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    [{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"I’m a medical physicist and neuroscientist developing instrumentation (hardware and software) and applications for non-invasive brain stimulation. I also have expertise and a special interest in motor control.\n","date":1690848000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"term","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253946,"objectID":"2525497d367e79493fd32b198b28f040","permalink":"","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"","section":"authors","summary":"I’m a medical physicist and neuroscientist developing instrumentation (hardware and software) and applications for non-invasive brain stimulation. I also have expertise and a special interest in motor control.","tags":null,"title":"Victor H. Souza","type":"authors"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"DELMEP is a deep learning-based Python code to automate the annotation of motor evoked potential (MEP) latencies. It pre-processes the MEP and employs a pre-trained neural network to estimate its latency. The pre-processing is composed of the following steps: (1) smoothing the MEP with a moving average filter to reduce the high-frequency noise; (2) centering the MEP to reduce the impact of low-frequency noise; (3) normalizing the MEP so that its minimum and maximum values correspond to 0 and 1, respectively, to mitigate the effects of the large variations in amplitude.\nThe software is hosted on GitHub along with instructions for use.\n","date":1694217600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694217600,"objectID":"6bcd1fff80a46a5af8edde7b4ab0d152","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/software/delmep/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/software/delmep/","section":"software","summary":"A deep learning algorithm for automated annotation of motor evoked potential latencies","tags":["Machine learning","Signal processing","Motor evoked potential","Latency","TMS"],"title":"DELMEP","type":"software"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"I dedicate this space to the institutions that support, host, and fund my work.\nPeople University of São Paulo (USP): Prof. Oswaldo Baffa and Renan Matsuda Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ): Prof. Claudia Vargas University of Coimbra: Prof. André Peres Aalto University: Prof. Risto Ilmoniemi, Pantelis Lioumis, Dubravko Kičić, Juuso Korhonen, Tuomas Mutanen, and Baran Aydogan University of Eastern Finland (UEF): Prof. Olli Gröhn and Jaakko Paasonen Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF): Prof. Marco Garcia and Profa. Anaelli Campos Others: Felipe Grillo, Dr. Carlo Rondinoni, Jaakko Nieminen, Lari Koponen, Gabriela Tardelli, Leonardo Rakauskas, and all my past and current colleagues Institutions (2007–2018) University of São Paulo (USP)\n(2018–present) Aalto University\nFunding Present (2022–present) Research Council of Finland; Decision No. 349985 Past (2018–2022) Postdoctoral researcher (2018–2021) Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (2020–2022) European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme; grant agreement No 810377 (2014–2018) Doctoral degree (2014–2018) CNPq; grant number 140787/2014-3\n(2016–2017) Erasmus Mundus Smart2 Project\n(2012–2014) Master degree (2012) CAPES\n(2012–2014) FAPESP\n(2008–2011) Scientific initiation (2008–2009) CNPq\n(2009–2011) FAPESP\n","date":1694214000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694214000,"objectID":"24e8d0138361731e23d36fab2d039fe5","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/thanks/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T00:00:00+01:00","relpermalink":"/thanks/","section":"","summary":"I dedicate this space to the institutions that support, host, and fund my work.\nPeople University of São Paulo (USP): Prof. Oswaldo Baffa and Renan Matsuda Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ): Prof.","tags":null,"title":"Thanks","type":"page"},{"authors":["Victor Hugo Moraes","Claudia D. Vargas","Bia L. Ramalho","Renan H. Matsuda","Victor H. Souza","Luis Aureliano Imbiriba","Marco Antonio C. Garcia"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1690848000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253929,"objectID":"554dddd6d675dd2b7193051df4a657e0","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/moraes-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:29.007919Z","relpermalink":"/publication/moraes-2023/","section":"publication","summary":" The neurophysiological mechanisms underlying muscle force control for different wrist postures still need to be better understood. To further elucidate these mechanisms, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of wrist posture on the corticospinal excitability by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of extrinsic (flexor [FCR] and extensor carpi radialis [ECR]) and intrinsic (flexor pollicis brevis (FPB)) muscles at rest and during a submaximal handgrip strength task. Fourteen subjects (24.06 ± 2.28 years) without neurological or motor disorders were included. We assessed how the wrist posture (neutral: 0°; flexed: +45°; extended: −45°) affects maximal handgrip strength (HGS max ) and the motor evoked potentials (MEP) amplitudes during rest and active muscle contractions. HGS max was higher at 0° (133%) than at −45° (93.6%; p \u003c 0.001) and +45° (73.9%; p \u003c 0.001). MEP amplitudes were higher for the FCR at +45° (83.6%) than at −45° (45.2%; p = 0.019) and at +45° (156%; p \u003c 0.001) and 0° (146%; p = 0.014) than at −45° (106%) at rest and active condition, respectively. Regarding the ECR, the MEP amplitudes were higher at −45° (113%) than at +45° (60.8%; p \u003c 0.001) and 0° (72.6%; p = 0.008), and at −45° (138%) than +45° (96.7%; p = 0.007) also at rest and active conditions, respectively. In contrast, the FPB did not reveal any difference among wrist postures and conditions. Although extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles exhibit overlapping cortical representations and partially share the same innervation, they can be modulated differently depending on the biomechanical constraints. ","tags":["handgrip strength","motor evoked potentials","transcranial magnetic stimulation","wrist joint"],"title":"Effect of muscle length in a handgrip task on corticomotor excitability of extrinsic and intrinsic hand muscles under resting and submaximal contraction conditions","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Ilkka J. Rissanen","Victor H. Souza","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Lari M. Koponen","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1688169600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253926,"objectID":"42b5f5b61ae4fc73b3e00d5c6de42b52","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/rissanen-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:25.972478Z","relpermalink":"/publication/rissanen-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"Objective: This work aims for a method to design manufacturable windings for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coils with fine control over the induced electric field (E-field) distributions. Such TMS coils are required for multi-locus TMS (mTMS). Methods: We introduce a new mTMS coil design workflow with increased flexibility in target E-field definition and faster computations compared to our previous method. We also incorporate custom current density and E-field fidelity constraints to ensure that the target E-fields are accurately reproduced with feasible winding densities in the resulting coil designs. We validated the method by designing, manufacturing, and characterizing a 2-coil mTMS transducer for focal rat brain stimulation. Results: Applying the constraints reduced the computed maximum surface current densities from 15.4 and 6.6 kA/mm to the target value 4.7 kA/mm, yielding winding paths suitable for a 1.5-mm-diameter wire with 7-kA maximum currents while still replicating the target E-fields with the predefined 2.8% maximum error in the FOV. The optimization time was reduced by two thirds compared to our previous method. Conclusion: The developed method allowed us to design a manufacturable, focal 2-coil mTMS transducer for rat TMS impossible to attain with our previous design workflow. Significance: The presented workflow enables considerably faster design and manufacturing of previously unattainable mTMS transducers with increased control over the induced E-field distribution and winding density, opening new possibilities for brain research and clinical TMS.","tags":["Index Terms-Coil design","TMS","coil optimization","current density","mTMS","multi-locus TMS","transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Advanced Pipeline for Designing Multi-Locus TMS Coils With Current Density Constraints","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Jordania Lindolfo-Almas","Renan Hiroshi Matsuda","Vitória Labiapari Pinto","Anaelli Aparecida Nogueira-Campos","Victor H. Souza"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1688169600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253927,"objectID":"3f7fbbc90da88cf7dbfad007e2030f35","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/garcia-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:26.707231Z","relpermalink":"/publication/garcia-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"Objective: Different electrode montages have been adopted to record the surface electromyographic signal (sEMG) from which motor potentials (MEP amplitude) evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are extracted. It can lead to divergences in comparing treatment outcomes or comparisons across them. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of three different sEMG electrode montages on the MEP amplitude. Methods: Eight healthy right-handed participants (6 women; 24–28 years) without sensorimotor disorders participated in the present study, which the local ethical committee approved. Surface EMG signals were recorded from both upper limbs’ biceps brachii (BB) muscles. Three sEMG electrode montages (E1-E2 differential) were placed according to the following protocols: Protocol by Garcia et al. [E1 – Innervation zone]–[E2 – epicondylus lateralis] (Garcia⊢IZ-BP); Protocol by IFCN [E1 – Muscle belly]–[E2 – epicondylus medialis] (IFCN⊢MB-BP); and Protocol by Munneke et al. [E1-E2 over the muscle belly, but with an inter-electrode distance between 40 and 90% of the total muscle length] (Munneke⊢40-90%). Thirty single TMS pulses were applied on the BB hotspot with a figure of eight coil at 120% of the resting motor threshold (rMT). Results: The rMTs were significantly higher (p \u003c 0.05) for Munneke⊢40-90% protocol than for the other two, and IFCN⊢MB-BP protocol was the lowest. IFCN⊢MB-BP protocol also provided MEP amplitudes about 2.0 to 4.0 times greater (p \u003c 0.05) than the other two. Conclusion: Different electrode montages can provide contrasting MEP amplitudes. Significance: It sounds imperative to create standard recommendations on electrode placement for MEP recordings.","tags":["EMG","MEP amplitude","Motor evoked potential","TMS","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"The surface electrode placement determines the magnitude of motor potential evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Renan H. Matsuda","Victor H. Souza","Petrus N. Kirsten","Risto J. Ilmoniemi","Oswaldo Baffa"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1685577600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253925,"objectID":"ffe23e745fd5035a0a4861aeacae481c","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/matsuda-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:25.202526Z","relpermalink":"/publication/matsuda-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) is a valuable tool for non-invasive brain stimulation. Currently, nTMS requires fixing of markers on the patient’s head. Head marker displacements lead to changes in coil placement and brain stimulation inaccuracy. A markerless neuronavigation method is needed to increase the reliability of nTMS and simplify the nTMS protocol. In this study, we introduce and release MarLe, a Python markerless head tracker neuronavigation software for TMS. This novel software uses computer-vision techniques combined with low-cost cameras to estimate the head pose for neuronavigation. A coregistration algorithm, based on a closed-form solution, was designed to track the patient’s head and the TMS coil referenced to the individual’s brain image. We show that MarLe can estimate head pose based on real-time video processing. An intuitive pipeline was developed to connect the MarLe and nTMS neuronavigation software. MarLe achieved acceptable accuracy and stability in a mockup nTMS experiment. MarLe allows real-time tracking of the patient’s head without any markers. The combination of face detection and a coregistration algorithm can overcome nTMS head marker displacement concerns. MarLe can improve reliability, simplify, and reduce the protocol time of brain intervention techniques such as nTMS.\n","tags":[],"title":"MarLe: Markerless estimation of head pose for navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Diego Milardovich","Victor H. Souza","Ivan Zubarev","Sergei Tugin","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Claudia Bigoni","Friedhelm C. Hummel","Juuso T. Korhonen","Dogu B. Aydogan","Pantelis Lioumis","Nima Taherinejad","Tibor Grasser","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1682899200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253928,"objectID":"1bf4fbad14a4979663221a6b621cfe57","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/diego-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:28.243813Z","relpermalink":"/publication/diego-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"The analysis of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) generated by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is crucial in research and clinical medical practice. MEPs are characterized by their latency and the treatment of a single patient may require the characterization of thousands of MEPs. Given the difficulty of developing reliable and accurate algorithms, currently the assessment of MEPs is performed with visual inspection and manual annotation by a medical expert; making it a time-consuming, inaccurate, and error-prone process. In this study, we developed DELMEP, a deep learning-based algorithm to automate the estimation of MEP latency. Our algorithm resulted in a mean absolute error of about 0.5 ms and an accuracy that was practically independent of the MEP amplitude. The low computational cost of the DELMEP algorithm allows employing it in on-the-fly characterization of MEPs for brain-state-dependent and closed-loop brain stimulation protocols. Moreover, its learning ability makes it a particularly promising option for artificial-intelligence-based personalized clinical applications.\n","tags":[],"title":"DELMEP: a deep learning algorithm for automated annotation of motor evoked potential latencies","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Giulia Pieramico","Roberto Guidotti","Aino E. Nieminen","Antea D’Andrea","Alessio Basti","Victor H. Souza","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Pantelis Lioumis","Risto J. Ilmoniemi","Gian Luca Romani","Vittorio Pizzella","Laura Marzetti"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1675209600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253928,"objectID":"b94b02af863ad0e87c8896078896dcc3","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/giulia-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:27.514329Z","relpermalink":"/publication/giulia-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"Coregistration of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) allows non-invasive probing of brain circuits: TMS induces brain activation due to the generation of a properly oriented focused electric field (E-field) using a coil placed on a selected position over the scalp, while EEG captures the effects of the stimulation on brain electrical activity. Moreover, the combination of these techniques allows the investigation of several brain properties, including brain functional connectivity. The choice of E-field parameters, such as intensity, orientation, and position, is crucial for eliciting cortex-specific effects. Here, we evaluated whether and how the spatial pattern, i.e., topography and strength of functional connectivity, is modulated by the stimulus orientation. We systematically altered the E-field orientation when stimulating the left pre-supplementary motor area and showed an increase of functional connectivity in areas associated with the primary motor cortex and an E-field orientation-specific modulation of functional connectivity intensity.\n","tags":["TMS-EEG","functional connectivity","stimulus orientation"],"title":"TMS-Induced Modulation of EEG Functional Connectivity Is Affected by the E-Field Orientation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Sylvia de Araújo Paes-Souza","Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Victor H. Souza","Liliane Siqueira Morais","Lincoln Issamu Nojima","Matilde da Cunha Gonçalves Nojima"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1672531200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253925,"objectID":"05d433600277f62d64cf9153f2209e6c","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/paes-2023/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:24.481352Z","relpermalink":"/publication/paes-2023/","section":"publication","summary":"ABSTRACT Introduction: The emergence of orthodontic aligners has provided an aesthetic and comfortable option for orthodontic treatment. However, the encapsulated design of the aligners can influence the masticatory muscles, and might compromise safe treatment. Objective: This preliminary longitudinal study aimed to investigate whether the use of orthodontic aligners affects the biting force and myoelectric activity of the superficial masseter and anterior temporal muscles. Methods: Ten subjects participated in the study and underwent treatment during an 8-month follow-up period. The root mean square (RMS), the median power frequency (MPF) of the surface electromyography (sEMG) signals, and the biting force (kgf) were recorded and normalized relative to the pretreatment condition. The data were analyzed by repeated-measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), with the significance level set at 5%. Results: Both the superficial masseter and the anterior temporal muscles presented an increase in sEMG signal activity during the treatment, with a marked increase in the latter compared to the former (p\u003c0.05). Moreover, a significant decrease in bite force was evidenced (p\u003c0.05). Conclusions: This preliminary study observed that the orthodontic aligners affected the muscle recruitment pattern of masticatory muscles, and reduced biting performance during the 8-month follow-up period.\n","tags":[],"title":"Response of masticatory muscles to treatment with orthodontic aligners: a preliminary prospective longitudinal study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["David Baur","Maria Ermolova","Victor H. Souza","Christoph Zrenner","Ulf Ziemann"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1667260800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253935,"objectID":"b34b4f9984d8dcfcbc4d50249eda5cb9","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/baur-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:34.442907Z","relpermalink":"/publication/baur-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Phase-amplitude coupling in high-gamma frequency range induces LTP-like plasticity in human motor cortex: EEG-TMS evidence","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Patrícia Cardoso Clemente","Luane Landim de Almeida","Eduardo José Danza Vicente","Diogo Simões Fonseca","Victor H. Souza","Diogo Carvalho Felício","Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1659312000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253933,"objectID":"7082adb197be2e08731a713c225938e2","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/clemente-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:32.900855Z","relpermalink":"/publication/clemente-2022/","section":"publication","summary":" Although quadruped exercises (QE) have been a part of rehabilitation and sports programs, there is no clarity on how these exercises challenge the musculoskeletal system. Therefore, this cross-sectional study investigated the perceived exertion, postural demands, and muscle recruitment profiles imposed by three QE postures. Surface electromyographic (sEMG) signals were recorded from transverse abdominis , longissimus dorsi , multifidus , and iliocostalis lumborum from 30 sedentary healthy women, bilaterally. They performed the classic quadruped exercise (CQ), a variation with shoulder flexion (FQ), and the homolateral quadruped (HQ). Borg scores (BS) and the center of pressure (CoP) from the palmar statokinesiogram were also recorded. Surface EMG signals were normalized using the myoelectric activity recorded from two other postures while performing isometric voluntary contractions (IVC). Results were analyzed using one- (CoP) and three-way (sEMG data) ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests ( α = 0.05). The Borg scale was analyzed using the Friedman test. The CQ provided lower BS and CoP than HQ ( p \u0026lt; 0.05), followed by a higher sEMG activity (∼51% of IVC) than FQ (∼47% of IVC; p = 0.53) and HQ (∼44% of IVC; p = 0.01). In turn, HQ provided greater BS ( p \u0026gt; 0.05) than CQ and FQ. The results suggested that the HQ was the most challenging exercise regarding CoP and BS, although CQ presented a higher symmetrical sEMG activity. Since QE are often prescribed in exercise programs, specific knowledge of the characteristics of each QE makes prescribing safer and more efficient. ","tags":["Abdominal Muscles","Exercise Movement Techniques","Low Back Pain","Physical Fitness","Postural Balance"],"title":"Perceived exertion, postural control, and muscle recruitment in three different quadruped exercises performed by healthy women","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Gabriela P. Tardelli","Victor H. Souza","Renan H. Matsuda","Marco A. C. Garcia","Pavel A. Novikov","Maria A. Nazarova","Oswaldo Baffa"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1651363200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253931,"objectID":"47d7a3fdcb57c2523081f403513f6e52","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/tardelli-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:30.571889Z","relpermalink":"/publication/tardelli-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"Most of the motor mapping procedures using navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) follow the conventional somatotopic organization of the primary motor cortex (M1) by assessing the representation of a particular target muscle, disregarding the possible coactivation of synergistic muscles. In turn, multiple reports describe a functional organization of the M1 with an overlapping among motor representations acting together to execute movements. In this context, the overlap degree among cortical representations of synergistic hand and forearm muscles remains an open question. This study aimed to evaluate the muscle coactivation and representation overlapping common to the grasping movement and its dependence on the stimulation parameters. The nTMS motor maps were obtained from one carpal muscle and two intrinsic hand muscles during rest. We quantified the overlapping motor maps in size (area and volume overlap degree) and topography (similarity and centroid Euclidean distance) parameters. We demonstrated that these muscle representations are highly overlapped and similar in shape. The overlap degrees involving the forearm muscle were significantly higher than only among the intrinsic hand muscles. Moreover, the stimulation intensity had a stronger effect on the size compared to the topography parameters. Our study contributes to a more detailed cortical motor representation towards a synergistic, functional arrangement of M1. Understanding the muscle group coactivation may provide more accurate motor maps when delineating the eloquent brain tissue during pre-surgical planning.\n","tags":["Neurology","Neurosciences","Psychiatry","Synergy","TMS","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Forearm and Hand Muscles Exhibit High Coactivation and Overlapping of Cortical Motor Representations","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Ida Granö","Tuomas P. Mutanen","Aino Tervo","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Victor H. Souza","Matteo Fecchio","Mario Rosanova","Pantelis Lioumis","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1648771200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253932,"objectID":"fc4b30e55f3178b8d99ce9d92b588e8f","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/grano-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:31.375707Z","relpermalink":"/publication/grano-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"Background\n","tags":[],"title":"Local brain-state dependency of effective connectivity: a pilot TMS–EEG study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Aino E. Tervo","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Pantelis Lioumis","Johanna Metsomaa","Victor H. Souza","Heikki Sinisalo","Matti Stenroos","Jukka Sarvas","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1646092800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253932,"objectID":"20f708acf6e30f723831130f17ff0a8f","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/tervo-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:32.132809Z","relpermalink":"/publication/tervo-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is widely used in brain research and treatment of various brain dysfunctions. However, the optimal way to target stimulation and administer TMS therapies, for example, where and in which electric-field direction the stimuli should be given, is yet to be determined.Objective To develop an automated closed-loop system for adjusting TMS parameters online based on TMS-evoked brain activity measured with electroencephalography (EEG).Methods We developed an automated closed-loop TMS–EEG set-up. In this set-up, the stimulus parameters are electronically adjusted with multi-locus TMS. As a proof of concept, we developed an algorithm that automatically optimizes the stimulation parameters based on single-trial EEG responses. We applied the algorithm to determine the electric-field orientation that maximizes the amplitude of the TMS– EEG responses. The validation of the algorithm was performed with six healthy volunteers, repeating the search twenty times for each subject.Results The validation demonstrated that the closed-loop control worked as desired despite the large variation in the single-trial EEG responses. We were often able to get close to the orientation that maximizes the EEG amplitude with only a few tens of pulses.Conclusion Optimizing stimulation with EEG feedback in a closed-loop manner is feasible and enables effective coupling to brain activity.Competing Interest StatementP.L. has received consulting fees (unrelated to this work) from Nexstim Plc. R.J.I. is an advisor and a minority shareholder of Nexstim Plc. The other authors declare no competing interests.","tags":[],"title":"Closed-loop optimization of transcranial magnetic stimulation with electroencephalography feedback","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Sergei Tugin","Lari M. Koponen","Oswaldo Baffa","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1646092800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253930,"objectID":"3c7b99c3946661364cdf2e5bc59e44db","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/souza-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:29.793678Z","relpermalink":"/publication/souza-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coils allow only a slow, mechanical adjustment of the stimulating electric field (E-field) orientation in the cerebral tissue. Fast E-field control is needed to synchronize the stimulation with the ongoing brain activity. Also, empirical models that fully describe the relationship between evoked responses and the stimulus orientation and intensity are still missing. Objective: We aimed to (1) develop a TMS transducer for manipulating the E-field orientation electronically with high accuracy at the neuronally meaningful millisecond-level time scale and (2) devise and validate a physiologically based model describing the orientation selectivity of neuronal excitability. Methods: We designed and manufactured a two-coil TMS transducer. The coil windings were computed with a minimum-energy optimization procedure, and the transducer was controlled with our custom-made electronics. The electronic E-field control was verified with a TMS characterizer. The motor evoked potential amplitude and latency of a hand muscle were mapped in 3° steps of the stimulus orientation in 16 healthy subjects for three stimulation intensities. We fitted a logistic model to the motor response amplitude. Results: The two-coil TMS transducer allows one to manipulate the pulse orientation accurately without manual coil movement. The motor response amplitude followed a logistic function of the stimulus orientation; this dependency was strongly affected by the stimulus intensity. Conclusion: The developed electronic control of the E-field orientation allows exploring new stimulation paradigms and probing neuronal mechanisms. The presented model helps to disentangle the neuronal mechanisms of brain function and guide future non-invasive stimulation protocols.","tags":["Automated brain stimulation","Electric field","Motor evoked potential","Multi-coil TMS","Multi-locus TMS","Orientation sensitivity","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"TMS with fast and accurate electronic control: Measuring the orientation sensitivity of corticomotor pathways","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Jaakko O. Nieminen","Heikki Sinisalo","Victor H. Souza","Mikko Malmi","Mikhail Yuryev","Aino E. Tervo","Matti Stenroos","Diego Milardovich","Juuso T. Korhonen","Lari M. Koponen","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1640995200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253934,"objectID":"51dc739e163f46223cef47d29ea6955d","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/nieminen-2022/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:33.669487Z","relpermalink":"/publication/nieminen-2022/","section":"publication","summary":"Background Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) allows non-invasive stimulation of the cortex. In multi-locus TMS (mTMS), the stimulating electric field (E-field) is controlled electronically without coil movement by adjusting currents in the coils of a transducer. Objective To develop an mTMS system that allows adjusting the location and orientation of the E-field maximum within a cortical region. Methods We designed and manufactured a planar 5-coil mTMS transducer to allow controlling the maximum of the induced E-field within a cortical region approximately 30 mm in diameter. We developed electronics with a design consisting of independently controlled H-bridge circuits to drive up to six TMS coils. To control the hardware, we programmed software that runs on a field-programmable gate array and a computer. To induce the desired E-field in the cortex, we developed an optimization method to calculate the currents needed in the coils. We characterized the mTMS system and conducted a proof-of-concept motor-mapping experiment on a healthy volunteer. In the motor mapping, we kept the transducer placement fixed while electronically shifting the E-field maximum on the precentral gyrus and measuring electromyography from the contralateral hand. Results The transducer consists of an oval coil, two figure-of-eight coils, and two four-leaf-clover coils stacked on top of each other. The technical characterization indicated that the mTMS system performs as designed. The measured motor evoked potential amplitudes varied consistently as a function of the location of the E-field maximum. Conclusion The developed mTMS system enables electronically targeted brain stimulation within a cortical region. ### Competing Interest Statement J.O.N., L.M.K, and R.J.I. are inventors on patents and patent applications on mTMS technology. R.J.I. has been advisor and minority shareholder of Nexstim Plc.","tags":[],"title":"Multi-locus transcranial magnetic stimulation system for electronically targeted brain stimulation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Samuel Nurmi","Jere Karttunen","Victor H. Souza","Risto J Ilmoniemi","Jaakko O Nieminen"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1638316800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253936,"objectID":"617880407af804692a618808552e6d15","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/nurmi-2021/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:35.232961Z","relpermalink":"/publication/nurmi-2021/","section":"publication","summary":" Objective . Coils designed for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) must incorporate trade-offs between the required electrical power or energy, focality and depth penetration of the induced electric field (E-field), coil size, and mechanical properties of the coil, as all of them cannot be optimally met at the same time. In multi-locus TMS (mTMS), a transducer consisting of several coils allows electronically targeted stimulation of the cortex without physically moving a coil. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the number of coils in an mTMS transducer, the focality of the induced E-field, and the extent of the cortical region within which the location and orientation of the maximum of the induced E-field can be controlled. Approach. We applied convex optimization to design planar and spherically curved mTMS transducers of different E-field focalities and analyzed their properties. We characterized the trade-off between the focality of the induced E-field and the extent of the cortical region that can be stimulated with an mTMS transducer with a given number of coils. Main results. At the expense of the E-field focality, one can, with the same number of coils, design an mTMS transducer that can control the location and orientation of the peak of the induced E-field within a wider cortical region. Significance . With E-fields of moderate focality, the problem of electronically targeted TMS becomes considerably easier compared with highly focal E-fields; this may speed up the development of mTMS and the emergence of new clinical and research applications. ","tags":["Transcranial magnetic stimulation","coil","electric field","focality","mTMS","multi-locus","transducer"],"title":"Trade-off between stimulation focality and the number of coils in multi-locus transcranial magnetic stimulation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Sergei Tugin","Victor H. Souza","Maria A. Nazarova","Pavel A. Novikov","Aino E. Tervo","Jaakko O. Nieminen","Pantelis Lioumis","Ulf Ziemann","Vadim V. Nikulin","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1630454400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253937,"objectID":"84a5d57008fe8834e69d600f0cd24755","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/tugin-2021/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:36.840524Z","relpermalink":"/publication/tugin-2021/","section":"publication","summary":"Besides stimulus intensities and interstimulus intervals (ISI), the electric field (E-field) orientation is known to affect both short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (SICF) in paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). However, it has yet to be established how distinct orientations of the conditioning (CS) and test stimuli (TS) affect the SICI and SICF generation. With the use of a multi-channel TMS transducer that provides electronic control of the stimulus orientation and intensity, we aimed to investigate how changes in the CS and TS orientation affect the strength of SICI and SICF. We hypothesized that the CS orientation would play a major role for SICF than for SICI, whereas the CS intensity would be more critical for SICI than for SICF. In eight healthy subjects, we tested two ISIs (1.5 and 2.7 ms), two CS and TS orientations (anteromedial (AM) and posteromedial (PM)), and four CS intensities (50, 70, 90, and 110% of the resting motor threshold (RMT)). The TS intensity was fixed at 110% RMT. The intensities were adjusted to the corresponding RMT in the AM and PM orientations. SICI and SICF were observed in all tested CS and TS orientations. SICI depended on the CS intensity in a U-shaped manner in any combination of the CS and TS orientations. With 70% and 90% RMT CS intensities, stronger PM-oriented CS induced stronger inhibition than weaker AM-oriented CS. Similar SICF was observed for any CS orientation. Neither SICI nor SICF depended on the TS orientation. We demonstrated that SICI and SICF could be elicited by the CS perpendicular to the TS, which indicates that these stimuli affected either overlapping or strongly connected neuronal populations. We concluded that SICI is primarily sensitive to the CS intensity and that CS intensity adjustment resulted in similar SICF for different CS orientations.\n","tags":[],"title":"Effect of stimulus orientation and intensity on short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (SICF): A multi-channel transcranial magnetic stimulation study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Anaelli Aparecida Nogueira-Campos","Victor Hugo Moraes","Victor H. Souza"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1614556800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253936,"objectID":"cb06fcfef25f6ea9b6c3f615d5a30d73","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/garcia-2021/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:36.052169Z","relpermalink":"/publication/garcia-2021/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Can Corticospinal Excitability Shed Light Into the Effects of Handedness on Motor Performance?","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza"],"categories":["Pedagogy","ONL202"],"content":"This is a series of blog posts about my learning activities in the Open Networked Learning (ONL202) pedagogical course.\nTL;DR\nReflections on the ONL course. The course content is the course. Online learning can be fun, interactive and bind people. Knowledge is acquired in different forms, from group work to reflections posted in the blog.\nThe Online Networked Learning course has come to an end. It has been a great journey with intense group and individual work. It was intense, took considerable effort and time, but didn’t feel so. ONL was amazingly well organized with a diverse set of engaging activities. In the middle of the course I even asked myself, what am I learning here? What is the focus? When I realized that the course content and learning outcomes was right in front of me, as the course itself, I got really excited.\nWe were all there to learn about opennes, sharing, collaborative and network learning, online course design, and digital literacy in teaching. Every topic transition was smooth and seemed pretty well interconnected.\nA quick summary of the main topics:\nOnline participation \u0026amp; digital literacies Open Learning - sharing and opennes Learning in communities - network collaborative learning Design for online and blended learning Which basically covered:\nDigital literacy enables you to map your knowledge and use of digital tools, useful when creating and managing online courses When you create an online course, think about openning and sharing, you may get useful reviews, comments and critiques Online learning benefits from creating a community of strongly connected people, building a community and network connections promote learning Different frameworks and models have been postulated when designing an online course, raising the importance of scaffolding students, thinking about social, cognitive, and teaching presences. I would probably change the order that topics are presented, as below:\nOnline participation \u0026amp; digital literacies Design for online and blended learning Learning in communities - network collaborative learning Open Learning - sharing and opennes Course design is one of the most important topics, but came on a period that students were already stuffed with work. I felt that, in general, people engaged a bit less in this topic than the preceding ones. So, I would like to have first the discussions on digital literacy, then study about the course design models, then address the learning in communities to finally reflect on open learning by sharing.\nOverall, the group work was amazing. Through the PBL activities and follwing the FISh model really promoted an interactive and collaborative work. I realized that with approapriate design and methods it is possible to have fun and fruitful online activities in group. In my next course, I’ll certainly promote these activities and implement most of the principles I learning in the ONL. These need to be done slowly as they require more effort from the teacher, and trying to implement all at one may overwhel me, as a teacher, and the students.\nOnce more, I would like to thank all my colleagues from the PBL group 1, through which I learned so much, had lots of fun and am grateful to be part of it. Thanks Mohit, Kinaz, Marcus, Stephanie, Hui-Chen, Erik, and Vigdis, with the great guidance by Charlotta and Cecilia. 😄\nGroup 6 members: Victor Souza, Mohit Gupta, Kinaz Al Aytouni, Marcus Stensmyr, Stephanie Birkner, Hui-Chen, Erik Elfgren, Vigdis Ahnfelt, Charlotta Hilli, and Cecilia Hellekant. ↩︎\n","date":1607040000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1607212800,"objectID":"e0fcddab2999c85941de7e184eb88964","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/post/t5-end/","publishdate":"2020-12-04T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/t5-end/","section":"post","summary":"The final week of the ONL course, time to reflect.","tags":["ONL202","Pedagogy"],"title":"Topic 5: Unfortunately, the end...","type":"post"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza"],"categories":["Pedagogy","ONL202"],"content":"This is a series of blog posts about my learning activities in the Open Networked Learning (ONL202) pedagogical course.\nTL;DR\nBlended (in-class + online) learning opens up a new set of oportunities to engage and motivate the students. Students should sense ownership of their learning path. Teacher supports with clear instructions, fostering learning in a flexible environment. Check out the main models for desiging blended courses.\nBlended learning This week’s topic is about methods to support course design in Blended Learning. A first question that comes up is: What is blended learning?.\nBlended learning is combining online and in-classroom activities to expose students to different types of learning methods. The blended learning is an interesting concept because of the greater selection of tools that can be employed to engage students. Our current teaching challanges due to the pandemic restrictions also push the development of such blended activities.\nTeaching in hard sciences, e.g., physics and computer science, can greately benefit from blended learning. However, most of higher education institutions are still mostly delivering content in the traditional lecture style. However, these fields have the great advantage of dealing with problem solving cases, which can be augment by online tools. The use of online activities may raise the interest of the students and motivate them to engage more with the course activities. This is only succesfully achieved, if the teacher provides scaffolding through constant check ups and clear instructions.\nThe clear set of instructions and norms are possibly the most important thing to consider when desiging a blended course. Students can easily get overwhelmed in an online environment with the plethora of information. In flexible learning environment, the student motivation can significantly decay if the learning path is not well-defined and possibly lose the sense of purpose. In the topic below, I listed three models worth checking to assist in designing a blended course.\nFrameworks and models for blended learning This week, our PBL group 1 prepared a compass rose point to different directions each representing a framework or model to support designing a blended course. We highlighted the:\nABC Arena for Blended Learning: Designed at the University College London, it provides a well-structured model with step-by-step instructions on how to quickly adapt the teaching activities to online mode. The 5 stage model: Provides a structured development process that supports the construction of better online learning. The Community of Inquiry: Introduces a framework to create a home for a community escaping from the conventional teaching styles and is based on engaging students to create paths and explore what they want to learn, taking a more flexible approach to learning. Below, you will find a snapshot of our Compass Rose work, and here you can access the interactive board we built.\nLearning in communities Group 6 members: Victor Souza, Mohit Gupta, Kinaz Al Aytouni, Marcus Stensmyr, Stephanie Birkner, Hui-Chen, Erik Elfgren, Vigdis Ahnfelt, Charlotta Hilli, and Cecilia Hellekant. ↩︎\n","date":1606435200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1606694400,"objectID":"0315e862db712ebd293685ade14fd553","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/post/t4-blended-design/","publishdate":"2020-11-27T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/t4-blended-design/","section":"post","summary":"The theories for desining online courses.","tags":["ONL202","Pedagogy"],"title":"Topic 4: Design for online and blended learning","type":"post"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza"],"categories":["Pedagogy","ONL202"],"content":"This is a series of blog posts about my learning activities in the Open Networked Learning (ONL202) pedagogical course.\nTL;DR\nLearning in communities is different than network learning. Both types have important contributions to the development of knolwedge in higher education. Teachers should account for each student characteristics and design group activities that foster a collaborative work. PBL groups and interdependent assements are great starting points.\nCollaborative x network learning There is a great challenge in current higher education in achieving collaborative learning. In most cases, group activies are designed in a way that the level of engagement between students vary considerably. In online courses, the situation is even more critical as digital literacy may hinder some student’s participation. In this context, teachers play an important role in designing the courses and activities to foster a collaborative and active participation of the students, promoting learning in communities through joint, fun steps.\nThe pedagogical training provided at Aalto University has been an eye-opening for the benefits of network and collaborative learning. Especifically, the ONL202 activities have demonstrated the feasibility of real collaborative learning through the problem based learning (PBL) groups led by two facilitators. The interesting feature about ONL202 is we construct our knowledge based on the experiences shared by our teammates and through the process of accomplishing the necessary tasks. We not only support the work of our colleagues (cooperation) but we also build together (collaboration) solutions to common learning problems.\nWorking in a research group in a University, my Personal Learning Network is strongly populated with my work peers. Luckily, I also have strong learning connections with my parents and relatives. Both my parents and many of my close relatives are teachers, which created in my childhood an environment based on learning activities.\nOne special link that is part of anyone’s learning network is the internet. Nowadays, the new standard is to learn through the myriad of content, e.g., videos, blogs, openly available in the internet. Therefore, technological advances and the building up of social networks have enabled the expansions of our own personal learning network beyond our daily circle. Looking from outside, openness and sharing are the pillars of network learning in current society. But it’s important to note that collaborative activies are necessary in higher education. For the differences between collaborative and network learning, check the slide below prepared by our PBL group 1.\nLearning in communities Towards collaborative learning We (PBL group 1) prepared a few slides with some relevant tips for designing courses to encourage students to collaborate, work in groups, and a few strategies to support teachers when implementing collaborative learning. Feel free to take a look at it here.\nGroup 6 members: Victor Souza, Mohit Gupta, Kinaz Al Aytouni, Marcus Stensmyr, Stephanie Birkner, Hui-Chen, Erik Elfgren, Vigdis Ahnfelt, Charlotta Hilli, and Cecilia Hellekant. ↩︎ ↩︎\n","date":1605398400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1606694400,"objectID":"1ee6ace28f5960c02faa94fcb104f24a","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/post/t3-collab-coop/","publishdate":"2020-11-15T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/t3-collab-coop/","section":"post","summary":"The strategies for building collaborative learning.","tags":["ONL202","Pedagogy"],"title":"Topic 3: Learning in communities – networked collaborative learning","type":"post"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza"],"categories":["Pedagogy","ONL202"],"content":"This is a series of blog posts about my learning activities in the Open Networked Learning (ONL202) pedagogical course.\nTL;DR\nOpen education is key in providing accessibility to learning. There are many online tools and local oportunities to start being an open teacher. The benefits of open education can reach beyond the expected. Yet, barriers exist and should be considered down the road to openness.\nToday we talk about open education. During the ONL course activities, my first impression was that attending teachers and students were mostly concerned about the barriers and dangers in becoming open, while the benefits and impacts were hindered. Open education is paramount in providing accessibility to education resourses for those who could not access it before. To raise awareness about the possible benefits in promoting Open Education, I prepared an introductory video that you can check below:\nThe road to Open Education Our (PBL group 1) prepared a presentation to introduce the road to Open Education for someone interested in joining this endeavour. You can navigate through the road from the Start, where we gathered some useful tools that can be used to prepare and make available open courses. It’s very important to remember that this is a joint effort between the teacher and the institution. Openning a course can be time consuming and requires strong support from colleagues, admnistration, and staff. On the path to openness, additional care should be taken with copyrights, ethical and privacy issues, and so on. Nonetheless, the ultimate benefits and impacts might manifest as a more inclusive and equal society, promote personal development and critical thinking, and lastly create a community of people that share and exchange knowledge.\nThe road to open education References A few interesting scientific publications about Open Education\nBozkurt et. al (2019) An analysis of peer reviewed publications on openness in education in half a century: Trends and patterns in the open hemisphere, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, v.35\nSeo et al. (2017) Equality, equity, and reality of open access on scholarly information, Science Editing, v.4\nKhalid et. al (2016) Digital Exclusion in Higher Education Contexts: A Systematic Literature Review, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, v.228\nGroup 6 members: Victor Souza, Mohit Gupta, Kinaz Al Aytouni, Marcus Stensmyr, Stephanie Birkner, Hui-Chen, Erik Elfgren, Vigdis Ahnfelt, Charlotta Hilli, and Cecilia Hellekant. ↩︎\n","date":1603584000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1603584000,"objectID":"f49362e7129b56251ad67998e6454ac9","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/post/t2-open-education/","publishdate":"2020-10-25T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/t2-open-education/","section":"post","summary":"Open Education and its benefits for promoting accessibility in learning.","tags":["ONL202","Pedagogy"],"title":"Topic 2: Open Education","type":"post"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza"],"categories":["Pedagogy","ONL202"],"content":"This is a series of blog posts about my learning activities in the Open Networked Learning (ONL202) pedagogical course.\nWe are living in an exciting era with high demand for teaching digitalization. I hope that my posts will bring useful information for everyone interested in pedagogy and online learning.\nTL;DR\nOnline learning opens the possibility for teaching methods that address each individual needs, but requires an appropriate knowledge for a successful implementation.\nThe visitor and resident map is a good first activity to illustrate personal online engagement; Use inclusive tools, provide clear instructions; Account for all types of inteligence. People learn differently also in the online environment. Be prepared to swictch roles with students, many are native in technology. Digitalization opens many new possibilities to improve teaching and learning in multiple levels. Teachers are now capable of providing more diverse, accessible practices that suit well each kind of intelligence and social background. However, fostering online participation and engagement with online tools requires that both teachers and students are reasonably comfortable and literate in digital technologies. These requirements are potentially dangerous in segregating those students with limited online access and may also bring more stress and additional load to the teachers to handle. Here, I discuss a few points to assist teachers on making better use of the digital environment to foster better learning practices.\n1. The visitor and residents map David White presented the interesting Visitor and Resident framework to map how we engage with different digital tools. In this chart, one drafts a two-axis chart with Visitor and Resident on the limits of the X axis and Personal and Work on the limits of the Y axis. Then, the person is free to place any number of digital tools (e.g., e-mail, office software, YouTube, blogs) in the chart to illustrate how he/she considers to use these tools in the personal and work context.\nThe visitor and resident map can be quite useful for a teacher as a breaking-the-ice activity in the begining of a course, to get to know better the students’ engagement with the online world, and subsequently tailor the learning activities accordingly. In the video below, David White makes an elegant and quick introduction to the Vistor and Resident model.\n2. Multiple intelligences We, human beings, exhibit a diverse set of intelligences, which are nicely described by Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligence and education (Smith, Mark K.; 2002, 2008). Teachers should be aware that each student may learn through different means. Gardner’s theory propose the following multiple intelligences:\nLinguistic Logical-mathematical Musical Bodily-kinesthetic Saptial Interpersonal Intrapersonal We could add another type of intelligence, the Digital intelligence, which shapes how we absorb information, interact, and create knowledge through digital means. Childrens and adolescentes have been already exposed through their whole lifes to digital technologies, in the form of games, online activities, and social interactions. In this scenario, the digital world creates a novel intelligence that also contributes to how we learn through digital means. Putting yourself in the younger’s perspective, you will probably realize that it’s getting harder to think how can we learn something if we can’t search or interact with it online. You can navigate through our Miro board to explore the content we created.\n3. Online engagement: How to improve it? As a group effort, we (Group 61) created the DigiLit Fish (figure below) as a diagram with questions and answers (recommendations) on how to improve the online participation and student engagement in the digital learning spaces.\nThe DigiLit Fish by Group 6 ONL202 Promoting online engagement is a difficult task that requires full consideration of the cultural background, tools, and participants’ roles (teachers and students) (Yengin et al., 2010). Cultural and social background defines several aspects of the digital literacy. For example, different than in classical lectures, in online teaching the students might know better how to use digital tools than the teachers, switching the role with the teacher. Teachers should be prepared to benefit from this situation.\nThe selected tools for teaching should be clearly introduced and selected to promote inclusion of every student, considering possible access limitations and how they operate as visitors or residents. There are a plethora of webpages that compiled available free online tools for teaching, for instance here and here.\nWe may assume that students can easily adapt to novel technologies, however, clear training and instructions would possibly contribute to a more efficient learning and online engagement (Ozdamar-Keskin et al., 2015).\nThe online engagement diagram References Ozdamar-Keskin et al. (2015) Examining Digital Literacy …","date":1602201600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1602201600,"objectID":"6c5aebc8e898e45e6048a7fda4b4c862","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/post/t1-digital-literacy/","publishdate":"2020-10-09T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/post/t1-digital-literacy/","section":"post","summary":"Digital literacy is a critical factor in the succesful implementation of online learning.","tags":["ONL202","Pedagogy"],"title":"Topic 1: Online Participation \u0026 Digital Literacy","type":"post"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Check the InVesalius Navigator publication here.\nInVesalius Navigator’s main features are the manipulation, visualization, and editing of medical images from nuclear magnetic resonance, computed tomography, and three dimensional scanners. The neuronavigation is performed using a spatial tracking device, making it possible to identify in real time the positioning of an object, such as a TMS coil, improving the accuracy of neurosurgical planning and brain stimulation methods.\nThe software has been developed since October, 2008 as part of the InVesalius project from the Renato Archer Information Technology Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Brazil. InVesalius is written in Python 3 and is compatible with several models of spatial tracking devices, such as the NDI Polaris, Polhemus Patriot, Isotrak, Fastrak, and ClaroNav MicronTracker Sx60.\nThe source code is hosted on GitHub. A tutorial on how to use the TMS coil navigation feature can be found in the video below:\n","date":1599350400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1599350400,"objectID":"aec3ba60b91401c3156abe871482f35f","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/software/invesalius/","publishdate":"2020-09-06T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/software/invesalius/","section":"software","summary":"InVesalius Navigator is an open-source, free software for neuronavigation, and TMS coil positioning.","tags":["Neuronavigation","TMS"],"title":"InVesalius Navigator","type":"software"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"Signal Hunter is an open-source and free software developed using MATLAB 2014 (Mathworks, Natick, USA) for electrophysiological signal analysis. Research groups lack software that allows assisted processing and automatic tools to analyze electroencephalography (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) recordings. Therefore, Signal Hunter was created to provide a general graphical environment with basic tools that allow users to easily develop their functions and interfaces.\nThe software is hosted on GitHub. The instructions for installation, constribution, and use are described in the GitHub wiki page here.\nThe Signal Hunter has an intuitive user interface for semi-automatic signal processing.\nBelow, an example of motor evoked potentials by TMS in multiple sessions.\nand with full EMG recording and potentials splited into epochs:\n","date":1599350400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1599350400,"objectID":"8e8135c4cf805d7c266abdacd27fdd5e","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/software/signalhunter/","publishdate":"2020-09-06T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/software/signalhunter/","section":"software","summary":"Signal Hunter, a MATLAB software for electrophysiological data analysis and visualization.","tags":["Electromyography","Signal processing","Motor evoked potential"],"title":"Signal Hunter","type":"software"},{"authors":["Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Victor H. Souza","Jordania Lindolfo-Almas","Renan Hiroshi Matsuda","Anaelli Aparecida Nogueira-Campos"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1590969600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253938,"objectID":"59a4022388c2136510187dd95d09c49a","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/garcia-2020/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:37.627691Z","relpermalink":"/publication/garcia-2020/","section":"publication","summary":"Objective: There seems to be no consensus in the literature regarding the protocol of surface electromyography (sEMG) electrode placement for recording motor evoked potentials (MEP) in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applications. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect on the MEP amplitude bytwo different protocols for electrode placement. Methods: SEMG electrodes were placed on three upper arm muscles (biceps brachii, flexor carpi radialis, and flexor pollicis brevis) of six right-handed subjects following two different protocols (1 and 2), which varied according to the interelectrode distance and location relative to the muscle. TMS pulses were applied to the hotspot of biceps brachii, while sEMGwas recorded from the two protocols and for each muscle simultaneously. Main Results: Greater MEP amplitudes were obtained for Protocol 1 compared to Protocol 2 (P \u003c 0.05). Significance: Different electrode placement protocols may result in distinct MEP amplitudes, which should be taken into account when adjusting the intensity on single and repetitive TMS sessions.","tags":[],"title":"Motor potential evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation depends on the placement protocol of recording electrodes: a pilot study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Victor H. Souza"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1577836800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253939,"objectID":"bfd13e9ac065ebf95d460f7ab183c551","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/garcia-handheld-2020/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:38.407924Z","relpermalink":"/publication/garcia-handheld-2020/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"The (un)standardized use of handheld dynamometers on the evaluation of muscle force output","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Jaakko O. Nieminen","Lari M. Koponen","Niko Mäkelä","Victor H. Souza","Matti Stenroos","Risto J. Ilmoniemi"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1575158400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253941,"objectID":"2f1ebae9ab4f942c199a412df5b50fcc","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/nieminen-sici-2019/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:40.65533Z","relpermalink":"/publication/nieminen-sici-2019/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":[],"title":"Short-interval intracortical inhibition in human primary motor cortex: A multi-locus transcranial magnetic stimulation study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Renan Hiroshi Matsuda","Gabriela Pazin Tardelli","Carlos Otávio Guimarães","Victor H. Souza","Oswaldo Baffa Filho"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1567296000,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253940,"objectID":"357761b317f59e0065d22b7ba7f8beaa","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/matsuda-review-2019/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:39.907971Z","relpermalink":"/publication/matsuda-review-2019/","section":"publication","summary":"A estimulação magnética transcraniana é um método não invasivo de estimulação do córtex humano. Conhecida pela sigla TMS, do inglês transcranial magnetic stimulation, a técnica foi introduzida por Barker et al. em 1985. Seu funcionamento baseia-se na Lei de Faraday, na qual um intenso campo magnético que varia rapidamente é capaz de induzir um campo elétrico na superfície do cérebro, despolarizando os neurônios no córtex cerebral. Devido à sua versatilidade, a TMS é utilizada atualmente tanto no âmbito da pesquisa quanto em aplicações clínicas. Entre as aplicações clínicas, a TMS é utilizada como ferramenta diagnóstica e também como técnica terapêutica de algumas doenças neurodegenerativas e distúrbios psiquiátricos como a depressão, a doença de Parkinson e o tinnitus. Quanto à ferramenta diagnóstica, destaca-se o mapeamento motor, uma técnica de delimitação da área de representação do músculo-alvo em sua superfície cortical, cuja aplicabilidade pode ser em estudos da fisiologia cerebral para avaliar danos ao córtex motor e trato corticoespinhal. Esta revisão teve como objetivo introduzir a física, os elementos básicos, os princípios biológicos e as principais aplicações da TMS.\n","tags":[],"title":"Estimulação magnética transcraniana: uma breve revisão dos princípios e aplicações","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Leonardo Rakauskas Zacharias","André Salles Cunha Peres","Victor H. Souza","Adriana Bastos Conforto","Oswaldo Baffa"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1561939200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253939,"objectID":"2c8c5bf8603debec981f0e10ecd1c986","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/zacharias-2019/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:39.181334Z","relpermalink":"/publication/zacharias-2019/","section":"publication","summary":"Background: Small variations in TMS parameters, such as pulse frequency and amplitude may elicit distinct neurophysiological responses. Assessing the mismatch between nominal and experimental parameters of TMS stimulators is essential for safe application and comparisons of results across studies. New method: A search coil was used to assess exactness and precision errors of amplitude and timing parameters such as interstimulus interval, the period of pulse repetition, and intertrain interval of TMS devices. The method was validated using simulated pulses and applied to six commercial stimulators in single-pulse (spTMS), paired-pulse (ppTMS), and repetitive (rTMS) protocols, working at several combinations of intensities and frequencies. Results: In a simulated signal, the maximum exactness error was 1.7% for spTMS and the maximum precision error 1.9% for ppTMS. Three out of six TMS commercial devices showed exactness and precision errors in spTMS amplitude higher than 5%. Moreover, two devices showed amplitude exactness errors higher than 5% in rTMS with parameters suggested by the manufactures. Comparison with existing methods: Currently available tools allow characterization of induced electric field intensity and focality, and pulse waveforms of a single TMS pulse. Our method assesses the mismatch between nominal and experimental values in spTMS, ppTMS and rTMS protocols through the exactness and precision errors of amplitude and timing parameters. Conclusion: This study highlights the importance of evaluating the physical characteristics of TMS devices and protocols, and provides a method for on-site quality assessment of multiple stimulation protocols in clinical and research environments.","tags":["Accuracy","Exactness","Precision","Quality assessment","Reliability","TMS","rTMS"],"title":"Method to assess the mismatch between the measured and nominal parameters of transcranial magnetic stimulation devices","type":"publication"},{"authors":["João Zugaib","Victor H. Souza"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1548979200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253942,"objectID":"ccbe635c5c6f4476e6952028ee332752","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/zugaib-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:41.42242Z","relpermalink":"/publication/zugaib-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":["Transcranial magnetic stimulation","insula","operculo-insular cortex","pain syndrome","seizure","theta burst stimulation"],"title":"Transcranial magnetic stimulation for neuromodulation of the operculo‐insular cortex in humans","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Felipe Wilker Grillo","Victor H. Souza","Renan Hiroshi Matsuda","Carlo Rondinoni","Theo Zeferino Pavan","Oswaldo Baffa","Helio Rubens Machado","Antonio Adilton Oliveira Carneiro"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1543622400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253945,"objectID":"920eceb893f8adc00bde626dddb29ee7","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/grillo-phantom-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:44.477325Z","relpermalink":"/publication/grillo-phantom-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"Background: Training in medical education depends on the availability of standardized materials that can reliably mimic the human anatomy and physiology. One alternative to using cadavers or animal bodies is to employ phantoms or mimicking devices. Styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene (SEBS) gels are biologically inert and present tunable properties, including mechanical properties that resemble the soft tissue. Therefore, SEBS is an alternative to develop a patient-specific phantom, that provides real visual and morphological experience during simulation-based neurosurgical training. Results: A 3D model was reconstructed and printed based on patient-specific magnetic resonance images. The fused deposition of polyactic acid (PLA) filament and selective laser sintering of polyamid were used for 3D printing. Silicone and SEBS materials were employed to mimic soft tissues. A neuronavigation protocol was performed on the 3D-printed models scaled to three different sizes, 100%, 50%, and 25% of the original dimensions. A neurosurgery team (17 individuals) evaluated the phantom realism as \\\"very good\\\" and \\\"perfect\\\" in 49% and 31% of the cases, respectively, and rated phantom utility as \\\"very good\\\" and \\\"perfect\\\" in 61% and 32% of the cases, respectively. Models in original size (100%) and scaled to 50% provided a quantitative and realistic visual analysis of the patient's cortical anatomy without distortion. However, reduction to one quarter of the original size (25%) hindered visualization of surface details and identification of anatomical landmarks.","tags":[],"title":"Patient-specific neurosurgical phantom: assessment of visual quality, accuracy, and scaling effects","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza","Renan H. Matsuda","André S. C. Peres","Paulo Henrique J. Amorim","Thiago F. Moraes","Jorge Vicente L. Silva","Oswaldo Baffa"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1541030400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253944,"objectID":"f072d428c1786371dcf0bea3d24a7b52","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/souza-invesalius-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:43.663837Z","relpermalink":"/publication/souza-invesalius-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"Background: Neuronavigation provides visual guidance of an instrument during procedures of neurological interventions, and has been shown to be a valuable tool for accurately positioning transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coils relative to an individual's anatomy. Despite the importance of neuronavigation, its high cost, low portability, and low availability of magnetic resonance imaging facilities limit its insertion in research and clinical environments. New method: We have developed and validated the InVesalius Navigator as the first free, open-source software for image-guided navigated TMS, compatible with multiple tracking devices. A point-based, co-registration algorithm and a guiding interface were designed for tracking any instrument (e.g. TMS coils) relative to an individual's anatomy. Results: Localization, precision errors, and repeatability were measured for two tracking devices during navigation in a phantom and in a simulated TMS study. Errors were measured in two commercial navigated TMS systems for comparison. Localization error was about 1.5 mm, and repeatability was about 1 mm for translation and 1° for rotation angles, both within limits established in the literature. Comparison with existing methods: Existing TMS neuronavigation software programs are not compatible with multiple tracking devices, and do not provide an easy to implement platform for custom tools. Moreover, commercial alternatives are expensive with limited portability. Conclusions: InVesalius Navigator might contribute to improving spatial accuracy and the reliability of techniques for brain interventions by means of an intuitive graphical interface. Furthermore, the software can be easily integrated into existing neuroimaging tools, and customized for novel applications such as multi-locus and/or controllable-pulse TMS.","tags":["Co-registration","Coil positioning","Localization error","Neuronavigation","Surgical planning","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Development and characterization of the InVesalius Navigator software for navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza","Taian Martins Vieira","André Salles Cunha Peres","Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia","Claudia Domingues Vargas","Oswaldo Baffa"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1541030400,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253943,"objectID":"2c77a66949997461483c52c8313759ca","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/souza-orientation-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:42.888496Z","relpermalink":"/publication/souza-orientation-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"Previous reports on the relationship between coil orientation and amplitude of motor evoked potential (MEP) in transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) did not consider the effect of electrode arrangement. Here we explore this open issue by investigating whether TMS coil orientation affects the amplitude distribution of MEPs recorded from the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle with a bi-dimensional grid of 61 electrodes. Moreover, we test whether conventional mono- and bipolar montages provide representative MEPs compared to those from the grid of electrodes. Our results show that MEPs with the greatest amplitudes were elicited for 45° and 90° coil orientations, i.e. perpendicular to the central sulcus, for all electrode montages. Stimulation with the coil oriented at 135° and 315°, i.e. parallel to the central sulcus, elicited the smallest MEP amplitudes. Additionally, changes in coil orientation did not affect the spatial distribution of MEPs over the muscle extent. It has been shown that conventional electrodes with detection volume encompassing the APB belly may detect representative MEPs for optimal coil orientations. In turn, non-optimal orientations were identified only with the grid of electrodes. High-density electromyography may therefore provide new insights into the effect of coil orientation on MEPs from the APB muscle.\n","tags":["brain stimulation","conventional electrodes","electric field direction","high-density electromyography","muscle imaging","transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Effect of TMS coil orientation on the spatial distribution of motor evoked potentials in an intrinsic hand muscle","type":"publication"},{"authors":["André Salles Cunha Peres","Victor H. Souza","João Marcos Yamasaki Catunda","Kelley Cristine Mazzeto-Betti","Taiza Elaine Grespan Santos-Pontelli","Claudia Domingues Vargas","Oswaldo Baffa","Draulio Barros de Araújo","Octávio Marques Pontes-Neto","João Pereira Leite","Marco Antonio Cavalcanti Garcia"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1530403200,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253946,"objectID":"7a0bc18529d29b14e888825cb413c145","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/peres-stroke-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:45.27526Z","relpermalink":"/publication/peres-stroke-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"Evidence suggests that somatosensory electrical stimulation (SES) may decrease the degree of spasticity from neural drives, although there is no agreement between corticospinal modulation and the level of spasticity. Thus, stroke patients and healthy subjects were submitted to SES (3 Hz) for 30′ on the impaired and dominant forearms, respectively. Motor evoked potentials induced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation were collected from two forearm muscles before and after SES. The passive resistance of the wrist joint was measured with an isokinetic system. We found no evidence of an acute carry-over effect of SES on the degree of spasticity.\n","tags":[],"title":"Can somatosensory electrical stimulation relieve spasticity in post-stroke patients? A TMS pilot study","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Victor H. Souza","Oswaldo Baffa","Marco A. C. Garcia"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1522540800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253942,"objectID":"ed09d97d018aeb778bb4da2afeb19635","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/souza-lateralized-2018/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:42.155028Z","relpermalink":"/publication/souza-lateralized-2018/","section":"publication","summary":"Lateralized neural control over hand muscles has been associated with anatomical and physiological asymmetries in the central nervous system. Some studies suggested that the dominant cerebral hemisphere exhibit larger cortical representation areas with lower excitability, while others reported higher cortical excitability in dominant side compared to the contralateral, or even could not find any differences. Thus, neurophysiological lateral asymmetries are still controversial. This study aimed to evaluate differences in dominant and non-dominant sides in motor evoked potentials (MEPs) distribution and investigate whether conventional montages and high-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG) provide reliable measurements of corticospinal excitability. MEPs elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were recorded from dominant and non-dominant sides of healthy right-handed participants with an electrode grid over the abductor pollicis brevis muscle. MEPs amplitude distribution, amplitude, latency and resting motor threshold (MT) were evaluated. MEPs distribution significantly shifted towards the lateral direction on the dominant side. MT, amplitude, and latency did not reveal any asymmetries in functional cortical excitability. MEPs amplitude and latency were different for conventional montages and HD-sEMG. Our results suggest that laterality asymmetries manifest in both levels of cortical representation and muscle recruitment, possibly leading to a more pronounced abduction movement on dominant hemisphere compared to the non-dominant side in right-handers. Furthermore, the use of HD-sEMG provided additional insights over conventional electrode montages. A better understanding of laterality asymmetries in fine motor control may help to establish specialized treatments in sensory motor disorders patients.","tags":["Handedness","High-density electromyography","Laterality asymmetries","Motor evoked potential","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Lateralized asymmetries in distribution of muscular evoked responses: An evidence of specialized motor control over an intrinsic hand muscle","type":"publication"},{"authors":["Marco A. C. Garcia","Victor H. Souza","Claudia D. Vargas"],"categories":[],"content":"","date":1501545600,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":1694253946,"objectID":"7b5bfc539548866eab5247f6194bf1cd","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/publication/garcia-2017/","publishdate":"2023-09-09T10:05:46.03987Z","relpermalink":"/publication/garcia-2017/","section":"publication","summary":"","tags":["Corticospinal excitability","MEP","Motor evoked potential","SEMG","Surface electromyography","TMS","Transcranial magnetic stimulation"],"title":"Can the Recording of Motor Potentials Evoked by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Be Optimized?","type":"publication"},{"authors":null,"categories":null,"content":"","date":-62135596800,"expirydate":-62135596800,"kind":"page","lang":"en","lastmod":-62135596800,"objectID":"1461088e381a177e013afacb62607a84","permalink":"https://vhosouza.github.io/experiences/","publishdate":"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z","relpermalink":"/experiences/","section":"","summary":"","tags":null,"title":"Experience page","type":"landing"}]