Immediate effects and duration of a short and single application of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on P300 event related potential.

Introduction: Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is a neuromodulatory technique that stimulates the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. The modulation of the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) network is one of the potential working mechanisms of this method. Our aims were 1-to investigate if short and single applications of taVNS can modulate the P300 cognitive event-related potential (ERP) as an indirect marker that reflects NE brain activation under control of the LC, and 2-to evaluate the duration of these changes.

Erratum: Unified Approach to Polarons and Phonon-Induced Band Structure Renormalization [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 076402 (2022)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.

Unified Approach to Polarons and Phonon-Induced Band Structure Renormalization.

Ab initio calculations of the phonon-induced band structure renormalization are currently based on the perturbative Allen-Heine theory and its many-body generalizations. These approaches are unsuitable to describe materials where electrons form localized polarons. Here, we develop a self-consistent, many-body Green's function theory of band structure renormalization that incorporates localization and self-trapping.

Evaluation of different vagus nerve stimulation anatomical targets in the ear by vagus evoked potential responses.

Background: Electrical auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is an emerging therapy. Stimuli are transported to brainstem nuclei, whereby its multiple projections reach to many subcortical and cortical areas, thus allowing the neuromodulation of several systemic physiological processes. We aim to define the best auricular target for taVNS through vagus somatosensory evoked potential (VSEP) elicited stimulating different auricular areas with different electrode sizes.

[Sleep-related movement and behavioural disorders in adults].

Sleep-related movement and behaviour disorders may have an impact on sleep quality and lead to daytime symptoms. These groups of conditions include diseases such as restless legs syndrome, periodic leg movements, and REM and NREM parasomnias. The knowledge of their clinical features and management is of utmost importance for the neurologist and sleep specialist.

A new method for measurement of motor unit action potential duration based on correlation, a pilot study.

We present a new, automatic, correlation-based method for measuring the duration of motor unit action potentials (MUAPs). The method seeks to replicate the way an expert elctromyographer uses his or her eyes, calculating the start and end of the MUAP waveform on the basis of the degree of similarity of non-excluded discharges. We analysed 68 potentials from normal deltoid muscles during slight contraction.

[A comparative study of three systems for quantifying the spike and wave index in patients with continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep].

Introduction: Continuous spikes and waves during slow sleep (CSWS) is an epileptic encephalopathy of childhood with a pattern of epileptiform discharges during sleep, which, if prolonged over time, produce severe neuropsychological impairment. Quantification of the paroxysms by means of a spike and wave index (SWI) > 85% establishes a presumptive diagnosis and allows early therapy to be started to prevent such impairment.

Aims: To compare the results of the classic method for calculating the SWI against two proposals that optimise the relation between the analysis time employed and the diagnostic sensitivity.

Structural characterization of slightly boron-deficient LiB, LiB0.9 and LiB0.8, under pressure.

Results of computational investigations of two slightly boron-deficient lithium borides, LiB(0.9) and LiB(0.8), under pressure are reported.

Cortico-juxtacortical involvement increases risk of epileptic seizures in multiple sclerosis.

Objectives: Previous studies have reported an increased risk for epileptic seizures in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. However, data on the pathogenesis of seizures remain inconclusive. The aim of our study is to evaluate prevalence, clinical and paraclinical features of epileptic attacks in our MS cohort and to search MS-specific risk factors for epileptic seizures.

Benchmark quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the ground-state kinetic, interaction and total energy of the three-dimensional electron gas.

We report variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo ground-state energies of the three-dimensional electron gas using a model periodic Coulomb interaction and backflow corrections for N = 54, 102, 178, and 226 electrons. We remove finite-size effects by extrapolation and we find lower energies than previously reported. Using the Hellman-Feynman operator sampling method introduced in Gaudoin and Pitarke (2007 Phys.

[Bilateral facial palsy due to Epstein-Barr virus Infection].

Two young patients with bilateral facial palsy are described. They initially presented unilateral facial palsy, followed by contralateral facial nerve involvement a few days later, together with clinical and serologic evidence of acute Epstein-Barr virus infection. The outcome was favourable in one patient but severe sequels persisted in the second.

Application of a novel automatic duration method measurement based on the wavelet transform on pathological motor unit action potentials.

Objective: To evaluate a recently published automatic duration method based on the wavelet transform applied on normal and pathological motor unit action potentials (MUAPs).

Methods: We analyzed 313 EMG recordings from normal and pathological muscles during slight contractions. After the extraction procedure, 339 potentials were accepted for analysis: 68 from normal muscles, 124 from myopathic muscles, 20 from chronic neurogenic muscles, 83 from subacute neurogenic muscles and also 44 fibrillation potentials, as an example of very low duration muscular potentials.

[Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring: methods in neurosurgery].

IONM uses different neurophysiological techniques during surgery time, thus avoiding possible lesions to the neurological structures, making surgery safer and better. We describe two types of IONM: mapping techniques and monitoring techniques, as well as their advantages, disadvantages and complications. We look into the more useful techniques in this field, as well as providing orientation about its use according to the surgical areas and the neurological structures under risk.

[Cognitive evoked potentials. Perspectives for mismatch negativity].

The techniques of cognitive evoked potentials are considered long and technically complex, which is why their use in clinical practice is not very widespread in spite of their potential utility. Recent advances in registering and analysis, together with improvement of the software managing these signals, have appreciably reduced these problems. Mismatch negativity stands out as the most promising of all the cognitive potentials due to its special characteristics regarding its generation requisites and its proven clinical utility.

Dissociation energy of the water dimer from quantum Monte Carlo calculations.

We report a study of the electronic dissociation energy of the water dimer using quantum Monte Carlo techniques. We have performed variational quantum Monte Carlo and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations of the electronic ground state of the water monomer and dimer using all-electron and pseudopotential approaches. We have used Slater-Jastrow trial wave functions with B3LYP type single-particle orbitals, into which we have incorporated backflow correlations.

[An epidemiological, clinical and developmental study of 37 patients with early-onset benign occipital epilepsy of childhood].

Aim: To analyse the epidemiological, clinical and developmental characteristics of early-onset benign occipital epilepsy of childhood in order to facilitate its diagnostic suspicion in daily clinical practice.

Patients And Methods: The medical records of 37 patients with early-onset benign occipital epilepsy of childhood were reviewed in order to collect epidemiological and clinical features, results of complementary examinations and developmental data. The diagnostic criteria applied were those of the ILAE (International League Against Epilepsy).

Motor unit action potential duration, II: a new automatic measurement method based on the wavelet transform.

The aim of this work is to present and evaluate a new algorithm, based on the wavelet transform, for the automatic measurement of motor unit action potential (MUAP) duration. A total of 240 MUAPs were studied. The waveform of each MUAP was wavelet-transformed, and the start and end points were estimated by regarding the maxima and minima points in a particular scale of the wavelet transform.

Motor unit action potential duration, I: variability of manual and automatic measurements.

The aim of this work is to analyze the variability in manual measurements of motor unit action potential (MUAP) duration and to evaluate the effectiveness of well-known algorithms for automatic measurement. Two electromyographists carried out three independent duration measurements of a set of 240 MUAPs. The intraexaminer and interexaminer variabilities were analyzed by means of the Gage Reproducibility and Repeatability method.

Cortical gamma activity during auditory tone omission provides evidence for the involvement of oscillatory activity in top-down processing.

Perception is an active process in which our brains use top-down influences to modulate afferent information. To determine whether this modulation might be based on oscillatory activity, we asked seven subjects to detect a silence that appeared randomly in a rhythmic auditory sequence, counting the number of omissions ("count" task), or responding to each omission with a right index finger extension ("move" task). Despite the absence of physical stimuli, these tasks induced a 'non-phase-locked' gamma oscillation in temporal-parietal areas, providing evidence of intrinsically generated oscillatory activity during top-down processing.

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the dissociation energies of three-electron hemibonded radical cationic dimers.

We report variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (VMC and DMC) calculations of the dissociation energies of the three-electron hemibonded radical cationic dimers of He, NH3, H2O, HF, and Ne. These systems are particularly difficult for standard density-functional methods such as the local-density approximation and the generalized gradient approximation. We have performed both all-electron (AE) and pseudopotential (PP) calculations using Slater-Jastrow wave functions with Hartree-Fock single-particle orbitals.

Frontal and central oscillatory changes related to different aspects of the motor process: a study in go/no-go paradigms.

We studied alpha and beta EEG oscillatory changes in healthy volunteers during two different auditory go/no-go paradigms, in order to investigate their relationship with different components of the motor process. In the first paradigm (S2-centered), the initial tone (S1) was constant (warning), and the second tone (S2) indicated the subject whether to move or not. In the second paradigm (S1-centered), S1 indicated whether to move or not, while S2 just indicated the timing of the movement.

Gamma band responses to target and non-target auditory stimuli in humans.

We studied the EEG oscillatory changes in the gamma band during auditory oddball paradigms in two different conditions (counting targets and reading). A time-frequency analysis was performed for standard and target stimuli. The study revealed an early (26-59 ms) phase-locked oscillation.

Alpha and beta oscillatory activity during a sequence of two movements.

Objective: We studied movement-related electroencephalographic oscillatory changes in the alpha and beta range during a sequence of two movements in 7 healthy volunteers, in order to investigate the relationship between these changes and each component in the sequence.

Methods: The sequence consisted of a wrist active extension-passive flexion followed by a first and second finger pincer. A total of 10.