VA Research Wrap Up: New findings on brain-computer interfaces, menopause and cervical cancer screening
VA’s Office of Research and Development recently published three News Briefs highlighting advancing brain-computer interfaces, treating menopause symptoms and a conversation guide to improving cervical cancer screening.
Researchers refine brain-computer interfaces
Researchers with BrainGate, a multi-site clinical study involving the VA Providence Healthcare System, have decoded the brain signals that prepare a body part to move, which could be used to increase the speed and performance of brain-computer interfaces.
When a person voluntarily moves a body part, two distinct periods of brain activity take place in the motor cortex: preparation and action. The researchers collected intracortical brain signal recordings from three participants to understand how preparatory signaling works. They learned this brain signaling is strongly tuned to the direction of a movement target, and to a lesser extent the curvature, distance and speed of the intended movement.
Measuring these preparatory brain signals could allow brain-computer interfaces to predict movements, allowing for substantially faster and more fluid control of prostheses and assistive devices.
View the full study from “Current Biology.”
New therapy lessens menopause symptoms
Researchers from the Michael DeBakey VA Medical Center, and their colleagues, developed a cognitive behavioral therapy intervention to improve insomnia and hot flashes related to menopause.
Forty-three perimenopausal or postmenopausal women received either cognitive behavioral therapy adapted to address common menopause symptoms or standard menopause education. Those receiving cognitive behavioral therapy reported greater improvements in sleep and less hot flash interference, which lasted at least three months after treatment.
The results suggest this form of talk therapy has the potential to simultaneously lessen both menopause-related sleep disturbances and nocturnal hot flashes.
View the full study from the journal “Menopause.”
Conversation guide developed to improve cervical cancer screening
Minneapolis VA researchers developed a clinician-patient conversation guide to improve cervical cancer screening of Veterans.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing has become the primary guideline-recommended method of screening for cervical cancer, but stigma and confusion related to HPV have limited its uptake. The researchers conducted interviews with Women Veterans who had a cervical cancer screening in the past five years to identify the best ways to frame conversations about screening.
Recommendations included directly addressing patients’ fear and anxiety, empowering patients to navigate next steps after screening, and avoiding labeling HPV as a sexually transmitted infection.
The resulting conversation guide includes frequently asked questions with guidance on how to tailor responses to individual situations to increase patients’ comfort with and access to cancer screening.
View the full study from “Patient Education and Counseling.”
For more Office of Research and Development updates, visit ORD online or go to https://www.research.va.gov/news_briefs/.
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