INTRODUCTION: Brain network dysfunction, particularly within the default mode network (DMN), is an increasingly apparent contributor to the clinical progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can target key DMN hubs, maintain signaling function, and delay or improve clinical outcomes in AD. Here, we present the rationale and design of a study using off-the-shelf equipment and the latest clinical evidence to expand on prior rTMS work and reduce...

CONCLUSIONS: With low-to-moderate certainty, the evidence indicates that cNIBS, including tDCS and TMS, can improve balance in individuals with stroke. cNIBS is also a promising approach to facilitate gait and functional mobility in stroke survivors. Future studies should determine optimal stimulation protocols and elucidate the mechanisms underlying the treatment effects.

Exploring brain connectivity is made possible through the combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG) signals. While previous research has investigated hemispheric asymmetries in signal propagation at the electrode space following occipital TMS, this work extends this exploration at the source level. The sources of the neural activity were reconstructed using EEG data and mapped into regions of interest. The TMS evoked potential (TEP) was estimated using...

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is used to treat mental disorders and explore brain function via applied electromagnetic fields generated by a high current coil placed on the subject's scalp. While TMS has been in clinical use for decades, and continues to be a rapidly expanding therapeutic modality, there are still many unknowns regarding how stimulation parameters may affect treatment efficacy and how they may be optimized. One key parameter that is readily accessible is coil...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a promising tool in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. It employs the electromagnetic induction principle to induce electric fields in the targeted areas in the brain by generating alternating magnetic fields from the TMS coil. The brain structure is complicated and varies from person to person, which renders it difficult to improve the efficacy of TMS treatment. This work presents whether gender or age an important factor impacting...

Invasive deep-brain stimulation is increasingly being investigated as a treatment for neural disorders. A non-invasive alternative for deep-brain neuromodulation would likely broaden the range of application. However, existing techniques, such as transcranial electrical or magnetic stimulation (TES, TMS), are limited in their depth of stimulation. In this work, we propose DeepFocus, a new minimally invasive approach for stimulation of the deep brain by inserting electrodes in nasal cavities in...

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has been proposed to modulate neural activity through two primary mechanisms: entrainment and neuroplasticity. The current study aimed to probe both of these mechanisms in the context of the sensorimotor μ-rhythm using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) to assess entrainment of corticospinal excitability (CSE) during stimulation (i.e., online) and immediately following stimulation, as well as neuroplastic...

CONCLUSION: Short-term tDCS and TMS are effective for reducing fatigue, pain, and depression in MS patients, with tDCS showing potential for home use and TMS for clinical settings. Cognitive improvements may require longer treatment durations or combined therapies.

This study investigated the effects of combining repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with bilateral arm training (BAT) on effective brain connectivity in chronic stroke patients using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Fifteen post-stroke patients and fifteen healthy individuals were enrolled. Coupling function analysis was performed to evaluate the effective connectivity inflow, outflow, and the dominant information flow (DIF) during standalone BAT and combined rTMS-BAT...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), introduced in 1985, has become a vital tool for investigating brain-behaviour relationships and therapeutic interventions. Repetitive TMS (rTMS) as a therapeutic tool has shown promise for various neuropsychiatric conditions, including autism, which affects approximately 1% of the global population. Evidence suggests that atypical neuroplasticity characterizes the neurobiology of autism. Recent studies using TMS paradigms like theta-burst stimulation...

Stroke is a leading cause of impairment, with 70% of survivors experiencing upper limb motor deficits. While transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is widely used in rehabilitation, the impact of impairment severity on treatment outcomes remains unclear. This study evaluated TMS effectiveness in post-stroke motor impairment and explored its neural mechanisms. Fifty-five stroke patients were divided into TMS (n =27) and control (n =28) groups. The TMS group received two weeks of intermittent...

Cognitive impairment is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by a decline in cognitive functions. In recent years, the application of non-pharmacological interventions such as physical stimuli has garnered attention due to their convenience and efficacy. However, the selection of stimulation targets significantly impacts the therapeutic outcomes, and there is yet to be a mature method for specific target selection. This study considers the neural network alterations during the progression...

CONCLUSIONS: Acute DN-DBS leads to heightened ipsilesional corticomotor excitability in moderate-to-severe chronic stroke survivors. Effects of acute DN-DBS on physiology are contingent upon structural preservation of key white matter tracts and associated with motor gains made with chronic DN-DBS. Findings provide mechanistic support of DN-DBS as a potential therapy for post-stroke motor recovery and potential of TMS to monitor responses.

High-level perception results from interactions between hierarchical brain systems responsive to gradually increasing feature complexities. During reading, the initial evaluation of simple visual features in the early visual cortex (EVC) is followed by orthographic and lexical computations in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex (vOTC). While similar visual regions are engaged in tactile Braille reading in congenitally blind people, it is unclear whether the visual network maintains or...

We previously reported that repetitive paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; rPPS) synchronized to the peak phase of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) at the β frequency induced long-lasting after-effects on primary motor cortex (M1) with less inter-individual variability compared with rPPS alone. Here, we investigated the plasticity mechanisms underlying combined stimulation effects using paired-pulse TMS paradigms. rPPS was applied to the peak phase of β tACS...