This book provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art of practical applications of neuroprosthesis based on functional electrical stimulation for restoration of motor functions lost by spinal cord injury and discusses the use of brain-computer interfaces for their control. The book covers numerous topics starting with basics about spinal cord injury, electrical stimulation, electrical brain signals and brain-computer interfaces. It continues with an overview of neuroprosthetic solutions for different purposes and non-invasive and invasive brain-computer interface implementations and presents clinical use cases and practical applications of BCIs. Finally, the authors give an outlook on cutting edge research with a high potential for clinical translation in the near future. All authors committed themselves to use easy-to-understand language and to avoid very specific information, focusing instead on the essential aspects. This makes this book an ideal choice not only for researchers and clinicians at all stages of their education interested in the topic of brain-computer interface-controlled neuroprostheses, but also for end users and their caregivers who want to inform themselves about the current technological possibilities to improve paralyzed motor functions.

A critical examination of translational medicine, when private risk is transferred to the public sector and university research teams become tech startups for global investors. A global shift has secretly transformed science and medicine. Starting in 2003, biomedical research in the West has been reshaped by the emergence of translational science and medicine—the idea that the aim of research is to translate findings as quickly as possible into medical products. In The Market in Mind, Mark Dennis Robinson charts this shift, arguing that the new research paradigm has turned university research teams into small biotechnology startups and their industry partners into early-stage investment firms. There is also a larger, surprising consequence from this shift: according to Robinson, translational science and medicine enable biopharmaceutical firms, as part of a broader financial strategy, to outsource the riskiest parts of research to nonprofit universities. Robinson examines the implications of this new configuration. What happens, for example, when universities absorb unknown levels of risk? Robinson argues that in the years since the global financial crisis translational science and medicine has brought about “the financialization of health.” Robinson explores such topics as shareholder anxiety and industry retreat from Alzheimer's and depression research; how laboratory research is understood as health innovation even when there is no product; the emergence of investor networking events as crucial for viewing science in a market context; and the place of patients in research decisions. Although translational medicine justifies itself by the goal of relieving patients' suffering, Robinson finds patients' voices largely marginalized in translational neuroscience.