Neurorehabilitation and neural repair
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Neurorehabil Neural Repair · Jun 2015
Case ReportsNeural Point-and-Click Communication by a Person With Incomplete Locked-In Syndrome.
A goal of brain-computer interface research is to develop fast and reliable means of communication for individuals with paralysis and anarthria. We evaluated the ability of an individual with incomplete locked-in syndrome enrolled in the BrainGate Neural Interface System pilot clinical trial to communicate using neural point-and-click control. A general-purpose interface was developed to provide control of a computer cursor in tandem with one of two on-screen virtual keyboards. ⋯ The Radial Keyboard yielded a significant improvement in typing accuracy and speed-enabling typing rates over 10 correct characters per minute. The participant used this interface to communicate face-to-face with research staff by using text-to-speech conversion, and remotely using an internet chat application. This study demonstrates the first use of an intracortical brain-computer interface for neural point-and-click communication by an individual with incomplete locked-in syndrome.
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Neurorehabil Neural Repair · Jun 2015
Rehabilitative training promotes rapid motor recovery but delayed motor map reorganization in a rat cortical ischemic infarct model.
In preclinical stroke models, improvement in motor performance is associated with reorganization of cortical motor maps. However, the temporal relationship between performance gains and map plasticity is not clear. ⋯ Postinfarct rehabilitative training rapidly improves motor performance and movement quality after an ischemic infarct in motor cortex. However, training-induced motor improvements are not reflected in spared motor maps until substantially later, suggesting that early motor training after stroke can help shape the evolving poststroke neural network.