Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society
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To assess if transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) produces a temperature change at the skin surface, if any change is stimulation polarity (anode or cathode) specific, and the contribution of passive heating (joule heat) or blood flow on such change. ⋯ Taken together, our results indicate a moderate and nonhazardous increase in temperature at the skin surface during 2 mA tDCS that is independent of polarity, and results from stimulation induced blood flow rather than joule heat.
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The effect of acute transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on cortical attention networks remains unclear. We examined the effect of 20 min of 2 mA dorsolateral prefrontal cortex tDCS (bipolar balanced montage) on the efficiency of alerting, orienting and executive attention networks measured by the attention network test. ⋯ Twenty minutes of active 2 mA tDCS over left DLPFC is associated with greater executive attention in healthy humans.
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This study aims at modulating the altered cerebellar-cortical interactions in patients with multiple system atrophy-cerebellar subtype (MSA-C) by using cerebellar repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). We hypothesized that cerebellar modulation by low-frequency rTMS can resolve the abnormal cortical excitability in multiple system atrophy cerebellar subtype. ⋯ Our study highlights that cerebellar rTMS impairs abnormal cerebellar-cortical inhibitory connections in case of MSA-C.
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The extent to which short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) responds to low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) remains inconclusive with reports of increased, decreased and unchanged response following modulation. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate if the variability of SICI following rTMS is explained by the interstimulus interval (ISI) and/or the conditioning stimulus intensity (CSI). ⋯ The optimal ISI or CSI did not shift or reveal SICI changes after inhibitory rTMS. However, when the whole curve of SICI responses were evaluated from a wide range of ISIs, a decrease in inhibition was found. The contrast between the results of individual ISI tests and the wide range of ISI assessment may be due to higher intersubject variability of SICI and/or sample size, rendering traditional SICI testing methods ineffective for measuring changes in inhibition. Further, it is possible that rTMS modulates GABAA and GABAB mediated inhibitory processes differently, which would explain the conflicting results for SICI and cSP.
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Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a rare and severe chronic pain condition, often responds poorly to existing treatments. Previous studies demonstrated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) provided short-term pain relief for upper extremity CRPS. ⋯ We used a TMS protocol that, for the first time, led to significant pain relief in upper and lower extremity CRPS, and will soon examine our protocol in a larger, controlled trial.