Brain-computer interfaces: barriers and opportunities to widespread clinical adoption

Brain-computer Interface (BCI) is an emerging neurotechnology with potential applications involving primarily neurological disorders. There is a rising interest in the use of BCI to address current unmet clinical needs from patients. Despite their therapeutic potential, BCI use is still mostly limited to research stages and its translation into mainstream clinical applications and widespread adoption is lagging. This study revises the current potential clinical applications of BCIs in humans, attempts to understand barriers and opportunities to wider clinical adoption and draws health policy and management implications of BCIs use in medical practice. The methodology followed a two-step approach which included a systematic review of potential clinical applications of BCIs and a qualitative study, using focus group method, to understand and integrate professionals’ experiences, perceptions, thoughts and feelings on the wide clinical adoption of BCIs. Focus groups included professionals from the medical, engineering and management field. BCI clinical applications with more clinical evidence include neurorehabilitation with non-invasive devices and the control of assistive devices with invasive BCIs. Nowadays, several barriers to wider clinical adoption of BCIs, including technological, seem addressable. However, systemic barriers from the health systems to innovation and technological interventions need a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to enhance their adoption. Professionals from medicine, engineering and management, working in collaboration in healthcare contexts, are some of the stakeholders important to change the current vision of healthcare towards innovation.As interfaces cérebro-computador (BCI) são uma Neurotecnologia emergente com potencial para serem aplicadas no âmbito clínico, nomeadamente em condições de foro neurológico. Existe um interesse crescente no uso desta tecnologia para ir de encontro às necessidades clínicas de doentes com poucas soluções de tratamento e apoio médico. Apesar das potencialidades das BCI para serem usadas em contexto clínico em humanos, as suas aplicações têm-se limitado a contextos específicos de pesquisa e sem transição para a área da saúde com consequente adoção enquanto ferramenta terapêutica. Com este trabalho pretende-se rever as aplicações clínicas atuais destes dispositivos em humanos, perceber quais as barreiras e oportunidades para a sua adoção em contextos clínicos e retirar ilações do uso de BCI para políticas de saúde e gestão de inovação na prática médica. A metodologia foi dividida em duas fases, que incluíram uma revisão sistemática das potenciais aplicações clínicas de BCI e um estudo qualitativo, usando focus groups, para melhor perceber e integrar as experiências, perceções, ideias e sentimentos de profissionais em relação à adoção de BCI na prática clínica comum. Os focus groups incluíram profissionais das áreas médica, de engenharia e de gestão. As aplicações clínicas com maior nível de evidência para a clínica incluem a neuroreabilitação com BCI não-invasivos e o controlo de dispositivos de assistência com BCI invasivos. Atualmente, diversas barreiras à implementação de BCI em contexto clínico, incluindo o desenvolvimento tecnológico, parecem ser possíveis de ultrapassar num prazo razoável. Contudo, barreiras sistemáticas à inovação e intervenções tecnológicas no âmbito dos sistemas de saúde, apresentam-se como um problema mais complexo e necessitarão de uma abordagem mais globalizada e multidisciplinar para tornar possível a adoção de BCI na prática clínica. Para atingir este objetivo e ultrapassar estas barreiras, profissionais das áreas de medicina, engenharia e gestão devem colaborar e trabalhar em conjunto em contextos de saúde, contribuindo para uma mudança de cultura e tornando os sistemas de saúde mais abertos à inovação

New Frontiers in Translational Research: Touchscreens, Open Science, and the Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP)

Many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases and other brain disorders are accompanied by impairments in high-level cognitive functions including memory, attention, motivation, and decision-making. Despite several decades of extensive research, neuroscience is little closer to discovering new treatments. Key impediments include the absence of validated and robust cognitive assessment tools for facilitating translation from animal models to humans. In this review, we describe a state-of-the-art platform poised to overcome these impediments and improve the success of translational research, the Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP), which is centered on the touchscreen cognitive testing system for rodents. It integrates touchscreen-based tests of high-level cognitive assessment with state-of-the art neurotechnology to record and manipulate molecular and circuit level activity in vivo in animal models during human-relevant cognitive performance. The platform also is integrated with two Open Science platforms designed to facilitate knowledge and data-sharing practices within the rodent touchscreen community, touchscreencognition and mousebytes. Touchscreencognition includes the Wall, showcasing touchscreen news and publications, the Forum, for community discussion, and Training, which includes courses, videos, SOPs, and symposia. To get started, interested researchers simply create user accounts. We describe the origins of the touchscreen testing system, the novel lines of research it has facilitated, and its increasingly widespread use in translational research, which is attributable in part to knowledge-sharing efforts over the past decade. We then identify the unique features of MouseTRAP that stand to potentially revolutionize translational research, and describe new initiatives to partner with similar platforms such as McGill’s M3 platform

New frontiers in translational research: Touchscreens, open science, and the mouse translational research accelerator platform

© 2020 International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases and other brain disorders are accompanied by impairments in high-level cognitive functions including memory, attention, motivation, and decision-making. Despite several decades of extensive research, neuroscience is little closer to discovering new treatments. Key impediments include the absence of validated and robust cognitive assessment tools for facilitating translation from animal models to humans. In this review, we describe a state-of-the-art platform poised to overcome these impediments and improve the success of translational research, the Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP), which is centered on the touchscreen cognitive testing system for rodents. It integrates touchscreen-based tests of high-level cognitive assessment with state-of-the art neurotechnology to record and manipulate molecular and circuit level activity in vivo in animal models during human-relevant cognitive performance. The platform also is integrated with two Open Science platforms designed to facilitate knowledge and data-sharing practices within the rodent touchscreen community, touchscreencognition.org and mousebytes.ca. Touchscreencognition.org includes the Wall, showcasing touchscreen news and publications, the Forum, for community discussion, and Training, which includes courses, videos, SOPs, and symposia. To get started, interested researchers simply create user accounts. We describe the origins of the touchscreen testing system, the novel lines of research it has facilitated, and its increasingly widespread use in translational research, which is attributable in part to knowledge-sharing efforts over the past decade. We then identify the unique features of MouseTRAP that stand to potentially revolutionize translational research, and describe new initiatives to partner with similar platforms such as McGill\u27s M3 platform (m3platform.org)

Sensory inflow manipulation induces learning-like phenomena in motor behavior

© 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature. Purpose: Perceptual and goal-directed behaviors may be improved by repetitive sensory stimulations without practice-based training. Focal muscle vibration (f-MV) modulating the spatiotemporal properties of proprioceptive inflow is well-suited to investigate the effectiveness of sensory stimulation in influencing motor outcomes. Thus, in this study, we verified whether optimized f-MV stimulation patterns might affect motor control of upper limb movements. Methods: To answer this question, we vibrated the slightly tonically contracted anterior deltoid (AD), posterior deltoid (PD), and pectoralis major muscles in different combinations in forty healthy subjects at a frequency of 100 Hz for 10 min in single or repetitive administrations. We evaluated the vibration effect immediately after f-MV application on upper limb targeted movements tasks, and one week later. We assessed target accuracy, movement mean and peak speed, and normalized Jerk using a 3D optoelectronic motion capture system. Besides, we evaluated AD and PD activity during the tasks using wireless electromyography. Results: We found that f-MV may induce increases (p \u3c 0.05) in movement accuracy, mean speed and smoothness, and changes (p \u3c 0.05) in the electromyographic activity. The main effects of f-MV occurred overtime after repetitive vibration of the AD and PD muscles. Conclusion: Thus, in healthy subjects, optimized f-MV stimulation patterns might over time affect the motor control of the upper limb movement. This finding implies that f-MV may improve the individual’s ability to produce expected motor outcomes and suggests that it may be used to boost motor skills and learning during training and to support functional recovery in rehabilitation

The ENIGMA Stroke Recovery Working Group: Big data neuroimaging to study brain–behavior relationships after stroke

The goal of the Enhancing Neuroimaging Genetics through Meta‐Analysis (ENIGMA) Stroke Recovery working group is to understand brain and behavior relationships using well‐powered meta‐ and mega‐analytic approaches. ENIGMA Stroke Recovery has data from over 2,100 stroke patients collected across 39 research studies and 10 countries around the world, comprising the largest multisite retrospective stroke data collaboration to date. This article outlines the efforts taken by the ENIGMA Stroke Recovery working group to develop neuroinformatics protocols and methods to manage multisite stroke brain magnetic resonance imaging, behavioral and demographics data. Specifically, the processes for scalable data intake and preprocessing, multisite data harmonization, and large‐scale stroke lesion analysis are described, and challenges unique to this type of big data collaboration in stroke research are discussed. Finally, future directions and limitations, as well as recommendations for improved data harmonization through prospective data collection and data management, are provided