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Zusammenfassung Brain-Computer Interfaces (Gehirn-Computer -Schnittstellen, BCI) nutzen neuroelektrische und metabolische Hirnaktivität, um periphere Geräte und Computer ohne Vermittlung des motorischen Systems zu bedienen. Um die Gehirn-Computer-Schnittstelle zu aktivieren, müssen die Personen ein gewisses Ausmaß an Hirnkontrolle erlernen. Es zeigte sich, dass die Selbstkontrolle der Hirnaktivität den Prinzipien des Fertigkeiten-Lernens und des instrumentellen Konditionierens folgt. Diese Übersicht konzentriert sich auf die klinische Anwendung von Gehirn-Computer-Schnittstellen bei gelähmten Patienten mit Lockedin Syndrom und/oder vollständigem Lockedin Syndrom (CLIS). Es wurde gezeigt, dass EEG-basierte Gehirn-Computer-Schnittstellen die Auswahl von Buchstaben und Wörtern in einem Computermenü mithilfe verschiedener EEG-Signale ermöglichen. Bei Patienten mit vollständigem Lockedin Syndrom ohne jede Muskelkontrolle, insbesondere der Augenbewegungen, waren EEG-basierte Gehirn- Computer-Schnittstellen jedoch nicht erfolgreich. Sogar nach der Implantatation von Elektroden in das Gehirn waren CLIS-Patienten nicht in der Lage, zu kommunizieren. Wir entwickelten ein theoretisches Modell, das dieses grundlegende Defizit des instrumentellen Lernens der Hirnkontrolle und der willentlichen Kommunikation erklärt: Patienten mit vollständiger Lähmung löschen zielgerichtetes reaktionsorientiertes Denken und Absichten. Daher wurde ein reflexives klassisches Konditionierungsverfahren entwickelt und mithilfe der Messung der metabolischen Hirnsignale mit Nah-Infrarot-Spektroskopie (NIRS) waren CLIS-Patienten in der Lage, einfache Fragen mit einer „ja“- oder „nein“-Hirnantwort zu beantworten. Die bisher erhobenen Daten zeigen, dass erstmals CLIS-Patienten mit einem solchen BCI-System kommunizieren können, indem sie metabolische Hirnsignale und einfache reflexive Lernaufgaben verwenden. Schließlich werden Gehirn-Maschine- Schnittstellen und Rehabilitation bei chronischem Schlaganfall beschrieben und gezeigt, dass chronische Schlaganfallpatienten ohne jede Restbewegung der oberen Extremität eine erstaunliche Wiederherstellung der motorischen Funktion sowohl auf der motorischen als auch auf neuronaler Ebene mit BCI erreichen können. Nach umfangreichem BCITraining kombiniert mit verhaltensorientierter Physiotherapie konnte eine signifikante Verbesserung der motorischen Funktion bei dieser bisher unbehandelbaren Lähmung en erreicht werden. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die klinischen Anwendungen von Gehirn-Maschine-Schnittstellen bei gut definierten und umschriebenen neurologischen Erkrankungen überraschend positive Wirkungen gezeigt haben. Die Anwendung von Gehirn- Computer-Schnittstellen bei psychiatrischen und klinisch-psychologischen Störungen hat bisher jedoch nicht zu einer wesentlichen Verbesserung dieser komplexen Verhaltensstörungen geführt.

International audience; Astrocytes, microglia, and tanycytes play active roles in the regulation of hypothalamic feeding circuits. These non-neuronal cells are crucial in determining the functional interactions of specific neuronal subpopulations involved in the control of metabolism. Recent advances in biology, optics, genetics, and pharmacology have resulted in the emergence of novel and highly sophisticated approaches for studying hypothalamic neuronal-glial networks. Here we summarize the progress in the field and argue that glial-neuronal interactions provide a core hub integrating food-related cues, interoceptive signals, and internal states to adapt a complex set of physiological responses operating on different timescales to finely tune behavior and metabolism according to metabolic status. This expanding knowledge helps to redefine our understanding of the physiology of food intake and energy metabolism.

Introduction: Non small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most common cause of brain metastases (BMs). For limited BMs, ≤4 lesions, several local approaches were been used: whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT), single dose radiosurgery (SRS), hypofractionated stereotactic radiosurgery (HSRS) or surgery followed or not by radiation therapy (RT). The aim of this retrospective analysis was to evaluate the outcome of NSCLC patients with limited BMs treated with local approach, surgery and/or radiosurgery omitting WBRT, in terms of local control (LC), incidence of brain distant failure (BDF), and overall survival(OS). Materials and Methods: Surgery followed by HSRS on the tumor bed was performed in case of single, large BMs, controlled extracranial disease and KPS 90-100. SRS or HSRS in all other cases. The total doses prescribed were 24Gy/1fraction for lesions 2.5cm. Systemic therapy were used in relation to previous chemotherapy received, patients age, KPS, EGFR and ALK status. Clinical outcome was evaluated by neurological examination and MRI at 2 months after RT and then every 3 months. Results: From June 2009 to December 2015, 156 patients for 228 BMs treated were included in this evaluation. Fifty (32.1%) were female and 106 (67.9%) male with a median age of 62 years (range 27-93 years). The greater number of patients had a KPS 90-100, were in RPA class II, had DS-GPA score 2.5-3, and had 1-2 BMs (88.4%). Surgical resection only was performed in 3 cases, plus HSRS in 16 (19%) cases, and as rescue after local progression in 11 cases; SRS and HSRS only in 160 (70.1%) and 65 (28.5%), respectively. ­Eighty-four (53.8%) patients received systemic therapy after BMs treatment, consisted in chemotherapy platinum based in 56, mono-chemotherapy in 14, EGFR TKIs in 10 and ALK inhibitors in 4. The median follow-up time was 14.8 months (0.9-90.5 months) and 23.6 months (13.5-90.5 months) for alive patients. The 1 and 2 years LC rate were 87.2%±3 and 72.8%±5; the median BDF time and the 1 and 2 years BDF rate were 21.7 months, 30.8% ±4, 58.1%±6. The median OS time, the 1 and 2 years OS rate from BMs diagnosis were 15 months, 60.9%±3.9, 31.4%±4. On univariate analyses prognostic factors recorded as conditioning survival were age (p=0.01), presence of lymph-node involvement (p=0.03), KPS (p<

Purpose: to evaluate the role of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) and radiation boost (RB) for 208 patients recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) II with 1 or 2 brain metastases (BM) at a single institution. Methods and Materials: the dose of WBRT was 30 Gy (10 fractions of 3 Gy). One hundred thirty-two patients (63.5%) benefited from RB of 9 Gy in 3 fractions of 3 Gy at the metastatic site. Patients had 1 or 2 BM in 122 (58.7%) and 86 cases (41.3%), respectively. Results: patients with one or two metastases had similar survival (4.6 and 5.1 months, respectively) (p = 0.4). Median overall survival (OS) for patients treated with WBRT and RB, and with WBRT alone was 5.9 and 3.7 months, respectively (p = 0.03). The 6-, 12- and 24-month OS rates after WBRT and RB were 48.5%, 25% and 10.6%, respectively, while WBRT alone resulted in OS rates of 34%, 22.4% and 3.2%, respectively (p = 0.03). After WBRT and RB, the 6-, 12- and 24-month local control rates were 92%, 82% and 67%, respectively, while they were 81.2%, 75% and 37.5%, respectively, after WBRT alone (p = 0.03). The 6-, 12- and 24-month brain control rates after WBRT and RB were 88.7%, 75.8% and 62%, respectively, and after WBRT alone they were 78.5%, 59% and 37.7%, respectively (p = 0.03). Conclusion: additional boost delivered with 3D conformal radiotherapy improves local and brain control rates significantly as well as overall survival for RPA II patients with 1 or 2 unresectable BM.

Despite considerable growth in the field of brain-computer or brain-machine interface (BCI/BMI) research reflected in several hundred publications each year, little progress was made to enable patients in complete locked-in state (CLIS) to reliably communicate using their brain activity. Independent of the invasiveness of the BCI systems tested, no sustained direct brain control and communication was demonstrated in a patient in CLIS so far. This suggested a more fundamental theoretical problem of learning and attention in brain communication with BCI/BMI, formulated in the extinction-of-thought hypothesis. While operant conditioning and goal-directed thinking seems impaired in complete paralysis, classical conditioning of brain responses might represent the only alternative. First experimental studies in CLIS using semantic conditioning support this assumption. Evidence that quality-of-life in locked-in-state is not as limited and poor as generally believed draise doubts that "patient wills" or "advanced directives"signed long-before the locked-in-state are useful. On the contrary, they might be used as an excuse to shorten anticipated long periods of care for these patients avoiding associated financial and social burdens. Current state and availability of BCI/BMI systems urge a broader societal discourse on the pressing ethical challenges associated with the advancements in neurotechnology and BCI/BMI research.

Recently, a new system called brain control system has been developed rapidly. Brain control system is a human-computer integration control system based on brain-computer interface (BCI), which relies on human's ideas and thinking. Brain control system has been successfully applied in wide fields, assisting disabled patients daily life, training patients with stroke or limb injury, monitoring the state of human operator, as well as entertainment and smart house etc. In this paper, the background, basic principle, system structure and developments are firstly introduced briefly. The current research status focusing on the problems of electroencephalograph (EEG) signal pattern, control signal transfer algorithm and system application is summarized and analyzed in detail. The further research direction and problems are discussed. Finally, the future development of brain control is analyzed and prospects are given.

In this paper, we analyze the principles of brain computer interface that convert the electrical activity of the human brain into commands for a computer of any embedded device. For this reason, we present the existing devices and applications from the area of brain-computer interfaces with advantages and disadvantages. Further, we propose a solution for brain control of a robotic arm. We develop the model and simulate the entire system functioning, both the robotic arm control and the brain signals processing. The final purpose of our research is to achieve a brain-computer system that controls a robotic arm that can replace a human arm.

У статті розглянуто принципи розробки, конструктивні та функціональні особливості біонічних протезів верхніх кінцівок. Мета роботи – аналіз принципів створення, конструктивних і функціональних особливостей сучасних та перспективних біонічних протезів верхніх кінцівок. In the article the principles of development, constructive and functional peculiarities of bionic prostheses of upper extremities are considered. The aim of the work is to analyze the principles of creation, constructive and functional peculiarities of modern and prospective bionic prostheses of upper extremities.

János Szentágothai was an eminent, creative and renowned neuroscientist, who made pioneering and seminal discoveries contributing to our current understanding of brain functions. His vision of the brain as a network of specific populations of nerve cells, each engaging in selective operations and self-organizing into modules, has provided the framework and stimulus for generations of neuroscientists. His irrepressible curiosity and enthusiasm for the beauty in the organization of the brain never faded. He had a towering intellect and was a great humanist. Szentágothai was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1912 and died in his native city in 1994. He was educated and worked in Hungary. During the six decades of his scientific activity, he made remarkably original and lasting contributions to the neurosciences, including the exploration of basic architectural features of many brain areas, the functional–anatomical bases of elementary brain operations such as reflex arcs, the vestibulo-ocular system, the brain control of hormonal regulation, general organizational principles of the neuraxis, the organization of the cerebellum and the modular organization of the neocortex. He left for posterity not only his discoveries, which have stood the test of time, but also a vigorous school of pupils as well as a large number of friends and admirers. Thanks to him neuroscience is one of the strongest scientific fields in Hungary today.

We will recapitulate here a narrative in which we have just now been able to solve an important, frustrating and long standing puzzle as to how a brain control function of the heart is performed. The key to solving this puzzle has proved to be the acquisition of transcriptional profile data from single neurons. Analysis of this data forced a reconsideration of the fundamental structure of the brain control system. In turn, this reconsideration has led to subsequent re-ordering of a great deal of neuroanatomical and physiological data into a pattern that finally makes a great deal of sense.

The development of control technology for the brain is of potential significance to the prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders and the improvement of humans’ mental health. A controllability analysis of the brain is necessary to ensure the feasibility of the brain control. In this letter, we investigate the influences of dynamical parameters on the controllability in the neural mass model by using controllability indices as quantitative indicators. The indices are obtained by computing Lie brackets and condition numbers of the system model. We show how controllability changes with important parameters of our dynamical (neuronal) model. Our results suggest that the underlying dynamical parameters have certain ranges with better controllability. We hope it can play potential roles in therapy for brain nervous disorder disease.

Direct brain control of advanced robotic systems promises substantial improvements in health care, for example, to restore intuitive control of hand movements required for activities of daily living in quadriplegics, like holding a cup and drinking, eating with cutlery, or manipulating different objects. However, such integrated, brain- or neural-controlled robotic systems have yet to enter broader clinical use or daily life environments. We demonstrate full restoration of independent daily living activities, such as eating and drinking, in an everyday life scenario across six paraplegic individuals (five males, 30 ± 14 years) who used a noninvasive, hybrid brain/neural hand exoskeleton (B/NHE) to open and close their paralyzed hand. The results broadly suggest that brain/neural-assistive technology can restore autonomy and independence in quadriplegic individuals' everyday life.

Fatigue adversely impacts quality of life in old age. The relationship between subjective and objective measurements of fatigue, however, is poorly understood. We examined whether subjective fatigue moderated the expression of objective fatigue during locomotion. Associations between objective and subjective measures of fatigue were predicted to manifest only under dual-task conditions that maximized cognitive demands.Participants were 314 nondemented older adults (age = 76.8±6.7 years; % female = 56). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to assess oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) levels during walking. A 4×14-foot Zeno electronic walkway was utilized to assess stride velocity (cm/s). Objective fatigue was operationalized as attenuation in HbO2 levels and decline in stride velocity (cm/s) during six continuous straight walks under single- (normal-walk) and dual-task (walk-while-talk) conditions. The Brief Fatigue Inventory assessed subjective fatigue.Worse subjective fatigue was associated with attenuated increase in HbO2 levels (estimate = 0.175; p.05) but not with decline in stride velocity (estimate = 0.394; p.05) from normal-walk to walk-while-talk conditions. Objective fatigue did not manifest and was not associated with subjective fatigue during the course of normal-walk. Worse subjective fatigue was associated with attenuated HbO2 levels in the fourth (estimate = -0.178; p.05), fifth (estimate = -0.230; p.01), and sixth (estimate = -0.231; p.01) straight walks compared to the first during walk-while-talk.Dual-task walking paradigms provide a unique environment to simultaneously assess different facets of fatigue. The prefrontal cortex subserves both subjective and objective measurements of fatigue as defined in the context of attention-demanding locomotion.

This paper presents MINDWALKER, which is an ambitious EC funded research project coordinated by Space Applications Services aiming at the development of novel Brain Neural Computer Interfaces (BNCI) and robotics technologies, with the goal of obtaining a crutch-less assistive lower limbs exoskeleton, with non-invasive brain control approach as main strategy. Complementary BNCI control approaches such as arms electromyograms (EMG) are also researched. In the last phase of the project, the developed system should undergo a clinical evaluation with Spinal Cord Injured (SCI) subjects at the Fondazione Santa Lucia, Italy.

Performance of a motor task is improved by practicing a specific task with added 'challenges' to a training regimen. We tested the hypothesis that, in the absence of brain control, the performance of a motor task is enhanced by training using specific variations of that task. We utilized modifications of step performance training to improve the ability of spinal rats to forward step. After a complete thoracic spinal cord transection, 20 adult rats were divided randomly to bipedally step on a treadmill in the forward, sideward, or backward direction for 28 sessions (20 min, 5 days/week) and subsequently tested for their ability to step in the forward direction. Although the animals from all trained groups showed improvement, the rats in the sideward-trained and backward-trained groups had greater step consistency and coordination along with higher peak amplitudes and total integrated activity of the rectified electromyographic signals from selected hindlimb muscles per step during forward stepping than the rats in the forward-trained group. Our results demonstrate that, by retaining the fundamental features of a motor task (bipedal stepping), the ability to perform that motor task can be enhanced by the addition of specific contextual variations to the task (direction of stepping). Our data suggest that the forward stepping neuronal locomotor networks are partially complemented by synchronous activation of interneuronal/motoneuronal populations that are also a part of the sideward or backward stepping locomotor networks. Accordingly, the overlap and interaction of neuronal elements may play a critical role in positive task transference.

Doubtlessly, concerns about mind control are misleading in the context of optogenetics for vision restoration. But to exclude deliberations about brain control from ethical considerations about opt...

Efficacy and safety of the own single-center experience with moderately dosed radiosurgery (SRS) for limited (one to four) brain metastases were analyzed and correlated with patient- and treatment-related variables. Between 05/1998 and 10/2006, 93 patients received SRS for a total of 142 brain metastases. The median number of brain metastases treated per patient was one (range, one to four). 46 patients (49%) received initial SRS alone, 13 patients (14%) SRS with up-front whole-brain radiotherapy (WBRT), and 34 patients (37%) SRS for recurrent metastases after WBRT. Median dose was 16 Gy (range, 10–20 Gy). Median overall survival (OS) was 7.5 months. The actuarial 6- and 12-month data for OS were 60% and 35%, for local brain control (LBC) 87% and 79%, and for distant brain control (DBC) 48% and 37%, respectively. Only ten of 46 patients (22%) with initial SRS alone ultimately received WBRT. Ten patients suffered from seizures within 3 months after SRS, six of them showed brain progression on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). 20 patients required reinstitution of steroids following SRS, 16 of these due to brain progression. Five patients received positron emission tomography scan of the brain revealing radionecrosis in two patients. In uni- and multivariate analysis, only time interval between diagnosis of primary and brain metastases (p = 0.031) and volume of treated metastasis (p = 0.02) were significant predictors of OS. Neither up-front WBRT nor dose had a significant influence on LBC. Moderately dosed SRS of limited brain metastases was found to be both effective and safe. Initial SRS only may be offered to informed patients complying with MRI-based follow-up.

"Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and for once I'm inclined to believe Withnail is right. We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell... What we need is harmony. Fresh air. Stuff like that" "Bruce Robinson (1986, ref. 1)". Although a stopped Drosophila clock probably does not tell the right time even once a day, recent findings have demonstrated that accurate circadian time-keeping is dependent on harmony between groups of clock neurons within the brain. Furthermore, when harmony between the environment and the endogenous clock is lost, as during jet lag, we definitely feel unwell. In this review, we provide an overview of the current understanding of circadian rhythms in Drosophila, focussing on recent discoveries that demonstrate how approximately 100 neurons within the Drosophila brain control the behaviour of the whole fly, and how these rhythms respond to the environment.

© 2015 Hiremath, Chen, Wang, Foldes, Yang, Tyler-Kabara, Collinger and Boninger. A brain-computer interface (BCI) system transforms neural activity into control signals for external devices in real time. A BCI user needs to learn to generate specific cortical activity patterns to control external devices effectively. We call this process BCI learning, and it often requires significant effort and time. Therefore, it is important to study this process and develop novel and efficient approaches to accelerate BCI learning. This article reviews major approaches that have been used for BCI learning, including computer-assisted learning, co-adaptive learning, operant conditioning, and sensory feedback. We focus on BCIs based on electrocorticography and intracortical microelectrode arrays for restoring motor function. This article also explores the possibility of brain modulation techniques in promoting BCI learning, such as electrical cortical stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and optogenetics. Furthermore, as proposed by recent BCI studies, we suggest that BCI learning is in many ways analogous to motor and cognitive skill learning, and therefore skill learning should be a useful metaphor to model BCI learning.

In recent years, with the boom of BCI (brain-computer interface, BCI) research, a multitude of researchers have begun to study control system based on BCI. However, the existing brain control systems still have some problems: bulky acquisition devices, cumbersome to use, expensive and difficult to communicate. So it is difficult for the existing brain control systems to be used in situations such as wearable artificial limbs and battlefield equipment, which needs portable control device. Based on the above issues, portable brain control technology is researched and a portable brain control system is proposed, which uses a portable EEG acquisition device, a miniaturization signal processing system, Bluetooth communication technology and micro-drive control circuit to make the control system portable, so that the brain control systems can be more widely used.

This study seeks to evaluate the performance reliability of a prototype of AAC(Augmentative and alternative communication) device with BCI technology. Ten subjects were required to control cursor movements and activate switches from the AAC by using mental focus control and eye-winking directional control. Focus levels were monitored through EEG data extracted from the frontal cortical location. Attention shifts from low to high attention levels correlating with each task-onset were analyzed. Results showed positive performance reliability for controlling the AAC device using these parameters. No significant correlations were shown between test performance and familiarity with the device. The results of this study provide evidence that brain-focus and eye-winks could be useful and reliable tools to incorporate into AAC technology developments.

Although a variety of basic insect behaviours have inspired successful robot implementations, more complex capabilities in these 'simple' animals are often overlooked. By reviewing the general architecture of their nervous systems, we gain insight into how they are able to integrate behaviours, perform pattern recognition, context-dependent learning, and combine many sensory inputs in tasks such as navigation. We review in particular what is known about two specific 'higher' areas in the insect brain, the mushroom bodies and the central complex, and how they are involved in controlling an insect's behaviour. While much of the functional interpretation of this information is still speculative, it nevertheless suggests some promising new approaches to obtaining adaptive behaviour in robots.

Bladder control problems are common but their cause is often unclear. Many investigators have sought causes in the lower urinary tract, but fewer in the supraspinal control system. We have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine brain responses to bladder filling in subjects with normal and with poor bladder control (detrusor overactivity).Cerebral responses to bladder infusion were recorded in 1 male and 11 females without overt neurological abnormality, aged 26 to 83 years. Six had good bladder control and 6 had poor control on prior urodynamics. fMRI was performed while repeatedly infusing and withdrawing liquid into and out of the bladder, and monitoring intravesical pressure. Measurements were made at small and large bladder volumes.fMRI detected activation of many brain regions involved in bladder control, including periaqueductal gray, thalamus, insula, dorsal anterior cingulate, and ventromedial cerebellum. Orbitofrontal cortex, pontine micturition center and preoptic hypothalamus were visible in subgroup analyses. Activations outweighed deactivations and responses became stronger at large bladder volumes. Among subjects with good control, this strengthening of response was prominent in the orbitofrontal cortex. Among those with poor control cortical responses were exaggerated at larger bladder volumes, except in the orbitofrontal cortex, which remained weakly activated. This difference was not due to concurrent detrusor activity.Poor bladder control is specifically associated with inadequate activation of orbitofrontal cortex. Clinically, frontal cortical lesions cause bladder control problems. This study suggests a similar neurophysiological basis for poor bladder control in the absence of overt neurological lesion.

Recent technological advancements in microelectronics have led to the establishment of systems for restoration of basic functions in spinal cord injured (SCI) persons using functional electrical stimulation (FES). FES systems for the restoration of bladder and diaphragm function are well established in clinical practice. While FES systems in the lower extremities for standing/walking have not yet achieved widespread clinical acceptance, devices which enhance or restore the grasp function in tetraplegic patients with missing control of hand and fingers are demonstrably successful. Especially with the use of implantable systems a reliable, easy to handle application is possible. The most recent developments in micromechanical engineering are aimed at providing minimally invasive, subminiature systems for functional support in incomplete SCI persons. The possibility of direct brain control of FES systems will expand the application of neuroprostheses for patients with injury of the high cervical spinal cord.

This paper proposes a portable brain-computer interface paradigm and builds a portable brain-computer interface device suitable for brain-controlled wheelchairs. According to the characteristics of E-motiv EPOC equipment and its collected EEG, the hardware system of brain-controlled wheelchair was developed, and a real-time detection system of brain-controlled technology was built, which is used to collect EEG signals in real time to realize the wheelchair's motion control. Experimental results show that the accuracy of EEG control can meet the engineering application requirements.

Global changes in industry and society have led us to reassess the numerous factors that combine to influence the time of onset of puberty and the efficiency of reproduction in young sheep. Age and weight have long been considered the dominant factors that influence the onset of puberty and, for many years, it has been accepted that these relationships are mediated by the hormone, leptin, produced by body fat. However, recent studies showing that muscle mass also plays a role have challenged this dogma and also presented new options for our understanding of metabolic inputs into the brain control of reproduction. Moreover, the possibility that an improvement in meat production will simultaneously advance puberty is exciting from an industry perspective. An industry goal of strong reproductive performance in the first year of life is becoming possible and, with it, a major step upwards in the lifetime reproductive performance of ewes. The concept of early puberty is not well accepted by producers for a variety of reasons, but the new data show clear industry benefits, so the next challenge is to change that perception and encourage producers to manage young ewes so they produce their first lamb at 1 year of age.

The purpose of brain machine interface (BMI) is to provide a communication path between brain signals and external devices. Use of brain signals for restoring function of impaired body parts using scientific methods require brain machine interface. This article presents BMI to control five-fingered prosthetic hand using the electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The core objective of the system is to develop a control system that will be able to communicate with the brain thoughts. EEG signals captured from the human scalp are used as information carrier for brain control interface (BCI) system. This research article discusses the development of a system to assist disable persons using EEG based signals.

Recent advances in neuroscience made it possible for people to issue commands with their brains via non-invasive electroencephalography electrodes. Such commands have already been used for online control of various dynamic systems. Current research activities aim at assessing if this technology could successfully be applied to aircraft control. For this purpose, a flight controller that uses the output of brain machine interfaces (BMI) to provide control over a light airplane's flight path, was designed. Subsequent pilot-in-the-loop experiments in a fixed base flight simulator were performed with two different BMIs. A well proven motor imagery BMI and a novel BMI relying on user training were used to control the horizontal airplane motion in different operational and laboratory tasks. This paper discusses the differences between the two BMIs, some of which became evident during the experiments from quantitative measures as well as pilot comments, and their implication on airplane handling. Results indicate that the motor imagery BMI provides better control performance for some people, whereas the operant BMI is better suited for an operational application of brain control.

Brain Control: Developments in Therapy and Implications for Society By David Linden. Palgrave Macmillan. 2014. £58.00 (hb). 208 pp. ISBN: 9781137335326 The sun was high in the sky and the sand of the arena was boiling hot that afternoon in 1963 when a man and a raging bull faced each other in a

Introduction: An increased knowledge of how the brain control finger movements give us keys to understand the recovery of motor function after a brain injury. This knowledge is crucial for the deve ...

A research team led by Thomas Oxley at the University of Melbourne has developed a way of implanting electrodes in the brain without opening up the skull. Their electrodes are attached to a metallic mesh tube that is guided through a small incision in the jugular vein in the neck and up into a blood vessel in the brain. There, the electrode can measure signals from nearby brain cells on the other side of the vessel wall. The technique is borrowed from cardiologists, who slide similar tubes called stents into arteries to keep them open. The electrode-studded stent--or "stentrode"--was tested in the brains of live sheep in 2016. Like a cardiac stent, it sat in the blood vessel without causing any adverse effects. Because the metallic mesh does not directly touch brain tissue, no inflammation or scarring occurred over the six-month trial.

Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI) have strong potential to benefit a large number of disabled people but current decoding algorithms suffer from the following shortcomings. First, BMI decoding algorithms are often trained offline, but this paradigm ignores the discrepancy between the Manual Control (MC) and the Brain Control (BC) modes of operation. Second, the standard neural decoder, the Kalman filter, does not explicitly take into account the control of movements by neural activity. To address these problems, we propose a biologically motivated neural decoder structure by explicitly adding a control signal and unmeasureable neural activity. Since the parameter estimation problem is underdetermined, we propose a new parameter estimation method that minimizes the discrepancy between the MC and BC. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods by synthesizing MC and BC data in a Linear Quadratic (LQ) optimal control setting with a partial loss of neural control in BC, and show that the proposed decoder is more robust to a partial loss of neural control than a standard Kalman filter that does not utilize any reparameterizations.

How to make the function of Prosthetic hand more similar to the real hand has been one of the persistent problems.That is more applicable to use electroencephalogram than to use electromyogram signal to control Prosthetic hand. But, until now, only few people research intelligent prosthetic brain control model by neural actuator of hand through brain actuator from the hand movement mechanism. This work is an attempt to make a system controlled by Prosthetic hand which is same or similar to the path of body control using the theory of biomedicine.

Obesity is an epidemic problem not limited to Western society, but also in emerging industrial nations with large populations, especially in Asia. The connection between the gut and the brain is probably one of the most promising therapeutic targets for the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome. This book brings together reviews on the current understanding of how the gut and brain communicate in the regulation of metabolism. Individual chapters explore novel aspects of this interaction. A comprehensive update on the roles of smell and taste, the gut microbiome, and novel gut-derived neuropeptides in regulating metabolism via the brain is offered. Furthermore, the regulation of insulin sensitivity in the brain is discussed in detail. Providing an overview of the most recent findings, 'How Gut and Brain Control Metabolism' could spark in the reader new ideas or approaches, thus leading to much-needed new medical treatments. Physicians with an involvement in the treatment of metabolic disease and scientists performing research in the fields of nutrition and obesity will find this book a valuable addition to their bookshelves.

The spinal cord contains a network that controls erection. This network can be activated by information from the periphery and by supraspinal nuclei. Besides anatomical studies that have detailed central pathways putatively involved in the central process of proerectile information, functional approaches have focused on pharmacological manipulations of specific systems, e.g. central dopaminergic pathways, leading to clinical perspectives in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. The present review focuses on some aspects of the recent research in the field.

SummaryNeurogenetic and lesion studies have identified regions of the insect brain that can modulate and direct locomotion. Activities of these neurons have now been recorded in cockroaches during walking.

MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS--Hampered by political, ethical, and methodological problems, a small group of researchers is trying to understand the biological roots of violence. The field has generated some interesting findings and hypotheses about how hormones, genes, and the brain control aggressive behavior. But although the goal is to ultimately find a treatment for violent behavior, researchers emphasize that they are not advocating drugging everybody who has ever committed a crime--or is deemed prone to do so.

How does the brain control dreams? New science shows that a small node of cells in the medulla - the most primitive part of the brain - may function to control REM sleep, the brain state that underlies dreaming.

International audience; Generic properties of curvature representations formed on the basis of vision and touch were examined as a function of mathematical properties of curved objects. Virtual representations of the curves were shown on a computer screen for visual scaling by sighted observers (experiment 1). Their physical counterparts were placed in the two hands of blindfolded and congenitally blind observers for tactile scaling. The psychophysical data show that curvature representations in congenitally blind individuals, who never had any visual experience, and in sighted observers, who rely on vision most of the time, are statistically linked to the same mathematical properties of the curves. The perceived magnitude of object curvature, sensed through either vision or touch, is related by a mathematical power law, with similar exponents for the two sensory modalities, to the aspect ratio of the curves, a scale invariant geometric property. This finding supports biologically motivated models of sensory integration suggesting a universal power law for the brain control and balance of motor responses to environmental stimuli from any sensory modality to inspire adaptive systems design.

Current on Demand Deep brain electrical stimulation can be a successful therapy in Parkinson's disease, in depression, and in several other psychiatric diseases, especially in drug-resistant cases. Unfortunately, chronic, continuous stimulation is associated with multiple side effects. This could be alleviated by delivering the electrical perturbation only when it is necessary, using closed-loop stimulation. Such an approach is essential for epilepsy, where seizures occur very rarely but with serious consequences. In a rat model for epilepsy, Berényi et al. (p. 735 ) prevented seizures by transcranial electrical stimulation using a closed-loop system. Transcranial electrical stimulation was highly effective and reduced seizure duration, on average, by 60 %.

A novel system which uses brain computer interface (BCI) technology and an iPhone to control wheelchair is developed. This system is developed with an aim to assist people suffering from spinal cord injuries (SCI), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), due to the inability to move limbs and body caused by death of nerve cells. The proposed system uses an iPhone to process the brain signals (EEG), specifically the attention signals, and direct corresponding commands to an assistive device, such as wheelchair, wirelessly. Comparing to other BCI system comprises of a bulky laptop and multi-electrodes, the proposed system is portable, cost-effective and ease of use. Potentially, not only people who are suffering from spinal cord injuries can benefit from this system, it extended to assisting elderly or people suffering from limb muscle disorder. The system structure and experimental results will be illustrated in this paper. No similar system is reported yet.

Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are expected as new man-machine interfaces. Non-invasive BMI have the potential to improve the quality of life of many disabled individuals with safer operation. The non-invasive BMI using the functional functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with the electroencephalogram (EEG) has potential applicability beyond the restoration of lost movement and rehabilitation in paraplegics and would enable normal individuals to have direct brain control of external devices in their daily lives. To shift stage of the non-invasive BMI from laboratory to clinical, the key factor is to develop high-accuracy signal decoding technology and highly restrictive of the measurement area. In this article, we present the development of a high-accuracy brain activity measurement system by combining fNIRS and EEG. The new fNIRS had high performances with high spatial resolution using double density technique and a large number of measurement channels to cover a whole human brain.

Mammalian bodies are hierarchical systems whose internal cooperation and coherent activity require high capacity information transfer between the central control unit - the brain - and the periphery - the organs. A communication system capable of meeting information capacity requirements should be based on transmission of electromagnetic signals. Structures that fulfill requirements for such information transfer have not yet been analyzed. Acupuncture meridians have been demonstrated experimentally in some animals. They might represent systems of information transfer between the brain and the peripheral organs. The ducts of the meridians may correspond to optical fibers operating from the far infrared to the visible wavelength region. The main features of a model of the duct as an optical fiber are delineated and its properties outlined. However, to analyze essentials of the transmission capabilities, the whole meridian structure should be mapped and a more comprehensive set of physical parameters measured. In particular, experimental data concerning morphological arrangements of ordered water in the ducts and corpuscles, and a complete content of the biological particles in the flowing water and its permittivity are missing. © 2012.