Neurofeedback Using Real-Time Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Enhances Motor Imagery Related Cortical Activation

Accumulating evidence indicates that motor imagery and motor execution share common neural networks. Accordingly, mental practices in the form of motor imagery have been implemented in rehabilitation regimes of stroke patients with favorable results. Because direct monitoring of motor imagery is difficult, feedback of cortical activities related to motor imagery (neurofeedback) could help to enhance efficacy of mental practice with motor imagery. To determine the feasibility and efficacy of a real-time neurofeedback system mediated by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), two separate experiments were performed. Experiment 1 was used in five subjects to evaluate whether real-time cortical oxygenated hemoglobin signal feedback during a motor execution task correlated with reference hemoglobin signals computed off-line. Results demonstrated that the NIRS-mediated neurofeedback system reliably detected oxygenated hemoglobin signal changes in real-time. In Experiment 2, 21 subjects performed motor imagery of finger movements with feedback from relevant cortical signals and irrelevant sham signals. Real neurofeedback induced significantly greater activation of the contralateral premotor cortex and greater self-assessment scores for kinesthetic motor imagery compared with sham feedback. These findings suggested the feasibility and potential effectiveness of a NIRS-mediated real-time neurofeedback system on performance of kinesthetic motor imagery. However, these results warrant further clinical trials to determine whether this system could enhance the effects of mental practice in stroke patients

Impact of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection

There is little evidence around the potentially protective role of previous Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on postoperative mortality in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. Prior BCG vaccination did not protect SARS-CoV-2 infected patients against postoperative pulmonary complications and 30-day mortality

Cross-resistance patterns of winter wild oat (Avena ludoviciana) populations to ACCase inhibitor herbicides

The level of resistance and patterns of cross-resistance to clodinafop, sethoxydim, and pinoxaden were examined in 12 putative resistant and one susceptible populations of winter wild oat (Avena ludoviciana) collected from Fars Province, in the southwest of Iran. The responses of biomass and length of coleoptiles to the increasing dosages of the three herbicides were determined in both whole-plant and seed bioassays. In the whole-plant bioassay, all 12 putative resistant populations were found to be resistant to clodinafop with resistance ratios (R/S) ranging from 1.76 to >47.04. Most clodinafop-resistant populations exhibited low levels of cross-resistance to sethoxydim. Three highly sethoxydim-resistant populations, F2, S2, and ES4, were slightly resistant to clodinafop. Six populations (M1, M2, F2, S2, S4, and ES4) showed high cross-resistance to pinoxaden with R/S values as large as 10.73 to 40.29. A highly clodinafop-resistant population, M2, was more sensitive to pinoxaden than the susceptible population. The results of the seed bioassay resembled those obtained from the whole-plant experiment suggesting seed bioassay as an inexpensive, rapid method for screening-resistant genotypes

Bilateral patterns and motor function of the extralaryngeal branching of the recurrent laryngeal nerve

Purpose To evaluate the bilateral patterns and motor function of the extralaryngeal branches (ELB) of the recurrent laryngeal nerve(RLN)