Daming Wang

1. Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability in adults worldwide, frequently resulting in motor impairment and the reorganization of brain networks.1 Over 80% of stroke patients experience ...

Word production impairments in post-stroke aphasia (PSA) may reflect disruption at multiple processing levels. Although alpha- and beta-band oscillations have been linked to these processes in healthy speakers, their temporal dynamics during overt naming in PSA remain poorly characterized. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) from 17 individuals with subacute PSA and 17 age-matched controls during an overt picture-naming task. Time-frequency analyses quantified alpha- and beta-band power in three stimulus-locked windows motivated by chronometric models of word production. To characterize transitions across successive processing stages, power in the first window was referenced to a prestimulus baseline, whereas later windows were referenced to the immediately preceding window. Analyses were conducted on all artifact-free trials, regardless of naming accuracy, to preserve representation of the full PSA sample. Relative to controls, participants with PSA showed reduced early alpha synchronization and weaker alpha- and beta-band decreases in later naming-related windows . These group differences were spatially widespread at the sensor level. Lesion volume was not significantly related to channel-averaged alpha or beta power. In exploratory analyses, altered late alpha dynamics were associated with lesions involving left thalamic, temporal, frontal, and corona radiata regions. The findings indicate disrupted temporal organization of oscillatory activity during picture naming in PSA, with weaker early alpha engagement and attenuated later alpha/beta transitions. These results support the view that post-stroke naming impairment involves abnormal neural dynamics spanning early and late naming-related processing phases. Exploratory lesion findings should be interpreted cautiously given the modest sample size and coarse lesion coding.

Sarcopenic obesity (SO) is characterized by the co-existence of excess adiposity and low muscle performance, with a high prevalence and poor prognosis in t

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Accurate, noninvasive dysphagia assessment is important for rehabilitation therapy but current clinical diagnostic methods are either invasive or subjective. Surface electromyography (sEMG) that monitors muscle activity during swallowing, offers a promising alternative. However, existing sEMG electrode arrays for dysphagia assessment remain challenging in combining the advantages of a large coverage area and strong compliance to the entire swallowing muscles. Here, we report a stretchable, breathable, large‐area high‐density sEMG (HD‐sEMG) electrode array, which enables intimate contact to complex surface of the submental and infrahyoid muscles to detect high‐fidelity HD‐sEMG signals during swallowing. The electrode array features a 64‐channel soft on‐skin sensing array for comprehensive data capture, and a stiff connector for simple and reliable connection to an external acquisition setup. Systemically experimental studies revealed the easy operability of the soft HD‐sEMG electrode array for effortless integration with the skin, as well as the excellent mechanical and electrical characteristics even subject to substantial skin deformations. By comparing HD‐sEMG signals collected from 38 participants, three objective indicators for quantitative dysphagia evaluation were discussed. Finally, a machine learning model was developed to accurately and automatically classify the severity of dysphagia, and the factors affecting the recognition accuracy of the model were discussed in depth.

Working memory (WM) is suggested to play a pivotal role in relearning and neural restoration during stroke rehabilitation. Using EEG, this study investigated the oscillatory mechanisms of WM in subacute stroke. This study included 48 first subacute stroke patients (26 good-recovery, 22 poor-recovery, based on prognosis after a 4-week period) and 24 matched health controls. We examined the oscillatory characteristics and functional connectivity of the 0-back WM paradigm and assessed their associations with prognosis. Patients of poor recovery are characterised by a loss of significant beta rebound, beta-band connectivity, as well as impaired working memory speed and performances. Meanwhile, patients with good recovery have preserved these capacities to some extent. Our data further identified beta rebound to be closely associated with working memory speed and performances. We provided novel findings that beta rebound and network connectivity as mechanistic evidence of impaired working memory in subacute stroke. These oscillatory features could potentially serve as a biomarker for brain stimulation technologies in stroke recovery.