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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) applied to the motor cortex has revolutionized the study of motor physiology in humans. Despite this, TMS‐evoked electrophysiological responses show significant fluctuation, due in part to inconsistencies between TMS pulse timing and ongoing brain oscillations. Small or inconsistent responses to TMS limit mechanistic insights and clinical efficacy, necessitating the development of methods to precisely coordinate the timing of TMS pulses to the phase of relevant oscillatory activity. We introduce Sensory Entrained TMS (seTMS), a novel approach that uses musical rhythms to synchronize brain oscillations and time TMS pulses to enhance cortical excitability. Focusing on the sensorimotor alpha rhythm, a neural oscillation associated with motor cortical inhibition, we examine whether rhythm‐evoked sensorimotor alpha phase alignment affects primary motor cortical (M1) excitability in healthy young adults (n = 33). We first confirmed using electroencephalography (EEG) that passive listening to musical rhythms desynchronizes inhibitory sensorimotor brain rhythms (mu oscillations) around 200 ms before auditory rhythmic events (27 participants). We then targeted this optimal time window by delivering single TMS pulses over M1 200 ms before rhythmic auditory events while recording motor‐evoked potentials (MEPs; 19 participants), which resulted in significantly larger MEPs compared to standard single pulse TMS and an auditory control condition. Neither EEG measures during passive listening nor seTMS‐induced MEP enhancement showed dependence on musical experience or training. These findings demonstrate that seTMS effectively enhances corticomotor excitability and establishes a practical, cost‐effective method for optimizing non‐invasive brain stimulation outcomes. Sensory Entrained Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (seTMS) synchronizes TMS pulses with auditory rhythm‐induced high‐excitability brain states. A) Musical rhythms were used to induce motor cortical brain states that occurred prior to each musical beat event. B) TMS pulses were applied to test for changes in corticomotor excitability. C) We found larger motor‐evoked potentials compared to standard TMS and an auditory control condition, providing a low‐cost, accessible method for optimizing non‐invasive brain stimulation.

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a unique form of non-invasive brain stimulation. Sinusoidal alternating electric currents are delivered to the scalp to affect mostly cortical neurons. tACS is supposed to modulate brain function and, in turn, cognitive processes by entraining brain oscillations and inducing long-term synaptic plasticity. Therefore, tACS has been investigated in cognitive neuroscience, but only recently, it has been also introduced in psychiatric clinical trials. This review describes current concepts and first findings of applying tACS as a potential therapeutic tool in the field of psychiatry. The current understanding of its mechanisms of action is explained, bridging cellular neuronal activity and the brain network mechanism. Revisiting the relevance of altered brain oscillations found in six major psychiatric disorders, putative targets for the management of mental disorders using tACS are discussed. A systematic literature search on PubMed was conducted to report findings of the clinical studies applying tACS in patients with psychiatric conditions. In conclusion, the initial results may support the feasibility of tACS in clinical psychiatric populations without serious adverse events. Moreover, these results showed the ability of tACS to reset disturbed brain oscillations, and thus to improve behavioural outcomes. In addition to its potential therapeutic role, the reactivity of the brain circuits to tACS could serve as a possible tool to determine the diagnosis, classification or prognosis of psychiatric disorders. Future double-blind randomised controlled trials are necessary to answer currently unresolved questions. They may aim to detect response predictors and control for various confounding factors.

Fatigue is a universal and constructive experience, yet chronic fatigue—defined as a persistent lack of energy that limits daily life as assessed by modified Fatigue Impact Scale (mFIS)—remains nowadays a symptom waiting for effective mitigation. Evidence across neurological, oncological, and psychosocial conditions shows that fatigue shares a common neurophysiological substrate: disrupted sensory-motor imbalances and network synchrony that can be targeted by established interventions—physical activity, mindfulness, yoga, and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Within this landscape, non-invasive neuromodulation stands out as an effective and safe tool to restore sensorimotor balance to integrate behavioral interventions. The Faremus protocol, based on five daily sessions of 15-min bilateral anodic transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the somatosensory cortex, has shown consistent clinical benefits in multiple sclerosis: an average 26% reduction in fatigue severity, persisting for weeks or months, with excellent tolerability and home-use feasibility. Converging meta-analyses, neurophysiological central and behavioral investigations, and reviews confirm the reproducibility and mechanistic validity of this approach, positioning neuromodulation among the most promising evidence-based strategies in supporting fatigue relief. This perspective highlights neuromodulation as a transversal instrument to counter fatigue across conditions, and as a cornerstone of integrated, multidisciplinary strategies aimed at preserving brain plasticity, enhancing resilience, and restoring sustained well-being.

The brain has the innate ability to undergo neuronal plasticity, which refers to changes in its structure and functions in response to continued changes in the environment. Although these concepts are well established in animal slice preparation models, their application to a large number of human subjects could only be achieved using noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms of plasticity induction using NIBS techniques including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), random noise stimulation (RNS), transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS), vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), and galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS). We briefly introduce these techniques, explain the stimulation parameters and potential clinical implications. Although their mechanisms are different, all these NIBS techniques can be used to induce plasticity at the systems level, to examine the neurophysiology of brain circuits and have potential therapeutic use in psychiatric and neurological disorders. TMS is the most established technique for the treatment of brain disorders, and repetitive TMS is an approved treatment for medication-resistant depression. Although the data on the clinical utility of the other modes of stimulation are more limited, the electrical stimulation techniques (tDCS, tACS, RNS, VNS, GVS) have the advantage of lower cost, portability, applicability at home, and can readily be combined with training or rehabilitation. Further research is needed to expand the clinical utility of NIBS and test the combination of different modes of NIBS to optimize neuromodulation induced clinical benefits.

Despite the pivotal role of molecular docking in modern drug discovery, the default docking scoring functions often fail to recognize active ligands in virtual screening campaigns. Negative image-based rescoring improves docking enrichment by comparing the shape/electrostatic potential (ESP) of the flexible docking poses against the target protein’s inverted cavity volume. By optimizing these negative image-based (NIB) models using a greedy search, the docking rescoring yield can be improved massively and consistently. Here, a fundamental modification is implemented to this shape-focused pharmacophore modelling approach—actual ligand 3D coordinates are incorporated into the NIB models for the optimization. This hybrid approach, labelled as ligand-enhanced brute-force negative image-based optimization (LBR-NiB), takes the best from both worlds, i.e., the all-roundedness of the NIB models and the difficult to emulate atomic arrangements of actual protein-bound small-molecule ligands. Thorough benchmarking, focused on proinflammatory targets, shows that the LBR-NiB routinely improves the docking enrichment over prior iterations of the R-NiB methodology. This boost can be massive, if the added ligand information provides truly essential binding information that was lacking or completely missing from the cavity-based NIB model. On a practical level, the results indicate that the LBR-NiB typically works well when the added ligand 3D data originates from a high-quality source, such as X-ray crystallography, and, yet, the NIB model compositions can also sometimes be improved by fusing into them, for example, with flexibly docked solvent molecules. In short, the study demonstrates that the protein-bound ligands can be used to improve the shape/ESP features of the negative images for effective docking rescoring use in virtual screening.

Perception, cognition and consciousness can be modulated as a function of oscillating neural activity, while ongoing neuronal dynamics are influenced by synaptic activity and membrane potential. Consequently, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) may be used for neurological intervention. The advantageous features of tACS include the biphasic and sinusoidal tACS currents, the ability to entrain large neuronal populations, and subtle control over somatic effects. Through neuromodulation of phasic, neural activity, tACS is a powerful tool to investigate the neural correlates of cognition. The rapid development in this area requires clarity about best practices. Here we briefly introduce tACS and review the most compelling findings in the literature to provide a starting point for using tACS. We suggest that tACS protocols be based on functional brain mechanisms and appropriate control experiments, including active sham and condition blinding.

Recently, multifocal transcranial current stimulation (tCS) devices using several relatively small electrodes have been used to achieve more focal stimulation of specific cortical targets. However, it is becoming increasingly recognized that many behavioral manifestations of neurological and psychiatric disease are not solely the result of abnormality in one isolated brain region but represent alterations in brain networks. In this paper we describe a method for optimizing the configuration of multifocal tCS for stimulation of brain networks, represented by spatially extended cortical targets. We show how, based on fMRI, PET, EEG or other data specifying a target map on the cortical surface for excitatory, inhibitory or neutral stimulation and a constraint on the maximal number of electrodes, a solution can be produced with the optimal currents and locations of the electrodes. The method described here relies on a fast calculation of multifocal tCS electric fields (including components normal and tangential to the cortical boundaries) using a five layer finite element model of a realistic head. Based on the hypothesis that the effects of current stimulation are to first order due to the interaction of electric fields with populations of elongated cortical neurons, it is argued that the optimization problem for tCS stimulation can be defined in terms of the component of the electric field normal to the cortical surface. Solutions are found using constrained least squares to optimize current intensities, while electrode number and their locations are selected using a genetic algorithm. For direct current tCS (tDCS) applications, we provide some examples of this technique using an available tCS system providing 8 small Ag/AgCl stimulation electrodes. We demonstrate the approach both for localized and spatially extended targets defined using rs-fcMRI and PET data, with clinical applications in stroke and depression. Finally, we extend these ideas to more general stimulation protocols, such as alternating current tCS (tACS). •We provide a method for optimizing the configuration of multifocal tDCS.•Optimization cortical target maps are based on fMRI, PET or other data.•Algorithm optimizes electrode currents and locations subject to safety constraints.•We highlight clinical applications in stroke and depression.•We discuss the generalization of these methods to tACS.

Brain stimulation techniques are important in both basic and clinical studies. Majority of well-known brain stimulating techniques have low spatial resolution or entail invasive processes. Low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) seems to be a proper candidate for dealing with such deficiencies. This review recapitulates studies which explored the effects of LIFU on brain structures and its function, in both research and clinical areas. Although the mechanism of LIFU action is still unclear, its different effects from molecular level up to behavioral level can be explored in animal and human brain. It can also be coupled with brain imaging assessments in future research.

In this study, we investigated the electronic properties and selective adsorption for CO2 of nickel boride clusters (NiB)n, (n = 1~10) using the first principles method. We optimized the structures of the clusters and analyzed their stability based on binding energy per atom. It was observed that (NiB)n clusters adopt 3D geometries from n = 4, which were more stable compared to the plane clusters. The vertical electron affinity, vertical ionization energy, chemical potential, and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)–lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap were calculated. Our results revealed that (NiB)6 and (NiB)10, with high chemical potential, exhibit a higher affinity for CO2 adsorption due to a charge delivery channel that forms along the Ni→B→CO2 path. Notably, (NiB)10 demonstrated a more practical CO2 desorption temperature, as well as a broader window for the selective adsorption of CO2 over N2. The density of states analysis showed that the enhanced CO2 adsorption on (NiB)10 can be attributed to the synergistic effect between Ni and B, which provides more active sites for CO2 adsorption and promotes the electron transfer from the surface to the CO2 molecule. Our theoretical results imply that (NiB)10 should be a promising candidate for CO2 capture.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is one of the core symptoms following a stroke, which severely affects the prognosis of patients. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to explore the effectiveness and safety of multi-site non-invasive brain stimulation (MS-NIBS) in enhancing the cognitive function of PSCI patients. A comprehensive search was conducted in multiple databases, including MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data, VIP Database for Chinese Technical Periodicals, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM). The search was performed up to 18 January 2025. The inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of MS-NIBS for PSCI. The primary outcome measure was the change in the global cognitive scale, while the secondary outcomes focused on improvements in attention, memory, visuospatial perception, and activities of daily living. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess the quality of each eligible study. Meta-analysis and bias analysis were performed using RevMan (Version 5.3). A total of 6 RCTs involving 416 samples were included in this paper. The findings from the primary outcomes revealed that the MS-NIBS group had significantly higher scores on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) of the cognitive composite scale (MD = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.21-2.48, < 0.00001, = 36%) compared to the single-site non-invasive brain stimulation (SS-NIBS) group. As for the secondary outcome measures, as shown by the Digit Span Test (DST) forward recall (MD = 0.94, 95% CI = -1.11 to 2.98, = 0.37, = 97%), DST backward recall (MD = 0.03, 95% CI = -0.24 to 0.29, = 0.85, = 0%), Clock Drawing Test (CDT) (MD = 1.65, 95% CI = 0.77-2.53, = 0.0003, = 54%), Trail Making Test (TMT) (MD = 4.2, 95% CI = 2.71-5.69, < 0.00001, = 14%), and Modified Barthel Index (MBI) for activities of daily living assessment (MD = 3.71, 95% CI = -4.77 to 12.20, = 0.39, = 75%), the MS-NIBS group showed improvements in visuospatial and trail-making test abilities. Subgroup analysis of the main outcome demonstrated that multi-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (MS-TMS) (MD = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.38-2.81, < 0.00001, = 48%) and the combined treatment of TMS and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (MD = 1.91, 95% CI = 0.81-3.01, = 0.0007, = 0%) exhibited superior efficacy compared to SS-NIBS. This meta-analysis provides evidence supporting that MS-NIBS, as an emerging neuromodulatory tool, is superior to SS-NIBS in improving the overall cognitive abilities of stroke patients. However, given the limited number of included studies, it is necessary to further validate these findings through large-scale, multi-center, double-blind, and high-quality RCTs. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, CRD42025640015.