BackgroundThe International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st Century (INTERGROWTH-21st) Project is a population-based, longitudinal study describing early growth and development in an optimally healthy cohort of 4607 mothers and newborns. At 24 months, children are assessed for neurodevelopmental outcomes with the INTERGROWTH-21st Neurodevelopment Package. This paper describes neurodevelopment tools for preschoolers and the systematic approach leading to the development of the Package.MethodsAn advisory panel shortlisted project-specific criteria (such as multi-dimensional assessments and suitability for international populations) to be fulfilled by a neurodevelopment instrument. A literature review of well-established tools for preschoolers revealed 47 candidates, none of which fulfilled all the project's criteria. A multi-dimensional assessment was, therefore, compiled using a package-based approach by: (i) categorizing desired outcomes into domains, (ii) devising domain-specific criteria for tool selection, and (iii) selecting the most appropriate measure for each domain.ResultsThe Package measures vision (Cardiff tests); cortical auditory processing (auditory evoked potentials to a novelty oddball paradigm); and cognition, language skills, behavior, motor skills and attention (the INTERGROWTH-21st Neurodevelopment Assessment) in 35–45 minutes. Sleep-wake patterns (actigraphy) are also assessed. Tablet-based applications with integrated quality checks and automated, wireless electroencephalography make the Package easy to administer in the field by non-specialist staff. The Package is in use in Brazil, India, Italy, Kenya and the United Kingdom.ConclusionsThe INTERGROWTH-21st Neurodevelopment Package is a multi-dimensional instrument measuring early child development (ECD). Its developmental approach may be useful to those involved in large-scale ECD research and surveillance efforts.
The AsTeRICS platform offers an interesting tool to interface and support the computerized rehabilitation program of the patients. Due to AsTeRICS platform high usability features, family and rehabilitation professionals can learn how to use the AsTeRICS platform quickly fostering the key role of their involvement on patients' rehabilitation. AsTeRICS is a flexible, extendable, adaptable and affordable technology adapted for using computer, environmental control, mobile phone, rehabilitation programs and mechatronic systems. AsTeRICS makes possible an easy reconfiguration and integration of new functionalities, such as biofeedback rehabilitation, without major changes in the system.
Additional Title Page Footnotes:• We introduce a bursting tACS protocol to study semi-concurrent tACS effects in the visual system and their impact on behavior as measured by reaction time.• Burst 10 Hz tACS (tACS 10 ) applied to the visual cortex entrained γ-oscillations and increased RTs in a change-ofspeed detection visual task more than 70 Hz tACS (tACS 70 ) or Control conditions. • Burst tACS 10 also decreased amplitude of the P300 peak, while increasing α-power and γ-LZW complexity.• Physiological and behavioral impact of occipital tACS 10 and tACS 70 was frequency-specific. tACS 70 reduced γ-oscillations after 20min of tACS stimulation.• Cognitive task may determine cortical excitation levels as measured by complexity metrics, as lower γ-LZW complexity correlates to faster reaction times.
SUMMARY:Little is known about the precise neural mechanisms by which tACS affects the human cortex. Current hypothesis suggest that transcranial current stimulation (tCS) can directly enhance ongoing brain oscillations and induce long-lasting effects through the activation of synaptic plasticity mechanisms [1]. Entrainment has been demonstrated in in-vitro studies, but its presence in non-invasive human studies is still under debate [2,3]. Here, we aim to investigate the immediate and shortterm effects of tACS bursts on the occipital cortex of participants engaged in a change-of-speed detection task, a task that has previously reported to have a clear physiology-behavior relationship, where trials with faster responses also have increased power in γ-oscillations (50-80 Hz) [4]. The dominant brain oscillations related to the visual task are modulated using multichannel tACS at 10 and 70 Hz within occipital cortex. We found that tACS stimulation at 10 Hz (tACS 10 ) enhanced both α (8-13 Hz) and γ oscillations, in hand with an increase in reaction time (RT) in the change-of-speed detection visual task. On the other hand, tACS at 70Hz desynchronized visual cortices, impairing both phase-locked and endogenous γ-power while increasing RT. While both tACS protocols seem to revert the relationship reported in [4], we argue that tACS produces a shift in attentional resources within visual cortex while leaving unaltered the resources required to conduct the task. This theory is supported by the fact that the correlation between fast RT and high γ-power trials is maintained for tACS sessions too. Finally, we measured cortical excitability by analyzing Event-Related-Potentials (ERP) Lempel-Ziv-Welch Complexity (LZW). In control sessions we observe that lower γ-LZW complexity correlates to faster reaction times. Both metrics are altered by tACS stimulation, as tACS 10 decreased amplitude of the P300 peak, while increasing γ-LZW complexity. To this end, our study highlights the nonlinear cross-frequency interaction between exogenous stimulation and endogenous brain dynamics, and proposes the use of complexity metrics, as LZW, to characterize excitability patterns of cortical areas in a behaviorally relevant timescale. These insights w...
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