Safety of Three-Dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy on the Sheep with Pulmonary Cystic Echinococcosis: A Preliminary Study.

PURPOSE: Radiotherapy showed the potential to effectively kill the cysts of pulmonary cystic echinococcosis (CE). However, little is known about its safety. This study was designed to investigate the safety of three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT) on the normal lung tissue adjacent to the cyst and blood of sheep naturally infected with pulmonary CE. METHODS: Twenty pulmonary CE sheep were randomly divided into control group (n = 5) and radiation groups with a dose of 30 Gray (Gy) (n = 5), 45 Gy (n = 5), and 60 Gy (n = 5), respectively. Animals in control group received no radiation. Heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70), tumor growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and MMP-9 in the lung tissues adjacent to the cysts, which were considered to be closely related to the pathogenesis of CE, were evaluated after 3D-CRT. A routine blood test was conducted. RESULTS: The results showed that there were multiple cysts of various sizes with protoscoleces in the lung tissues of sheep, and necrotic cysts were found after 3D-CRT. 3D-CRT significantly increased the mRNA level of Hsp70, enhanced the protein level of TGF-ß and slightly increased the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in lung tissues adjacent to the cysts. 3D-CRT did not significantly alter the amount of WBC, HB and PLT in sheep blood. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that 3D-CRT may suppress the inflammation and induce less damage of the normal lung tissues and blood. We preliminarily showed that 3D-CRT under a safe dose may be used to treat pulmonary CE.

SET Domain Group 703 Regulates Planthopper Resistance by Suppressing the Expression of Defense-Related Genes.

Plant defense responses against insect pests are intricately regulated by highly complex regulatory networks. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) of histones modulate the expression of genes involved in various biological processes. However, the role of PTMs in conferring insect resistance remains unclear. Through the screening of a T-DNA insertion activation-tagged mutant collection in rice, we identified the mutant planthopper susceptible 1 (phs1), which exhibits heightened expression of SET domain group 703 (SDG703). This overexpression is associated with increased susceptibility to the small brown planthopper (SBPH), an economically significant insect pest affecting rice crops. SDG703 is constitutively expressed in multiple tissues and shows substantial upregulation in response to SBPH feeding. SDG703 demonstrates the activity of histone H3K9 methyltransferase. Transcriptomic analysis revealed the downregulation of genes involved in effector-triggered immunity (ETI) and pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) in plants overexpressing SDG703. Among the downregulated genes, the overexpression of SDG703 in plants resulted in a higher level of histone H3K9 methylation compared to control plants. Collectively, these findings indicate that SDG703 suppresses the expression of defense-related genes through the promotion of histone methylation, consequently leading to reduced resistance against SBPH. The defense-related genes regulated by histone methylation present valuable targets for developing effective pest management strategies in future studies. Furthermore, our study provides novel insight into the epigenetic regulation involved in plant-insect resistance.

Improvements in Classification of Left and Right Foot Motor Intention Using Modulated Steady-State Somatosensory Evoked Potential Induced by Electrical Stimulation and Motor Imagery.

In recent years, motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (MI-BCI) has been applied to motor rehabilitation in patients with motor dysfunction. However, traditional MI-BCI is rarely used for foot motor intention recognition because the motor cortex regions of both feet are anatomically close to each other, and traditional event-related desynchronization (ERD) patterns for MI-BCI have insufficient spatial discrimination. This study introduced steady-state somatosensory evoked potentials (SSSEPs) by synchronous bilateral feet electrical stimulation at different frequencies, which were used as carrier signals modulated by unilateral foot motor intention. Fifteen subjects participated in MI and MI-SSSEP tasks. A Riemannian geometry classifier with a task-related component analysis (TRCA) spatial filter was proposed to demodulate the variation in SSSEP features and discriminate the left and right foot motor intentions. The feature outcomes indicated that the amplitude and phase synchronization of the SSSEPs could be well modulated by unilateral foot MI tasks under the MI-SSSEP paradigm. The classification results revealed that the modulated SSSEP features played an important role in the recognition of left-right foot discrimination. Moreover, the proposed TRCA-based method outperformed the other three methods and improved the foot average classification accuracy to 81.07± 13.29%, with the highest accuracy attained at 97.00%. Compared with the traditional MI paradigm, the foot motor intention recognition accuracy of the MI-SSSEP paradigm was significantly improved, from nearly 60% to more than 80%. This work provides a practical method for left-right foot motor intention recognition and expands the application of MI-BCI in the field of lower-extremity motor function rehabilitation.

Real-time regulation of room temperature based on individual thermal sensation using an online brain-computer interface.

Regulation of indoor temperature based on neurophysiological and psychological signals is one of the most promising technologies for intelligent buildings. In this study, we developed a system for closed-loop control of indoor temperature based on brain-computer interface (BCI) technology for the first time. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals were collected from subjects for two room temperature categories (cool comfortable and hot uncomfortable) and used to build a thermal-sensation discrimination model (TSDM) with an ensemble learning method. Then, an online BCI system was developed based on the TSDM. In the online room temperature control experiment, when the TSDM detected that the subjects felt hot and uncomfortable, BCI would automatically turn on the air conditioner, and when the TSDM detected that the subjects felt cool and comfortable, BCI would automatically turn off the air conditioner. The results of online experiments in a hot environment showed that a BCI could significantly improve the thermal comfort of subjects (the subjective thermal comfort score decreased from 2.45 (hot uncomfortable) to 0.55 (cool comfortable), p < 0.001). A parallel experiment further showed that if the subjects wore thicker clothes during the experiment, the BCI would turn on the air conditioner for a longer time to ensure the thermal comfort of the subjects. This has further confirmed the effectiveness of TSDM model in evaluating thermal sensation under the dynamic change of room temperature and showed the model's good robustness. This study proposed a new paradigm of human-building interaction, which is expected to play a promising role in the development of human-centered intelligent buildings.

Improving the performance of a gaze independent P300-BCI by using the expectancy wave.

Objective.A P300-brain computer interface (P300-BCI) conveys a subject's intention through recognition of their event-related potentials (ERPs). However, in the case of visual stimuli, its performance depends strongly on eye gaze. When eye movement is impaired, it becomes difficult to focus attention on a target stimulus, and the quality of the ERP declines greatly, thereby affecting recognition efficiency.Approach.In this paper, the expectancy wave (E-wave) is proposed to improve signal quality and thereby improve identification of visual targets under the covert attention. The stimuli of the P300-BCI described here are presented in a fixed sequence, so the subjects can predict the next target stimulus and establish a stable expectancy effect of the target stimulus through training. Features from the E-wave that occurred 0 ∼ 300 ms before a stimulus were added to the post-stimulus ERP components for intention recognition.Main results.Comparisons of ten healthy subjects before and after training demonstrated that the expectancy wave generated before target stimulus could be used with the P300 component to improve character recognition accuracy (CRA) from 85% to 92.4%. In addition, CRA using only the expectancy component can reach 68.2%, which is significantly greater than random probability (16.7%). The results of this study indicate that the expectancy wave can be used to improve recognition efficiency for a gaze-independent P300-BCI, and that training contributes to induction and recognition of the potential.Significance.This study proposes an effective approach to an efficient gaze-independent P300-BCI system.

In vitro Scolicidal Efficacy of 5-Fluorouracil and Radiation Against Protoscoleces of Echinococcus granulosus Sensu Lato.

PURPOSE: Cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato (s.l.) is a globally distributed zoonosis. CE treatment is difficult, but radiation and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) can be effective. However, the combination of radiation and 5-FU has not been reported. This study evaluated the effect of combination of 5-FU and radiation on E. granulosus s.l. protoscoleces (PSCs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, PSCs were collected from the liver of diseased sheep, and some were exposed to a single dose of 20 Gy 6-MV X-ray combined with (5 µg/mL or 10 µg/mL) 5-FU in vitro. Methylene blue staining was used to detect the viability of the PSCs. Transcription of EgHSP70 and Egp38 was measured by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT- PCR). RESULTS: A single dose of radiation killed 18% of the PSCs, and 5-FU showed weak parasiticidal efficacy on the first day of treatment. After 14 d, 5 µg and 10 µg/mL of 5-FU killed 40.20% and 50.02% of the PSCs, whereas 20 Gy of radiation killed 31.44%. The combination of 5-FU (10 µg/mL) with 20 Gy of radiation showed 77.55% killing efficacy. qRT-PCR showed that 5-FU inhibited Egp38 expression, whereas radiation increased its expression. EgHSP70 was highly expressed 14 days after radiation treatment. The data indicate that 5-FU has parasiticidal efficacy against the PSCs of E. granulosus s.l. CONCLUSION: The lethal efficacy of PSCs caused by a single dose of radiation exposure is related to the upregulated expression level of Egp38 and EgHSP70. The killing effect of 5-FU (10 µg/mL) with 20Gy of radiation was significantly better than that of single treatment group. This study provided a basis for the potential role of 5-FU combined with radiation in the treatment of CE.

A High-Precision, Low-Cost, Wireless, Multi-Channel Electrogastrography System.

Electrogastrography (EGG), a method of recording gastric electrical activity, is attractive in both research and clinical applications because of its noninvasive nature. However, the commercially available wireless EGG acquisition system is relatively expensive and the portability is poor. The internal circuit design is unknown, making it difficult to further adjust the system. To overcome these limitations, we have developed a multi-channel EGG acquisition system based on the idea of "low magnification and wide dynamic range". In the system, an analog front end (AFE) including preamplifier, right leg drive (RLD) and low-pass anti-aliasing filter is designed according to the characteristics of the EGG signal, and the high-precision analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is selected for EGG signal collection. The system has the advantages of high precision, low noise, low power consumption, low cost, and high portability. The wireless multi-channel EGG acquisition system can achieve the characteristics of portability and device miniaturization. We provide multiple differential channels for acquisition, which will be helpful to obtain more information about gastric slow wave propagation and coupling.

Improve P300-speller performance by online tuning stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA).

Objective. The P300-Speller is a classic brain-computer interface paradigm that has been subjected to numerous clinical trials. Some studies have reported that the performance of the P300-Speller is closely related to stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), but very few studies have attempted to improve the performance of the P300-Speller by optimizing SOA.Approach.In this paper, we designed a P300-Speller system based on a variable SOA and dynamic stop strategy, which can automatically adjust SOA according to real-time operational performance.Main results.The online experiment results of 18 subjects showed that the event-related potential classifier and the dynamic stop algorithm established at 200 ms SOA can maintain the performance at a certain level among 50-300 ms SOA. The system can then reduce the SOA from an initial 200 ms to an average of about 98.5 ms while maintaining letter output accuracy. The average theoretical information transfer rate was significantly improved from 42.4 to 85 bit min-1(the maximum was 232 bit min-1).Significance.These results demonstrate that the system established in this paper can automatically optimize the SOA settings, and this personalized SOA adjustment can effectively improve the performance of the P300-Speller.

Inter-stimulus phase coherence in steady-state somatosensory evoked potentials and its application in improving the performance of single-channel MI-BCI.

Objective. With the development of clinical applications of motor imagery-based brain-computer interfaces (MI-BCIs), a single-channel MI-BCI system that can be easily assembled is an attractive goal. However, due to the low quality of the spectral power features in the traditional MI-BCI paradigm, the recognition performance of current single-channel systems is far lower than that of multi-channel systems, impeding their use in clinical applications.Approach.In this study, the subjects' right and left hands were stimulated simultaneously at different frequencies to induce steady-state somatosensory evoked potentials (SSSEP). Subjects then performed motor imagery (MI) tasks. A new electroencephalography (EEG) index, inter-stimulus phase coherence (ISPC), was built to measure phase desynchronization of SSSEP caused by MI. Then, ISPC is introduced as a feature into left-hand and right-hand MI recognition.Main results.ISPC analysis found that left-handed MI can cause a significant decrease in phase synchronization in contralateral sensorimotor SSSEP, while right-handed MI has little effect on it, and vice versa. Combining ISPC features with traditional spectral power features, the single-channel left-hand versus right-hand MI recognition accuracy reaches 81.0%, which is much higher than that observed with traditional MI paradigms (about 60%).Significance.This work shows that the hybrid MI-SSSEP paradigm can provide more sensitive EEG features to decode motor intentions, demonstrating its potential for clinical applications.

Reducing False Triggering Caused by Irrelevant Mental Activities in Brain-Computer Interface Based on Motor Imagery.

In recent years, the brain-computer interface (BCI) based on motor imagery (MI) has been considered as a potential post-stroke rehabilitation technology. However, the recognition of MI relies on the event-related desynchronization (ERD) feature, which has poor task specificity. Further, there is the problem of false triggering (irrelevant mental activities recognized as the MI of the target limb). In this paper, we discuss the feasibility of reducing the false triggering rate using a novel paradigm, in which the steady-state somatosensory evoked potential (SSSEP) is combined with the MI (MI-SSSEP). Data from the target (right hand MI) and nontarget task (rest) were used to establish the recognition model, and three kinds of interference tasks were used to test the false triggering performance. In the MI-SSSEP paradigm, ERD and SSSEP features modulated by MI could be used for recognition, while in the MI paradigm, only ERD features could be used. The results showed that the false triggering rate of interference tasks with SSSEP features was reduced to 29.3%, which was far lower than the 55.5% seen under the MI paradigm with ERD features. Moreover, in the MI-SSSEP paradigm, the recognition rate of the target and nontarget task was also significantly improved. Further analysis showed that the specificity of SSSEP was significantly higher than that of ERD (p < 0.05), but the sensitivity was not significantly different. These results indicated that SSSEP modulated by MI could more specifically decode the target task MI, and thereby may have potential in achieving more accurate rehabilitation training.

Radiotherapy for the treatment of pulmonary hydatidosis in sheep.

Hydatidosis is an endemic disease causing a severe threat to public health. Drugs and surgery have been utilized for treatment, but their efficiency is not adequate. Therefore, new methods are required for treating such diseases. In this study, we attempt to evaluate the efficiency of radiotherapy for hydatidosis in sheep. The sheep naturally infected with pulmonary hydatid were randomly divided into four groups, including the control group subjected to no irradiation and the other three groups subjected to 30, 45, and 60 Gy irradiation, respectively. Gene expression of caspase-3 and gadd45a and protein expression of BCL-2 and BAX in the lung tissues were evaluated after treatment. Our data showed that the irradiation with a dose of 30, 45, and 60 Gy significantly induced the expression of caspase-3 and gadd45a. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the BCL-2 protein was downregulated after exposure to 45 Gy of irradiation, whereas the BAX expression was downregulated after irradiation at a dose of 45 and 60 Gy, respectively. On this basis, we speculated that 45 Gy might be a safe and effective dose for treating pulmonary hydatidosis in sheep, which induced lower expression of caspase-3 and gadd45a in the cyst and a downregulation of BCL-2 and BAX in the adjacent lung tissues.

Operate P300 speller when performing other task.

OBJECTIVE: The P300 speller is a classic brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm that has the potential to restore impaired motor control function. However, previous studies have confirmed that the letter recognition accuracy (LRA) of the P300 speller is a challenge when performing other tasks. APPROACH: To address this, we implemented a dynamic stopping strategy (DSS) to maintain the P300 speller LRA when performing multiple tasks simultaneously. Multiple tasks with dynamic workload levels were adopted to simulate the brain's other thinking activities while operating P300 speller. A Bayes-based DSS offline model was built in single-task (only P300 speller task) and an online P300 speller system was established to test the DSS algorithm feasibility in dual-task. MAIN RESULTS: Online experimental results showed that the P300 speller with DSS could achieve a high LRA (96.9%) under dual-task, which was similar to single-task (98.7%, p = 0.126). Under dual-task, DSS dynamically adjusted the discriminant confidence according to the workload levels of the distraction tasks (correlation coefficient r = -0.68). Therefore, DSS can increase the repeated sequences to compensate for the reduction of P300 speller signal-to-noise ratio caused by parallel thinking activities. The average of repeated sequences increased significantly from 4.98 times under single-task to 6.22 times under dual-task (p < 0.005). These results indicated that the P300 speller feature is robust and the DSS model built in single-task maintained the applicability in various dual-tasks. SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, this study provides a basis for the implementation of laboratory-developed BCI in real-world environments.

Using electroencephalogram to continuously discriminate feelings of personal thermal comfort between uncomfortably hot and comfortable environments.

Thermal comfort is an important factor for the design of buildings. Although it has been well recognized that many physiological parameters are linked to the state of thermal comfort or discomfort of humans, how to use physiological signal to judge the state of thermal comfort has not been well studied. In this paper, the feasibility of continuously determining feelings of personal thermal comfort was discussed by using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in private space. In the study, 22 subjects were exposed to thermally comfortable and uncomfortably hot environments, and their EEG signals were recorded. Spectral power features of the EEG signals were extracted, and an ensemble learning method using linear discriminant analysis or support vector machine as a sub-classifier was used to build the discriminant model. The results show that an average discriminate accuracy of 87.9% can be obtained within a detection window of 60 seconds. This study indicates that it is feasible to distinguish whether a person feels comfortable or too hot in their private space by multi-channel EEG signals without interruption and suggests possibility for further applications in neuroergonomics.

A BCI based visual-haptic neurofeedback training improves cortical activations and classification performance during motor imagery.

OBJECTIVE: We proposed a brain-computer interface (BCI) based visual-haptic neurofeedback training (NFT) by incorporating synchronous visual scene and proprioceptive electrical stimulation feedback. The goal of this work was to improve sensorimotor cortical activations and classification performance during motor imagery (MI). In addition, their correlations and brain network patterns were also investigated respectively. APPROACH: 64-channel electroencephalographic (EEG) data were recorded in nineteen healthy subjects during MI before and after NFT. During NFT sessions, the synchronous visual-haptic feedbacks were driven by real-time lateralized relative event-related desynchronization (lrERD). MAIN RESULTS: By comparison between previous and posterior control sessions, the cortical activations measured by multi-band (i.e. alpha_1: 8-10 Hz, alpha_2: 11-13 Hz, beta_1: 15-20 Hz and beta_2: 22-28 Hz) absolute ERD powers and lrERD patterns were significantly enhanced after the NFT. The classification performance was also significantly improved, achieving a ~9% improvement and reaching ~85% in mean classification accuracy from a relatively poor performance. Additionally, there were significant correlations between lrERD patterns and classification accuracies. The partial directed coherence based functional connectivity (FC) networks covering the sensorimotor area also showed an increase after the NFT. SIGNIFICANCE: These findings validate the feasibility of our proposed NFT to improve sensorimotor cortical activations and BCI performance during motor imagery. And it is promising to optimize conventional NFT manner and evaluate the effectiveness of motor training.

Current Change Rate Influences Sensorimotor Cortical Excitability During Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation.

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is frequently used in rehabilitation therapy to improve motor recovery. To optimize the stimulatory effect of NMES, the parameters of NMES, including stimulation mode, location, current intensity, and duration, among others have been investigated; however, these studies mainly focused on the effects of changing parameters in the current plateau stage of the NMES cycle, while the impacts on other stages, such as the current rising stage, have yet to be investigated. In this article, we studied the electroencephalograph (EEG) effects during NMES, with different rates of current change in the rising stage, and stable current intensity in the plateau stage. EEG signals (64-channel) were collected from 28 healthy subjects, who were administered with high, medium, or low current change rate (CCR) NMES through a right-hand wrist extensor. Time-frequency analysis and brain source analysis, using the LORETA method, were used to investigate neural activity in sensorimotor cortical areas. The strengths of cortical activity induced by different CCR conditions were compared. NMES with a high CCR activated the sensorimotor cortex, despite the NMES current intensity in the plateau stage lower than the motor threshold. Reduction of the Alpha 2 band (10-13 Hz) event related spectral power (ERSP) during NMES stimulation was significantly enhanced by increasing CCR (p < 0.05). LORETA-based source analysis demonstrated that, in addition to typical sensory areas, such as primary somatosensory cortex (S1), sensorimotor areas including primary motor cortex (M1), premotor cortex (PMC), and somatosensory association cortex (SAC) were all activated by within threshold NMES. Furthermore, compared with the low CCR condition, cortical activity was significantly enhanced in the S1, M1, and PMC areas under high CCR conditions. This study shows CCR in the NMES rising stage can affect EEG responses in the sensorimotor cortex and suggests that CCR is an important parameter applicable to the optimization of NMES treatment.

Dynamic visual guidance with complex task improves intracortical source activities during motor imagery.

Motor imagery (MI) based brain-computer interfaces could be used clinically to trigger neurological recovery and improve motor function for patients with neural injuries. However, the factors that impact on MI performance and rehabilitative effect of MI-based brain-computer interfaces have not been characterized. According to our previous study, complex imagery tasks with dynamic visual paradigm could induce stronger MI features and obtain significantly higher average classification accuracy than nondynamic guidance. This study attempted to further investigate intracortical activities under different instructive paradigms and explore their potential effects on motor recovery. Eleven participants performed four types of different paradigms, including a nondynamic visual paradigm with simple MI task and three other dynamic visual/audiovisual paradigms with simple/complex MI tasks. A 64-channel electroencephalography was acquired and a voxel by voxel grand average of cortical source activities with statistical nonparametric mapping based on standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography were performed for comparisons among these paradigms in both alpha and beta bands. Moreover, seven regions of interest were selected to further analyze mean current source density variations for each paradigm with statistical analysis between dynamic and nondynamic paradigms. The outcomes uncovered that the dynamic visual aided paradigm with complex imagery tasks stimulated stronger cortical activities in core motor-related regions and triggered more extensive activation in the classical frontoparietal mirror regions than nondynamic paradigm. Involvement of these areas had a positive impact on the recovery of motor deficits in patients with neural injuries.

BCI Monitor Enhances Electroencephalographic and Cerebral Hemodynamic Activations During Motor Training.

Motor imagery-based brain-computer interface (MI-BCI) controlling functional electrical stimulation (FES) is promising for disabled patients to restore their motor functions. However, it remains unclear how much the BCI part can contribute to the functional coupling between the brain and muscle. Specifically, whether it can enhance the cerebral activation for motor training? Here, we investigate the electroencephalographic and cerebral hemodynamic responses for MI-BCI-FES training and MI-FES training, respectively. Twelve healthy subjects were recruited in the motor training study when concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) were recorded. Compared with the MI-FES training conditions, the MI-BCI-FES could induce significantly stronger event-related desynchronization (ERD) and blood oxygen response, which demonstrates that BCI indeed plays a functional role in the closed-loop motor training. Therefore, this paper verifies the feasibility of using BCI to train motor functions in a closed-loop manner.

Research of the Regulation effect of Cooling Stimulation on vigilance.

Vigilance plays an important role in daily life and many specific businesses like driving. Decrement of vigilance could result in serious accidents. Therefore, quick identification and effective prevention of the decrement of vigilance become important and necessary. Here, we developed a revised version of the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT) to identify vigilance decrement and a forehead-cooling stimulation to improve vigilance. Before and during stimulation, the participant's behavior and electroencephalography (EEG) variation were analyzed and compared. Results showed that there was a significant difference concerning behavior and EEG power (the relative power RPß, the power ratios Pα/ß and P(θ+α)/ß), but not for Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC). Our results suggest that forehead-cooling stimulation may be an effective method to increase vigilance.

Using passive BCI to online control the air conditioner for obtaining the individual specific thermal comfort.

Thermal comfort has an important impact on human health and work efficiency, which has attracted more attention in recent years. Although electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used to evaluate thermal comfort, it has not been reported to be used in controlling the air conditioner. This paper attempted to construct a passive EEG based brain-computer interface (BCI) system to regulate the room temperature. During the experiment, EEG signals in two conditions, thermal comfort and hot discomfort, were collected to build a discriminant model. And then, an online experiment was conducted to verify the thermal comfort effect of the BCI temperature control. Results showed that all the five subjects could obtain a better thermal sensation under the BCI control in an overheated environment. This study indicated the feasibility of indoor temperature control technology based on physiological signals. It can provide a new way to obtain personalized thermal comfort.

A visual-haptic neurofeedback training improves sensorimotor cortical activations and BCI performance.

Neurofeedback training (NFT) could provide a novel way to investigate or restore the impaired brain function and neuroplasticity. However, it remains unclear how much the different feedback modes can contribute to NFT training. Specifically, whether they can enhance the cortical activations for motor training. To this end, our study proposed a brain-computer interface (BCI) based visual-haptic NFT incorporating synchronous visual scene and proprioceptive electrical stimulation feedback. By comparison between previous and posterior control sessions, the cortical activations measured by multi-band (i.e. alpha_1: 8-10Hz, alpha_2: 11-13Hz, beta_1: 15-20Hz and beta_2: 22-28Hz) lateralized relative event-related desynchronization (lrERD) patterns were significantly enhanced after NFT. And the classification performance was also significantly improved, achieving a ~9% improvement and reaching ~85% in mean classification accuracy from a relatively low MI-BCI performance. These findings validate the feasibility of our proposed visual- haptic NFT approach to improve sensorimotor cortical activations and BCI performance during motor training.