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taVNS CloseNIT Pilot Project

(transcutaneous auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation)

GitHub Repository

https://github.com/NewcastleRSE/Java_taVNS

About

Co-morbid depression is common in people with heart failure (HF) and leads to worse health outcomes. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation, as indexed by reduced heart rate variability (HRV), is seen in depression and HF. We hypothesise that ANS dysregulation is mechanistically involved in depression in HF patients, explaining the poor prognosis. Implanted vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) directly targets the ANS. It is used clinically in depression and experimentally in HF, consistently improving quality of life (QoL). Transauricular VNS (taVNS) is a non-invasive alternative. It holds promise but optimal stimulation parameters are not known. Our collaboration has demonstrated the feasibility of open-loop taVNS and identified parameter- specific effects on the HRV of healthy volunteers. The respiratory cycle is relevant for the effects of taVNS on ANS modulation. We propose a proof-of-concept study to develop lab-based closed- loop taVNS techniques, gated to trigger stimulation at specific points in the respiratory cycle of healthy volunteers, to determine ANS impact on measures of electroencephalography (EEG), HRV, blood pressure and continuous performance tests. In parallel we are studying ANS function, mood, fatigue and QoL in people with depression and HF. Non-invasive ANS modulation is a potential novel therapeutic strategy targeting mood, fatigue and QoL in HF.

Project Team

RSE Contacts

Frances & Jannetta
RSE Team
Newcastle University
(frances.hutchings@newcastle.ac.uk)
(jannetta.steyn@newcastle.ac.uk)

Built With (Hardware)

  • NI USB-6229
  • DigiStim Digitime DSR8
  • AD Instruments

Built With (Software)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • NI USB6229
  • An oscilloscope would be handy
  • An ESP32 microcontroller for running the breathing simulator would be handy

Installation

Install the DS8R package:

# Install from GitHub
pip install -e git+https://github.com/CCS-Lab/DS8R_python#egg=ds8r

Running Locally

The application is written in Java and requires OpenJDK 20. The software is packaged into an executable jar using maven.

Running Tests

How to run tests on your local system.

Deployment

Local

Deploying to a production style setup but on the local system. Examples of this would include venv, anaconda, Docker or minikube.

Production

Deploying to the production system. Examples of this would include cloud, HPC or virtual machine.

Usage

Any links to production environment, video demos and screenshots.

Roadmap

  • Initial Research
  • Minimum viable product <-- You are Here
  • Alpha Release
  • Feature-Complete Release

Contributing

Main Branch

Protected and can only be pushed to via pull requests. Should be considered stable and a representation of production code.

Dev Branch

Should be considered fragile, code should compile and run but features may be prone to errors.

Feature Branches

A branch per feature being worked on.

https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/

Program Structure

    C4Context
      title GUI for DAQ recordings

License

Citation

Please cite the associated papers for this work if you use this code:

@article{xxx2023paper,
  title={Title},
  author={Author},
  journal={arXiv},
  year={2023}
}

Acknowledgements

This work was funded by a grant from the UK Research Councils, EPSRC grant ref. EP/L012345/1, “Example project title, please update”.