Published on Aug 19, 2013
Prof. Marom Bikson of The City College of New York lecture at the Harvard Medical School tDCS course on tDCS dose and mechanism. Topics include High-Definition tDCS (HD-tDCS), TDCS in children and in stroke, targeting, and optimization. CCNY link http://neuralengr.com/ HD-tDCS link http://soterixmedical.com/hd-tdcs
From Black Dog Institute’s Youtube Channel
Foc.us gamer headsets are starting to show up on people’s doorsteps. The tDCS SubReddit is full of first person accounts of all things foc.us.
Regarding the transients at turn on, that is a circuit issue. So to remedy, it is easy to add an LC filter at the output see picture below for new schematic. The LC filter acts to dampen any transients. Bench testing shows the ramp up to be 500ms, which is plenty to dampen any turn on pulses, but unfortunately not enough to prevent any flash that occurs with certain montages. At mouser.com, the L can be 22R105C and the C can be UKL1E100KDDANA.
via Insight, a growth project driven by tDCS: A little less Simple DIY TDCS circuit using CRDs.
(What happened to February?)
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) of the visual cortex: a proof-of-concept study based on interictal electrophysiological abnormalities in migraine (pdf)
with anodal tDCS turned out to be beneficial in MoA (migraine without aura patients) migraine attack frequency, migraine days, attack duration and acute medication intake significantly decreased during the treatment period compared to pre-treatment baseline
Tags: Migraine, visual cortex,
The Mental Cost of Cognitive Enhancement (pdf)
Stimulation to the the posterior parietal cortex facilitated numerical learning, whereas automaticity for the learned material was impaired. In contrast, stimulation to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex impaired the learning process, whereas automaticity for the learned material was enhanced.
Wired Version
New Scientist Version
Tags: Roi Cohen Kadosh,
Keith Spalding’s Simple DIY TDCS circuit using CRDs
A DIY schematic for tDCS using CRDs for current regulation.
Tags: DIY, CRD
Noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation over the left prefrontal cortex facilitates cognitive flexibility in tool use
…we hypothesized that cathodal (inhibitory) transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) will facilitate performance in a flexible use generation task.
The results support the hypothesis that certain tasks may benefit from a state of diminished cognitive control.
Tags: inhibitory benefits,
When Anger Leads to Rumination
Induction of Relative Right Frontal Cortical Activity With Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Increases Anger-Related Rumination
…results suggest that anger associated with greater relative left frontal cortical activity predicts approach-oriented aggressive action, whereas anger associated with greater relative right frontal cortical activity predicts inhibited rumination.
Potential of transcranial direct current stimulation shown in fibromyalgia
Transcranial direct current stimulation delivered focally to the left primary motor cortex of patients with fibromyalgia significantly reduced perceived pain compared with sham stimulation in a proof-of-principle pilot trial.
Tags, fibromyalgia, pain
Neurobiological Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation: A Review
The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the current knowledge regarding the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the effects of tDCS.
Neuroenhancement of the aging brain: restoring skill acquisition in old subjects.
The main finding was that old participants experienced substantial improvements when training was applied concurrent with tDCS, with effects lasting for at least 24 hours.
Examining transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for hallucinations in schizophrenia.
Auditory verbal hallucinations were robustly reduced by tDCS relative to sham stimulation…
Modulation of training by single-session transcranial direct current stimulation to the intact motor cortex enhances motor skill acquisition of the paretic hand.
tDCS facilitated the acquisition of a new motor skill compared with sham stimulation…
Interactions between transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and pharmacological interventions in the Major Depressive Episode: Findings from a naturalistic study.
tDCS over the DLPFC acutely improved depressive symptoms…
Amelioration of cognitive control in depression by transcranial direct current stimulation.
Deficient cognitive control over emotional distraction is a central characteristic of major depressive disorder (MDD)
The present study demonstrates that anodal tDCS applied to the left dlPFC improves deficient cognitive control in MDD.
Transcranial direct current stimulation of the motor cortex in the treatment of chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomized, double-blind exploratory study.
No significant effect was seen in the primary outcomes between active and sham stimulation
Comparing immediate transient tinnitus suppression using tACS and tDCS: a placebo-controlled study.
…bifrontal tDCS modulates tinnitus annoyance and tinnitus loudness, whereas individual alpha-modulated tACS does not yield a similar result.
Review of transcranial direct current stimulation in poststroke recovery.
In this review, we summarize characteristics of tDCS (method of stimulation, safety profile, and mechanism) and its application in the treatment of various stroke-related deficits, and we highlight future directions for tDCS in this capacity.
From the people at GoFlow…
Some sad news.
And some good news too.
As most have you have probably noticed, we haven’t made much progress on the GoFlow project in the last 6 months. We hit some obstacles, both in the business and in our personal lives, that kept us from making the progress we wanted.
We love tDCS and can’t wait to see it become available to everyone. Unfortunately, it looks like we won’t be the people making that happen. However, our friends at Foc.us have just launched and offer a great alternative.
Thank you all for your incredible support throughout the last year, we wish we could have successfully gotten GoFlow into your hands.
Some exciting news!
Our friends over at foc.us have just launched, and they have devices for sale!
We wanted to make sure to leave you with an alternative.
We’ve been in contact with the guys over a foc.us for quite awhile now. They’re some pretty awesome folks who are incredibly smart.
They just started selling their tDCS device last week, and have a limited quantity available. They have achieved much of what we were attempting to, and we’re really excited to see where they go.
The Foc.us Has Landed!
Is foc.us FDA approved? No. The focus gamer headset offers no medical benefits, is not a medical device, and is not regulated by the FDA.
via FOC.US – transcranial direct current stimulation for gamers.
June 3-4, 2013 at the Institut Guttmann in Barcelona, Spain
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a technique of noninvasive brain stimulation established nearly 75 years ago. Today, tDCS is seeing a resurgence in both the clinical and academic research fields. Through lectures and hands-on practice, this course will introduce students to the theoretical aspects of tDCS and help develop proper skills for practical application.
Registration
To register for this course, first complete the online application on the Berenson-Allen Center website. You can access the online application here.
via Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation.
The Biocurrent kit is a safe, easy-to-use, apparatus that supplies regulated current through sponge electrodes. By using a unique method of regulation (CRDs), the Biocurrent kit provides regulated current at 1.0mA, 1.5mA, and 2.0mA in a simple to use plug in kit. No soldering is required, all the items necessary to produce biological current are included in the kit (Battery pack, Regulator boxes, cables, sponge electrodes, and elastic band to fix to the body).
For increased safety the cable connectors are specifically chosen to only fit one way and because of inline resistor, current is limited in case of short or failure.
Go to The Biocurrent kit site to find out more and to purchase your device.
via Insight, a growth project driven by tDCS: The Biocurrent kit is currently available!.
I decided to borrow Keith’s design one more time and build a simple tDCS device into an old pill bottle, just to show how easy it is to build a current regulated tDCS device – and to show how small they can be. My latest creation could easily be carried in a pocket or tucked in a hat. I call it “tDCS in a Bottle” and yes – I decided to copyright the name – hey why not?
My simple circuit consists of a type 25A 12v volt battery, a 2.2 k Ohm resistor, a current regulating diode (CRD), a pill bottle, and some lead wires. You could build one yourself in 15 minutes or less!
www.biocurrentkit.com has just started offering a battery operated 1 to 2 mA kit that is offered not as a tDCS device (tDCS doesn’t even appear in their instruction sheet and barely on the web site), but as a regulated very low current DC supply. What you do with it is up to you. Biocurrent sent me an evaluation unit to dig into and I have to say, I’m impressed with the simplicity of the kit – and that it does exactly what Biocurrent says it will do – supply 1, 1.5, or 2 mA current.
Petr, whose first language is Czech, asks…
12.3 2013
Ramping capacitor – possible problem
Yesterday i was building some tDCS with LM334 and try for first time use ramping capacitor. When i test device with load (5KOhms) all was ok ramping when i turn device on and ramping down when off. But when i change load (5kOhms potentiometer) during stimulation (testing) it create current peak up to 5 mA. I test it with few different capacitor and behavior is always the same (only different value of peak and the time to return to normal ). Device without capacitor work without problem. In result of this i use instead of capacitor serial load ( linear potentiometer 100kOhms ) allows me to do manual ramping (0,07mA to setup current).
My question is can anybody test this capacitor problem maybe i do something wrong, bad multimeter etc.. . If this problem is real, it’s a very bad idea to use capacitor for ramping in use the resistance change is not too quick but still can cause pretty high current peaks.
Well-balanced and chock full of relevant links. Check out the full article.
Almost every expert who talks about tDCS will tell you, “Don’t try this at home.” But a lot of people are starting to do just that. And it’s no wonder, given the parade of amazing results that researchers have reported achieving on subjects in the lab. It seems like you can make people better at just about anything if you just put the electrodes in the right place. To name just a few of the findings:
Applying the electrodes to the prefrontal cortex can improve learning and increase your working memory.
Applying them to the motor cortex can raise your threshold for pain and make you more adept with your nondominant hand.
Position them above the posterior portion of the left perisylvian area (in right-handed people) and they can facilitate language acquisition.
Stimulation of the parietal cortex can improve numerical reasoning.
via tDCS and rTMS: Is brain stimulation safe and effective? – Slate Magazine.
Unfortunately, the quality of these videos is quite poor (always use a tripod, always get a direct audio feed of the lecture 😉 You can download an enhanced audio-only mp3 of the lecture here.
Prof. Marom Bikson of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The City College of New York lecture on March 13, 2013 at the: Symposium at the the 10th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society.
“Non-invasive brain stimulation: mechanisms, effects and opportunities” introduces fundamentals of tDCS mechanisms and dose including how to achieve targeting using brain stimulation.
Continue the discussion here or on the lab http://neuralengr.com/forums/ or Soterix forums http://soterixmedical.com/community/