Extended cognitive load induces fast neural responses leading to commission errors.

Extended performance of cognitively demanding tasks induces cognitive fatigue manifested with an overall deterioration of behavioral performance. In particular, long practice with tasks requiring impulse control is typically followed by a decrease in self-control efficiency, leading to performance instability. Here, we show that this is due to changes in activation modalities of key task-related areas occurring if these areas previously underwent intensive use.

ZodiAq: An Isotropic Flagella-Inspired Soft Underwater Drone for Safe Marine Exploration.

The inherent challenges of robotic underwater exploration, such as hydrodynamic effects, the complexity of dynamic coupling, and the necessity for sensitive interaction with marine life, call for the adoption of soft robotic approaches in marine exploration. To address this, we present a novel prototype, ZodiAq, a soft underwater drone inspired by prokaryotic bacterial flagella. ZodiAq's unique dodecahedral structure, equipped with 12 flagella-like arms, ensures design redundancy and compliance, ideal for navigating complex underwater terrains.

Bilateral hip exoskeleton assistance enables faster walking in individuals with chronic stroke-related gait impairments.

Millions of individuals surviving a stroke have lifelong gait impairments that reduce their personal independence and quality of life. Reduced walking speed is one of the major problems limiting community mobility and reintegration. Previous studies have shown positive effect of robot-assisted gait training utilizing hip exoskeletons for individuals with gait impairments due to a stroke, leading to increased walking speed in post-treatment compared to pre-treatment assessments.

Neuroethology of natural actions in freely moving monkeys.

The current understanding of primate natural action organization derives from laboratory experiments in restrained contexts (RCs) under the assumption that this knowledge generalizes to freely moving contexts (FMCs). In this work, we developed a neurobehavioral platform to enable wireless recording of the same premotor neurons in both RCs and FMCs. Neurons often encoded the same hand and mouth actions differently in RCs and FMCs.

High-frequency epidural electrical stimulation reduces spasticity and facilitates walking recovery in patients with spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes severe motor and sensory deficits, and there are currently no approved treatments for recovery. Nearly 70% of patients with SCI experience pathological muscle cocontraction and spasticity, accompanied by clinical signs such as patellar hyperreflexia and ankle clonus. The integration of epidural electrical stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord with rehabilitation has substantial potential to improve recovery of motor functions; however, abnormal muscle cocontraction and spasticity may limit the benefit of these interventions and hinder the effectiveness of EES in promoting functional movements.

Characterization of Machine Learning-Based Surrogate Models of Neural Activation Under Electrical Stimulation.

Electrical stimulation of peripheral nerves via implanted electrodes has been shown to be a promising approach to restore sensation, movement, and autonomic functions across a wide range of illnesses and injuries. While in principle computational models of neuromodulation can allow the exploration of large parameter spaces and the automatic optimization of stimulation devices and strategies, their high time complexity hinders their use on a large scale. We recently proposed the use of machine learning-based surrogate models to estimate the activation of nerve fibers under electrical stimulation, producing a considerable speed-up with respect to biophysically accurate models of fiber excitation while retaining good predictivity.

Post-traumatic hand rehabilitation using a powered metacarpal-phalangeal exoskeleton: a pilot study.

Background: In the context of post-traumatic hand rehabilitation, stiffness of the hand joints limits the range of motion (ROM), grip strength, and the possibility of performing simple grasps. Robotic rehabilitation has been widely adopted for hand treatment with neurological patients, but its application in the orthopaedic scenario remains limited. In this paper, a pilot study targeting this population is presented, where the rehabilitation is performed using a powered finger exoskeleton, namely I-Phlex.

Design and Validation of a Tripping-Eliciting Platform Based on Compliant Random Obstacles.

The experimental study of the stumble phenomena is essential to develop novel technological solutions to limit harmful effects in at-risk populations. A versatile platform to deliver realistic and unanticipated tripping perturbations, controllable in their strength and timing, would be beneficial for this field of study. We built a modular tripping-eliciting system based on multiple compliant trip blocks that deliver unanticipated tripping perturbations.

Complex Hemodynamic Responses to Trans-Vascular Electrical Stimulation of the Renal Nerve in Anesthetized Pigs.

The objective of this study was to characterize hemodynamic changes during trans-vascular stimulation of the renal nerve and their dependence on stimulation parameters. We employed a stimulation catheter inserted in the right renal artery under fluoroscopic guidance, in pigs. Systolic, diastolic and pulse blood pressure and heart rate were recorded during stimulations delivered at different intravascular sites along the renal artery or while varying stimulation parameters (amplitude, frequency, and pulse width).

A Novel and Accurate BiLSTM Configuration Controller for Modular Soft Robots with Module Number Adaptability.

Modular soft robots (MSRs) exhibit greater potential for sophisticated tasks compared with single-module robots. However, the modular structure incurs the complexity of accurate control and necessitates a control strategy specifically for modular robots. In this article, we introduce a data collection strategy tailored for MSR and a bidirectional long short-term memory (biLSTM) configuration controller capable of adapting to varying module numbers.

A computational model to design wide field-of-view optic nerve neuroprostheses.

Retinal stimulation (RS) allows restoring vision in blind patients, but it covers only a narrow region of the visual field. Optic nerve stimulation (ONS) has the potential to produce visual perceptions spanning the whole visual field, but it produces very irregular phosphenes. We introduced a geometrical model converting retinal and optic nerve firing rates into visual perceptions and vice versa and a method to estimate the best perceptions elicitable through an electrode configuration.

Applied forces with high vs. low resuscitation table during neonatal ventilation: a randomized crossover manikin study.

Unlabelled: We compared applied forces on a newborn manikin face, cuff pressure, and air leak during positive pressure ventilation with a high vs. low resuscitation table. A randomized controlled crossover (AB/BA) trial of face mask ventilation where a neonatal manikin was placed on the resuscitation table adjusted to level operator's xiphoid (high table positioning) or operator's navel (low table positioning).

A muscle synergies-based controller to drive a powered upper-limb exoskeleton in reaching tasks.

This work introduces a real-time intention decoding algorithm grounded in muscle synergies (Syn-ID). The algorithm detects the electromyographic (EMG) onset and infers the direction of the movement during reaching tasks to control a powered shoulder-elbow exoskeleton. Features related to muscle synergies are used in a Gaussian Mixture Model and probability accumulation-based logic to infer the user's movement direction.

Combining external physical stimuli and nanostructured materials for upregulating pro-regenerative cellular pathways in peripheral nerve repair.

Peripheral nerve repair remains a major clinical challenge, particularly in the pursuit of therapeutic approaches that ensure adequate recovery of patient's activity of daily living. Autografts are the gold standard in clinical practice for restoring lost sensorimotor functions nowadays. However, autografts have notable drawbacks, including dimensional mismatches and the need to sacrifice one function to restore another.

Robots and animals teaming up in the wild to tackle ecosystem challenges.

Interactively teaming up animals and robots could facilitate basic scientific research and address environmental and ecological crises.

Dopaminergic therapy disrupts decision-making in impulsive-compulsive Parkinsonian patients.

Impulsive-compulsive behaviors (ICB) are common non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) often associated with dopaminergic drugs (DD) therapy. We investigated the acute effects of DD on decision-making in PD patients with ICB (ICB+) and without it (ICB-), and in healthy controls (HC). Participants performed a risk-based decision-making task twice, with PD patients tested before (DD OFF) and after (DD ON) DD intake.

Passive shoulder occupational exoskeleton reduces shoulder muscle coactivation in repetitive arm movements.

Humans naturally employ muscle coactivation to facilitate a broad range of movements, enhancing joint stability and movement accuracy. However, excessive muscle coactivation can become unfavorable or even detrimental. This phenomenon is often observed in industrial workers who endure repetitive or prolonged joint stress, particularly in areas such as the shoulders.

The expanding horizon of neurotechnology: Is multimodal neuromodulation the future?

The clinical applications of neurotechnology are rapidly expanding, and the combination of different approaches could be more effective and precise to treat brain disorders. This Perspective discusses the potential and challenges of "multimodal neuromodulation," which combines modalities such as electrical, magnetic, and ultrasound stimulation.

Adaptive vs. Conventional Deep Brain Stimulation: One-Year Subthalamic Recordings and Clinical Monitoring in a Patient with Parkinson's Disease.

Conventional DBS (cDBS) for Parkinson's disease uses constant, predefined stimulation parameters, while the currently available adaptive DBS (aDBS) provides the possibility of adjusting current amplitude with respect to subthalamic activity in the beta band (13-30 Hz). This preliminary study on one patient aims to describe how these two stimulation modes affect basal ganglia dynamics and, thus, behavior in the long term. We collected clinical data (UPDRS-III and -IV) and subthalamic recordings of one patient with Parkinson's disease treated for one year with aDBS, alternated with short intervals of cDBS.

Nursing and midwifery simulation training with a newly developed low-cost high-fidelity placenta simulator: a collaboration between Italy and Ethiopia.

Background: Simulation training provides safe environment for skill acquisition and retention. This study addresses a critical challenge in Africa - umbilical cord and placenta management after childbirth - aiming to bridge theoretical learning with practical experiences through simulation. We realized a new low-cost high-fidelity simulator of placenta and umbilical cord.

Integration of rate and phase codes by hippocampal cell-assemblies supports flexible encoding of spatiotemporal context.

Spatial information is encoded by location-dependent hippocampal place cell firing rates and sub-second, rhythmic entrainment of spike times. These rate and temporal codes have primarily been characterized in low-dimensional environments under limited cognitive demands; but how is coding configured in complex environments when individual place cells signal several locations, individual locations contribute to multiple routes and functional demands vary? Quantifying CA1 population dynamics of male rats during a decision-making task, here we show that the phase of individual place cells' spikes relative to the local theta rhythm shifts to differentiate activity in different place fields. Theta phase coding also disambiguates repeated visits to the same location during different routes, particularly preceding spatial decisions.

From Corn Starch to Nanostructured Magnetic Laser-Induced Graphene Nanocomposite.

Laser-Induced Graphene (LIG) is a 3D, conductive, porous material with a high surface area, produced by laser irradiation of synthetic polymers with high thermal stability. Recently, the focus has shifted toward sustainable bioderived and biodegradable precursors, such as lignocellulosic materials. Despite starch being an abundant and cost-effective biopolymer, direct laser scribing on starch-derived precursors has not yet been explored.

Laser-induced graphene-based aptasensor for the selective detection of Escherichia coli in urine samples.

A Laser-Induced Graphene-based (LIG) electrode covalently functionalized with an aptamer (P12-55) was used to develop an aptasensor detecting Escherichia coli in urine samples. Recent strides in material science have spotlighted LIG for exceptional attributes like robust mechanical resistance, superior conductivity, extensive surface area, and facile synthesis/patterning on various polymeric substrates. Variations in the aptasensor charge transfer resistance upon interaction with bacterial cells were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.