Browsing by Author "Petrini, Laura (36881147200)"

Objective In this study, we analyzed the influence of artificially imposed attention variations using the auditory oddball paradigm on the cortical activity associated to motor preparation/execution. Methods EEG signals from Cz and its surrounding channels were recorded during three sets of ankle dorsiflexion movements. Each set was interspersed with either a complex or a simple auditory oddball task for healthy participants and a complex auditory oddball task for stroke patients. Results The amplitude of the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) decreased with the complex oddball paradigm, while MRCP variability increased. Both oddball paradigms increased the detection latency significantly (p < 0.05) and the complex paradigm decreased the true positive rate (TPR) (p = 0.04). In patients, the negativity of the MRCP decreased while pre-phase variability increased, and the detection latency and accuracy deteriorated with attention diversion. Conclusion Attention diversion has a significant influence on MRCP features and detection parameters, although these changes were counteracted by the application of the laplacian method. Significance Brain–computer interfaces for neuromodulation that use the MRCP as the control signal are robust to changes in attention. However, attention must be monitored since it plays a key role in plasticity induction. Here we demonstrate that this can be achieved using the single channel Cz. © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology

Objective In this study, we analyzed the influence of artificially imposed attention variations using the auditory oddball paradigm on the cortical activity associated to motor preparation/execution. Methods EEG signals from Cz and its surrounding channels were recorded during three sets of ankle dorsiflexion movements. Each set was interspersed with either a complex or a simple auditory oddball task for healthy participants and a complex auditory oddball task for stroke patients. Results The amplitude of the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) decreased with the complex oddball paradigm, while MRCP variability increased. Both oddball paradigms increased the detection latency significantly (p < 0.05) and the complex paradigm decreased the true positive rate (TPR) (p = 0.04). In patients, the negativity of the MRCP decreased while pre-phase variability increased, and the detection latency and accuracy deteriorated with attention diversion. Conclusion Attention diversion has a significant influence on MRCP features and detection parameters, although these changes were counteracted by the application of the laplacian method. Significance Brain–computer interfaces for neuromodulation that use the MRCP as the control signal are robust to changes in attention. However, attention must be monitored since it plays a key role in plasticity induction. Here we demonstrate that this can be achieved using the single channel Cz. © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology

Background: Over the last decades, a considerable number of observational scales have been developed to assess pain in persons with dementia. The time seems ripe now to build on the knowledge and expertize implemented in these scales to form an improved, “best-of” meta-tool. The EU-COST initiative “Pain in impaired cognition, especially dementia” aimed to do this by selecting items out of existing observational scales and critically re-assessing their suitability to detect pain in dementia. This paper reports on the final phase of this collaborative task. Methods: Items from existing observational pain scales were tested for “frequency of occurrence (item difficulty),” “reliability” and “validity.” This psychometric testing was carried out in eight countries, in different healthcare settings, and included clinical as well as experimental pain conditions. Results: Across all studies, 587 persons with dementia, 27 individuals with intellectual disability, 12 Huntington's disease patients and 59 cognitively healthy controls were observed during rest and movement situations or while receiving experimental pressure pain, respectively. The psychometric outcomes for each item across the different studies were evaluated within an international and multidisciplinary team of experts and led a final selection of 15 items (5x facial expressions, 5x body movements, 5x vocalizations). Conclusions: The final list of 15 observational items have demonstrated psychometric quality and clinical usefulness both in their former scales and in the present international evaluation; accordingly, they qualified twice to form a new internationally agreed-on meta-tool for Pain Assessment in Impaired Cognition, the PAIC-15 scale. Significance: Using a meta-tool approach by building on previous observational pain assessment scales and putting the items of these scales through rigorous empirical testing (using experimental as well as clinical pain studies in several European countries), we were able to identify the best items for pain assessment in individuals with impaired cognition. These selected items form the novel PAIC15 scale (pain assessment in impaired cognition, 15 items). © 2019 The Authors. European Journal of Pain published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Pain Federation - EFIC®