Improving P300 Spelling Rate using Language Models and Predictive Spelling.

The P300 Speller Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) provides a means of communication for those suffering from advanced neuromuscular diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Recent literature has incorporated language-based modelling, which uses previously chosen characters and the structure of natural language to modify the interface and classifier. Two complementary methods of incorporating language models have previously been independently studied: predictive spelling uses language models to generate suggestions of complete words to allow for the selection of multiple characters simultaneously, and language model-based classifiers have used prior characters to create a prior probability distribution over the characters based on how likely they are to follow.

Changes in subjective experience elicited by direct stimulation of the human orbitofrontal cortex.

Objective: We applied direct cortical stimulation (DCS) to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in neurosurgical patients implanted with intracranial electrodes to probe, with high anatomic precision, the causal link between the OFC and human subjective experience.

Methods: We administered 272 instances of DCS at 172 OFC sites in 22 patients with intractable focal epilepsy (from 2011 to 2017), none of whom had seizures originating from the OFC.

Results: Our observations revealed a rich variety of affective, olfactory, gustatory, and somatosensory changes in the subjective domain.

High-level visual manifestations of epileptic seizures originating from the medial parietal cortex.

We describe the case of a patient with well-localized focal seizures originating from the medial parietal cortex. Seizures originated from area 7m, and findings revealed clear visuospatial semiological signs that may be used clinically to help diagnose similar cases of seizures in non-lesional patients.

Morphological Spectra of Adult Human Stellate Ganglia: Implications for Thoracic Sympathetic Denervation.

Cardiac sympathetic denervation (CSD) to treat ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) requires transection at the middle or lower third of stellate (cervicothoracic) ganglia (SG). However, the morphological appearance of the adult SG and distribution of neuronal somata within it are not well described. To determine the morphology of left and right SG (LSG and RSG) and the distribution of somata within.