The association of mCIMT with brain stimulation improves clinical gains in rehabilitation after stroke. The improvement in motor recovery (assessed by Fugl-Meyer scale) was only observed after anodal tDCS. The modulation of damaged hemisphere demonstrated greater improvements than the modulation of unaffected hemispheres.
Mental practice can induce significant neural plasticity and result in motor performance improvement if associated with motor imagery tasks. Given the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on neuroplasticity, the current study tested whether tDCS, using different electrode montages, can increase the neuroplastic effects of mental imagery on motor learning. Eighteen healthy right-handed adults underwent a randomised sham-controlled crossover experiment to receive mental training combined with either sham or active anodal tDCS of the right primary motor cortex (M1), right supplementary motor area, right premotor area, right cerebellum or left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Motor performance was assessed by a blinded rater using: non-dominant handwriting time and legibility, and mentally trained task at baseline (pre) and immediately after (post) mental practice combined with tDCS. Active tDCS significantly enhances the motor-imagery-induced improvement in motor function as compared with sham tDCS. There was a specific effect for the site of stimulation such that effects were only observed after M1 and DLPFC stimulation during mental practice. These findings provide new insights into motor imagery training and point out that two cortical targets (M1 and DLPFC) are significantly associated with the neuroplastic effects of mental imagery on motor learning. Further studies should explore a similar paradigm in patients with brain lesions.
The authors present a new compact coplanar interferometer for application in an IFM system with 4 bits that operates in a frequency band from 5 to 6 GHz. This interferometer consists of a couple of coplanar two-way Wilkinson power dividers connected to two CPS lines with different signal delays. This interferometer presents smaller dimensions when compared to other designs. Details of this compact coplanar interferometer are provided along with a comparison between theoretical, simulated and measured results.
This study presents a microwave planar sensor for characterisation of powdered foods. The sensor is based on four coupled resonators designed to have four poles in the frequency range of 1.0–3 GHz. The pole with more sensitivity is used to measure the samples. The frequency characteristics of the sensor are obtained measuring several well‐known samples. It is used to estimate the permittivity of six types of grains. The grains are two types of oatmeal, three types of corn and wheat flour. The experimental results have shown a sensitivity of 36 MHz/Fm−1. The estimated permittivity of materials can be used as the preliminary data for further investigation.
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