Federal University of Uberlândia 
Computational evaluation of radiation doses in procedures of pediatric interventionist neurorradiology
The number of interventional radiology procedures with pediatric patients has been growing in recent decades, since techniques such as cardiology, hepatology and neurology are making use of these procedures. The great advantage of using interventional radiology procedures is that it can replace surgeries, and pediatric patients are, in most cases, a high-risk surgical group.
Student: Aline Ferreira da Silva
Advisor: Ana Paula Perini
Non-invasive tactile sensory feedback for upper-limb prosthetic users
Development of a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation system (TENS) that allows the learning and recognition of patterns of shape and texture based on the response of tactile sensors to the restoration of the tactile feedback of users of upper-limb prostheses.
Student: Ana Clara Pereira Resende da Costa
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Detection of EEG evoked potentials based on matched filters
Matched filters is a method used with great success in radio communication systems. It is based on the detection and classification of symbols that are sent through noisy channels that can be used for translating a message in real time. Matched filters have been previously used for decomposing EMG signals into their constituent Motor Unit Action Potentials trains (MUAPTs) with good results. Therefore, since there is an analogy between EMG decomposition and the detection of evoked potentials in EEG, we hypothesize that matched filters can be used to accurately classify single trial evoked potentials. The goal of this work is to apply the proposed method to classify a target, non-target task.
Student: Amanda Franco Spirandeli
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Robotic device to support upper-limb rehabilitation therapies
Robotic rehabilitation has been proposed as a promising alternative for upper-limb rehabilitation therapies. Its main advantage being the possibility to deliver high-intensity, long-term training exercises. The goal of this research is to develop an exoskeleton that can be used for upper-limb rehabilitation protocols.
Student: Vinicius Teixeira da Costa
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Evaluation of cortical and subcortical alterations following spinal cord injury using functional connectivity and fMRI
Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) affects the pathways that carry information to and from the brain. After the injury, cerebral plasticity leads to a cortical reorganization, whose consequences on brain functionalities remain unclear. Understanding the effects of the cortical reorganization following SCI is important because of its potential in predicting clinical outcomes, as well as lead to new therapeutic approaches to enhance patient rehabilitation. Our study evaluates the functional connectivity (FC) to demonstrate the effects of plasticity on the cortical and subcortical reorganization following SCI.
Student: Mainda Quintela da Silva Araujo de Almeida
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Enhancing EEG’s spacial resolution using ESI: a motor control study
Recently electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are widely used to extract brain information for various purposes like brain machine interfaces (BMIs), however since it has a low spatial resolution it still is not as capable as invasive techniques. However, the electromagnetic source imaging (ESI) technique might increase EEG's spatial resolution since it uses magnetic resonance images (MRI) and EEG signals to reconstruct the current sources inside the brain. To prove that ESI can grant a higher spatial resolution to EEG, we intend to decode the brain's control for complex hand movements, and even some other movements. We intend to acquired EEG signals from volunteers while they perform several hand movements. After ESI application we will be able to extract features from more than a thousand different current sources whereas the EEG setting would have only about 20 electrodes to provide features. Thanks to that spatial resolution increase the results of movement classification from ESI might be higher than the ones using only EEG. As a consequence, it might be possible to differentiate with high precision between all movements and even point the locations in the brain which signals were more relevant to each one of them.
Student: Eric Ferreira Schmiele
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Computadorized tomography examinations: Monte Carlo method and pediatric antropomorphic virtual simulators
In this research will be used different representations of children (0-10 years), by means of anthropomorphic simulating objects, for the evaluation of dosimetry in CT procedures. This research will use the Monte Carlo method (MC), which is a fundamental tool for the importance of calculations of deposited energy and absorbed dose, among other greats of interest for this research. CM also allows dose evaluation in diagnostic procedures and in medical image quality studies, such as CT in children, without the need to adopt invasive procedures. Due to the impossibility of experimental measurements to quantify the risks of cancer, and the values of In this way, it is possible to evaluate the medical exposures in pediatric patients, and through the change of protocols, to reduce the risks of tumors in children , when they undergo CT examinations.
Student: Monique França e Silva
Advisor: Lucio Pereira Neves
Effects of biofeedback in the treatment of phantom pain in subjects with traumatic lower-limb amputations.
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Student: Gabriela Dyonísio
Advisor: Alcimar B Soares
Effects of equilibrium training in the gait patterns of older adults
Aging causes changes in various systems of the human organism, changing the lifestyle and well-being. Postural control is affected by aging causing an increase in the risk of falls, injuries and death. In Brazil, approximately 4.32 million of older people fall at least once a year and among those, 2.175 million suffer some kind of consequence from their fall. The causes of fall are multifactorial but the literature suggests that lower-limb weakness, equilibrium deficits and alterations of gait are important factors. Therefore, the goal of this project is to evaluate the effects of a 12-week equilibrium training on step length, muscle strength and EMG activity during normal gait of older people.
Student: Fabio Clemente Gregorio
Advisor: João B Destro Filho