#Giving Paralyzed People a Voice A new device which transforms paralysis victimsbreath into words believed to be the first invention of its kind has been developed by academics from Loughborough University.
Billed as a tool to help bring back the art of conversation for sufferers of severe paralysis and loss of speech,
and converts reath signalsinto words using pattern recognition software and an analogue-to-digital converter. A speech synthesizer then reads the words aloud.
Dr. David Kerr, Senior Lecturer in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, and Dr. Kaddour Bouazza-Marouf, Reader in Mechatronics in Medicine, said the device learns from its user,
building up its knowledge as it goes. It allows the user to control how he
or she wishes to communicate effectively enabling them to create their own language by varying the speed of their breathing.
Consultant Anaesthetist at Glenfield Hospital. hat we are proposing is a system that learns with the user to form an effective vocabulary that suits the person rather than the machine,
A new device which transforms paralysis victimsbreath into words believed to be the first invention of its kind has been developed by academics from Loughborough University. hen it comes to teaching our invention to recognise words and phrases,
and range from paper-based tools to expensive, sophisticated electronic devices. Our AAC device uses analogue signals in continuous form,
or other speech disorders communicate. In an intensive care setting, the technology has the potential to be used to make an early diagnosis of locked-in syndrome (LIS),
by allowing patients, including those on ventilators, to communicate effectively for the first time by breathing an almost effortless act
which requires no speech, limb or facial movements. o
#Oxytocin Delivering Nasal Device to Treat Mental illness Researchers at the University of Oslo have tested a new device for delivering hormone treatments for mental illness through the nose.
This method was found to deliver medicine to the brain with few side effects. About one out of every hundred Norwegians develop schizophrenia or autism in the course of their lifetime.
Moreover, at any one time some 20,000 people are receiving treatment for these problems. Many psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are characterised by poor social functioning.
Oxytocin is a hormone that influences social behaviour and has shown promise for the treatment of mental illness.
Researchers at Uio have discovered now that low doses of oxytocin may help patients with mental illness to better perceive social signals.
As part of this project, they have collaborated with the company Optinose, who have developed a new device designed to improve medicine delivery to the brain via the nose.
Regulates social behaviour Oxytocin has historically been known to play a crucial role in child rearing as it facilitates pregnancy, birth,
and the release of milk during nursing. Further, oxytocin helps regulate cardiac functions and fluid levels.
More recent research has revealed the importance of oxytocin for social behaviour. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide and was discovered in 1953.
Amino acids are also known as the building blocks of proteins which we find in all types of cells.
Medicine through the nose Because of oxytocin role in social behaviour, researchers have explored the possibility of administering the hormone for the treatment of mental illness.
Professor Ole A. Andreassen and his research team have collaborated with Optinose on a project that evaluated two different doses of oxytocin
Professor Ole A. Andreassen explains: he results show that intranasal administration, i e. introducing oxytocin through the nose,
Breathing helps Optinose uses a new technology to distribute medicine to the brain, making use of the user breath to propel medicine deep into the nasal cavity.
The device administers oxytocin high up into the patient nasal cavity. When the medicine is targeted deep inside the nose,
it enables brain delivery along nerve pathways from the uppermost part of the nasal cavity. Conventional nasal spray devices are suited not to consistently deliver medicine high up enough into the nose.
The device also expands the nasal cavity, facilitating nose-to-brain medicine delivery. As the user exhales into the device
this closes the soft palate and prevents the medicine from being lost down the throat. Since less medicine is lost along the way,
patients can take smaller doses and accordingly experience fewer side effects. May yield new treatments The next step in the research is to carry out the same tests on people with mental illness. e are now running tests in volunteers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders,
says Dr Quintana. e hope that this research project is the first step in the development of a series of new medicines that may be of great help to more people with mental illness,
concludes Professor Andreassen o
#New Technology Enables Completely Paralyzed Man to Voluntarily Move His Legs Robotic step training and noninvasive spinal stimulation enable patient to take thousands of steps.
A 39-year-old man who had had been paralyzed completely for four years was able to voluntarily control his leg muscles
and take thousands of steps in a obotic exoskeletondevice during five days of training and for two weeks afterward a team of UCLA scientists reports this week.
This is the first time that a person with chronic, complete paralysis has regained enough voluntary control to actively work with a robotic device designed to enhance mobility.
In addition to the robotic device the man was aided by a novel noninvasive spinal stimulation technique that does not require surgery.
His leg movements also resulted in other health benefits, including improved cardiovascular function and muscle tone.
The new approach combines a battery-powered wearable bionic suit that enables people to move their legs in a step-like fashion,
with a noninvasive procedure that the same researchers had used previously to enable five men who had been paralyzed completely to move their legs in a rhythmic motion.
That earlier achievement is believed to be the first time people who are paralyzed completely have been able to relearn voluntary leg movements without surgery.
In 2010, Pollock fell from a second-story window and suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down.
At UCLA, Pollock made substantial progress after receiving a few weeks of physical training without spinal stimulation
and then just five days of spinal stimulation training in a one-week span, for about an hour a day. n the last few weeks of the trial,
Pollock said. his is an aerobic training zone, a rate I haven even come close to
The research will be published by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the world largest society of biomedical engineers. t will be difficult to get people with complete paralysis to walk completely independently,
but even if they don accomplish that, the fact they can assist themselves in walking will greatly improve their overall health
and quality of life, said V. Reggie Edgerton, senior author of the research and a UCLA distinguished professor of integrative biology and physiology, neurobiology and neurosurgery.
California-based Ekso Bionics which captures data that enables the research team to determine how much the subject is moving his own limbs,
as opposed to being aided by the device. f the robot does all the work, the subject becomes passive
The data showed that Pollock was actively flexing his left knee and raising his left leg and that during and after the electrical stimulation,
it wasn just the robotic device doing the work . or people who are injured severely but not completely paralyzed,
Edgerton said. e need to expand the clinical toolbox available for people with spinal cord injury and other diseases.
and we are encouraged by these findings to broaden our understanding of possible treatment options for paralysis,
which helped fund the research. iven the complexities of a spinal cord injury, there will be no one-size-fits-all cure
and approaches to remind the spine of its potential even years after an injury, he said.
his is a great example of a therapeutic approach that combines two very different modalities neuromodulation
much like multi-drug therapy, may ultimately benefit patients with impaired mobility in a wide variety of rehabilitation settings.
Neurorecovery Technologies, a medical technology company Edgerton founded, designs and develops devices that help restore movement in patients with paralysis. The company provided the device used to stimulate the spinal cord in combination with the Ekso in this research.
he now believes it is possible to significantly improve quality of life for patients with severe spinal cord injuries,
as a result of a spinal cord injury has become the first person to be able to eelphysical sensations through a prosthetic hand directly connected to his brain,
this work shows the potential for seamless biotechnological restoration of near-natural function. The clinical work involved the placement of electrode arrays onto the paralyzed volunteer sensory cortexhe brain region responsible for identifying tactile sensations such as pressure.
In addition the team placed arrays on the volunteer motor cortex, the part of the brain that directs body movements.
a feat previously accomplished under the DARPA program by another person with similar injuries. Then, breaking new neurotechnological ground, the researchers went on to provide the volunteer a sense of touch.
The APL hand contains sophisticated torque sensors that can detect when pressure is being applied to any of its fingers,
A Future Technology Forum, hosted by DARPA in St louis. Further details about the work are being withheld pending peer review and acceptance for publication in a scientific journal.
The restoration of sensation with implanted neural arrays is one of several neurotechnology-based advances emerging from DARPA 18-month-old Biological Technologies Office,
ARPA investments in neurotechnologies are helping to open entirely new worlds of function and experience for individuals living with paralysis
and have the potential to benefit people with similarly debilitating brain injuries or diseases, he said.
In addition to the Revolutionizing Prosthetics program that focuses on restoring movement and sensation DARPA portfolio of neurotechnology programs includes the Restoring Active Memory (RAM) and Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) programs,
which seek to develop closed-loop direct interfaces to the brain to restore function to individuals living with memory loss from traumatic brain injury or complex neuropsychiatric illness y
#X-ray Vision: Transparent Brains Ready for Study Researchers at the RIKEN Brain science Institute in Japan have developed a new technique for creating transparent tissue that can be used to illuminate 3d brain anatomy at very high resolutions.
the work showcases the new technology and its practical importance in clinical science by showing how it has given new insights into Alzheimer disease plaques. he usefulness of optical clearing techniques can be measured by their ability to gather
and collected data that may resolve several current issues regarding the pathology of Alzheimer disease.
mouse model of Alzheimer disease developed at the RIKEN BSI by Takaomi Saido team. After showing how Scales treatment can preserve tissue,
the researchers put the technique to practical use by visualizing in 3d the mysterious iffuseplaques seen in the postmortem brains of Alzheimer disease patients that are typically undetectable using 2d imaging.
but not in later stages of the disease after the plaques have accumulated. learing tissue with Scales followed by 3d microscopy has clear advantages over 2d stereology or immunohistochemistry,
not only for visualizing plaques in Alzheimer disease, but also for examining normal neural circuits and pinpointing structural changes that characterize other brain diseases. t
#Researchers Identify Three Distinct Subtypes of Alzheimer Disease Alzheimer disease, long thought to be a single disease,
really consists of three distinct subtypes, according to a UCLA study. The finding could lead to more highly targeted research and, eventually, new treatments for the debilitating neurological disorder,
which robs people of their memories. The study further found that one of the three variations,
a UCLA professor of neurology and member of the Easton Laboratory for Neurodegenerative Disease Research. ecause the presentation varies from person to person,
there has been suspicion for years that Alzheimer represents more than one illness, said Bredesen, who also is the founding president of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. hen laboratory tests go beyond the usual tests,
but other metabolic abnormalities are present. Cortical, which affects relatively young individuals and appears more widely distributed across the brain than the other subtypes of Alzheimer.
but people with this subtype of the disease tend to lose language skills. It is misdiagnosed often,
appear in the current issue of the peer-reviewed journal Aging. No effective therapy for Alzheimer exists.
And scientists have yet to completely identify the cause, although multiple studies have pointed to metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, hormonal deficiencies and hyperhomocysteinemia,
a condition characterized by an abnormally high level of an amino acid in the blood. In a 2014 paper, Bredesen showed that making lifestyle,
exercise and diet changes designed to improve the body metabolism reversed cognitive decline in nine out of 10 patients with early Alzheimer disease or its precursors.
The current finding grew out of an extensive evaluation of the data from last year study
and it could eventually help scientists pinpoint more precise targets for treatments the same approach that has led to major advances in treating other diseases.
researchers have recently been able to develop precise treatments for cancer by sequencing tumor genomes
and comparing them to the patientsgenomes to better understand what drives the formation and growth of tumors. owever,
in Alzheimer disease, there is no tumor to biopsy, Bredesen said. o how do we get an idea about
The approach we took was to use the underlying metabolic mechanisms of the disease process to guide the establishment of an extensive set of laboratory tests, such as fasting insulin, copper-to-zinc ratio and dozens of others.
It is the most common age-related dementia, and the number of people with the disease in the U s. is expected to increase to 15 million in 2050,
from nearly 6 million today. The cost to treat people in the U s. with Alzheimer
and other dementias is expected to be $226 billion in 2015 alone, and could reach $1. 1 trillion in 2050 h
#Researchers Identify Protein That Opens the Door to Cell Death Findings could aid development of novel therapeutics for conditions ranging from heart failure and stroke to cancer and neurodegeneration.
A protein embedded in the surface of mitochondria the energy-producing batteries of living cells opens the door to cell death,
causing cells to experience severe power failures, according to new work by researchers at Temple University School of medicine.
The new study, appearing online September 17 in the journal Molecular Cell, suggests that blocking the door with a small molecule inhibitor could be key to the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke
The study, led by Muniswamy Madesh, Phd, Associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry, the Cardiovascular Research center,
and the Center for Translational Medicine at Temple University School of medicine (TUSM), shows that the protein, spastic paraplegia 7 (SPG7), is the central component of the so-called permeability transition pore (PTP),
a protein complex in the mitochondrial membrane that mediates necrotic cell death (death caused by cell injury).
-based screen in which the activity of each gene under investigation was knocked down, or silenced, to examine its effects on mitochondrial calcium levels.
The researchers began with a panel of 128 different genes but after initial screening narrowed the field to just 14 candidate PTP components.
Much of what is known about the PTP comes from studies of mitochondria in disease. In pathological states, particularly those involving hypoxia (oxygen deficiency),
calcium and ROS accumulate within mitochondria, causing them to swell and prompting the PTP to open.
which normally sustains energy production, it results in a catastrophic drop in cellular energy levels. In the absence of disease, precisely how the PTP helps to mediate normal cellular physiology remains unclear.
According to Dr. Madesh, nder physiological conditions, SPG7 may function through transient pore openings to release toxic metabolites that have accumulated in mitochondria.
He plans to explore this possibility with knockout animal models. Dr. Madesh also explained that the new findings could aid the development of novel therapeutics for conditions ranging from heart failure and stroke to cancer and neurodegeneration all of
which involve hypoxia and mitochondrial dysfunction to varying degrees. In these diseases if the PTP could be prevented from opening,
mitochondria could potentially continue to function, and cell death could be averted. With colleagues at TUSM, Dr. Madesh plans to explore the effects of SPG7 inhibitors in animals and, potentially, human patients t
#Novel Role of Mitochondria in Immune Function Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a new role for an enzyme involved in cell death.
Their study shows how the enzyme, called RIPK3, relays signals between the cell mitochondria owerhousesand the immune system.
The new study shows that this crosstalk is important not only for launching immune responses against tumors,
but also for regulating the inflammatory responses that may result in autoimmune diseases. his finding could be helpful for developing strategies to target cancer
and inflammatory diseases, said TSRI Assistant professor of Immunology Young Jun Kang, who collaborated on the study with the lab of TSRI Institute Professor Richard A. Lerner,
who is also Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Immunochemistry. The study was published September 18, 2015 in the journal Nature Communications.
Talking to the Immune system Previous studies have shown RIPK3 controls the induction of a type of programmed cell death, called necroptosis,
which protects the body from harmful mutations and infections. However, scientists had understood not fully RIPK3 role in the immune system.
the immune cells that play dual roles in the development of autoimmune diseases and the destruction of cancers.
scientists may be able to develop ways to better control NKTS to attack tumors. The new study also suggests there may be a way to intervene in the pathway to block inflammation.
implying a role for RIPK3 in autoimmune diseases. Kang said future studies will focus on understanding the details of this new signaling pathway,
possibly paving the way for new therapies that can either hone the pathway cancer-killing role or reduce its role in inflammation
#Key Morphine Regulator That May Reduce Risk of Pain killer Addiction Identified Once used in the 18th century as currency to reverse the trade imbalance between China and Britain,
morphine and its painkilling qualities have been misused misunderstood (and) almost continually ever since. The drug works its euphoric effect by acting on a specific protein that has been part of vertebrate anatomy for nearly a half-billion years.
Despite that lengthy pedigree, regulation of these receptor proteins has never been understood well. A new study led by Kirill Martemyanov, an associate professor on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI
has shown that a specific molecule controls morphine receptor signaling in a small group of brain cells.
The study was published recently online ahead of print by the journal Biological Psychiatry. The molecule in question is known as a regulator of G protein signaling (RGS PROTEIN,
Using genetically modified animal models lacking a particular RGS PROTEIN called RGS7, a protein abundant in the brain,
you could look specifically for RGS7 levels for any disabling mutation with a simple blood test,
#Possible Biomarker for Autism Discovered Study also points to potential new drug discovery advances. By identifying a key signaling defect within a specific membrane structure in all cells, University of California,
Irvine researchers believe, they have found both a possible reliable biomarker for diagnosing certain forms of autism and a potential therapeutic target.
Dr. J. Jay Gargus, Ian Parker and colleagues at the UCI Center for Autism Research & Translation examined skin biopsies of patients with three very different genetic types
of the disorder (fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis 1 and 2). They discovered that a cellular calcium signaling process involving the inositol trisphosphate receptor was altered very much.
This IP3R functional defect was located in the endoplasmic reticulum which is specialized among the membrane compartments in cells called organelles,
and may underpin cognitive impairments and possibly digestive and immune problems associated with autism. e believe this finding will be another arrow in the quiver for early and accurate diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders,
said Gargus, director of the Center for Autism Research & Translation and professor of pediatrics and physiology & biophysics. qually exciting,
it also presents a target of a molecular class already well-established to be useful for drug discovery.
Study results appear online in Translational Psychiatry, a Nature publication. Autism spectrum disorder is a range of complex neurodevelopmental disorders affecting 2 percent of U s. children.
The social and economic burden of ASD is enormous currently estimated at more than $66 billion per year in the U s. alone.
There are also no current, reliable diagnostic biomarkers for ASD. Genetic research has identified hundreds of genes that are involved,
which impedes diagnosis and, ultimately, drug development. There simply may be too many targets, each with too small an effect.
Many of these genes associated with ASD, however, have been found to be part of the same signaling pathway,
According to Gargus, diseases of the organelles, such as the ER, are an emerging field in medicine,
with several well-recognized neurological ailments linked to two other ones, the mitochondria and lysosomes.
The IP3R controls the release of calcium from the ER. In the brain, calcium is used to communicate information within and between neurons
including ones regulating learning and memory, neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release areas known to be dysfunctional in ASD. e propose that the proper function of this channel
said Parker, a fellow of London Royal Society and UCI professor of neurobiology & behavior, who studies cellular calcium signaling.
To see if IP3R function is altered across the autism spectrum, clinical researchers at The Center for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders
which is affiliated with the Center for Autism Research & Translation are currently expanding the study
and have begun to examine children with and without typical ASD for the same signaling abnormalities.
and sophisticated EEG, sleep and biochemical studies are performed. This includes the sequencing of their entire genome.
Also, skin cell samples are cultured and made available to lab-based researchers for functional assays. In the area of drug discovery, scientists at the Center for Autism Research & Translation continue to probe the IP3R channel,
specifically how it regulates the level of neuron excitability. The brains of people who have autism show signs of hyperexcitability,
which is seen also in epilepsy, a disorder increasingly found to be associated with ASD. Cells from individuals who have depressed autism exhibit levels of calcium signaling
and this might explain why these patients experience this hyperexcitability. By restoring the release of calcium from the IP3R,
the researchers believe, they can apply a rakeon this activity p
#Liquid crystals Show Potential for Detecting Neurodegenerative Diseases Liquid crystals are familiar to most of us as the somewhat humdrum stuff used to make computer displays and TVS.
Even for scientists, it has not been easy to find other ways of using them.
Now a group of researchers at the University of Chicago Institute for Molecular Engineering (IME) is putting liquid crystals to work in a completely unexpected realm:
as detectors for the protein fibers implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer.
less costly way to detect these fibers and to do so at a much earlier stage of their formation than has been possible before the stage
when they are thought to be the most toxic. t is extremely important that one develop techniques that allow us to detect the formation of these so-called amyloid fibrils
whose group did the new work. e have developed a system that allows us to detect them in a simple and inexpensive manner.
Amyloid fibrils are protein aggregates that are associated with the development of neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington disease, Parkinson, Alzheimer,
Scientists would like to be able to study their formation both for therapeutic reasons and so that they can test the effect of new drugs on inhibiting their growth.
Then they applied chemicals to the 5cb film that caused the molecules to align in such a way as to block the passage of light.
Floating on top of the film was made a membrane of molecules resembling those found in the membranes of biological cells.
which the scientists injected the molecules that spontaneously form the toxic aggregates. s aggregates grow on the membrane,
the Liew Family Professor in Molecular Engineering. he liquid crystal molecules that are at the interface become distorted:
This disturbance on the membrane the imprint of the protein fibers is transmitted down through the liquid crystal film,
The fibers might be tens of nanometers in diameter and a hundred nanometers long, far smaller than a red blood cell.
and adopt the shape of the actual fibers that the protein is forming. Except youe not seeing the fibers,
youe seeing the liquid crystal response to the fibers. The work of de Pablo team was published online Sept. 9, 2015, by the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
Co-authoring the article were IME scientists Monirosadat Sadati, Julio Armas-Perez, Jose Martinez-Gonzalez
and Juan Hernandez-Ortiz, as well as Aslin Izmitli-Apik and Nicholas Abbott of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
They relied crucially on theoretical molecular models, both to help guide them through the real system
They are now developing sensors for the amyloid fibrils that may allow experimenters to use droplets of liquid crystals in emulsion rather than the flat surfaces used in the proof-of-concept experiments.
or other body fluid using the new detectors, or for drug researchers to put the amyloid proteins in water,
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