What’s New with the Persyst EEG Suite

2007.10.08 Feature Highlights

Persyst ClearTrend: Adaptive Artifact Rejection. Detects artifact channels on-the-fly, and dynamically removed them from MagicMarker trend calculations. Channels are automatically returned when artifact abates.

ElectroDX: Alerts clinicians to artifact-ridden electrodes with a simple, easy to read display - regardless of the cause.

EASI Single-Panel Trending: a single panel which combines Asymmetry Trends (absolute and relative), SQRT scaling of spectogram data, ADR suppression ratio, and aEEG in a single trend panel for virtually any clinical application.

MagicMarkerMail: new integrated email client that sends notifications with images of trend and underlying EEG waveforms.

Insight II: Export to CSV of channel or instrument data now includes ClockDate in addition to Time as elapsed seconds. Patient Name, ID, DOB are now included as well.

Insight II: Comment tab selection and comment sort now saved with "save default settings" and can be set via registry key.

Insight II: View|Display Options now includes the option to hide system-generated video (e.g., avi) comments.

Feature: Balanced Reference added to Insight II (e.g., for non-cephalic reference).

Manual insertion of spike event via right click now allows for multiple events to be placed and prompts for channel if none selected.

Bug fix: Insight II sometimes did not load NK montages from the Windows Registry.

Improved SpikeReview processing on recordings with more than 2000 spikes. (Makes it easier to restore the filtered spikes.)

Change Reveal spike event updating of Nagivation Bar, Comment List, and Reveal Histogram to a 20-second Delay Refresh. This speeds scanning of recordings with very large spike populations (e.g., >10,000) in Reveal/Insight II

MagicMarker now indicates notification thresholds via red dotted line on relevant trends.

MagicMarker: When MM starts processing a new record, it first checks all the ChannelList definitions. If there are any channels not in the montage, they are added. The added channels are not hidden, and can be seen when the Channels are re-examined.

MagicMarker now pages if necessary during review to track EEG page revew.

When notifications are suspended, a red "X" is displayed on the Notification Panel.

Auto Save/Restore will now save comments stored in the .lay file every 60 seconds during on-line analysis.

Added support for BioSignal format.

Bug fix: View|Restore Settings on Open no longer duplicates comments in View|Display Options|Filter Comments.

Previous notification message is cleared when subsequent notifications are triggered.

2007.03.12a Updates

File Format Support: New/enhanced support for PolyMate Ambulatory/PSG recorders, Rembrandt MRS, and OSG-Brain RT format.
Insight II: Notifications can now be monitored from non-channel instruments in Insight II and MagicMarker.
Reveal/MagicMarker: Improved performance/lower CPU/memory utilization when running MagicMarker and Reveal simultaneously.
MagicMarker: Fix for Weighted Sum and Constant instrument crash in some multi-instrument configurations.

2006.10.10 Feature Highlights

File format updates for Grass-Telefactor (video now supported) Natus-Biologic CEEGraph (feature enhancements), Xltek (feature enhancements), and others...
MagicMarker’s handling of settings files has been simplified (automatic loading of previous scan parameters)
Reveal spike and seizure detection: Automatic Sensitivity (uV/mm) is more robust, i.e., it will determine if there is sufficient background recorded to complete calculations.
AutoLearn feature-complete for automatic notifications prompted from patient-dependent detectors.

Updated: Persyst AutoLearn: RELEASED!

AutoLearn first generation is now feature complete, and is RELEASED with this version! Easily add AutoLearn comments to incrementally train (refine) AutoLearn detectors. See the feature enhancements at http://www.eeg-persyst.com/usingautolearn.htm.

This version includes the ability to launch Insight II minimized to the taskbar; while automatically performing any trending, detection, and/or analysis desired on-line.

2006.01.26 Feature Highlights

Persyst AutoLearn, updated EEG file format support and new trending instruments in iMagicMarker are just two of the new items in version 2006.01.26:

New: Persyst AutoLearn (Beta Release).

Developing neural-network algorithms for detecting interesting and clinically important state changes and paroxysmal events can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. That means that getting ad-hoc detectors that approached human accuracy was essentially impossible.

Until now.

Persyst AutoLearn defines an epoch in the analysis of digital waveforms, meaning that the review and analysis of EEG has changed forever: AutoLearn makes it possible for anyone to create an accurate patient-specific detector that approaches human accuracy.

Blazing speed, incredible simplicity, total flexibility, and indispensable power:

How fast? AutoLearn can train in less than one second. Perform scans orders of magnitude faster than any general seizure detector.

How simple? Just mark the waveform activity of interest, and AutoLearn does the rest.

How flexible? Pick channels of interest, increase/decrease sensitivity and smoothing. And it supports incremental learning. Just add AutoLearn comments to fine-tune if needed.

How powerful? Use AutoLearn notifications to let you know when paroxysmal events or state changes of interest happen at the bedside, central station, or even via numeric pager. Or, use AutoLearn to quickly note everywhere a seizure happens within a recording.

What's Next?

Reveal with AutoLearn will tune to each patient, quickly achieving seizure detection with human accuracy.

Specialized AutoLearn applications will include special-purpose detectors, e.g., neonatal, pediatric, coma, ICU, and more. All with human-like accuracy.

AutoLearn Patient Independent with AutoLearn Database will provide expert-EEG systems.

Manuscript References

Algorithm architectures for patient dependent seizure detection, Clin Neuro, (accepted for publication March 2006) (reprints available)

Objectives: The goal of this work is to determine whether improved performance (compared to patient independent algorithms) can be achieved by an algorithm, developed on the fly, that requires no user input beyond the identification of the first one or two seizures in the record. Methods: The previously developed AutoLearn™ algorithm, which employs the probabilistic neural network (PNN), is tested on 209 seizures obtained from the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) or ambulatory recordings. A construction algorithm is used to compare a variety of algorithm architectures and factors. The Taguchi Design of Experiments (DoE) method is employed find the significant factors

without resorting to a full factorial design. Results: Architectures that train a single PNN per channel and use segmentation to identify ranges of similar activity are preferred. The two best architectures are insensitive to the levels of any of the other factors tested. The training time for the algorithm is less than 1 second, and approximately 2 minutes are required to find the seizures in an eight hour record. Conclusions: The final algorithm, which requires no input from the user other than the marking of the first seizure in a record, performs as well or better than the

three seizure detectors on EMU and ambulatory records. The algorithm performs nearly as well as human experts on the EMU records. Significance: The described method can be used to identify unusual seizures (or other patterns) that will be missed by the current generation of seizure detectors. We expect that the methods developed here will also aid the development of patient independent seizure detectors that can improve their performance over time by incorporating new examples.

Seizure detection: correlation of human experts, Wilson et al., Clin Neuro., 114 (2003) 2156-2164 (reprints available).

OBJECTIVE: The description and application of a new, overlap-integral comparison method and the quantification of human vs. human accuracies that can be used as goals for algorithms. METHODS: Four human experts marked ten 8 h electroencephalography (EEG) records from seizure patients. The seizures varied in origin and type, including complex partial, generalized absence, secondarily generalized and primary generalized tonic-clonic. The traditional any-overlap comparison method is used in addition to the overlap-integral method, which is sensitive to the correct placement of the seizure endpoints. RESULTS: The number of events marked by each reader ranged from 57 to

77. The average any-overlap sensitivity and false positives per hour rate are 0.92 and 0.117. The average overlap-integral correlation, sensitivity and specificity are 0.80, 0.82 and 0.9926. As expected, the correspondence between readers is high, but confounding issues resulted in overlap-integral sensitivities less than 0.5 for 10% of the records. Seven percent of the any-overlap sensitivities are less than

0.5. A comparison of the methods by record shows that the overlap-integral specificity and the any-overlap false positive rate measure different features. CONCLUSIONS: There was little variation between readers and they were essentially interchangeable. High seizure rate (many per hour), short seizure durations (<10 s) and long seizure durations (approximately 10 min) with ambiguous offsets can complicate the analysis and result in poor correlation. There may be any number of unmarked events in rigorously marked records and it may be preferable to use records from non-epilepsy patients to compute the false positive rate. The any-overlap and overlap-integral comparison methods are complementary. SIGNIFICANCE: Correlation between expert human readers can be low on some records, which will complicate testing of seizure detection algorithms.

Seizure detection: evaluation of the Reveal algorithm, Scott B. Wilson, Mark L. Scheuer, Ronald G. Emerson and Andrew J. Gabor Clinical Neurophysiology, 115 (2004) pp. 2280-2291 (reprints available)

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate an improved seizure detection algorithm and to compare with two other algorithms and human experts. METHODS: 672 seizures from 426 epilepsy patients were examined with the (new) Reveal algorithm which utilizes 3 methods, novel in their application to seizure detection: Matching Pursuit, small neural network-rules and a new connected-object hierarchical clustering algorithm. RESULTS: Reveal had a sensitivity of 76% with a false positive rate of 0.11/h. Two other algorithms (Sensa and CNet) were tested and had sensitivities of 35.4 and 48.2% and false positive rates of 0.11/h and 0.75/h, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study validates the Reveal algorithm, and shows it to compare favorably with other methods. SIGNIFICANCE: Improved seizure detection can improve patient care in both the epilepsy monitoring unit and the intensive care unit.

2005.03.29 Feature Highlights

Faster Scanning of multi-file recordings with Reveal spike and seizure detection, Reveal notifications fixed (was using detect vs. notify thresholds), updated file support for Biologic and Xltek, faster trending via iMagicMarker, and more...

New: Central Management of Insight II Montages, Electrode Maps, Analysis Templates, etc.

There is a new tab in the Display Options Settings dialog for Central Location for Support files, e.g., montages, electrode maps, and analysis templates (Adornment Montages). If this option is not set, the default location (Program Files\Persyst\Insight) is used.

Instructions:

Select View|Display Options. The new Support Files tab allows you to select a common folder (e.g., a folder on a network drive) for saving Insight II settings files:

PSFilterTemplates.xml: User-defined filters.
pstopo.ini: Electrode Maps
PSTopoTemplates.ini: Electrode templates for commonly used grid, strip, and depth electrodes
PSMontageTemplates.xml: Insight II montages
psmont.ini: Insight (previous generation) montage file

New QuickStats One-Touch Measurement Tool

The new QuickStats tool allows for one-touch measurement of voltage and frequency. Select the QuickStats cursor from the Insight II Toolbar (you may need to resize this floating toolbar if the button is not visible).

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Performing a measurement

Select the QuickStats tool, then drag a box around the waveform of interest. Hold down the Ctrl key to make multiple measurements (while leaving the previous ones visible). Page forward or back to erase.

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Updated: Insight II Electrode Map Editor

The new Insight II Electrode Map Editor introduces the following enhancements:

New: Select Edit|Undo or Redo from the Insight II menu to undo the last editing step.
New: After selecting a group of electrodes with the Lasso tool, the Select cursor is automatically selected.
Update: Selected electrodes use an oval vs. the previous square designation to avoid a pseudo-3D effect.
New: Skew option to quickly "peg" the corners of a grid array to a template photo or brain diagram.
New: Central Location for Support files, including Electrode Maps. Select View|Display Options. The new Support Files tab allows you to save the Electrode Map file "pstopo.ini" (normally saved in the C:\Program Files\Persyst\Insight folder) to a central location on a network. This allows all users to work from a common set of electrode maps, montages, analysis templates, and more.

New: Insight II Channel Selection for Enhanced Montage Editing and Grid Review

A new Select Next N and Select Prefix have been added to the Insight II Montage Bar. Right-click on the Montage Bar to select the new options::

Select First N and Select Next N: Use this to select groups of channels to color-code them for custom montages (this is particularly handy for color-coding sets of grid channels).
Select Prefix: Use this to select groups of channels by the first letter(s) of the channel label, e.g., use "GR" to select all channels GR1 through GR(x), or S1 through S(x) and so on (this is particularly handy for color-coding sets of grid channels).
Select Subset: For 10-20 Channels. Select 10-20, Left, Midline, Right, Frontal, Central, Temporal, Parietal, and Occipital.

New Persyst Multi-EEG Format Database

The new Persyst Database allows users to list multiple file formats in multiple locations simultaneously. Also, there is no delay when listing patients for review when there are a large number of patient files in a folder (which was the case when using File|Open from Patient DB).

The Persyst Database will add many new features and workflow automation over the coming months.

Launch by selecting Start|Programs|Insight|PSDatabase.

Add Recordings to the Database

Add folders by selecting the asterisk at the top of the "Locations" box. Select the "..." to browse for a folder. Next, select the file type, and check-boxes for the following options:

Search Subfolders: Look in the selected folder and one folder below for EEG files.
Add New: When the database is refreshed, add new recordings found in the folder selected.
Delete Removed: When the database is refreshed, remove recordings no longer in the folder selected.
Update Existing: When the database is refreshed, update Memo, State, and Ready/Reviewed fields.
Active: De-select to keep a folder location in the database, but not to search for any changes when the database is refreshed.

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Update the Database

Update the database by selecting Refresh Records. Options are:

Refresh Selected: Refresh information for the selected recording only.
Refresh Location: Refresh information for the selected folder only.
Refresh All: Refresh all folders and recordings.

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Save your Settings

Save database settings (e.g., folder locations, file types, etc.) by selecting Save Tables from the database menu.

Preview EEG

Place your mouse over the EEGPage button to see a preview of the EEG waveforms.

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Customize the display

Select View|Panes to toggle the Location, Files, EEGPage, and Properties display.

Drag a column header here to group by that column area above the list of recordings: Use this to sort recordings in a "tree view" by any criteria you like. Here we've dragged the Folder header to sort by location. Drag the header back to the header bar to un-group.

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Review EEG

Select Review EEG to view the selected recording. Close Insight II to return to the database. You can view multiple patients by leaving Insight II running, switching to the database from the Windows Taskbar, and selecting another patient for review.

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Version 2004.11.22

InsightII

QuickStats: drag rectangle and get uV and Hz.

Faster paging – set the Speed slider to its maximum position and the playback speed will be limited by the CPU/Monitor rather than fixed at 10 pages/sec.

Added channel subset selection operations to montage bar for grid recordings: Select First N, Select Next N, Select Invert, and Select Prefix.

Store your montage, filter, and etc. definition files in a common network folder for use by multiple readers. View|Display Options|Support Files.

Bug Fix: flat sections in traces when long page durations displayed.

iMMarker

Dramatic speed improvements – about 7x faster for online processing and 10-20x faster for offline prcessing.

aEEG (like CFM/CFAM) instrument added – especially useful for burst and suppression.

Edit|Copy support added.

Added control over instrument display height.

Reveal

Bug Fix: Program shutdown at ~19hr mark when Update EEGPage option is on.

File Formats

Added support for XLTek Rel. 5.0.

Fix for Twin CTE calibration.

Support for Nervus v. 3. Requires new system files (sys20041122.exe).

Electrode Map Editor

Draw Ellipse rather than Rectangle around selected electrodes to avoid distracting display when aligning multiple high-electrode count grids.

Undo/Redo support added.

Added Skew tool to add perspective to grids.

PSDatabase

PSDatabase is a replacement for the Open From Patient Database option available from the File menu. You can quickly find records by filename, folder or patient name and add your own comments.

Beta version released.

Version 2004.06.29

Learning Resources

Splash window changed to Learning Resources – easier access to support materials.

iMMarker

Web Snapshot feature changes to that only Gifs of current screens are created.

Support for NihonKohden patient monitor vital signs integration. (Contact Persyst for support files.)

Reveal & iReveal

Menu item added to explicitly save AutoStart, AutoEnd and ContinuePrevious settings.

InsightII

Bug Fix: Disappearing event filter settings fixed.

SpikeReview listed in Tools menu even if InsightII not purchased.

Version 2004.05.07

iMMarker

Bug Fix: Output times for “Web Snapshot” feature have been fixed.

InsightII

Added Scatterplot Adornment to compare values from two instruments.

Added lines to indicate duration of events on EEGPage.

File Formats

Added Grass/Telefactor Twin. Note: calibration may be incorrect when used with CTE amplifier.

Version 2004.03.25

iMagicMarker

Added a “Web Snapshot” feature, which is similar to regular Web Output. This feature lets you setup a different folder for capturing snapshots of interesting activity when it occurs. Larger images can be captured than might be optimal for reading over low bandwidth connections. Output, by default, is sent to c:\Temp – change this and other options via Web Snapshot Options. Capture images by pressing the Snapshot button on the far right of the MMarker toolbar. (You may need to slide the toolbar to the right of the MMarker toolbar to display the lightening bolt icon.)

Video

Bug fix: Lag of seconds (or even minutes in long records) for Play to start on some records (even though EEGPage caret was updated). Video was in sync when it started playing, the problem was that the jump when the position was changed by clicking on the EEGPage was not correct.

Version 2004.03.16

System 2004.03.16

This version requires updated system files (sys20040301.exe) to be installed for the new helpfiles and updated EasySystem support.

File Format Enhancements

Biologic CEEGraph: added support for Push Button (“PATIENT EVENT”) comments.

Compumedics: added video support.

InsightII

Bug fix: Support for Video events with Time<0.0.

Support for Sort File Types dialog.

Support for File Format Options dialog.

Version 2004.02.16

InsightII

Bug fix: InsightII hangs on slow scroll after two pages.

Removed ambiguous use of Report menu when multiple events are selected.

Added option to save filter settings with montage definition (for benefit of AutoLearn).

iMMarker

Added relay box support for notifications.

Reveal/iReveal

Bug fix: seizure event duration shown as 0.0 in CommentList.

AutoSensitivity option added for seizure detection. Turned ON for Default protocol.

Bug Fix: Unstarted Reveal doesn't allow Insight to close.

Video

Bug fix: cursor position not erased as it was moved across the EEGPage.

Reduced overhead of COM communication for benefit of Citrix support.

File Formats

Nicolet NicOne support added.

Nicolet Endeavor 3.x support added.

Version 2004.01.14

InsightII

Added AutoComment feature -- just start typing to add a new comment. Comment is positioned at position of caret (changed by clicking on EEGPage).

Bug Fix: Insert Range, Cursors|Erase All, Insert Cursor, Insert Cursor results in Range being drawn between two Cursors.

Correlation Instrument: Bug fix for incorrect output when CorrelationLagAmp option is used. Data was not calculated.

Reveal

Improved spike detection algorithm added (SDv6, previous Reveal algorithm shown as SDv5).

Tested on 18,503 spikes in 266 hours of EEG. The SDv5 and SDv6 curves are generated by applying a perception thresholds of 0.1, …, 1.0. (Highest sensitivity and FP/min at threshold=0.1). The Sensa curve was created by varying the amplitude threshold from 4 to 6.

New attributes are Use Scalp Sign and Use 1020 Topology. In general, these options should be on for scalp recordings and off for intracranial recordings. Use Scalp Sign does not dramatically change the spikes that are marked, but it does result in the marked focal points better matching what human readers mark (i.e., a preference for scalp negative components). Use 1020 Topology now replaces use of the channel Code (Temporal, Eyeblink, etc.). Turn this feature off if you don’t want to treat channels preferentially.

LightHouse

Made AutoStart persistent, extend initial delay so user has a chance to stop processing.

iMagicMarker

Bug Fix: support for selecting comments and showing text with tooltip.

File Format Enhancements

EDF90: Set Clocktime by using starttime (hh.mm.ss).

Version 2003.12.17

InsightII (previously InsightNxt) released with iMMarker and iReveal. Many features have been added and small bugs have been fixed. Listed here are those specifically requested/noted by customers.

InsightII

Many new features and small bug fixes.

Integrated ElectrodeMap editor added.

Added Report tab and associated event state for gathering important events in text report.

Tool|Amplitude Samples can now be used to export data from non-channel instruments, e.g., FFT Spectrogram.

Bug Fix: restore pen color on montage load.

Don't limit CutoffFreq/BandWidth at 100 since sampling rate may be high.

Allow user to copy adornment table text to clipboard.

Added AutoComment feature – just start typing to have a comment entered at the caret.

iSpikeReview Added

SpikeReview adornment added for integrated clustering and review of spikes marked by Reveal. (Much faster!) Reveal events now support their Reviewed status for piecewise review of long recordings.

LightHouse

AutoStart state is now persistent across program invocations (stored in LightHouseSettings.xml). Processing is delayed for 10s at startup so AutoStart can be turned off if desired.

Reveal and iReveal

Reduced memory use.

Bug Fix: rhythmic events may be missed after many 60-90 have been marked.

Bug Fix: (iReveal) custom protocol read from registry not reapplied when file opened.

iMMarker

Bug Fix: VsBkgnd instrument did not work correctly when artifact instruments were on panel.

File Format Enhancements

Biologic CEEGraphV5: “flash” -> “|” for photic comments.

Version 2003.07.02

System Updated

New dlls are included in sys20030630.exe (Persyst System install).

New File Formats Added

Added BioSemi BDF (www.biosemi.com).

File Format Enhancements

XLTek: updated to support version 3.3 SDK.

Biologic CEEGraphV5: fixed bug that did not concatenate file segments for older file versions.

Biologic CEEGraphV5: new BiologicReader.dll supports time of day adjustment when acquisition system and review system are running different versions of Windows.

Cadwell EasyEEG: new CEEG1450.dll fixes some bugs when using Prism, etc.

EB Neuro: bug fix for infrequent crash when reading events.

Insight

SpikeDetector removed from Tools list to avoid confusion.

Reveal

Fix for infrequent divide-by-zero bug when processing flat sections of EEG.

InsightNxt

Integrated MMarker feature complete.

Integrated Reveal feature complete.

Adornment Montages supported.

Bookmark events save Adornments, Cursors and DataRanges, as well as, EEGPage attributes.

Added MMarker index files (*.mg2.indx) for faster record opening over network.

Added threaded reading of Reveal events (*.sd4) for faster record opening over network.

Support for XP “look” when running under Windows XP.

Version 2003.05.16

Insight

Changed the channel limit from 255 to 4095 to support 256 channel records.

Added features to the AvgRef editor to simplify creation of “global” average references that include many or all electrodes. The PromptForWeight checkbox allows you to turn of the prompt for electrode weight when selecting an electrode. The SelectAll button selects all electrodes and equalizes and normalizes their weights. (The weight is small when many electrodes, >100, are used and may be shown as 0.00, but is really non-zero.)

Bug Fix: fixed crash that occurred when saving a montage with an average reference created from more than ~120 electrodes.

File Format Enhancements

EB Neuro: support for event text in MARKER events.

InsightNxt

Integrated MMarker supports Web output.

Version 2003.05.07

PSVideo

Now supports 32 bit color with Windows Media Player version 7.1 (or greater) installed on system.

InsightNxt

Beta version of integrated Reveal included.

AutoStart feature of integrated Reveal and MMarker working with LightHouse. LightHouse now launches InsightNxt rather than Insight.

FDA update: xml support and the possibility to display maps without table.

Support for Shadow Folder: *.lay files, *.sd4 files and *.mg2 files.

Version 2003.04.10

System Updated

New dlls are included in sys20030410.exe (Persyst System install).

InsightNxt

Beta version of integrated MMarker included.

Reveal

Updated to support “long” wave files for notification.

Insight

Added option to add TestDate to caption via registry (TitleWithTestDate.reg).

Added option to disable Home/End keys via registry (DisableVKHomeEnd.reg).

New File Formats Added

TelefactorEDF: essentially same as EDF90 but it correctly reads non-standard channel names.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Compumedics: fix for incorrectly assigned channel names in some cases; support for listing of files in Patient DB.

File Format Enhancements

EB Neuro: support for events and clock times.

Version 2003.03.05

System Updated

New dlls are included in sys20030304.exe (Persyst System install).

Report added to EEGSuite

Get your reporting done quickly and accurately with Persyst Report.

From patient information and diagnosis, through detailed interpretation, to summary and conclusion, the Report Toolbar takes you step-by-step through the creation of a comprehensive report.
Point-and-click to select commonly used comments, or quickly create custom ones.
Save time. Eliminate delays. Skip the dictation pool. Your reports are available—complete and accurate—immediately.

New File Formats Added

Neuroscan *.cnt.

Version 2003.01.08

InsightNxt

All features available in Insight should now be available in InsightNxt: PlugIns, review and deletion of Detector events, audio playback, etc.

The caret (flashing down-arrow in Insight that indicates focus) can be toggled between a vertical line and down-arrow via View|Caret as Vertical Line. Fine positioning of the caret is available via the right and left arrow keys. The caret is now listed in the set of Data Ranges options for the adornments, and is set as the default for the VoltagePlot, so it is no longer necessary to insert a cursor before using this adornment.

The analysis tools, e.g., Amplitude Min/Max, use one or more ranges that are inserted before selecting the tool. (Previously the range was selected after the desired tool was selected.)

Misc. Bug Fixes

XLTech support: The code that reads the non-default channel names from the *.ent file has been fixed, so in most cases is should no longer be necessary to create a custom channel map.

Version 2002.11.20

InsightNxt (PreRelease)

This is a prerelease of the next version of Insight. New features include: drag-n-drop of channel labels, advanced cursor control, and integrated spectral analysis including FFT, discrete wavelet transform, continuous wavelet transform, bispectrum, matching pursuit, principal component analysis, voltage plots, etc. These plots may be displayed side-by-side with the EEGPage by right clicking and selecting from the list of Vertical Adornments. (When correctly installed, the following vertical adornments should be available: VoltagePlot, FFT, Correlation, CursorOutput, DWT, MatchingPursuit, CSA, CWT, HOS, PCA, TDA, and FDA).

This prerelease version is not feature complete, has no documentation and is available for use only with a beta testing agreement.

Version 2002.11.19

Misc. Bug Fixes

Insight: fixed crash when splitter on EEGPage opened twice.

Version 2002.11.15

Reveal

The spike detection algorithm has been updated, and there are two resulting UI changes. First, the “DefaultScalp” protocol now used a Laplacian montage (LaplacianNoFpzOz) rather than Ref-Group with the default reference. This montage has the benefits of both referential (allows determination of scalp sign and topographic maps) and bipolar (one or two bad electrodes do not contaminate all the channels) montages. This is the montage used to mark the vast majority of the training records. Secondly, the Sensitivity (uV/mm) setting can now be set automatically. The computation uses a linear NN, so it should be applicable to any range (including intracranial) of EEG activities. The computation uses the first three minutes of data and is robust with respect to the presence of calibrations signals and artifacts. The automatically determined sensitivity can be checked from the Montage page after processing starts. Currently, the Automatic Sensitivity feature is enabled only on the Montage page for spike detection. If the record being analyzed is shorter than three minutes, then the AutoEnd option must be turned on so that the Automatic Sensitivity calculation uses the existing record length.

Prism

Added options to the Tools menu: Sync From EEG Page and Sync To EEG Page. These allow automatic synchronization of the Insight and FFT displays (e.g., when single paging Insight or using Prism’s Paging Bar). This very cool when you move the windows so both the EEG and FFT are visible.

CSV output is now limited to the frequency range of the displayed graph to overcome limitations with the number of columns in Excel. CSV output is now supported for coherence and correlation plots.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Fix for Bio-logic CEEGraph clock times in “stripped” records.

Prism: fixed bug when Coherence NEpochs!=2, 4, 8, ….

Reveal: added “multipath” support for CEEGraph.

Insight: allow manual opening of *.sd files.

Insight: leave selected Tab depressed for better UI feedback.

MMarker: continue from previous “end” position when AutoStart is used.

Insight, etc.: set COMRetryTimeout=60 and other changes to reduce frequency of “Server Busy” messages.

MMarker: Restore HTML attributes from history file -- support continued processing of HTML output.

Prism: fix for crash when events are used to determine input range and Resync EEG Page is selected.

Version 2002.06.21

New Features

Reveal event times are corrected (in Insight and SpikeReview) when file segments in a sequence are deleted.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Fix for Bio-logic CEEGraph when reviewing “sequenced” files offline. Files were not being concatenated and event times were incorrect.

Reveal (*.sd4) files can now be opened when they are marked as read-only, e.g., can be read from a CD.

Reveal Fixes

Fix for problem where spike channels were not listed in Insight and all times equal 0.0 in SpikeReview. Occurred with file formats where the channel name was not equal to it’s grid definition (i.e., Name != G1-G2).

Fix for Reveal window not shown on startup. (This happened when Reveal was closed from the Taskbar when minimized.)

Version 2002.05.21

Video/SnapShot Enhancements

SnapShot files created by the Archive tool can be used to play video. The video files are not (yet) clipped.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Change to Vangard format to support native (Unix) filenames (i.e., without .dat and .txt extensions).

Fix for Micromed patient name display. Allow reading of records from CD.

Reveal Fixes

Fix for "Reveal purchased?" after no channels selected bug.

UpdateEvents without UpdatePage OK.

Don't show splash screen if launched minimized.

Reduced minimum SpikeBurst duration from 1.0 to 0.4.

Fixed shutdown problem.

Support for Reveal "From EEG Page" Sensitivity.

Display system montages in Reveal settings.

Initially position at bottom right of screen. Restore previous position and size. Support WndMin for AutoStart.

Changed initialization order so protocol is restored from the Registry.

Store settings in Registry.

Version 2002.03.15

Misc. Bug Fixes

Fix for Lifelines/EDF incorrectly displayed bipolar channels.

Fix for reading BEAM records created with Intel (vs. Motorola) byte order.

Fix for “negative times” of Reveal events when XLTek records are processed as acquired.

Fix for “server busy” message when closing Reveal.

Fix for Reveal spike detection on records with a calibration signal (or other “flat” sections).

Version 2002.02.28

Misc. Bug Fixes

Fix for DigiTrace video.

Fix for using PlugIns (Reveal, etc.) with ChannelMaps (see feature added 2002.01.02).

Fix for file naming “collision” with Biologic records. The downside is that Insight, SpikeReview, etc., no longer handle deleted record segments. Biologic will fix this with an updated BiologicReader.dll at a later date.

New File Formats Added

Micromed Type 4.

Version 2002.01.02

Reveal is Here

Reveal, our new spike and seizure detector is now included in this release. It offers vastly improved features and accuracy. See the updated Helpfile for details.

Unlocking Changes

The software in this release is protected with a new method. (Dongles are no longer supported.) You should no longer have difficulty with changing computer IDs when you make changes to your hardware configuration. The downside is that you will need to contact us to re-unlock your previously purchased software when upgrading to this version from a version earlier than 2002.01.02. Run RegCenter and make sure to include the serial number(s) from your original purchase. We apologize for any difficulty this may cause you.

New PSVideo Formats Added

DigiTrace *.avi.

Insight Enhancements

The Recorded (Headbox) Channels dialog is available from the Montage menu so that you can change the default headbox grid names. You will only need to use this if the hardcoded/stored grid names are incorrect. The predefined ChannelMap named (Default) is the hardcoded/stored grid names. The predefined ChannelMap named (Private) is stored in the record’s layout file if it exists, and should be used for one-time grid assignments. Other ChannelMap names and definitions are stored in the psunkdat.ini file. You can change a ChannelMap definition by editing the Channels editbox. The definition is saved to psunkdat.ini when you select Save or Apply.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Insight: fixed program crash with “slow” scrolling mode.

Insight: fixed program crash when using Tools with > 100 channels.

Version 2001.07.12

Insight Enhancements

Support for CEEGraph photic events.

Misc. Bug Fixes

PSVideo: “no video” jumping around the EEG.

PSVideo: video playback now accounts for the “visible EEGPage” duration when scrolling.

PSVideo: fixed synchronization for CEEGraph.

EDF90/Lifelines: better handling of non-EEG channels. (Display of channels with physical dimension units “uV” are controlled via the uV/mm sensitivity rather than Polygraph Control.)

EDF90: handle short (< 1 sec) packet lengths for Rembrandt sleep export.

SnapShot files can be opened from “timed-out” Insight.

PlugIns are registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE rather than HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

Version 2001.06.19

New File Formats Added

Alliance NT, Lexicor, Lifelines and Vangard.

Biomec and Telediagnostic via the Persyst Layout format.

PSVideo Executable

PSVideo.exe is now included in EEG Suite install. Systems without the Microsoft Media Player will need to install MPSTD.EXE before using PSVideo.

PSVideo File Formats

Persyst Layout, Nicolet Bravo, NihonKohden 2100/1100, Bio-logic CEEGraph, XLTek, and NeroKard BrainLab.

Insight Enhancements

Sort File Types dialog added to the File menu so that you can place your favorite file types near the top of the list.

Sync Split View Times option added to the Scroll menu so that split views can be scrolled simultaneously with different montages.

XLTek: Added support for custom channel labels.

Misc. Bug Fixes

XLTek: incorrect clock times on archived segments – make sure the file is “exported” so that the *.eeg file exists.

Version 2001.05.01

Bio-logic Support

Support was added for the new collection montage markers.

Support for new review montage markers not yet added – playback “As Recorded” is not currently available.

BiologicReader.dll updated and no longer requires Bio-logic dongle to read compressed files.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Insight/SpikeDetector: fixed problem with Bio-logic online recording across midnight that resulted in huge *.sd files.

Version 2001.01.08

DC Channel Support

Now you can view polygraph scales for your non-EEG channels in Insight and MagicMarker. Right click on the channel label(s) and choose Edit to control the polygraph scale display and range. This is currently supported for EDF, Cadwell EasyWindows (uncalibrated) and Nicolet Bravo. Make sure to check with us if your format is not supported. (We may ask you to request support from the manufacturer of your acquisition system.)

VoltagePlot

View fast changes in high sample rate (e.g., 5000 Hz) data. Select Format|Use Microseconds to use microseconds rather than milliseconds.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Insight: fixed issues related to Bio-logic cascade file support.

Insight: fixed calibration values for 128 channel NihonKohden records.

Insight: fixed channel labels and clock times for XLTech records.

Insight: Updated Cadwell EasyWindows support: CEEG1450.dll v. 1.6.0.4.

Version 2000.08.30

Bio-logic Cascade File Support

Version 2000.08.30 provides complete support for CEEGraphV5 Cascade file support including the ability to review cascade records collected from different directories.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Insight: fix for reading Cadwell EasyWindows EEG records from read-only media.

Insight: fix for reading Bio-logic CEEGraphV5 formatted EEG records with total recording lengths exceeding 36 hours.

Insight: fix for reading correct Date and File times for CEEGRaphV5 formatted EEG records.

SpikeReview: fix for SpikeReview program when reviewing events from EEG records comprised of multiple EEG files, after the deletion of EEG files from the record.

Prism-Spectrum: fix for the display of Topographic maps when using Montage definitions that contain gaps.

Version 2000.07.14

Persyst SnapShots

You can now create truly portable EEG recordings from virtually any EEG instrument. SnapShots enables Insight to export EEG files using Persyst’s Layout format, and adds a unique encrypted key to the exported file. This key will unlock free/expired trial versions of Insight (2000.05.26 or later) to provide full review capability free to the recipient— change montage, gain, filters, make detailed measurements, add comments and save them to the recording, and more.

Archive Tool Enhancements

Added compression output feature.

Added output using current montage definition.

Insight Enhancements

Added initial file support for AlphaTrace file format.

SpikeDetector Enhancements

Added support for Relay Box notifications.

Separated SpikeDetector and SpikeReview license files.

Fix for multiple notifications.

SpikeReview Enhancements

Separated SpikeDetector and SpikeReview license files.

RegCenter Enhancements

Added support for Review and SnapShot license files.

Misc. Bug Fixes

MicroMed: fix for problems with applying correct waveform calibration.

NihonKohden 1100: fix for reading montage definitions from registry.

Voyageur: fix for reading records with missing EEG channels.

Satellite_ES: fix for case sensitive reference usage.

SpikeDetector: fix for doubling of notifications.

MagicMarker: fix for reading data from instruments defined using number-only channels.

RegCenter: fix for locking error on Windows 2000.

Installation: fix to eliminate need to uninstall Suite before performing upgrade.

Version 2000.01.27

Context Sensitive Help

Context Sensitive Help is now available for Insight and all the PlugIns.

MagicMarker Enhancements

Added Total vs. Average option for Power Instrument.

Insight Enhancements

Added Export to Acquisition Log to Tools menu so that Insight and Detector events can be exported to the event log of the acquisition file. (This currently only works with Cadwell EasyWindows.)

The Average Reference editor now supports > 64 channels.

Annoying “jump to nearest event” feature of Navigation Bar removed because the next/previous event buttons were added to the scrollbar.

The EEGPage range indicator of the Navigation Bar was changed from gray to blue to ease viewing.

Added support for reading “local montage” definitions from layout files. Only supported for exported data and currently requires hand editing of layout files. Export of montages will be added to the Archive PlugIn.

Misc. Bug Fixes

Fix for problems opening some DigiTrace records.

Fix for channel labels on some NihonKohden 1100 records.

Version 1999.12.13

Misc. Bug Fixes

NihonKohden 1100: fixed reading of electrode names from electrode file.

SpikeDetector: fixed slowing and eventual “out of memory” error when a long flat section (no EEG) was encountered.

SpikeDetector: choosing Change from the Notifications dialog sometimes resulted in a hidden change dialog.

Version 1999.11.29

MagicMarker Enhancements

Fix for case where Web directory not found and was writing to acquisition source directory.

Insight Enhancements

Average Reference Editor: Allow user to input average channel weights outside of {-1,1}.

PlaybackAsRecorded: Insight will display “Recorded” montage for an acquisition montage not found.

New File Formats Added

Initial support for Cleveland MD Crystal.

File Format Changes

NihonKohden 1100: support for “FREE” montages.

NihonKohden 1100/2100: fix for event text that was not null terminated.

Megsis Focus: fix for application error that may occur when reading the end of a record.

Version 1999.11.03

Archive PlugIn

Select Tools|Archive from within Insight to archive SpikeDetector events or any other event type that you choose. This allows you to retain only those events of interest in a much smaller file.

Programmers: the source code for the PlugIn is in the Beta area of our website. The file Archive.zip also contains a MS Word document explaining how to add new export file types.

Insight Enhancements

Insight can display the full path of the open file by making a Registry change. Open the file TitleIsFullPath.reg to update the registry. (This file can be edited by Notepad to turn this feature off.)

Jump to the first, last, next or previous event by using the new buttons on the NavigationBar’s horizontal scrollbar.

Audio playback has been changed so that the sound starts playing before the page display is updated.

The NavigationBar is now updated when the duration of a comment is changed.

Arrow keys now operate when reviewing SpikeDetector events after the current event has been deleted.

The FileType is now correctly updated when Restore Settings on Open is on.

SpikeDetector Enhancements

Visual and audible notifications are now available upon selected event detections. Select Settings|Notification to enable this feature.

Programmers: Added new AutoStart flags WndMin and ScanMontage, see updated AutoStart.zip. ComSamp.zip has also been updated.

SpikeReview Enhancements

Tools|Export Groups to a File now prompts with FileName.csv rather than "groups.csv".

MagicMarker Enhancements

The creation of new Beds for Web updating is more robust.

Fix for Loss of Computer Registration

The generation of computer ids used for software registration (RegCenter) is now (hopefully) more robust, and should fix the problem with certain machines becoming unregistered.

File Format Changes

NihohKohden 1100: Not Yet Validated: reads electrode (*.21e) files and system montages.

DigiTrace: fix for changing clock times after jumping to end of record, added date to comments for easy correlation with patient log.

Nicolet Satellite_ES: fix for short record duration when first channel is a lower sampling rate.

Nicolet Bravo: fix for crash when comment fields are more than a single line, fix bad avg. reference definitions, and fix for truncated duration of multifile records.

Cadwell EasyWindows: support for Version 1.4.

Telefactor TUFF: can now read across non-consecutively numbered segments.

Version 1999.07.30

Updated Online Help

The online helpfile has been updated to describe many of the new features added to the EEG Suite since the User’s Guides were printed. The What’s New section contains links to the descriptions of the new features.

File Formats Added

EBNeuro GalNT.

File Format Changes

NEC Synafit: Acquisition events are now read.

Bio-logic CEEGraphV5: BiologicReader.dll (1.0.2.3) has been updated to support online records.

NihonKohden 1100: Partial support for the 1100 system added – no system montage support.

Nicolet Bravo: Fix for program crash on some system montages.

Telefactor CTE64: Fix for incorrect display (repeated segments).

DigiTrace: Look for montfile.dat in c:\seizure as well as the local record folder.

XLTek NeuroWorks: Fix for incorrect display. (Bug introduced when photic display added.)

Version 1999.06.23

New Navigational Features for Insight

A Navigation Bar, which displays all the events in the record as vertical lines, has been added to the bottom of the display. Click on the bar to jump to that point in the record. Right click to change the display properties (event filter and display duration). Select Navigation Bar from the View menu to show or hide the bar. Let the mouse hover over the bar to display a ToolTip with the time and event text. You can selectively display all the events, only those that match filters that you define, or just the SpikeDetector events. The Detector display shows rhythmic events in blue. The height of the event is proportional to its perception, p=1.0 -> full height. Spikes are displayed in green as the number per second. Full height equals 3 spikes/sec.

Support for the Mouse Wheel has been added: spin the wheel to page forward/backward through the record.

Buttons for page forward/backward and jump to start/end of the record have been added to the horizontal scrollbar. (This fixes a problem with the paging very long records via the scrollbar.)

A tracking ToolTip has been added to the horizontal scrollbar for easier positioning of the record at desired times. (This feature requires newer system files, e.g., those installed with Internet Explorer 4.0.)

DLL Update

The shipped DLLs have been updated to sync with Visual Studio 6 SP2.

New File Formats Added

Megsis Focus. (You will need a copy of EEGCmpr.dll and a hardlock from Megsis to read compressed files.)

File Format Changes

Profile: Support for the MR95 release.

MicroMed: Support for file type 3.

BrainLab: Clock times correctly account for start/stop recording.

Satellite_ES: Bug fix for records stored with multiple sampling rates, e.g., EEG @ 100 Hz and EKG @ 200 Hz.

Insight Changes

Added View|Restore Settings on Open option, which resets the page to the default settings any time a new record is opened.

SpikeReview Changes

Review Wizard: Better handling of group counting as result of delete/expand.

Return to Review view does not reset position to the first group, this allows you to jump to see the individual spikes and jump back.

SpikeDetector Changes

Bug Fix: Rhythmic Bursts are now correctly limited to the Max Duration setting.

The Write Events to Acquisition Log feature (from the Settings menu) now allows you to select the event type (spike, spike burst or rhythmic burst). This feature currently only applies to Cadwell EasyWindows records and NihonKohden systems that launch SpikeDetector from NKReview (rather than Insight).