Spike-Based Neuromorphic Hardware for Dynamic Tactile Perception with a Self-Powered Mechanoreceptor Array.

A self-powered mechanoreceptor array is demonstrated using four mechanoreceptor cells for recognition of dynamic touch gestures. Each cell consists of a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) for touch sensing and a bi-stable resistor (biristor) for spike encoding. It produces informative spike signals by sensing a force of an external touch and encoding the force into the number of spikes.

Dual Treatment of Refractory Focal Epilepsy and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder With Intracranial Responsive Neurostimulation.

Purpose Of The Review: Intracranial neurostimulation is a well-established treatment of neurologic conditions such as drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and movement disorders, and there is emerging evidence for using deep brain stimulation to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. Nearly all published reports of intracranial neurostimulation have focused on implanting a single device to treat a single condition. The purpose of this review was to educate neurology clinicians on the background literature informing dual treatment of 2 comorbid neuropsychiatric conditions epilepsy and OCD, discuss ethical and logistical challenges to dual neuropsychiatric treatment with a single device, and demonstrate the promise and pitfalls of this approach through discussion of the first-in-human closed-looped neurostimulator (RNS) implanted to treat both DRE (on-label) and OCD (off-label).

Responsive deep brain stimulation guided by ventral striatal electrophysiology of obsession durably ameliorates compulsion.

Treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) occurs in approximately one-third of OCD patients. Obsessions may fluctuate over time but often occur or worsen in the presence of internal (emotional state and thoughts) and external (visual and tactile) triggering stimuli. Obsessive thoughts and related compulsive urges fluctuate (are episodic) and so may respond well to a time-locked brain stimulation strategy sensitive and responsive to these symptom fluctuations.

Accumbens connectivity during deep-brain stimulation differentiates loss of control from physiologic behavioral states.

Background: Loss of control (LOC) eating, the subjective sense that one cannot control what or how much one eats, characterizes binge-eating behaviors pervasive in obesity and related eating disorders. Closed-loop deep-brain stimulation (DBS) for binge eating should predict LOC and trigger an appropriately timed intervention.

Objective/hypothesis: This study aimed to identify a sensitive and specific biomarker to detect LOC onset for DBS.

A novel microsurgery robot mechanism with mechanical motion scalability for intraocular and reconstructive surgery.

Background: Intraocular surgery and reconstructive surgery are challenging microsurgery procedures that require two types of motion: precise motion and larger motion. To effectively perform the requisite motion using a robot, it is necessary to develop a manipulator that can adjust the scale of motion between precise motion and less precise, yet larger motion.

Aims: In this paper, we propose a novel microsurgery robot using the dual delta structure (DDS) to mechanically scale the motion to seamlessly adjust between precise and larger motion.