@article {4109, title = {Independent home use of a brain-computer interface by people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis}, journal = {Neurology}, year = {2018}, month = {06/2018}, abstract = {Objective: To assess the reliability and usefulness of an EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI) for patients with advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who used it independently at home for up to 18 months. Methods: Of 42 patients consented, 39 (93\%) met the study criteria, and 37 (88\%) were assessed for use of the Wadsworth BCI. Nine (21\%) could not use the BCI. Of the other 28, 27 (men, age 28{\textendash}79 years) (64\%) had the BCI placed in their homes, and they and their caregivers were trained to use it. Use data were collected by Internet. Periodic visits evaluated BCI benefit and burden and quality of life. Results: Over subsequent months, 12 (29\% of the original 42) left the study because of death or rapid disease progression and 6 (14\%) left because of decreased interest. Fourteen (33\%) completed training and used the BCI independently, mainly for communication. Technical problems were rare. Patient and caregiver ratings indicated that BCI benefit exceeded burden. Quality of life remained stable. Of those not lost to the disease, half completed the study; all but 1 patient kept the BCI for further use. Conclusion: The Wadsworth BCI home system can function reliably and usefully when operated by patients in their homes. BCIs that support communication are at present most suitable for people who are severely disabled but are otherwise in stable health. Improvements in BCI convenience and performance, including some now underway, should increase the number of people who find them useful and the extent to which they are used.}, keywords = {All clinical neurophysiology, All Neuromuscular Disease, Evoked Potentials, visual}, issn = {1526-632X}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000005812}, url = {http://n.neurology.org/content/neurology/early/2018/06/27/WNL.0000000000005812.full.pdf}, author = {Jonathan Wolpaw and Bedlack, RS and Reda, DJ and Ringer, RJ and Banks, PG and Vaughan, TM and Heckman, SM and McCrane, LM and Carmack, CS and Winden, S and McFarland, DJ and Sellers, EW and Shi, H and Paine, T and Higgins, DS and Lo, AC and Patwa, HS and Hill, KJ and Huang, GS and Ruff, RL} } @article {4112, title = {Real-time detection and discrimination of visual perception using electrocorticographic signals}, journal = {Journal of Neural Engineering}, volume = {15}, year = {2018}, month = {02/2018}, abstract = {Several neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the ventral temporal cortex contains specialized regions that process visual stimuli. This study investigated the spatial and temporal dynamics of electrocorticographic (ECoG) responses to different types and colors of visual stimulation that were presented to four human participants, and demonstrated a real-time decoder that detects and discriminates responses to untrained natural images. Approach. ECoG signals from the participants were recorded while they were shown colored and greyscale versions of seven types of visual stimuli (images of faces, objects, bodies, line drawings, digits, and kanji and hiragana characters), resulting in 14 classes for discrimination (experiment I). Additionally, a real-time system asynchronously classified ECoG responses to faces, kanji and black screens presented via a monitor (experiment II), or to natural scenes (i.e. the face of an experimenter, natural images of faces and kanji, and a mirror) (experiment III). Outcome measures in all experiments included the discrimination performance across types based on broadband γ activity. Main results. Experiment I demonstrated an offline classification accuracy of 72.9\% when discriminating among the seven types (without color separation). Further discrimination of grey versus colored images reached an accuracy of 67.1\%. Discriminating all colors and types (14 classes) yielded an accuracy of 52.1\%. In experiment II and III, the real-time decoder correctly detected 73.7\% responses to face, kanji and black computer stimuli and 74.8\% responses to presented natural scenes. Significance. Seven different types and their color information (either grey or color) could be detected and discriminated using broadband γ activity. Discrimination performance maximized for combined spatial-temporal information. The discrimination of stimulus color information provided the first ECoG-based evidence for color-related population-level cortical broadband γ responses in humans. Stimulus categories can be detected by their ECoG responses in real time within 500 ms with respect to stimulus onset.}, keywords = {BCI, Brain{\textendash}computer interface, ECoG, gamma, high gamma mapping, real-time, visual}, doi = {http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/aaa9f6/pdf}, url = {http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/aaa9f6/pdf}, author = {Kapeller, C and Ogawa, H and Schalk, G and Kunii, N and Coon, WG and Scharinger, J and Guger, C and Kamada, K} } @article {3272, title = {Chronic exposure of primates to 60-Hz electric and magnetic fields: III. Neurophysiologic effects.}, journal = {Bioelectromagnetics}, volume = {10}, year = {1989}, month = {01/1989}, pages = {303{\textendash}317}, abstract = {The neurophysiologic effects of combined 60-Hz electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields, of magnitudes comparable to those produced by high-voltage powerlines, were investigated in 10 monkeys (Macaca nemestrina). Six animals (experimental group) were each exposed to three different levels of E and B fields: 3 kV/m and 0.1 G, 10 kV/m and 0.3 G, and 30 kV/m and 0.9 G. Field exposures were preceded and followed by sham exposures, during which factors of field generation were present (e.g., heat, vibration, noise, etc.) without E and B fields. Each of the five segments (i.e., the three exposure segments and the initial and final sham exposure segments) lasted 3 weeks. Animals were exposed for 18 h/day (fields on at 1600 h, off at 1000 h). Four other animals (external control group) were given sham exposure for the entire 15-week period. Auditory, visual, and somatosensory evoked potentials were recorded twice a week, during the daily 6-h field-off period. E- and B-field exposure had no effect on the early or mid-latency evoked potential components, suggesting that exposure at these levels has no effect on peripheral or central sensory afferent pathways. However, there was a statistically significant decrease in the amplitudes of late components of the somatosensory evoked potential during the 10kV/m and 0.3 G, and 30 kV/m and 0.9 G exposure levels. This result is possibly related to the opiate antagonist effect of electromagnetic field exposure reported by others.}, keywords = {60-Hz electromagnetic radiation, auditory, brainstem auditory, evoked potential, primates, somatosensory, visual}, issn = {0197-8462}, doi = {10.1002/bem.2250100308}, url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2751703}, author = {Dowman, R. and Jonathan Wolpaw and Seegal, R. F. and Satya-Murti, S.} }