Effects of spatial separation and background noise on brain functional connectivity during auditory selective spatial attention.

Auditory selective spatial attention (ASSA) plays an important role in "cocktail party" scenes, but the effects of spatial separation between target and distractor sources and background noise on the associated brain responses have not been thoroughly investigated. This study utilized the multilayer time-varying brain network to reveal the effect patterns of different separation degrees and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels on brain functional connectivity during ASSA. Specifically, a multilayer time-varying brain network with six time-windows equally divided by each epoch was constructed to investigate the segregation and integration of brain functional connectivity.

MI-Mamba: A hybrid motor imagery electroencephalograph classification model with Mamba's global scanning.

Deep learning has revolutionized electroencephalograph (EEG) decoding, with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) being a predominant tool. However, CNNs struggle with long-term dependencies in sequential EEG data. Models like long short-term memory and transformers improve performance but still face challenges of computational efficiency and long sequences.

Liquid Metal-Based Dual-Response Pressure Sensor for Dual-Modality Sensing and Robotic Object Recognition.

Characterized by their high sensitivity and flexible deformation, flexible pressure sensors have been extensively applied in various fields such as wearable electronics, health monitoring, soft robotics, and human-computer interaction. In this research, we developed a dual-response pressure sensor (DRPS) designed to identify object materials. By integrating the operating principles of capacitive and resistive sensors and employing microstructured dielectric layers, we enhanced the sensitivity and detection range of the pressure sensor.

Cochlear Implant Artifacts Removal in EEG-Based Objective Auditory Rehabilitation Assessment.

Cochlear implant (CI) is a neural prosthesis that can restore hearing for patients with severe to profound hearing loss. Observed variability in auditory rehabilitation outcomes following cochlear implantation may be due to cerebral reorganization. Electroencephalography (EEG), favored for its CI compatibility and non-invasiveness, has become a staple in clinical objective assessments of cerebral plasticity post-implantation.

Electrophysiological correlation of auditory selective spatial attention in the "cocktail party" situation.

The auditory system can selectively attend to the target source in complex environments, the phenomenon known as the "cocktail party" effect. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of electrophysiological activity associated with auditory selective spatial attention (ASSA) remain largely unexplored. In this study, single-source and multiple-source paradigms were designed to simulate different auditory environments, and microstate analysis was introduced to reveal the electrophysiological correlates of ASSA.

Musical experience enhances time discrimination: Evidence from cortical responses.

Time discrimination, a critical aspect of auditory perception, is influenced by numerous factors. Previous research has suggested that musical experience can restructure the brain, thereby enhancing time discrimination. However, this phenomenon remains underexplored.

The scalp time-varying network of auditory spatial attention in "cocktail-party" situations.

Sound source localization in "cocktail-party" situations is a remarkable ability of the human auditory system. However, the neural mechanisms underlying auditory spatial attention are still largely unknown. In this study, the "cocktail-party" situations are simulated through multiple sound sources and presented through head-related transfer functions and headphones.

EEG-based assessment of temporal fine structure and envelope effect in mandarin syllable and tone perception.

In recent years, speech perception research has benefited from low-frequency rhythm entrainment tracking of the speech envelope. However, speech perception is still controversial regarding the role of speech envelope and temporal fine structure, especially in Mandarin. This study aimed to discuss the dependence of Mandarin syllables and tones perception on the speech envelope and the temporal fine structure.

OCT imaging of endolymphatic hydrops in mice: association with hearing loss.

Background: The etiology of Ménière's disease (MD) is still not completely clear, but it is believed to be associated with endolymphatic hydrops (EH), which is characterized by auditory functional disorders. Vasopressin injection in C57BL/6J mice can induce EH and serve as a model for MD. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has shown its advantages as a non-invasive imaging method for observing EH.

Liquid Metal Flexible EMG Gel Electrodes for Gesture Recognition.

Gesture recognition has been playing an increasingly important role in the field of intelligent control and human-computer interaction. Gesture recognition technology based on electromyography (EMG) with high accuracy has been widely applied. However, conventional rigid EMG electrodes do not fit the mechanical properties of human skin.

Electroencephalogram-based objective assessment of cognitive function level associated with age-related hearing loss.

Age-Related Hearing Loss (ARHL) is a common problem in aging. Numerous longitudinal cohort studies have revealed that ARHL is closely related to cognitive function, leading to a significant risk of cognitive decline and dementia. This risk gradually increases with the severity of hearing loss.

Assessing vestibular function using electroencephalogram rhythms evoked during the caloric test.

Introduction: The vestibular system is responsible for motion perception and balance preservation in the body. The vestibular function examination is useful for determining the cause of associated symptoms, diagnosis, and therapy of the patients. The associated cerebral cortex processes and integrates information and is the ultimate perceptual site for vestibular-related symptoms.

Microstructural interactions contribute to the hotspot in the living cochlea.

The mechanism of the active cochlea relies on a complex interaction between microstructures in the organ of Corti. A significant longitudinal vibration "hotspot" was recently observed in the high-frequency region of the living gerbil cochlea between the Deiters cells and the outer hair cells. A similar phenomenon was also found in guinea pigs with a relatively smaller magnitude.

Spatial and temporal distribution of rural settlements and influencing mechanisms in Inner Mongolia, China.

Revealing the patterns and influencing mechanisms of spatial and temporal distribution of rural settlements is crucial for rural revitalization and sustainable development. However, our limited understanding of the rural settlements in China's ethnic minority border areas has hindered the process of their agricultural and rural modernization. Based on data on rural settlements in Inner Mongolia, China in four periods between 1990 and 2020, this study reveals its spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and describes the dynamic transformation process of settlement.

Design and optimization of auditory prostheses using the finite element method: a narrative review.

Background And Objective: An auditory prosthesis refers to a device designed to restore hearing. Some parameters of the auditory prosthesis, such as mass, implanted position, and degree, need to be repeatedly designed and optimized based on the realistic geometry of the ear. Numerous auditory prostheses designs were based on animal or specimen experiments involving many complex instruments, and the experimental specimens had low repeatability.

Auditory attention decoding from EEG-based Mandarin speech envelope reconstruction.

In the cocktail party circumstance, the human auditory system extracts the information from a specific speaker of interest and ignores others. Many studies have focused on auditory attention decoding (AAD), but the stimulation materials were mainly non-tonal languages. We used a tonal language (Mandarin) as the speech stimulus and constructed a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) architecture for speech envelope reconstruction based on electroencephalogram (EEG) data.

Decoding selective auditory attention with EEG using a transformer model.

The human auditory system extracts valid information in noisy environments while ignoring other distractions, relying primarily on auditory attention. Studies have shown that the cerebral cortex responds differently to the sound source locations and that auditory attention is time-varying. In this work, we proposed a data-driven encoder-decoder architecture model for auditory attention detection (AAD), denoted as AAD-transformer.

A Show of Ewald's Law: I Horizontal Semicircular Canal Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.

To evaluate horizontal semicircular canal (HSC) effects according to Ewald's law and nystagmus characteristics of horizontal semicircular canal benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (HSC-BPPV) in the supine roll test. Patients with HSC-BPPV ( = 72) and healthy subjects ( = 38) were enrolled. Latency, duration, and intensity of nystagmus elicited by supine roll test were recorded using video nystagmography.

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Based Biosensor with a Microneedle Array for Minimally Invasive Glucose Measurements.

To monitor blood glucose levels reliably, diabetic patients usually have to undergo frequent fingerstick tests to draw out fresh blood, which is painful and inconvenient with the potential risk of cross contamination especially when the lancet is reused or not properly sterilized. This work reports a novel surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) sensor for the intradermal detection of glucose based on a low-cost poly(methyl methacrylate) microneedle (PMMA MN) array. After incorporating 1-decanethiol (1-DT) onto the silver-coated array surface, the sensor was calibrated in the range of 0-20 mM in skin phantoms then tested for the quantification of glucose in a mouse model of streptozocin (STZ)-induced type I diabetes.

Denoising Raman spectra by Wiener estimation with a numerical calibration dataset.

Most denoising methods that are currently used in the processing of Raman spectra require significant user interaction in order to optimize their performance across a range of signal-to-noise ratios. In this study, we proposed a method based on the principle of spectral integration followed by Wiener estimation using a numerical calibration dataset, which eliminates the need of experimental measurements for calibration as in the previous Wiener estimation based denoising method. The new method was tested on three types of samples, including a phantom sample, human fingernail and leukemia cells.

A comparison of multimodal biomarkers for chronic hepatitis B assessment using recursive feature elimination.

An effective assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is highly desired because it is important not only for clinical courses prediction, but also for the determination of antiviral therapy schemes. In recent years, various approaches for liver biopsies analysis have been highlighted, such as elastography techniques and serum markers, due to their properties of non-invasiveness. The aim of this study is to determine the best biomarkers or their combination by comparing multimodal biomarkers (ultrasound elastography parameters, biochemical hematologic parameters, and clinical parameters) for fibrosis assessment in chronic hepatitis B using a support vector machine combined with recursive feature elimination (RFE-SVM) approach.

Decoding Subjective Intensity of Nociceptive Pain from Pre-stimulus and Post-stimulus Brain Activities.

Pain is a highly subjective experience. Self-report is the gold standard for pain assessment in clinical practice, but it may not be available or reliable in some populations. Neuroimaging data, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have the potential to be used to provide physiology-based and quantitative nociceptive pain assessment tools that complements self-report.

Normalization of Pain-Evoked Neural Responses Using Spontaneous EEG Improves the Performance of EEG-Based Cross-Individual Pain Prediction.

An effective physiological pain assessment method that complements the gold standard of self-report is highly desired in pain clinical research and practice. Recent studies have shown that pain-evoked electroencephalography (EEG) responses could be used as a readout of perceived pain intensity. Existing EEG-based pain assessment is normally achieved by cross-individual prediction (i.

Effect of exogenous methanol on glycolate oxidase and photorespiratory intermediates in cotton.

Application of methanol (MeOH) inhibits photorespiration and enhances growth and yield in C3 plants. However, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are not clear. In this study, we investigated the effects of foliar application of MeOH (30%, v/v) on glycolate oxidase (GO) activity and photorespiratory intermediates in cotton leaves in a field experiment.