[ShEEP] Request for A Combined EEG/tDCS System for Neurostimulation and Biofeedback

在过去的十年里，有必要整合外源技术 通过大脑的内源性激活来刺激大脑。不同行业的快速增长 影响大脑皮层兴奋性的技术为康复科学带来了新的方向。 然而，这也带来了一些新的挑战。这些挑战中最主要的是 尽管非侵入性刺激技术的可用性有所增加，但我们仍然没有 了解这些技术的应用如何影响基线时的皮质活动模式 在刺激之前。缺乏有关基线状态信息的最终结果是，我们可能 在我们试图促进康复的过程中使用了错误的刺激参数 无数的认知和运动领域。 多年来，我们一直使用脑电(EEG)来测量大脑皮质 振荡(电刺激的频率)，试图理解区域区域如何 大脑的功能处于不同的状态。这些状态可能处于特定任务活动期间、休息状态或处于 坦率的病理病例。皮质振荡的改变与减少有关 作为衰老的一种功能的运动表现，以及在大脑皮质受到明显的侮辱后，如中风。为 例如，老年人表现出大脑之间特定频率(β)的增加 手指运动时的大脑半球通常很难完成这些任务，然而我们有 目前还无法确定为什么会出现这种情况。在语言方面，老年人表现出更多的 与产生脑电有关的额区中特定脑电频率的同步 有序的言语往往会损害命名和单词回忆能力。在过去的十年里， 实施非侵入性脑刺激已经变得司空见惯，试图 补救这些困难，特别是在病理坦率的个人身上。然而，我们已经有了一个 当应用一刀切的皮质刺激方案时，成功率相当令人失望 相关的临床试验。 我们认为非侵入性研究中试验结果为阴性的一个主要原因 大脑刺激是从业者没有适当地考虑之前的皮质活动 所选刺激范例的管理。在给药前合并脑电 Tdcs为我们提供了在实验室进行个性化治疗的能力，然后最大限度地提供给临床。 帮助我们的退伍军人根据他们特定的皮质活动情况。关键的是，这是可以做到的 跨越不同的病理，从神经侮辱，衰老相关的衰退，视觉 精神障碍和精神病患者。 目前的申请表示对StarSTim EEG/tDCS系统的使用感兴趣，具体方式为 5名退伍军人事务部附属研究人员为主要用户。主要成员包括：Keith McGregor，博士(PI)， 史蒂夫·沃尔夫，PT，博士，布鲁斯·克罗森，博士，艾米·罗德里格斯，博士，CCC-SLP。次要群体 包括：乔·诺切拉，博士，埃里卡·邓肯，医学博士，马歇尔·帕杜，博士。这些用户代表 有兴趣使用StarSTim来改善医疗保健服务的强大核心研究人员 退伍军人症通过提高我们对大脑皮层网络的理解。

Over the past ten years, there has been a need to integrate technologies for exogenous stimulation of the brain with endogenous activation of the brain. The rapid growth of different technologies to affect cortical excitability has led to new directions in rehabilitation science. However, this has also led to a number of new challenges. Primary among these challenges is that despite the increase in availability of non-invasive stimulation techniques, we still do not understand how the application of these technologies affects patterns of cortical activity at baseline prior to stimulation. The net result of this lack of information about baseline state is that we may be applying incorrect stimulation parameters in our attempts to facilitate rehabilitation across numerous cognitive and motor domains. For many years, we have used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure cortical oscillations (frequencies of electrical stimulation) to attempt to understand how regional areas of the brain function in differing state. These states may be during specific task activity, at rest, or in cases of frank pathology. Changes in cortical oscillations have been associated with decreased motor performance as a function of aging and after frank insult to the cortex, as in stroke. For example, older adults who show in increase in a particular frequency (beta) between brain hemispheres during finger movements typically have difficulty performing these tasks, yet we have yet to determine why this is the case. In language, older adults who show increased synchronization of a specific EEG frequency in frontal regions associated with the production of ordered speech tend to have impaired naming and word recall performance. Over the past decade, the implementation of non-invasive brain stimulation has become commonplace in attempting to remediate such difficulties, particularly in individuals with frank pathology. However, we have had a fairly disappointing success rate when applying one-size-fits-all protocols of cortical stimulation in associated clinical trials. We believe a major reason for the negative trial outcomes in studies using non-invasive brain stimulation is that practitioners are not appropriately accounting for cortical activity prior to administration of the selected stimulation paradigm. Combining EEG prior to the administration of tDCS affords us the capability to personalize treatments in the lab and then to the clinic to best help our Veterans based on their specific cortical profiles of activity. Critically, this can be done across different pathologies ranging from neurological insult, aging-related declines, visual impairment and psychiatric populations. The current application represents interest in the use of the StarStim EEG/tDCS system by 5 VA-affiliated researchers as Major Users. The Major Group includes: Keith McGregor, PhD (PI), Steve Wolf, PT, PhD, Bruce Crosson, PhD, and Amy Rodriguez, PhD, CCC-SLP. The Minor group includes: Joe Nocera, PhD, Erica Duncan, MD, Machelle Pardue, PhD. These users represent a strong core of researchers with interests in using the StarStim to improve healthcare delivery to Veteran's by improving our understanding of cortical networks.