I am planning the creation of a networked library of neurophysiologic
signal data. I am posting this article to determine the level of
interest in such a library and to get a list of names and e-mail
addresses of people who might find such a library useful.
The purpose of this proposal is to provide a network resource library of
well defined, anatomically mapped neurophysiologic signals, both
clinical and experimental, recorded from normal and abnormal humans and
rats. These signals will include scalp and invasive EEGs from humans
and experimental EEGs, field potentials, single cell recordings and
single channel recordings from animals. I will additionally develop two
specific research applications utilizing this resource: nonlinear
dynamical (chaos) analysis and control of epileptogenic activity, and
functional mapping of neocortex using subdural electrode arrays.
Some of the benefits of such a database would be the enhancement of
teaching and development of clinical EEG diagnosis, the improvement of
investigational collaboration between practicing scientists, clinicians,
and theorists. My experience has been that the theorists are starving
for good experimental data, both for choosing parameter values of models
and for judging the output of the models. Experimental data are also
needed by investigators developing nonlinear analytic techniques.
Standard benchmark data would be useful for development and comparison
of software and hardware for display, analysis, and diagnosis of
neurophysiologic signals.
The database will need some search/query engine. I expect that a Gopher
server would be the minimal query engine needed to get started. Some
more powerful interactive search engine would obviously be better.
If this resource would be of interest to you, please respond to me by
E-mail at the address below. I am interested in discussions about
exactly what signals would be of use, what formats the signals could be
in, and how anatomic mapping might be incorporated into the database.
The problems of quality control, recognition of sources, and ensuring
valid collaboration need addressing.
I am posting this message to a number of newsgroups. Lets keep the main
discussion limited to bionet.neuroscience, which I will monitor. Please
edit the "Newsgroups: " header line to include only "bionet.neuroscience"
when replying to this posting.
--
W. Douglas Knowles, Ph.D. INTERNET:knowled at ccsmtp.ccf.org
Departments of Neurosciences and Neurology
Cleveland Clinic Research Institute
Cleveland, Ohio 44195 USA
