25 research outputs found
Sleep, Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, and the Aging Brain: Challenges and Opportunities
No full textAs we age, sleep patterns undergo severe modifications of their micro and macrostructure, with an overall lighter and more fragmented sleep structure. In general, interventions targeting sleep represent an excellent opportunity not only to maintain life quality in the healthy aging population, but also to enhance cognitive performance and, when pathology arises, to potentially prevent/slow down conversion from e.g. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Sleep abnormalities are, in fact, one of the earliest recognizable biomarkers of dementia, being also partially responsible for a cascade of cortical events that worsen dementia pathophysiology, including impaired clearance systems leading to build-up of extracellular amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide and intracellular hyperphosphorylated tau proteins. In this context, Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NiBS) techniques, such as transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), may help investigate the neural substrates of sleep, identify sleep-related pathology biomarkers, and ultimately help patients and healthy elderly individuals to restore sleep quality and cognitive performance. However, brain stimulation applications during sleep have so far not been fully investigated in healthy elderly cohorts, nor tested in AD patients or other related dementias. The manuscript discusses the role of sleep in normal and pathological aging, reviewing available evidence of NiBS applications during both wakefulness and sleep in healthy elderly individuals as well as in MCI/AD patients. Rationale and details for potential future brain stimulation studies targeting sleep alterations in the aging brain are discussed, including enhancement of cognitive performance, overall quality of life as well as protein clearance
The Sleep Side of Aging and Alzheimer's Disease
No full textAs we age, sleep patterns undergo significant modifications in micro and macrostructure, worsening cognition, and quality of life. These are associated with remarkable brain changes, like deterioration in synaptic plasticity, gray and white matter, and significant modifications in hormone levels. Sleep alterations are also a core component of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). AD night time is characterized by a gradual decrease in slow-wave activity and a substantial reduction of REM sleep. Sleep abnormalities can accelerate AD pathophysiology, promoting the accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau. Thus, interventions that target sleep disturbances in elderly people and MCI patients have been suggested as a possible strategy to prevent or decelerate conversion to dementia. Although cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacological medications are still first-line treatments, despite being scarcely effective, new interventions have been proposed, such as sensory stimulation and Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NiBS). The present review outlines the current state of the art of the relationship between sleep modifications in healthy aging and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying age-related changes. Furthermore, we provide a critical analysis showing how sleep abnormalities influence the prognosis of AD pathology by intensifying Aβ and tau protein accumulation. We discuss potential therapeutic strategies to target sleep disruptions and conclude that there is an urgent need for testing new therapeutic sleep interventions. © 2020 Elsevier B.V
Nuovo Rinascimento
No full text“Ristabilire un rapporto centrato sulla dinamica degli elementi primari: la
sostanza, la convivialità, la natura e le loro corrispondenze cosmologiche.
I dispositivi outdoor appaiono come nuovi sistemi di rilettura del
paesaggio e della spazialità collettiva, in cui la natura lavorata dall’uomo
svela il senso, le trame espressive, i ritmi costruttivi e nuovi percorsi.
Elementi che fra loro dialogano nel divenire delle forme, nel nucleo
espressivo che è la loro trama. Il segreto del loro rapporto con l’uomo è la
nuova spazialità alla quale ci stiamo adattando. Mostrare il senso di
“abitare”: sono in quanto abito il nostro abitare il mondo, questo il compito
che l’arte e l’architettura si propongono nel nostro presente.
Se nel tempo del quotidiano regnano nuovi canoni di distanziamento e le
nostre abitudini di sempre vanno in conflitto, soltanto nell’arte e nella
grazia ci è dato uscire da noi stessi e riformulare nuove prospettive e
nuove profondità dello sguard
The advanced cyberinfrastructure research and education facilitators virtual residency: Toward a national cyberinfrastructure workforce
No full textAn Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Research and Education Facilitator (ACI-REF) works directly with researchers to advance the computing- and data-intensive aspects of their research, helping them to make effective use of Cyberinfrastructure (CI). The University of Oklahoma (OU) is leading a national "virtual residency" program to prepare ACI-REFs to provide CI facilitation to the diverse populations of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) researchers that they serve. Until recently, CI Facilitators have had no education or training program; the Virtual Residency program addresses this national need by providing: (1) training, specifically (a) summer workshops and (b) third party training opportunity alerts; (2) a community of CI Facilitators, enabled by (c) a biweekly conference call and (d) a mailing list
Feasibility of TMS in patients with new generation cochlear implants
No full textObjective: The presence of a cochlear implant is being considered an absolute contraindication for experiments and/or treatments. We aimed to verify TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) compatibility of a new generation of cochlear implants. Methods: In a series of experiments, we test if MED-EL cochlear implants -compatible with stable fields of magnetic resonance imaging scanning- are fully resistant even to rapidly varying magnetic fields as those generated by single pulses and low and high-frequency trains of repetitive TMS (rTMS) applied with a figure of eight coil and different magnetic stimulators. Results: With a TMS intensity equal or below 2.2 Tesla (T) the cochlear implant and all its electronic components remain fully functional, even when the combination of frequency, intensity and number of pulses exceeds the currently available safety guidelines. Induced forces on the implant are negligible. With higher magnetic fields (i.e., 3.2 T), one device was corrupted. Conclusions: Results exclude the risk of electronic damaging, demagnetizing or displacements of the studied cochlear implants when exposed to magnetic fields of up to 2.2 T delivered through a focal coil. Significance: They open the way to use focal rTMS protocols with the aim of promoting neural plasticity in auditory networks, possibly helping the post-implant recovery of speech perception performance. © 2021 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiolog
Frequency-Dependent Reduction of Cybersickness in Virtual Reality by Transcranial Oscillatory Stimulation of the Vestibular Cortex
No full textVirtual reality (VR) applications are pervasive of everyday life, as in working, medical, and entertainment scenarios. There is yet no solution to cybersickness (CS), a disabling vestibular syndrome with nausea, dizziness, and general discomfort that most of VR users undergo, which results from an integration mismatch among visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular information. In a double-blind, controlled trial, we propose an innovative treatment for CS, consisting of online oscillatory imperceptible neuromodulation with transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at 10 Hz, biophysically modelled to reach the vestibular cortex bilaterally. tACS significantly reduced CS nausea in 37 healthy subjects during a VR rollercoaster experience. The effect was frequency-dependent and placebo-insensitive. Subjective benefits were paralleled by galvanic skin response modulation in 25 subjects, addressing neurovegetative activity. Besides confirming the role of transcranially delivered oscillations in physiologically tuning the vestibular system function (and dysfunction), results open a new way to facilitate the use of VR in different scenarios and possibly to help treating also other vestibular dysfunctions
Scarto vs Risorsa. Proposte per la rigenerazione dei residui urbani
No full textLo studio affronta il tema della rigenerazione di comparti urbani in disuso, con l’obiettivo di orientare il concetto di recupero/riuso, verso una visione più ampia e circolare delle trasformazioni. Il carattere multidisciplinare del gruppo di lavoro ha consentito di sviluppare una proposta metodologica in grado di descrivere un processo di recupero “atipico” dei “residui” urbani, visti come risorsa strategica per generare nuove economie e per [ri]attivare relazioni materiali e immateriali tra uomo e ambiente. Il processo proposto, costruito a partire dalle peculiarità del caso di via Medici del Vascello a Milano, si caratterizza per un approccio metodologico adattivo, flessibile e multiscalare, in grado di agire a diversi livelli di intervento per la riattivazione economica, ambientale e sociale dell’area. Il modello meta-progettuale è costruito a partire dalla definizione dei macro-temi di orientamento per la rigenerazione (recupero atipico, connessione reticolare, gestione/presidio ed abitare fluido), dai quali far derivare le misure-obiettivo per le linee di azione strategica. Si tratta di un metodo aperto che intende il progetto come “servizio” per l’attivazione di un modello replicabile di rigenerazione urbana, con particolare riferimento a come le tematiche dell’innovazione tecnologica, di sostenibilità e comfort ambientale, del riuso e dell’economia circolare, possano integrarsi e dialogare con le rinnovate esigenze tipologiche e sociali dell’abitare contemporaneo.The study deals with the issue of regeneration of disused urban areas, with the aim of orienting the concept of recovery/reuse towards a broader and more circular vision of transformations. The multidisciplinary nature of the working group made it possible to develop a methodological proposal, capable of describing a process of "atypical" recovery of urban "residues", seen as a strategic resource to generate new economies and to [re] activate material and immaterial relations between Man and Environment. The proposed process, built starting from the peculiarities of the case study of via Medici del Vascello in Milan, is characterized by an adaptive, flexible and multi-scale methodological approach, capable of acting at different levels of intervention for the economic, environmental and social reactivation of the area. The meta-design model is constructed starting from the definition of the macro-orientation regeneration issues (atypical recovery, reticular connection, management/supervision and fluid living), from which target measures for strategic action lines can be obtained. It is an open method that considers the “project” as a "service" for the activation of a replicable urban regeneration model, with particular reference to how the issues of technological innovation, sustainability and environmental comfort, reuse and circular economy, can integrate and dialogue with the renewed typological and social needs of contemporary living
Boosting psychological change: combining non-invasive brain stimulation with psychotherapy
No full textMental health disorders and substance use disorders are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and one of the most important challenges for public health systems. While evidence-based psychotherapy is generally pursued to address mental health challenges, psychological change is often hampered by non-adherence to treatments, relapses, and practical barriers (e.g., time, cost). In recent decades, Non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques have emerged as promising tools to directly target dysfunctional neural circuitry and promote long-lasting plastic changes. While the therapeutic efficacy of NIBS protocols for mental illnesses has been established, neuromodulatory interventions might also be employed to support the processes activated by psychotherapy. Indeed, combining psychotherapy with NIBS might help tailor the treatment to the patient's unique characteristics and therapeutic goal, and would allow more direct control of the neuronal changes induced by therapy. Herein, we overview emerging evidence on the use of NIBS to enhance the psychotherapeutic effect, while highlighting the next steps in advancing clinical and research methods toward personalized intervention approaches
Emerging of new bioartificial corticospinal motor synergies using a robotic additional thumb
No full textIt is likely that when using an artificially augmented hand with six fingers, the natural five plus a robotic one, corticospinal motor synergies controlling grasping actions might be different. However, no direct neurophysiological evidence for this reasonable assumption is available yet. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex to directly address this issue during motor imagery of objects’ grasping actions performed with or without the Soft Sixth Finger (SSF). The SSF is a wearable robotic additional thumb patented for helping patients with hand paresis and inherent loss of thumb opposition abilities. To this aim, we capitalized from the solid notion that neural circuits and mechanisms underlying motor imagery overlap those of physiological voluntary actions. After a few minutes of training, healthy humans wearing the SSF rapidly reshaped the pattern of corticospinal outputs towards forearm and hand muscles governing imagined grasping actions of different objects, suggesting the possibility that the extra finger might rapidly be encoded into the user’s body schema, which is integral part of the frontal-parietal grasping network. Such neural signatures might explain how the motor system of human beings is open to very quickly welcoming emerging augmentative bioartificial corticospinal grasping strategies. Such an ability might represent the functional substrate of a final common pathway the brain might count on towards new interactions with the surrounding objects within the peripersonal space. Findings provide a neurophysiological framework for implementing augmentative robotic tools in humans and for the exploitation of the SSF in conceptually new rehabilitation settings
Emerging of new bioartificial corticospinal motor synergies using a robotic additional thumb
No full textIt is likely that when using an artificially augmented hand with six fingers, the natural five plus a robotic one, corticospinal motor synergies controlling grasping actions might be different. However, no direct neurophysiological evidence for this reasonable assumption is available yet. We used transcranial magnetic stimulation of the primary motor cortex to directly address this issue during motor imagery of objects’ grasping actions performed with or without the Soft Sixth Finger (SSF). The SSF is a wearable robotic additional thumb patented for helping patients with hand paresis and inherent loss of thumb opposition abilities. To this aim, we capitalized from the solid notion that neural circuits and mechanisms underlying motor imagery overlap those of physiological voluntary actions. After a few minutes of training, healthy humans wearing the SSF rapidly reshaped the pattern of corticospinal outputs towards forearm and hand muscles governing imagined grasping actions of different objects, suggesting the possibility that the extra finger might rapidly be encoded into the user’s body schema, which is integral part of the frontal-parietal grasping network. Such neural signatures might explain how the motor system of human beings is open to very quickly welcoming emerging augmentative bioartificial corticospinal grasping strategies. Such an ability might represent the functional substrate of a final common pathway the brain might count on towards new interactions with the surrounding objects within the peripersonal space. Findings provide a neurophysiological framework for implementing augmentative robotic tools in humans and for the exploitation of the SSF in conceptually new rehabilitation settings
