ETG-4000 Optical Topography System

 描述（由申请人提供）：目前，我们在特拉华州大学（UD）进行了多项NIH资助的研究，以检查为儿童和成人神经系统受影响的特殊人群开发的各种行为干预措施的效果。我们认为迫切需要了解我们在感兴趣的人群中注意到的行为改善背后的神经机制。此外，我们有兴趣研究NIH重点关注的广泛行为的神经基质，包括自闭症儿童的工作记忆，自闭症和对立违抗性障碍儿童的人际同步，脑瘫儿童的平衡，唐氏综合征儿童的流动性，脑损伤婴儿的手臂功能，中风患者的运动，与老年人慢性腰痛相关的心理社会症状。在本提案中，我们申请资金购买日立功能性红外光谱（fNIRS）系统（型号：ETG-4000），以推进我们的临床和转化研究计划，以及在儿科/成人神经康复，发育精神病理学，运动，社会和认知神经科学领域工作的研究人员之间的跨学科合作。常见的神经成像方法，如功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）和电生理学方法，如脑电图（EEG）仅限于在最小或没有运动的情况下斜躺或坐着的任务，使得这些应用程序在运动存在时和自然交互期间无法获得大脑激活数据。如果fNIRS系统在UD可用，它将使我们能够在各种功能性运动任务中检查部分或整个大脑的激活，例如到达和行走以及个体之间的自然和基于游戏的互动。这使得fNIRS技术在与各种儿科和成人特殊人群（包括中风和慢性腰痛成人、自闭症儿童、脑瘫、对立违抗性障碍和唐氏综合征以及高危婴儿）合作时，在理解现实世界环境中的大脑行为关系方面真正具有转化性和变革性。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Currently we have multiple ongoing NIH funded studies at the University of Delaware (UD) to examine the effects of various behavioral interventions developed for pediatric and adult neurologically affected special populations. We feel there is an urgent need to understand the neural mechanisms of change underlying the behavioral improvements we notice in our populations of interest. Additionally, we are interested in studying the neural substrates for a wide range of behaviors that are an area of emphasis for NIH including working memory in children with Autism, interpersonal synchrony in children with Autism and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, balance in children with Cerebral Palsy, mobility in children with Down Syndrome, arm function in infants with Brain Injury, locomotion in patients with Stroke, and psychosocial symptoms related to Chronic Low Back Pain in older adults. In this proposal, we are requesting funds to purchase a Hitachi functional infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system (Model: ETG-4000) to advance our clinical and translational research programs as well as interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers working in the areas of pediatric/adult neurorehabilitation, developmental psychopathologies, and motor, social, and cognitive neuroscience. Common neuroimaging approaches such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological approaches such as Electroencephalography (EEG) are limited to tasks in reclined or seated positions with minimal to no movement, making these applications ineffective in obtaining brain activation data in the presence of movement and during naturalistic interactions. If the fNIRS system were to become available at UD, it would allow us to examine part or whole brain activation during a variety of functional motor tasks such as reaching and walking as well as naturalistic and play-based interactions between individuals. This makes the fNIRS technology truly translational and transformational in understanding brain-behavior relationships within real-world settings when working with a diverse set of pediatric and adult special populations including Adult with Stroke and Chronic Low Back Pain, Children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Down Syndrome as well as High-risk infants.