your brain has to send signals down through your spinal cord to the nerves that operate your fingers.
But a number of conditions might slow the signal from the brain to the fingers, such as sleep deprivation
The researchers called it a"window into the brain"(metaphorically, of course. Right now, the algorithm they've developed is refined not enough to distinguish Parkinson's patients from people who are sleep deprived,
#Glowing Tumor Paint Shows Surgeons Where To Cut Brain surgery is complicated notoriously. Before surgeons go in to remove a tumor,
and eyes to distinguish tumor cells from healthy brain cells. Now researchers have developed a"paint"that can be injected into a patient's veins to make tumor cells glow.
which protects the brain from harmful chemicals that might be in the blood. The first few test subjects had tumors that were deep in the brain
so the surgeons had to remove a piece of the tissue before shining a light on it.
#A New Kind of Brain Scan Can See Your Pain, Literally Nothing hurts Americans more than chronic pain.
The good news, finally, is that scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston have unveiled a new brain-scanning method that allows doctors to see chronic pain in exquisite detail for the first time.
patientsscans lit up in brain areas corresponding to where in the body they ached. 44: Number of Americans who die every day from overdosing on prescription painkillers,
ramping up the transmission of pain signals to the brain. ver the past few years,
and they propagate throughout the brain. Prions can form sporadically or be transmitted through exposure, including through food (this is how mad cow disease spreads).
In the study, the researchers looked at the brains of eight patients who, as children, received a medical procedure that was later found to transmit prions.
And yet the researchers were surprised to find that six of their brains contained the protein amyloid beta,
was able to feel a physical sensation thanks to a hand prosthetic attached to his brain,
DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said in a press release. y wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain,
If someone hands you an unknown object, individual nerve pathways transmit different pieces of information--an object weight, temperature, smoothness--up the arm and spinal cord and into the brain,
what youe holding (researchers still aren quite sure how the brain does this). But researchers have had a hard time replicating this sensory ability with prosthetics.
In some experiments, patients have been able to move prosthetic limbs just by thinking about it--a chip implanted in the brain translates the electricity in the brain motor cortex into instructions for the prosthetic to move.
But engineering prosthetics so that they can transmit information to the brain had so far proven elusive.
In this experiment, the researchers used wires to connect a prosthetic arm to chip placed on the patient motor cortex, responsible for movement,
and sensory cortex, where the brain compiles sensory information. The prosthetic hand contains torque sensors that can detect minute changes in pressure.
Once the brain and arm were hooked up the researchers blindfolded the patient, then gently touched each of the prosthetic fingers.
#DARPA Taps Into the Brain To Give Patients Robo-Touch and Better Memory ST LOUIS By hardwiring into the brains of people with traumatic injuries,
scientists have been able to restore the feeling of touch and to improve memories, according to researchers at DARPA.
In another breakthrough, volunteers who got electrical arrays implanted in their brains are seeing improvements in their memory,
said program manager Justin Sanchez. ithout feedback from signals traveling back to the brain, it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements,
DARPA engineers and scientists at Johns hopkins university Applied Physics laboratory first inserted electrodes into the patient motor cortex.
and converts this pressure into electrical signals that the brain implant reads. In a series of tests, the team touched each of the prosthetic hand fingers
people who were undergoing brain surgery and volunteered to get electrode implants saw improvement in their scores on memory tests,
They received small electrode arrays placed in brain regions involved in the formation of declarative memory, according to DARPA.
Researchers were able to capture signals coming from the brain during the process of memory formation and recall.
and as we learn more about how to stimulate the brain ever more precisely to achieve the most therapeutic effects,
the brain. ince the average human has about 100 trillon bacteria in or on them it seems there certainly would be room to put your social security number in the genome of some bacteria or virus. However,
or MEG, is a noninvasive technique for investigating human brain activity for surgical planning or research,
#Brain training app could help people with schizophrenia Scientists at Cambridge university said tests on a small number of patients who played the game over four weeks found they had improvements in memory and learning.
Essentially, the new nerve network reintroduces conversation between the brain and the muscles that allows patients, once again,
which acts as the body's control tower by communicating to the brain physical activities both large and small.
because their brains can't talk to the nerves in the lower body, and they often can't feel the need to go to the bathroom,
patients undergo extensive physical therapy to train the brain to recognize the new nerve signals, a process that takes about 6-18 months."
#Artificial skin That Can Send Pressure sensation To Brain cell Stanford engineers have created a plastic"skin"that can detect how hard it is being pressed
and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.
temperature and pain signals to the brain. Ultimately she wants to create a flexible electronic fabric embedded with sensors that could cover a prosthetic limb
which transmits pressure information as short pulses of electricity, similar to Morse code, to the brain.
Furthermore, they were able to transfer these sensory signals to the brain cells of mice in vitro using optogenetics.
This results in seizures and such synchronous discharges in the brain occur most frequently in the temporal lobe.
So-called ion channels are involved in the transfer of signals in the brain; these channels act like a doorman to regulate the entry of calcium ions in the nerve cells.
The hippocampus, located in the temporal lobe, is a central switching station in the brain. MTF1 acts like a switch in the brain The team of Prof.
Becker, together with scientists from the departments of Experimental Epileptology and Neuroradiology of the University of Bonn Hospital as well as from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Israel
New technology enables observations of the living brain The scientists used a novel method during their examinations.
With the help of viruses, the researchers introduced fluorescing molecules in the brains of mice
when a fatty deposit or blood clot blocks an artery that supplies blood to the brain.
The longer the brain or heart are oxygenated without blood the greater the risk that vital tissues will begin to die,
#US government develops mind-controlled prosthetic arm with the sense of touch The US defence force announced last week that it has given a paralysed man the ability to'feel'physical sensations through a prosthetic robotic hand that been connected directly to his brain.
but without feedback from signals travelling back to the brain it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements.
By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this work shows the potential for seamless biotechnological restoration of near-natural function."
using nothing but his brain power. Now the team behind the technology has demonstrated how the battery-powered device can impart the feeling of touch on top of grip, movement,
They did this by placing electrode arrays onto a paralysed volunteer sensory cortex-a region in the brain that responsible for identifying
Arrays were placed also on the volunteer motor cortex which is responsible for facilitating body movements.""The wires from the motor cortex allow the wearer to control the motion of the robot arm,
and pressure sensors in the arm that connect back into the sensory cortex give the wearer the sensation that they are touching something,
and this was converted into electrical signals that were fed into the volunteer brain. When testing the arm in the lab,
This neural network approach adapts over time and mimics the human brain. Essentially, modern day chess programs use'brute force'to beat human players,
so Giraffe could help point the way towards artificial intelligence that operates more like our own brains do.
Paralysed man walks again via brain waves rerouted to his legs A paraplegic man who was paralysed for five years has walked again on his own two feet,
thanks to a new kind of brain-computer interface that can reroute his thoughts to his legs, bypassing his spinal cord entirely.
The anonymous man, who experiences complete paralysis in both legs due to a severe spinal cord injury (SCI), is the first such patient to demonstrate that brain-controlled overground walking after paraplegia due to
the brain can still generate robust brain waves that can be harnessed to enable basic walking,
one of the researchers, Zoran Nenadic from the University of California, Irvine in the US, said in a press release. e showed that you can restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury."
"The system works via noninvasive electroencephalography (EEG), where the participant wears a cap that captures electrical signals generated by the brain.
The volunteer had to undergo months of mental training to reactivate his brain conceptual walking ability,
The mental training consisted of the man wearing an EEG cap that would read his brain waves as he was being instructed to think about walking.
and isolated the brain waves associated with leg movement. This progressed to the man using his thoughts to control the walking of a virtual reality avatar,
and his particular brain waves the team behind the research says further research will be needed if they want to achieve similar results for others. nce wee confirmed the usability of this noninvasive system,
such as brain implants, said co-author An Do, an assistant clinical professor of neurology. e hope that an implant could achieve an even greater level of prosthesis control
because brain waves are recorded with higher quality. In addition, such an implant could deliver sensation back to the brain,
enabling the user to feel his legs. r
#A 16-year-old has devised a faster and cheaper way to detect Ebola Oliva Hallisey,
Older adults and Alzheimer's patients who are carrying a specific variant of the IL1RAP gene were found to have higher rates of amyloid plaque accumulation in the brain,
But when Saykin and his team imaged the brains of almost 500 volunteers via PET (positron emission tomography) scans,
and assessed the levels of brain amyloid deposits at the time and then two years later,
It also influences the activity of the microglia-a specific type of cell found in the brain and the spinal cord that acts as the first and main line of immune defence in the central nervous system.
The study, published in the journal Brain found that over the two-year period, people carrying the IL1RAP variant had a lower level of microglial activity,
which means the brain is less able to clear out protein build up; a faster degeneration of the temporal cortex,
which is the region of the brain involved with memory; and faster cognitive decline.""This was an intriguing finding
because IL1RAP is known to play a central role in the activity of microglia, the immune system cells that act as the brain's'garbage disposal system
'and the focus of heavy investigation in a variety of neurodegenerative diseases,"said one of the researchers, Vijay K. Ramanan.
But there is good news. The researchers think that treatments specifically targeting the IL1RAP immune pathway could increase the brain's ability to clear out amyloid deposits in patients carrying the gene variant.
The bone marrow cells could be turned into brain cells, for example. Based on this knowledge, Learner and his colleagues started looking for an antibody that could transform cancerous leukaemia cells back into healthy bone marrow cells.
and brain tumours, plus a number of congenital diseases that affect a person growth.""Our findings bring us one step closer to understanding the chemistry of how PRC2 functions in normal cells
is caused by a depletion of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain. Current treatments include medications and electrical implants in the brain
which causes severe adverse effects over time and fail to prevent disease progression. Several studies have indicated that the transplantation of embryonic stem cells improves motor functions in animal models.
These animals also developed intracerebral tumors. In contrast, animals receiving the treated stem cells showed improvement of Parkinson's symptoms
Many of these disorders specifically affect brain development; the most common of these is marked phenylketonuria
which causes glycine to build up in the brain and can lead to severe mental retardation. GLDC is also often overactive in certain cells of glioblastoma,
including cancers of the colon, prostate, breast, brain, ovaries, pancreas and lung.""Hur inhibitors may be useful for many types of cancer,
More specifically, CACNA1S senses electrical signals from the brain and enables muscles to contract.""To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of severe congenital myopathy with ophthalmoplegia resulting from pathogenic variants in CACNA1S,
When the brain sends an electrical signal, CACNA1S opens the RYR1 calcium channel flooding muscles with calcium
It is involved in tumors of various organs (prostate, breast, lung, head and neck, large intestine, brain, etc.
#Electronic micropump to deliver treatments deep within the brain Drugs constitute the most widely used approach for treating brain disorders.
During an epileptic seizure, the nerve cells in a specific area of the brain are activated suddenly in an excessive manner.
How can this phenomenon be controlled without affecting healthy brain regions? To answer this question, Christophe Bernard's team,
have developed a biocompatible micropump that makes it possible to deliver therapeutic substances directly to the relevant areas of the brain.
the researchers reproduced the hyperexcitability of epileptic neurons in mouse brains in vitro. They then injected GABA,
a compound naturally produced in the brain and that inhibits neurons, into this hyperactive region using the micropump.
by allowing very localised action, directly in the brain and without peripheral toxicity.""By combining electrodes,
It may therefore be possible to control brain activity where and when it is needed. In addition to epilepsy, this state-of-the-art technology, combined with existing drugs,
offers new opportunities for many brain diseases that remain difficult to treat at this time e
#Genetics overlap found between Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular risk factors The findings are published in current online issue of Circulation."
or skin cells or brain cells. We can use these new stem cells for future research to better understand how embryos are organized and
#Drugs stimulate body's own stem cells to replace the brain cells lost in multiple sclerosis Led by researchers at Case Western Reserve,
and human brain stem cells in the laboratory. The two most potent drugs--one that currently treats athlete's foot,
and the other, eczema--were capable of stimulating the regeneration of damaged brain cells and reversing paralysis
and results from aberrant immune cells destroying the protective coating, called myelin, around nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
These OPCS are normally found throughout the adult brain and spinal cord, and therefore inaccessible to study.
ultimately disrupting communication between the brain and the body and leading to nerve deterioration. To prevent neural degeneration requires remyelination through new oligodendrocytes,
Our research is focused on trying to repair the brain itself, to stop the disease rather than slow it,
"In fact, we observed a disruption in the connection between the spinal cord and specific brain centres,
"The result of their efforts was 144 functional gene interaction networks for organs as diverse as the kidney, the liver and the whole brain.
"For example, with GIANT, researchers studying Parkinson's disease can search the substantia nigra network, which represents the brain region affected by Parkinson's,
to identify new genes and pathways involved in the disease.""Wong is one of three co-first authors of the paper.
#Switching on one-shot learning in the brain This type of one-shot learning is more than handy
Scientists have suspected long that one-shot learning involves a different brain system than gradual learning, but could not explain what triggers this rapid learning
or how the brain decides which mode to use at any one time. Now Caltech scientists have discovered that uncertainty in terms of the causal relationship
The researchers have identified also a part of the prefrontal cortex--the large brain area located immediately behind the forehead that is associated with complex cognitive activities--that appears to evaluate such causal uncertainty
"The researchers used a simple behavioral task paired with brain imaging to determine where in the brain this causal processing takes place.
Based on the results, it appears that the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) is involved in the processing and then couples with the hippocampus to switch on one-shot learning, as needed.
Since the hippocampus is known to be involved in so-called episodic memory, in which the brain quickly links a particular context with an event
the researchers hypothesized that this brain region might play a role in one-shot learning. But they were surprised to find that the coupling between the VLPFC
where their brains were monitored using functional Magnetic resonance imaging. The task consisted of multiple trials. During each trial, participants were shown a series of five images one at a time on a computer screen.
however, that they have not yet proven that the brain region actually controls the process in that way.
To prove that, they will need to conduct additional studies that will involve modifying the VLPFC's activity with brain stimulation
the researchers are intrigued by the fact that the VLPFC is very close to another part of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex that they previously found to be involved in helping the brain to switch between two other forms of learning--habitual and goal-directed learning,
"Now we might cautiously speculate that a significant general function of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex is to act as a leader,
telling other parts of the brain involved in different types of behavioral functions when they should get involved
#Cellular bubbles used to deliver Parkinson's meds directly to brain And what's the best way of getting her drug-packed exosomes to the brain?
It looks like a simple nasal spray will do the trick, say Elena Batrakova and her colleagues at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy's Center for Nanotechnology in Drug Delivery.
This is the first time a large therapeutic protein like catalase has been delivered to the brain using exosomes. Getting drugs into the brain is extremely difficult in general
because it is protected and isolated from the rest of the body by the blood-brain barrier, which is extremely selective about
when a mind is changed Researchers studying how the brain makes decisions have recorded, for the first time the moment-by-moment fluctuations in brain signals that occur
when a monkey making free choices has a change of mind. The findings result from experiments led by electrical engineering Professor Krishna Shenoy,
whose Stanford lab focuses on movement control and neural prostheses--such as artificial arms--controlled by the user's brain."
He then developed a technique to track the brain signals that occur during a single decision with split-second accuracy.
"We are seeing many cognitive phenomena in the brain for the first time, "said Kaufman, who is now a postdoctoral scholar at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory."
During the experiments, 192 electrodes in each monkey's motor and premotor cortex began measuring brain activity the moment that the targets appeared on screen.
Kaufman could analyze moment-by-moment brain activity during each individual decision. In a sense he was able to read the monkey's mind during free choices,
"We saw that the brain activity for a typical free choice looked just like it did forced for a choice.
"This deeper understanding of decision-making will help researchers to fine-tune the control algorithms of neural prostheses to enable people with paralysis to drive a brain-controlled prosthetic arm or guide a neurally-activated cursor on a computer screen.
Libet's experiments showed that distinctive brain activity began on average, several seconds before subjects became aware that they planned to move.
"Kaufman said that the brain activity Libet saw does not imply a demise of free will. Instead, his results show that you can plan to make a particular movement,
treatment with IVM can lead to brain or other neurologic damage that can be severe or fatal.
3-D printed'tissue'to help combat disease A bench-top brain that accurately reflects actual brain tissue would be significant for researching not only the effect of drugs,
and degenerative brain disease. Researchers have completed now 3-D printing a six-layered structure similar to brain tissue, in
which cells are placed accurately and remain in their designated layer. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) have taken a step closer to meeting this challenge,
by developing a 3d printed layered structure incorporating neural cells, that mimics the structure of brain tissue.
The value of bench-top brain tissue is huge. Pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars testing therapeutic drugs on animals
but the human brain differs distinctly from that of an animal. A bench-top brain that accurately reflects actual brain tissue would be significant for researching not only the effect of drugs,
but brain disorders like schizophrenia, and degenerative brain disease. ACES Director and research author Professor Gordon Wallace said that the breakthrough is significant progress in the quest to create a bench-top brain that will enable important insights into brain function,
in addition to providing an experimental test bed for new drugs and electroceuticals.""We are still a long way from printing a brain
but the ability to arrange cells so as they form neuronal networks is a significant step forward,
"Professor Wallace said. To create their six-layered structure, researchers developed a custom bio-ink containing naturally occurring carbohydrate materials.
The result is layered a structure like brain tissue in which cells are placed accurately and remain in their designated layer."
which convert light into electrical impulses that are transmitted to vision centers in the brain. Loss of rods and cones is the primary cause of vision loss in diseases such as macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa.
However, following disruption of the circuit connecting the hippocampus and nucleus accumbens the rats became impatient and unwilling to wait, even for a few seconds.
Importantly, lesions to other parts of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, known to be involved in certain aspects of decision-making,
and those with brain disease,"said Prof. Yogita Chudasama, of Mcgill's Psychology department and the lead researcher on the paper."
and the nucleus accumbens is a"reward"center and a major recipient of dopamine, a chemical responsible for transmitting signals related to pleasure and reward,
involving the hippocampus and nucleus accumbens, to be a therapeutic target in human patient groups
#Missing piece surfaces in the puzzle of autism A study carried out by the Laboratoire Neurobiologie des Interactions Cellulaires et Neurophysiopathologie (CNRS/Aix-Marseille Université),
this complex condition evolves during brain development. The scientists thus chose to study adult olfactory stem cells as indicators of the early stages of ontogenesis
so the scientists focused on the consequences of a deregulation of MOCOS synthesis. The analysis of different tissues demonstrated MOCOS expression in the brain cells and intestine of several species,
--and its role in nerve development and neurotransmission mean it is an ideal candidate for deregulation of its expression to lead to the abnormal brain development observed in ASD.
This new study should help to shed light on how the brains of ASD patients establish abnormal connections,
#Super-small needle technology for the brain However, one challenge is reducing the tissue/neuron damage associated with needle penetration, particularly for chronic insert experiment and future medical applications.
However, such physically limited needles cannot penetrate the brain and other biological tissues because of needle buckling
and evaluated the penetration capability by using mouse brains in vitro/in vivo. In addition, as an actual needle application, we demonstrated fluorescenctce particle depth injection into the brain in vivo,
and confirm that by observing fluorescenctce confocal microscope"explained the first author, master's degree student Satoshi Yagi,
the leptin-in-antibody protein effectively could not cross from the bloodstream into the brain
#How traumatic memories hide in the brain, and how to retrieve them At first, hidden memories that can't be accessed consciously may protect the individual from the emotional pain of recalling the event.
when the brain is back in that state. In a new study with mice Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered for the first time the mechanism by
The best way to access the memories in this system is to return the brain to the same state of consciousness as
and yang of the brain, directing its emotional tides and controlling whether nerve cells are excited or inhibited (calm).
benzodiazepine, activates GABA receptors in our brains. There are two kinds of GABA receptors. One kind, synaptic GABA receptors, works in tandem with glutamate receptors to balance the excitation of the brain in response to external events such as stress.
The other population extra-synaptic GABA receptors, are independent agents. They ignore the peppy glutamate.
adjusting brain waves and mental states according to the levels of internal chemicals, such as GABA, sex hormones and micro RNAS.
Extra-synaptic GABA receptors change the brain's state to make us aroused, sleepy, alert, sedated, inebriated or even psychotic.
"The brain functions in different states, much like a radio operates at AM and FM frequency bands,
"It's as if the brain is tuned normally to FM stations to access memories, but needs to be tuned to AM stations to access subconscious memories.
essentially tuning the brain into the AM stations.""Arrayin the experiment, scientists infused the hippocampus of mice with gaboxadol,
just enough to change their brain state, "Radulovic said. Then the mice were put in a box and given a brief, mild electric shock.
"This establishes when the mice were returned to the same brain state created by the drug,
the brain used completely different molecular pathways and neuronal circuits to store the memory.""It's an entirely different system even at the genetic and molecular level than the one that encodes normal memories,
and may be the brain's protective mechanism when an experience is overwhelmingly stressful. The findings imply that in response to traumatic stress, some individuals,
Arraymemories are stored usually in distributed brain networks including the cortex and can thus be accessed readily to consciously remember an event.
But when the mice were in a different brain state induced by gaboxadol, the stressful event primarily activated subcortical memory regions of the brain.
The drug rerouted the processing of stress-related memories within the brain circuits so that they couldn't be accessed consciously d
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