#Wirelessly Powered Brain Implant Could Treat Depression A wirelessly powered implant the size of a grain of rice can electrically stimulate the brains of mice as the rodents do
The human brain is the most powerful computer known, an extraordinary assembly of living electrical circuits. To gain greater understanding of how the human brain works
and how to fix any problems with it neuroscientists would like to electrically stimulate the brains of simpler animals as they scurry around,
carry out tasks and respond to their surroundings. Tiny, untethered brain-stimulating devices would permit animals to move,
behave and react freely during experiments. However, batteries are too heavy and bulky to fit into such small gizmos.
However, previous wireless brain-stimulating devices were limited by their power harvesting components. If these parts were small,
"Now the researchers have created implantable wirelessly powered brain-stimulating devices by essentially using the mouse's body to help collect energy."
The device was implanted in a region of the mouse brain known the infralimbic cortex, which is implicated in animal models of depression and anxiety."
partially because the technique is a synthetic way of masking nerve signals from reaching the brain.
A team from Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have developed a device that delivers the neurotransmitter?
-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a naturally produced charged molecule used by the body to control pain, to the precise spot where an injured nerve makes contact with the spinal cord.
The ion pump is implanted next to the spinal cord and an electronic control unit releases the neurotransmitter to completely block the pain signals from reaching the brain.
The device was tested on rats who were subjected to pain tests, to which they responded as nothing terrible was going on.
The researchers believe that the technology is on its way to becoming a clinical option within the next five to ten years.
#3d printed Brain regions Help Neurosurgeons Prepare for Difficult Procedures While neurosurgeons have been able to virtually navigate volumetric images of patientsbrain structures gathered from CT and MRI scans,
At Boston Children Hospital, physicians are now using 3d printed replicas of brain regions theyl be working on to practice with before actual surgery.
#Optogenetics With Closed-Loop Control for Complex Brain Experiments Wee excited about optogenetics, the new technology that allows scientists to selectively control the firing of genetically modified neurons within living animalsbrains.
The potential for it is huge, from learning how the brain works to treating previously unmanageable neurological conditions.
So far, the triggering of neurons has been compared pretty dumb to how existing biofeedback devices and many electronic systems work.
Scientists decide when to activate neurons and then look for certain responses, then again decide when and for how long to shine the light that excites the brain cells.
Now researchers from Georgia Tech MIT, and Emory University have developed a losed-loopoptogenetic control system that can achieve optimal excitation of neurons all on its own.
It will allow for more complicated and nuanced experiments that are fairly easy to perform and may set the stage for advanced neurological rehabilitation techniques.
The so-called ptoclamptechnique involves continuous monitoring of the electrical activity of the neuronal cells excited via optogenetics
#Brain-Machine Interface Learns to Control Robot Arm Based on User Error Brain signals Brain-machine interfaces (BMIS) restore
or spinal cord injury. Electrical signals, acquired through either invasive or noninvasive neural interfaces, are decoded to subsequently control external devices.
However, patients must spend a significant amount of time training their brain to successfully control such neuroprosthetic devices.
#White blood cell Mediated Therapy for Neurons in Patients with Parkinson Disease Scientists at the University of North carolina at Chapel hill have begun researching the delivery of neurotropic factors to the brain as a potential therapeutic for Parkinson disease.
Currently, there are no treatments that can stop or reverse Parkinson hallmark loss of neurons. However, one potential therapy is the development of smarter immune cells that deliver neurotropic factors to neurons damaged by the disease.
Batrakova and her team genetically modified white blood cells called macrophages, to produce and deliver glial cell-line derived neurotropic factor (GDNF) to the brain.
GDNF is known to act as a protective protein in the brain that can stimulate the growth and healing of damaged neurons.
In the study, GDNF alleviated neuroinflammation and reversed neurodegeneration in Parkinson disease model mice. One suggested mechanism of activity is that these cells,
travel to the brain and release these neurotropic factors in small packages celled exosomes. These packages, containing the expressed protein,
efficiently and effectively transport the proteins to the target neurons. Delivering the protective proteins through immune cells is a breakthrough in GDFP therapy.
it's because the hardest part about quitting smoking is that few things can match the reward of nicotine hitting the brain.
But researchers may have found a new tool that blocks the nicotine reward before it hits the brain,
or less thus reducing the"reward"felt by the brain. The study's results were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
researchers might be able to create a serum from Nica2 that destroys nicotine in the blood before it ever has a chance to reach the brain
#Paralyzed man walks using brainwave system A 26-year-old man who was paralyzed in both legs has regained the ability to walk using a system controlled by his brain waves,
In order to walk, the patient wore a cap with electrodes that detected his brain signals. These electrical signals the same as those a doctor looks at when running an electroencephalogram (EEG) test were sent to a computer,
which"decoded"the brain waves. It then used them to send instructions to another device that stimulated the nerves in the man's legs
who had been paralyzed for five years after a spinal cord injury, was able to walk about 12 feet (3. 66 meters).
"Even after years of paralysis, the brain can still generate robust brain waves that can be harnessed to enable basic walking,
"We showed that you can restore intuitive, brain-controlled walking after a complete spinal cord injury."
Paralyzed Man Walks Again with EEG System A paralyzed man, attached to a brainwave system, walks the length of a room with the aid of a harness and walkerpreviously, people have used similar brain-controlled
systems (known as brain-computer interfaces) to move limb prostheses, such as a robotic arm. And last year, a paralyzed person used his brain to control an exoskeleton that allowed him to make the first kick of the 2014 World cup.
The researchers say the new study provides proof of concept that a person with complete paralysis of both legs can use a brain-controlled system to stimulate leg muscles
and restore walking. However the new report is based on just one patient, so more research is needed to see
or improve walking in individuals with paraplegia due to spinal cord injury, "the researchers said. Before the man could use the system to walk,
he first underwent mental training to learn to use his brain waves to control an avatar in virtual reality.
the patient used the brain-controlled system to practice walking while he was suspended above ground.
said that the work"is another step in demonstrating the feasibility of using brain-computer interfaces to control various devices that already exist."
In the future, it may be possible to implant the entire system inside a patient's body using implants to the brain,
spinal cord and other areas so that a patient would not need to get in and out of the equipment,
but this stimulation interfered with the detection of the patient's brain waves, he said."
or the development of a fully implantable brain-computer interface system may allow us to overcome this problem,
The study was published on Sept. 23 in the Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation i
#There's water on Mars, NASA confirms There's water on Mars, and it flows there today.
Using this method to image neurons, they showed that actin, a key component of the cytoskeleton (backbone of the cell), has a different structure in axons than in dendrites, two parts of a neuron.
But current super-resolution microscopy techniques do not deliver spectral information, which is useful for scientists to understand the behavior of individual molecules,
Alzheimer, for example, may be related to degradation of the cytoskeleton inside neurons. he cytoskeleton system is comprised of a host of interacting subcellular structures and proteins,
In the case of our eyes, the electrical impulses transmit the image to the brain.
In the case of our eyes, the electrical impulses transmit the image to the brain.
who is also an associate member of MIT Mcgovern Institute for Brain Research. As a starting point, the researchers used ferritin,
potentially allowing them to observe communication between neurons, activation of immune cells, or stem cell differentiation, among other phenomena.
Researchers in UCSB's Department of Electrical and Computer engineering are seeking to make computer brains smarter by making them more like our own Abstract:
For the first time, a circuit of about 100 artificial synapses was proved to perform a simple version of a typical human task:
and scaled to approach something like the human brain's, which has 1015 (one quadrillion) synaptic connections.
For all its errors and potential for faultiness, the human brain remains a model of computational power and efficiency for engineers like Strukov and his colleagues, Mirko Prezioso, Farnood Merrikh-Bayat,
Brian Hoskins and Gina Adam. That's because the brain can accomplish certain functions in a fraction of a second
your brain is making countless split-second decisions about the letters and symbols you see, classifying their shapes
In order to create the same human brain-type functionality with conventional technology, the resulting device would have to be loaded enormous with multitudes of transistors that would require far more energy."
"Classical computers will always find an ineluctable limit to efficient brain-like computation in their very architecture,
"This memristor-based technology relies on a completely different way inspired by biological brain to carry on computation."
"To be able to approach functionality of the human brain, however, many more memristors would be required to build more complex neural networks to do the same kinds of things we can do with barely any effort and energy,
according to materials scientist Hoskins, this brain would consist of trillions of these type of devices vertically integrated on top of each other."
Using this method to image neurons they showed that actin, a key component of the cytoskeleton (backbone of the cell), has a different structure in axons than in dendrites, two parts of a neuron.
But current super-resolution microscopy techniques do not deliver spectral information, which is useful for scientists to understand the behavior of individual molecules,
Alzheimer's, for example, may be related to degradation of the cytoskeleton inside neurons.""The cytoskeleton system is comprised of a host of interacting subcellular structures and proteins,
a connection to nerve endings or the central nervous system, a beating heart, and so on, "they wrote. Ren's lab reported the mechanics of making a new transparent and stretchable electric material,
Our technology might also eventually be used to reproduce in computers the neural-type processing that is carried out by the human brain."
tracking heart rate, hydration level, muscle movement, temperature and brain activity. Although it is a promising invention, a lengthy,
When these dendrites reach and contact the cathode, they form a short circuit. Electrical current now flows across the dendrites instead of the external circuit,
rendering the battery useless and dead. The current also heats up the dendrites, and because the electrolyte tends to be flammable,
the dendrites can ignite. Even if the dendrites don't short circuit the battery, they can break off from the anode entirely
and float around in the electrolyte. In this way, the anode loses material, and the battery can't store as much energy."
"Dendrites are hazardous and reduce the capacity of rechargeable batteries, "said Asghar Aryanfar, a scientist at Caltech, who led the new study that's published this week on the cover of The Journal of Chemical Physics, from AIP Publishing.
Although the researchers looked at lithium batteries, which are among the most efficient kind, their results can be applied broadly."
"The dendrite problem is general to all rechargeable batteries, "he said. The researchers grew lithium dendrites on a test battery
and heated them over a couple days. They found that temperatures up to 55 degrees Celsius shortened the dendrites by as much as 36 percent.
To figure out what exactly caused this shrinkage, the researchers used a computer to simulate the effect of heat on the individual lithium atoms that comprise a dendrite,
which was modeled with the simple, idealized geometry of a pyramid. The simulations showed that increased temperatures triggered the atoms to move around in two ways.
generating enough motion to topple the dendrite. By quantifying how much energy is needed to change the structure of the dendrite,
Aryanfar said, researchers can better understand its structural characteristics. And while many factors affect a battery's longevity at high temperatures--such as its tendency to discharge on its own
This will be particularly useful for understanding complex processes in neurons and cancer cells to help us unravel disease mechanisms,
Also on the horizon is research using scorpion venom to target brain tumours with MRI scanning g
The new resistance-based storage devices could even simulate brain structures. Rapid pattern recognition and a low energy consumption in connection with enormous parallel data processing would enable revolutionary computer architectures."
#Scientists develop atomic force microscopy for imaging nanoscale dynamics of neurons While progress has been made over the past decades in the pursuit to optimize atomic force microscopy (AFM) for imaging living cells,
"researchers at Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and Kanazawa University describe how they have built the new AFM system optimized for live-cell imaging.
or mature hippocampal neurons, without any sign of cellular damage.""We've now demonstrated that our new AFM can directly visualize nanometer scale morphological changes in living cells,
"explained Dr. Yasuda, neuroscientist and scientific director at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience.
where the morphological changes of a fingerlike neuronal protrusion in the mature hippocampal neuron are observed.
According to Dr. Yasuda, the successful observations of structural dynamics in live neurons present the possibility of visualizing the morphology of synapses at nanometer resolution in real time in the near future.
Since morphology changes of synapses underlie synaptic plasticity and our learning and memory, this will provide us with many new insights into mechanisms of how neurons store information in their morphology,
how it changes synaptic strength and ultimately how it creates new memory y
#Nanotechnology may double radio frequency data capacity A team of Columbia Engineering researchers has invented a technology--full-duplex radio integrated circuits (ICS)--that can be implemented in nanoscale CMOS to enable simultaneous transmission and reception
and think more like a brain than a standard computer. Such systems are already being developed,
This means they can view dendrites--the microscopic thorns that cause batteries to fail--as they form.
In their studies, the team found that extended battery cycling leads to lithium growing beneath the layer--the genesis of the dendrites that have implications for battery safety and performance.
#High-tech method allows rapid imaging of functions in living brain Researchers studying cancer and other invasive diseases rely on high-resolution imaging to see tumors and other activity deep within the body's tissues.
and his team at Washington University in St louis were able to see blood flow, blood oxygenation, oxygen metabolism and other functions inside a living mouse brain at faster rates than ever before.
The results are published March 30 in Nature Methods advanced online publication("High-speed label-free functional photoacoustic microscopy of mouse brain in action".
TPM and wide-field optical microscopy, have provided information about the structure, blood oxygenation and flow dynamics of the mouse brain.
which allowed them to get high-resolution, high-speed images of a living mouse brain through an intact skull.
"In addition, we were able to map the mouse brain oxygenation vessel by vessel using this method.""
""Much of what we have learned about human brain function in the past decade has been based on observing changes in blood flow using functional MRI,
In the future, photoacoustic imaging could serve as an important complement to fmri, leading to critical insights into brain function and disease development."
and there was no damage to brain tissue.""PAM is exquisitely sensitive to hemoglobin in the blood
#Scientists get 1 step closer to finding how to repair damaged nerve cells A team of researchers at the IRCM led by Frdric Charron, Phd,
in collaboration with bioengineers at Mcgill University, uncovered a new kind of synergy in the development of the nervous system,
and Netrin-1 Guides Commissural Axons"),could eventually help develop tools to repair nerve cells following injuries to the nervous system (such as the brain and spinal cord).
Researchers in Dr. Charron's laboratory study neurons, the nerve cells that make up the central nervous system, as well as their long extensions known as axons.
During development, axons must follow specific paths in the nervous system in order to properly form neural circuits and allow neurons to communicate with one another.
IRCM researchers are studying a process called axon guidance to better understand how axons manage to follow the correct paths."
"To reach their target, growing axons rely on molecules known as guidance cues, which instruct them on which direction to take by repelling
or attracting them to their destination, "explains Dr. Charron, Director of the Molecular biology of Neural development research unit at the IRCM.
Over the past few decades, the scientific community has struggled to understand why more than one guidance cue would be necessary for axons to reach the proper target.
In this paper, IRCM scientists uncovered how axons use information from multiple guidance cues to make their pathfinding decisions.
To do so, they studied the relative change in concentration of guidance cues in the neuron's environment
which is referred to as the steepness of the gradient.""We found that the steepness of the gradient is a critical factor for axon guidance;
the steeper the gradient, the better the axons respond to guidance cues, "says Tyler F. W. Sloan, Phd student in Dr. Charron's laboratory and first author of the study."
"In addition, we showed that the gradient of one guidance cue may not be steep enough to orient axons.
In those instances, we revealed that a combination of guidance cues can behave in synergy with one another to help the axon interpret the gradient's direction."
"In collaboration with the Program in Neuroengineering at Mcgill University, Dr. Charron's team developed an innovative technique to recreate the concentration gradients of guidance cues in vitro,
that is to say they can study the developing axons outside their biological context.""This new method provides us with several benefits
when compared to previous techniques, and allows us to simulate more realistic conditions encountered in developing embryos,
conduct longer-term experiments to observe the entire process of axon guidance, and obtain extremely useful quantitative data,
"adds Sloan.""It combines knowledge from the field of microfluidics, which uses fluids at a microscopic scale to miniaturize biological experiments, with the cellular, biological and molecular studies we conduct in laboratories.""
and an excellent example of what the Program in Neuroengineering aims to accomplish in situations where neurobiologists like myself have a specific question they want to address,
""This scientific breakthrough could bring us closer to repairing damaged nerve cells following injuries to the central nervous system,"states Dr. Charron."
"A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in axon guidance will offer new possibilities for developing techniques to treat lesions resulting from spinal cord injuries,
"Injuries to the central nervous system affect thousands of Canadians every year and can lead to lifelong disabilities.
Research is required therefore for the development of new tools to repair damage to the central nervous system m
#Scientists use nanotechnology to visualize potential brain cancer treatments in real time (Nanowerk News) Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have developed new imaging techniques to watch dangerous brain tumor
Glioblastoma is a brain cancer with a poor prognosis. Even with surgical interventions or traditional treatments
By way of a brain, Beerotor has three feedback loops2, which act as three different reflexes that directly make use of the optic flow.
researchers at UC Santa barbara have demonstrated the functionality of a simple artificial neural circuit (Nature,"Training and operation of an integrated neuromorphic network based on metal-oxide memristors").
"For the first time, a circuit of about 100 artificial synapses was proved to perform a simple version of a typical human task:
and scaled to approach something like the human brain, which has 1015 (one quadrillion) synaptic connections.
For all its errors and potential for faultiness, the human brain remains a model of computational power and efficiency for engineers like Strukov and his colleagues, Mirko Prezioso, Farnood Merrikh-Bayat,
Brian Hoskins and Gina Adam. That because the brain can accomplish certain functions in a fraction of a second
your brain is making countless split-second decisions about the letters and symbols you see, classifying their shapes
In order to create the same human brain-type functionality with conventional technology, the resulting device would have to be loaded enormous with multitudes of transistors that would require far more energy. lassical computers will always find an ineluctable limit to efficient brain-like computation in their very architecture,
said lead researcher Prezioso. his memristor-based technology relies on a completely different way inspired by biological brain to carry on computation.
To be able to approach functionality of the human brain, however, many more memristors would be required to build more complex neural networks to do the same kinds of things we can do with barely any effort and energy,
such as identify different versions of the same thing or infer the presence or identity of an object not based on the object itself but on other things in a scene.
this brain would consist of trillions of these type of devices vertically integrated on top of each other. here are so many potential applications it definitely gives us a whole new way of thinking,
#Super-small needle technology for the brain Microscale needle-electrode array technology has enhanced brain science and engineering applications, such as electrophysiological studies, drug and chemical delivery systems, and optogenetics.
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
or fracturing on penetration. high-aspect-ratio microneedles penetrating brain tissue A research team in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Information Engineering
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,
but they are much closer to natural networks like the human brain. The findings promise a new generation of powerful, energy-efficient electronics,
Natural evolution has led to powerful omputerslike the human brain, which can solve complex problems in an energy-efficient way.
a connection to nerve endings or the central nervous system, a beating heart, and so on, "they wrote. Ren's lab reported the mechanics of making a new transparent and stretchable electric material,
Our technology might also eventually be used to reproduce in computers the neural-type processing that is carried out by the human brain.
tracking heart rate, hydration level, muscle movement, temperature and brain activity. Although it is a promising invention, a lengthy,
This will be particularly useful for understanding complex processes in neurons and cancer cells to help us unravel disease mechanisms,
A team led by Cockrell School of engineering associate professor Christopher Ellison found that a synthetic coating of polydopamine--derived from the natural compound dopamine--can be used as a highly effective, water-applied flame retardant for polyurethane foam.
Dopamine is a chemical compound found in humans and animals that helps in the transmission of signals in the brain and other vital areas.
The researchers believe their dopamine-based nanocoating could be used in lieu of conventional flame retardants.
The researchers'findings were published in the journal Chemistry of Materials("Bioinspired Catecholic Flame Retardant Nanocoating for Flexible Polyurethane foams"."
The polydopamine was coated onto the interior and exterior surfaces of the polyurethane foam by simply dipping it into a water solution of dopamine for several days.
The human navigation function is operated by two types of brain cells-place cells and grid cells.
Place cells become active in the brain when we recognize familiar places, while grid cells provide us with an absolute reference system,
The human brain uses grid cells, which provide a virtual reference frame for spatial awareness to handle this type of relative navigation.
and pass one of the virtual grid points that the brain has set up, the respective grid cell becomes active,
using computer programs that simulate the activity of place and grid cells in the brain. Crucial to the computational algorithm is the strength of the feedback mechanism between the grid cells and place cells,
The new resistance-based storage devices could even simulate brain structures. Rapid pattern recognition and a low energy consumption in connection with enormous parallel data processing would enable revolutionary computer architectures."
lead study author and professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at Nebraska,
Gelbard, director of UR Center for Neural development and Disease, developed URMC-099 to treat HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders or HAND,
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011