oscillations (BROs) have been linked with environmental monitoring processes associated with blinking, with cortical activations in the bilateral precuneus. Although BROs have been described under resting and passive fixation conditions, little is known about their characteristics under cognitive loading. To address this, we investigated BRO effects during both mental arithmetic (MA) and passive fixation (PF) tasks using magnetoencephalography (n =20), while maintaining the same sensory environment in both tasks.

Multimodal characterization of the semantic N400 response within a rapid evaluation brain vital sign framework.

Background: For nearly four decades, the N400 has been an important brainwave marker of semantic processing. It can be recorded non-invasively from the scalp using electrical and/or magnetic sensors, but largely within the restricted domain of research laboratories specialized to run specific N400 experiments. However, there is increasing evidence of significant clinical utility for the N400 in neurological evaluation, particularly at the individual level.

Spontaneous Blinks Activate the Precuneus: Characterizing Blink-Related Oscillations Using Magnetoencephalography.

Spontaneous blinking occurs 15-20 times per minute. Although blinking has often been associated with its physiological role of corneal lubrication, there is now increasing behavioral evidence suggesting that blinks are also modulated by cognitive processes such as attention and information processing. Recent low-density electroencephalography (EEG) studies have reported so-called blink-related oscillations (BROs) associated with spontaneous blinking at rest.

Developing Brain Vital Signs: Initial Framework for Monitoring Brain Function Changes Over Time.

Clinical assessment of brain function relies heavily on indirect behavior-based tests. Unfortunately, behavior-based assessments are subjective and therefore susceptible to several confounding factors. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs), derived from electroencephalography (EEG), are often used to provide objective, physiological measures of brain function.

Novel EP4 receptor agonist-bisphosphonate conjugate drug (C1) promotes bone formation and improves vertebral mechanical properties in the ovariectomized rat model of postmenopausal bone loss.

Current treatments for postmenopausal osteoporosis aim to either promote bone formation or inhibit bone resorption. The C1 conjugate drug represents a new treatment approach by chemically linking the antiresorptive compound alendronate (ALN) with the anabolic agent prostanoid EP4 receptor agonist (EP4a) through a linker molecule (LK) to form a conjugate compound. This enables the bone-targeting ability of ALN to deliver EP4a to bone sites and mitigate the systemic side effects of EP4a, while also facilitating dual antiresorptive and anabolic effects.