1,046 research outputs found

    Phase Synchronization Operator for On-Chip Brain Functional Connectivity Computation

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    This paper presents an integer-based digital processor for the calculation of phase synchronization between two neural signals. It is based on the measurement of time periods between two consecutive minima. The simplicity of the approach allows for the use of elementary digital blocks, such as registers, counters, and adders. The processor, fabricated in a 0.18- ÎŒ m CMOS process, only occupies 0.05 mm 2 and consumes 15 nW from a 0.5 V supply voltage at a signal input rate of 1024 S/s. These low-area and low-power features make the proposed processor a valuable computing element in closed-loop neural prosthesis for the treatment of neural disorders, such as epilepsy, or for assessing the patterns of correlated activity in neural assemblies through the evaluation of functional connectivity maps.Ministerio de EconomĂ­a y Competitividad TEC2016-80923-POffice of Naval Research (USA) N00014-19-1-215

    Assessing Neuronal Synchrony and Brain Function Through Local Field Potential and Spike Analysis

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    Studies of neuronal network oscillations and rhythmic neuronal synchronization have led to a number of important insights in recent years, giving us a better understanding of the temporal organization of neuronal activity related to essential brain functions like sensory processing and cognition. Important principles and theories have emerged from these findings, including the communication through coherence hypothesis, which proposes that synchronous oscillations render neuronal communication effective, selective, and precise. The implications of such a theory may be universal for brain function, as the determinants of neuronal communication inextricably shape the neuronal representation of information in the brain. However, the study of communication through coherence is still relatively young. Since its articulation in 2005, the theory has predominantly been applied to assess cortical function and its communication with downstream targets in different sensory and behavioral conditions. The results herein are intended to bolster this hypothesis and explore new ways in which oscillations coordinate neuronal communication in distributed regions. This includes the development of new analytic tools for interpreting electrophysiological patterns, inspired by phase synchronization and spike train analysis. These tools aim to offer fast results with clear statistical and physiological interpretation

    Cerebral Synchrony Assessment Tutorial: A General Review on Cerebral Signals' Synchronization Estimation Concepts and Methods

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    The human brain is ultimately responsible for all thoughts and movements that the body produces. This allows humans to successfully interact with their environment. If the brain is not functioning properly many abilities of human can be damaged. The goal of cerebral signal analysis is to learn about brain function. The idea that distinct areas of the brain are responsible for specific tasks, the functional segregation, is a key aspect of brain function. Functional integration is an important feature of brain function, it is the concordance of multiple segregated brain areas to produce a unified response. There is an amplified feedback mechanism in the brain called reentry which requires specific timing relations. This specific timing requires neurons within an assembly to synchronize their firing rates. This has led to increased interest and use of phase variables, particularly their synchronization, to measure connectivity in cerebral signals. Herein, we propose a comprehensive review on concepts and methods previously presented for assessing cerebral synchrony, with focus on phase synchronization, as a tool for brain connectivity evaluation

    Dynamics of large-scale brain activity in health and disease

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    Tese de doutoramento em Engenharia BiomĂ©dica e BiofĂ­sica, apresentada Ă  Universidade de Lisboa atravĂ©s da Faculdade de CiĂȘncias, 2008Cognition relies on the integration of information processed in widely distributed brain regions. Neuronal oscillations are thought to play an important role in the supporting local and global coordination of neuronal activity. This study aimed at investigating the dynamics of the ongoing healthy brain activity and early changes observed in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG) were used due to high temporal resolution of these techniques. In order to evaluate the functional connectivity in AD, a novel algorithm based on the concept of generalized synchronization was improved by defining the embedding parameters as a function of the frequency content of interest. The time-frequency synchronization likelihood (TF SL) revealed a loss of fronto-temporal/parietal interactions in the lower alpha (8 10 Hz) oscillations measured by MEG that was not found with classical coherence. Further, long-range temporal (auto-) correlations (LRTC) in ongoing oscillations were assessed with detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) on times scales from 1 25 seconds. Significant auto-correlations indicate a dependence of the underlying dynamical processes at certain time scales of separation, which may be viewed as a form of "physiological memory". We tested whether the DFA index could be related to the decline in cognitive memory in AD. Indeed, a significant decrease in the DFA exponents was observed in the alpha band (6 13 Hz) over temporo-parietal regions in the patients compared with the age-matched healthy control subjects. Finally, the mean level of SL of EEG signals was found to be significantly decreased in the AD patients in the beta (13 30 Hz) and in the upper alpha (10 13 Hz) and the DFA exponents computed as a measure of the temporal structure of SL time series were larger for the patients than for subjects with subjective memory complaint. The results obtained indicate that the study of spatio-temporal dynamics of resting-state EEG/MEG brain activity provides valuable information about the AD pathophysiology, which potentially could be developed into clinically useful indices for assessing progression of AD or response to medication

    Adaptive Parameter Selection for Deep Brain Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease

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    Each year, around 60,000 people are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and the economic burden of PD is at least 14.4billionayearintheUnitedStates.PharmaceuticalcostsforaParkinson’spatientcanbereducedfrom14.4 billion a year in the United States. Pharmaceutical costs for a Parkinson’s patient can be reduced from 12,000 to $6,000 per year with the addition of neuromodulation therapies such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), etc. In neurodegenerative disorders such as PD, deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a desirable approach when the medication is less effective for treating the symptoms. DBS incorporates transferring electrical pulses to a specific tissue of the central nervous system and obtaining therapeutic results by modulating the neuronal activity of that region. The hyperkinetic symptoms of PD are associated with the ensembles of interacting oscillators that cause excess or abnormal synchronous behavior within the Basal Ganglia (BG) circuitry. Delayed feedback stimulation is a closed loop technique shown to suppress this synchronous oscillatory activity. Deep Brain Stimulation via delayed feedback is known to destabilize the complex intermittent synchronous states. Computational models of the BG network are often introduced to investigate the effect of delayed feedback high frequency stimulation on partially synchronized dynamics. In this work, we developed several computational models of four interacting nuclei of the BG as well as considering the Thalamo-Cortical local effects on the oscillatory dynamics. These models are able to capture the emergence of 34 Hz beta band oscillations seen in the Local Field Potential (LFP) recordings of the PD state. Traditional High Frequency Stimulations (HFS) has shown deficiencies such as strengthening the synchronization in case of highly fluctuating neuronal activities, increasing the energy consumed as well as the incapability of activating all neurons in a large-scale network. To overcome these drawbacks, we investigated the effects of the stimulation waveform and interphase delays on the overall efficiency and efficacy of DBS. We also propose a new feedback control variable based on the filtered and linearly delayed LFP recordings. The proposed control variable is then used to modulate the frequency of the stimulation signal rather than its amplitude. In strongly coupled networks, oscillations reoccur as soon as the amplitude of the stimulus signal declines. Therefore, we show that maintaining a fixed amplitude and modulating the frequency might ameliorate the desynchronization process, increase the battery lifespan and activate substantial regions of the administered DBS electrode. The charge balanced stimulus pulse itself is embedded with a delay period between its charges to grant robust desynchronization with lower amplitude needed. The efficiency and efficacy of the proposed Frequency Adjustment Stimulation (FAS) protocol in a delayed feedback method might contribute to further investigation of DBS modulations aspired to address a wide range of abnormal oscillatory behaviors observed in neurological disorders. Adaptive stimulation can open doors towards simultaneous stimulation with MRI recordings. We additionally propose a new pipeline to investigate the effect of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) on patient specific models. The pipeline allows us to generate a full head segmentation based on each individual MRI data. In the next step, the neurosurgeon can adaptively choose the proper location of stimulation and transmit accurate magnetic field with this pipeline
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