BMC Neuroscience

Call for papers: Transcranial ultrasound stimulation and its applications in neurosciences

New Content Item Different modalities of neuromodulation, e.g., magnetic, electrical, acoustic, optical, and even thermal stimulation, have been proposed and applied in basic and clinical neurosciences. Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) is an emerging technique in past few years. TUS could noninvasively excite or inhibit the neural activities in the targeted brain regions by delivering specific low intensity and low frequency (around 0.5 MHz) pulsed ultrasonic waves through intact scalp and skull. With focused transducer, TUS could gain higher focality (~mm) and more depth (>2cm) than transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimula¬tion (tDCS). With these advantages, TUS would be a very useful and noninvasive tool to modulate specific neuronal pathways or neuclei in both clinical and basic neurosciences. TUS also has demonstrated its potential therapeutic effect on neurologic diseases (i.e. Alzheimer's Disease, epilepsy, and stroke). This special theme calls for contributions on the TUS techniques and applications, including but not limited to
•   TUS system and navigation
•   Monitoring techniques for the excitatory and inhibitory effects of TUS
•   Neuromodulation effects of TUS
•   Optimal parameters of TUS
•   Safety issues of TUS
•   Therapeutic effects of TUS on disease animal model
•   The mechanisms of TUS
•   Applications of TUS in cognitive brain function
•   Clinical studies of TUS

Guest Editors: Shanbao Tong (stong@sjtu.edu.cn) and Junfeng Sun (jfsun@sjtu.edu.cn)

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Call for articles

Neuroengineering section will be added to BMC Neuroscience. We are inviting submissions using novel techniques for fundamental and clinical neurosciences, and the state-of-art review articles. Techniques include, but are not limited to, neural signal processing, neuroimaging, neural interface, neurosurgery, neuromodulation, brain stimulation and molecular imaging. The technique either newly developed or well tested somewhere else would be used in a way that proves its value for new findings in neurosciences.

Aims and scope

BMC Neuroscience is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on all aspects of the nervous system, including molecular, cellular, developmental and animal model studies, as well as cognitive and behavioral research, and computational modeling.

Editor

Ying Lou, BioMed Central

Section Editors

Jiu-Lin Du, Shanghai Institute of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Robert Gerlai, University of Toronto Mississauga
Tianzi Jiang, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Charanjit Kaur, National University of Singapore
Anthony Kline, University of Pittsburgh
Thomas Munte, University of Luebeck
Maurizio Popoli, University of Milan
Mark Rasenick, University of Illinois, Chicago
Vijayalakshmi Ravindranath, Indian Institute of Science
Karsten Ruscher, University of Lund
Shanbao Tong, Jiao Tong University
Si Wu, Beijing normal University

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Mark Rasenick, Section Editor

Mark M. Rasenick, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Physiology & Biophysics and Psychiatry
University of Illinois Chicago, College of Medicine and Research Service, Jesse Brown VAMC

Dr. Rasenick’s work has focused on G protein signaling in the nervous system. He has been particularly interested in how G proteins and the cytoskeleton work in concert to modify synaptic shape and to form a molecular basis for depression and the action of antidepressant drugs. He is also founder of Pax Neuroscience, a company designed to develop and utilize depression biomarkers for diagnostics, treatment and drug development. He is an elected fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Cuban Academy of Sciences.

In addition to research and teaching, Dr. Rasenick is active in public policy. He currently chairs the Advocacy Committee for the American Brain Coalition. While a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow (1999-2000), he was a staff member with the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, (D Mass.). He is also involved in international outreach for neuroscience.

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