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A new brain-computer interface design using fuzzy ARTMAP

Palaniappan R, Paramesran R, Nishida S, Saiwaki N

IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng, 2002 Sep;10(3):140-8.
PMID: 12503778

This paper proposes a new brain-computer interface (BCI) design using fuzzy ARTMAP (FA) neural network, as well as an application of the design. The objective of this BCI-FA design is to classify the best three of the five available mental tasks for each subject using power spectral density (PSD) values of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. These PSD values are extracted using the Wiener-Khinchine and autoregressive methods. Ten experiments employing different triplets of mental tasks are studied for each subject. The findings show that the average BCI-FA outputs for four subjects gave less than 6% of error using the best triplets of mental tasks identified from the classification performances of FA. This implies that the BCI-FA can be successfully used with a tri-state switching device. As an application, a proposed tri-state Morse code scheme could be utilized to translate the outputs of this BCI-FA design into English letters. In this scheme, the three BCI-FA outputs correspond to a dot and a dash, which are the two basic Morse code alphabets and a space to denote the end (or beginning) of a dot or a dash. The construction of English letters using this tri-state Morse code scheme is determined only by the sequence of mental tasks and is independent of the time duration of each mental task. This is especially useful for constructing letters that are represented as multiple dots or dashes. This combination of BCI-FA design and the tri-state Morse code scheme could be developed as a communication system for paralyzed patients.

Matched MeSH terms: Mental Processes/physiology*
Levels of thyroxine, TSH, thyroid volume and mental performance among Orang Asli in selected settlements in Malaysia

Osman A, Zaleha MI, Iskandar ZA, Tan TT, Ali MM, Roslan I, et al.

East Afr Med J, 1996 Apr;73(4):259-63.
PMID: 8706612

A significant difference in the levels of thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid volume among settlements at various selected Orang Asli locations is reported. The levels improved according to the level of socio-economic development. No significant difference was found in mental performance by location.

Matched MeSH terms: Mental Processes/physiology*
Fulltext Quasi-experimental study on the effectiveness of a house officer preparatory course for medical graduates on self-perceived confidence and readiness: a study protocol

Rashid AA, Shariff Ghazali S, Mohamad I, Mawardi M, Roslan D, Musa H

BMJ Open, 2019 08 10;9(8):e024488.
PMID: 31401588 DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024488

INTRODUCTION: Being a house officer (HO) is said to be associated with high levels of stress, leading to mental health problems and sometimes to quitting the medical profession altogether. In Malaysia, the number of HOs completing training on time is slowly declining, with increasing annual dropout rates. Feeling incompetent is one of the contributors towards this growing problem. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 3-day pre-HO intervention module in addressing participants' confidence, readiness and psychological well-being in preparation for their HO training.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The pre-HO intervention is the 'Medicorp' module that includes clerkship, experience sharing, hands-on skills training, common clinical cases and introduction of the local healthcare system. This is a pre-post quasi-experimental study lasting 1 year, with three assessment time points-at pretraining, immediately after training and 1 month into the participants' HO-ship. The study is currently ongoing and involves 208 participants who attended the course in Malaysia. Participants with known psychiatric illness, working HOs and medical students are excluded. A pretested, self-administered questionnaire that includes baseline sociodemography, adaptation of the International Medical University (IMU) Student Competency Survey and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale has been adopted, and 1 month follow-up will be conducted by telephone. Data will be analysed using SPSS V.24. The primary outcome is change in confidence level, while the secondary outcomes are changes in the readiness and psychological well-being of the participants.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study protocol has received ethics approval from Ethics Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects Universiti Putra Malaysia and the National Medical Research Registry Malaysia. Written informed consent has been obtained from each participant. Results will be disseminated through journals and conferences, especially those involved in medical education specifically looking into the training of medical doctors.
TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT03510195.

Matched MeSH terms: Mental Processes/physiology*
Fulltext Autobiographical memory and hierarchical search strategies in depressed and non-depressed participants

Haque S, Juliana E, Khan R, Hasking P

BMC Psychiatry, 2014;14:310.
PMID: 25403551 DOI: 10.1186/s12888-014-0310-z

There is a growing body of literature showing individuals with depression and other trauma-related disorders (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder) recall more overgeneral and less specific autobiographical memories compared to normal participants. Although the mechanisms underlying overgeneral memory are quite clear, the search strategy operated within the autobiographical knowledge base, at time of recollection, requires further exploration. The current study aimed to examine the hierarchical search sequence used to recall autobiographical memories in depressed and non-depressed participants, with a view to determining whether depressed participants exhibited truncated search strategies.

Matched MeSH terms: Mental Processes/physiology*