DEVELOPMENT OF NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY (NIRS) FOR RECORDING BRAIN FUNCTION DUR

匹兹堡OAIC内部研究的一个中心主题是 一直使用一个多学科团队和包括生物力学、认知测试和功能神经成像在内的组合方法来表征与移动性和平衡性相关的大脑功能。到目前为止，该中心和其他地方的几个小组已经使用功能磁共振探索了移动性的决定因素。 然而，这些研究的一个主要批评是，成像活动不是在负重条件下进行的，这可能会严重影响姿势控制，从而影响大脑的激活。虽然在核磁共振扫描仪中模拟受试者更真实的移动条件已经取得了进展，但尚不清楚这些方法在多大程度上模拟了真实世界的场景和直立姿势下的不受限制的运动。NIRS允许在MRI扫描仪环境之外进行脑成像，从而为这个问题提供了解决方案。

A central theme of the research within the Pittsburgh OAIC has been to characterize brain function related to mobility and balance using a multidisciplinary team and a combination of methods including biomechanics, cognitive testing, and functional neuroimaging. To date, several groups at this center and elsewhere have explored determinants of mobility using functional MRI. However, a major criticism of these studies is that the imaging activities were not done under weight-bearing conditions, which may substantially affect postural control and hence brain activation. While advancements have been made to simulate more realistic mobility conditions for the subject within the MRI scanner, it is unclear how well these approaches approximate real-world scenarios and unconstrained movements with upright posture. NIRS provides a solution to this problem by allowing brain imaging outside of the MRI scanner environment.