In magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT), we measure the induced magnetic flux density inside an object subject to an externally injected current. This magnetic flux density is contaminated with noise, which ultimately limits the quality of reconstructed conductivity and current density images. By analysing and experimentally verifying the amount of noise in images gathered from two MREIT systems, we found that a carefully designed MREIT study will be able to reduce noise levels below 0.25 and 0.05 nT at main magnetic field strengths of 3 and 11 T, respectively, at a voxel size of 3 x 3 x 3 mm(3). Further noise level reductions can be achieved by optimizing MREIT pulse sequences and using signal averaging. We suggest two different methods to estimate magnetic flux noise levels, and the results are compared to validate the experimental setup of an MREIT system.
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging neuromodulation therapy that has been experimentally determined to affect a wide range of behaviors and diseases ranging from motor, cognitive, and memory processes to depression and pain syndromes. The effects of tDCS may be inhibitory or excitatory, depending on the relative polarities of electrodes and their proximity to different brain structures. This distinction is believed to relate to the interaction of current flow with activation thresholds of different neural complexes. tDCS currents are typically applied via a single pair of large electrodes, with one (the active electrode) sited close to brain structures associated with targeted processes. To efficiently direct current toward the areas presumed related to these effects, we devised a method of steering current toward a selected area by reference to a 19-electrode montage applied to a high-resolution finite element model of the head. We used a non-linear optimization procedure to maximize mean current densities inside the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), while simultaneously restricting overall current, and median current densities within the accumbens. We found that a distributed current pattern could be found that would indeed direct current toward the IFG in this way, and compared it to other candidate 2-electrode configurations. Further, we found a combination of four anterior-posterior electrodes could direct current densities to the accumbens. We conclude that a similar method using multiple electrodes may be a useful means of directing current toward or away from specific brain regions and also of reducing tDCS side effects.
Accurate representations and measurements of skull electrical conductivity are essential in developing appropriate forward models for applications such as inverse EEG or Electrical Impedance Tomography of the head. Because of its layered structure, it is often assumed that skull is anisotropic, with an anisotropy ratio around 10. However, no detailed investigation of skull anisotropy has been performed. In this paper we investigate four-electrode measurements of conductivities and their relation to tissue anisotropy ratio (ratio of tangential to radial conductivity) in layered or anisotropic biological samples similar to bone. It is shown here that typical values for the thicknesses and radial conductivities of individual skull layers produce tissue with much smaller anisotropy ratios than 10. Moreover, we show that there are very significant differences between the field patterns formed in a three-layered isotropic structure plausible for bone, and those formed assuming that bone is homogeneous and anisotropic.We performed a measurement of conductivity using an electrode configuration sensitive to the distinction between three-layered and homogeneous anisotropic composition and found results consistent with the sample being three-layered. We recommend that the skull be more appropriately represented as three isotropic layers than as homogeneous and anisotropic.
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