University of London has been able to predict participants'movements just by analysing their brain activity. The research,
which is published in the Journal of Neuroscience, is the first human study to look at the neural signals of planned actions that are chosen freely by the participant
and could be the first step in the development of brain-computer interfaces. Dr. Lingnau and her team used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri)
whether they were able to predict which movement the participant was going to perform on the basis of the brain activity measured during the planning phase.
We were successfully able to predict what action they were going to carry out just from analysing their brain signals.""
""This opens up huge possibilities for the future including the development of technology you can control with your mind as well as enabling the development of methods for helping those with paralysis to have direct brain control to the affected areas
as well as the San diego Supercomputer Center and Department of Neurosciences at UC San diego.""But we addressed this challenge
In the case of our eyes, the electrical impulses transmit the image to the brain.
who is also an associate member of MIT's 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.
but also stimulates important receptors in the brain. By switching off LRRC8D, it will now be possible to specifically investigate physiological and pathological roles of taurine release by VRAC.
Mind & Brain: Men Are attracted to Nonconformist Women Space: Sun Accused of Stealing Planetary Objects from Another Star Technology:
#Artificial skin Sends Touching Signals to Nerve cells Prosthetic limbs can restore an amputee ability to walk
and transmits signals via nerve cells, much as human skin does. Zhenan Bao and coworkers made the artificial skin by connecting three components:
and nerve cells containing light-activated ion channels. The pressure sensors are made of a carbon nanotube-elastomer composite shaped into tiny pyramidal structures that are coated onto a surface.
In their proof-of-concept study, they sent light from the LED through an optical fiber to stimulate neurons in mouse brain slices.
The nerve cells in these samples were decorated with engineered channelrhodopsins that open in response to light,
triggering nerve cells to fire. The work represents n important advance in the development of skinlike materials that mimic the functionality of human skin at an unprecedented level
#Memory-Boosting Devices Tested in Humans A strategy designed to improve memory by delivering brain stimulation through implanted electrodes is undergoing trials in humans.
At the Society for neuroscience meeting in Chicago, Illinois, on October 171, two teams funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency presented evidence that such implanted devices can improve a person ability to retain memories.
The findings raise hopes that a euro prostheticthat automatically enhances flagging memory could aid not only brain-injured soldiers,
Because of the risks associated with surgically placing devices in the brain, both groups are studying people with epilepsy who already have implanted electrodes.
The researchers can use these electrodes both to record brain activity and to stimulate specific groups of neurons.
Although the ultimate goal is to treat traumatic brain injury these people might benefit as well, says biological engineer Theodore Berger at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los angeles. That is
because repeated seizures can destroy the brain tissue needed for long term memory formation. Short-term memories are thought to be created
when a part of the brain called the hippo campus aggregates sensory information, as well as the perception of space and time,
Key to this process is a signal that travels from one part of the hippocampus called CA3 to another
says neuro biologist Howard Eichenbaum at Boston University in Massachusetts. But he cautions that mimicking it could be difficult
because the hippocampus is so complex and receives inputs from many connections in the brain,
stimulating it with the CA3 signal alone may not be enough. Thomas Mchugh, a neuroscientist at the RIKEN Brain science Institute in Tokyo, says that he has been following the team work for years
and has been surprised consistently at how well the approach has worked in animal models. he data is convincing,
Many parts of the brain are organized in obvious ways: in the motor cortex, for example, stimulating a particular spot causes motion in a specific part of the body.
But there is no such obvious organization in the hippocampus, so it is unclear why stimulating certain locations leads to predictable results.
A team at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia is taking a different approach to enhancing memory that requires an even less detailed understanding of how the process works.
again by working with people with epilepsy, that stimulating a region called the medial temporal lobe, which houses the hippocampus, improves memory that is functioning poorly.
But when memory is functioning well, stimulation impedes it. In a study that they presented at the Chicago meeting,
Penn neuroscientist Daniel Rizzuto and his colleagues recorded brain activity in 28 people as they recalled a list of words.
By stimulating the brain only when a person read words that were likely to be forgotten the researchers could boost performance by up to 140%.
%Penn psychologist Michael Kahana says that the team has recorded from the brains of about 80 people in total
#This Robotic Hand Wired to a Brain Implant Restored a Paralyzed Man Sense of touch In the last few years,
a paralyzed 28-year-old man reported a ear-naturalsense of touch from a sensor-laden robotic hand wired to a brain implant.
however, robotic arms wired directly to the brain via an implant have been primarily one-way devicesllowing action but not yielding sensory information.
Robotic thought-controlled prosthetic limbs for amputees are controlled by the brain indirectly using healthy nerves and muscles in the stump.
however, the only way to link up to a robotic arm is directly through the brain by way of an implant.
the hand converts physical sensations into electrical signals that are communicated to the brain through the brain implant.
The volunteer, who was paralyzed by a spinal cord injury ten years ago, was not only able to control the hand,
but without feedback from signals traveling 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 all function.
invasive surgery and wired brain implants are not an ideal solution. And limited to pressure,
And advances in brain-machine interfaces should make implants less invasive. For now, however, it one step at a time.
Singapore (NTU Singapore) scientists have found a new way to treat dementia by sending electrical impulses to specific areas of the brain to enhance the growth of new brain cells.
Known as deep brain stimulation, it is a therapeutic procedure that is already used in some parts of the world to treat various neurological conditions such as tremors or Dystonia,
NTU scientists have discovered that deep brain stimulation could also be used to enhance the growth of brain cells
Their research has shown that new brain cells, or neurons, can be formed by stimulating the front part of the brain
which is involved in memory retention using minute amounts of electricity. The increase in brain cells reduces anxiety and depression,
and promotes improved learning, and boosts overall memory formation and retention. The research findings open new opportunities for developing novel treatment solutions for patients suffering from memory loss due to dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer and even Parkinson disease.
he findings from the research clearly show the potential of enhancing the growth of brain cells using deep brain stimulation. round 60 per cent of patients do not respond to regular antidepressant treatments
said that deep brain stimulation brings multiple benefits. o negative effects have been reported in such prefrontal cortex stimulation in humans
Growing new brain cells For decades, scientists have been finding ways to generate brain cells to boost memory and learning,
but more importantly, to also treat brain trauma and injury, and age-related diseases such as dementia. As part of a natural cycle, brain cells constantly die
and get replaced by new ones. The area of the brain responsible for generating new brain cells is known as the hippocampus
which is involved also in memory forming, organising and retention. By stimulating the front part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex,
new brain cells are formed in the hippocampus although it had not been stimulated directly. The research was conducted using middle-aged rats, where electrodes
which sends out minute micro-electrical impulses were implanted in the brains. The rats underwent a few memory tests before and after stimulation,
and displayed positive results in memory retention, even after 24 hours. xtensive studies have shown that ratsbrains
and the Whitehead Institute have discovered a vulnerability of brain cancer cells that could be exploited to develop more-effective drugs against brain tumors.
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,
a disorder that severely affects the developing brain. Sabatini and colleagues elucidated that loss of GLDC builds up glycine levels,
Clinical Trial Finds A wearable device that emits low-level electrical fields can slow the progression of glioblastoma, the deadliest form of brain cancer,
Image depicts patterns of brain activation in typically developing, ASD oodand ASD oorlanguage ability toddlers in response to speech sounds during their earliest brain scan (ages 12-29 months.
which display robust activation in classic language brain regions, such as the superior temporal gyrus. In contrast, the ASD Poor language toddlers showed no statistically significant activation in classic language regions.
Image depicts patterns of brain activation in typically developing, ASD oodand ASD oorlanguage ability toddlers in response to speech sounds during their earliest brain scan (ages 12-29 months.
The imaging occurred one to two years prior to their language outcome designation at age 30-48 months.
which display robust activation in classic language brain regions, such as the superior temporal gyrus. In contrast, the ASD Poor language toddlers showed no statistically significant activation in classic language regions.
A major challenge of ASD diagnosis and treatment is that the neurological condition which affects 1 in 68 children in the United states,
professor of neurosciences and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence at UC San diego. ome individuals are minimally verbal throughout life.
The neurodevelopmental bases for this variability are said unknown, he. Differences in treatment quantity do not fully account for it.
more individualized treatments, said co-author Karen Pierce, Phd, associate professor of neurosciences and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence.
In the Neuron paper Courchesne, first author Michael V. Lombardo, Phd, a senior researcher at the University of Cambridge and assistant professor at the University of Cyprus, Pierce and colleagues describe the first effort to create a process capable
of detecting different brain subtypes within ASD that underlie and help explain varying development language trajectories
if patterns of brain activity in response to language can explain and predict how well language skills would develop in a toddler with ASD before that toddler actually began talking,
a region of the brain responsible for processing sounds so that they can be understood as language. In contrast, ASD toddlers with poor language outcomes had superior temporal cortices that showed diminished or abnormal inactivity to speech.
our study shows a strong relationship between irregularities in speech-activation in the language-critical superior temporal cortex and actual,
The scientists said fmri imaging also showed that the brains of ASD toddlers with poor language development processed speech differently,
an MIT graduate student in brain and cognitive sciences and first author on the new paper. he whole hope is to write very flexible models, both generative and discriminative models,
Joining Kulkarni on the paper are his adviser, professor of brain and cognitive sciences Josh Tenenbaum;
Vikash Mansinghka, a research scientist in MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive sciences; and Pushmeet Kohli of Microsoft Research Cambridge.
and cell signaling, for instance, between nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. o our knowledge, this is the first transport protein designed from scratch that is,
or skin cells or brain cells. We can use these new stem cells for future research to better understand how embryos are organized and
#Fruit fly studies shed light on adaptability of nerve cells An international team of researchers at German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)
and Tokyo Institute of technology (Tokyo Tech) have revealed in a collaborative study published today in NEURON, that neurons in the eye change on the molecular level
when they are exposed to prolonged light. The researchers could identify that a feedback signalling mechanism is responsible for these changes.
The innate neuronal property might be utilized to protect neurons from degeneration or cell death in the future.
Changes in the functional connections between neurons ynapsescontribute to our ability to adapt to environmental changes.
and the European Neuroscience Institute in Germany reveal details of the mechanisms behind synaptic plasticity. he synaptic changes that we have identified might reflect an innate neuronal property that leads to protection from excessive stimuli,
we might be able to protect neurons from degeneration or cell death. Recent studies have suggested that changes in a region at the presynaptic membrane
described as the active zone, control synapse function. The research teams based in Germany and Japan exposed living fruit flies the commonly studied Drosophila to different light regimes and then compared the active zones in the photoreceptors.
T-shaped structures at the presynaptic membrane tether synaptic vesicles and control the release of neurotransmitters to the postsynaptic neuron.
The results contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying brain functions such as learning and memory.
Future work may investigate how modifying the Wnt signal can be used to manipulate synaptic plasticity, with possible therapeutic applications for neurodegenerative or mental diseases n
#An electronic micropump to deliver treatments deep within the brain Many potentially efficient drugs have been created to treat neurological disorders,
Typically, for a condition such as epilepsy, it is essential to act at exactly the right time and place in the brain.
For this reason, the team of researchers led by Christophe Bernard at Inserm Unit 1106, nstitute of Systems neuroscience (INS),
enables localised inhibition of epileptic seizure in brain tissue in vitro. This research is published in the journal Advanced Materials.
which separates the brain from the blood circulation, prevents most drugs from reaching their targets in the brain,
drugs that succeed in penetrating the brain will act in a nonspecific manner, i e. on healthy regions of the brain, altering their functions.
Epilepsy is a typical example of a condition for which many drugs could not be commercialised because of their harmful effects,
when they might have been effective for treating patients resistant to conventional treatments 1. 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 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.
The scientists then observed that the compound not only stopped this abnormal activity in the target region,
but, most importantly, did not interfere with the functioning of the neighbouring regions. This technology may
by allowing very localised action, directly in the brain and without peripheral toxicity. Based on these initial results, the researchers are now working to move on to an in vivo animal model
It may therefore be possible to control brain activity where and when it is needed. In addition to epilepsy
offers new opportunities for many brain diseases that remain difficult to treat at this time a
#Yale scientists apply new tool to explore mysteries of the immune system Why do infected some individuals with the West nile virus develop life-threatening infections
#Alzheimer pathology and neural activity An international research group including the University of Tokyo, Stanford university and Washington University has discovered that neuronal activity augments the accumulation of amyloid ß that is observed in the brains of patients with Alzheimer disease (AD).
The accumulation of deposits of a protein fragment termed amyloid ß is thought to be the cause of the development of dementia in AD brains.
Neurons in the brain are connected through junctions termed synapses and function by transmitting electrical activity (i e.,
, neuronal activation. However, the relationship between neuronal activity and amyloid ß deposition has not been elucidated fully.
and Professor David Holtzman at Washington University chronically increased the activity of a neuronal pathway projecting to the hippocampus,
an important brain region known to be involved in memory, in the brains of AD model mice for five months,
and found that amyloid ß deposition increased in the hippocampus. This study was made possible by the use of a cutting-edge experimental technology termed optogenetics that enables the control of neuronal activity using light.
treatment with IVM can potentially lead to severe or fatal brain or other neurologic damage.
#Words That Work Together Stay together How language gives your brain a break. Here a quick task:
says Richard Futrell, a Phd student in the Department of Brain and Cognitive sciences at MIT,
and treat brain cancer, such as gliomas, medulloblastomas, and neuroblastomas; and skin cancer, known as melanoma. More than 22,000 new cases of brain cancer and more than 73,000 new cases of skin cancer and were expected to arise in Americans in 2015, according to the National Cancer Institute.
To reveal when cancer-causing genomic changes occur, a research group led by Harold kipgarner, a professor in the departments of biological science, computer science,
a thin layer of cells within an embryo that contains genetic instructions to build hundreds of cell types, from neurons to adrenal cells.
Neurological tumors, for example, may arise from glial cells that develop from the crest. Researchers with the institute Medical Informatics Systems division say cancer types can be found
as well as drugs that sequester nicotine in the body to prevent it from reaching the brain,
a compound that deactivates pain receptors in the brain. nzymes make and break molecules, said Stephanie Galanie,
in order to craft a molecule that emerged ready to plug pain receptors in the brain. Engineered with a purposein their Science paper,
and the brain. Since small, early-stage cancers are the most responsive to drug treatments,
and brains of the mice. Analysis of images showed that the contrast used by the research team bound almost exclusively to the fibrin-fibronectin complexes,
Me Four children with life-threatening malformations of blood vessels in the brain appear to be the first to benefit from 3-D printing of their anatomy before undergoing high-risk corrective procedures, according to a new paper.
Cerebrovascular disease often entails complex tangles of vessels in sensitive brain areas. hese children had unique anatomy with deep vessels that were very tricky to operate on,
Pediatrics, the models were based on the children actual brain scans. Data from the scans were used to program a 3-D printer that laid down synthetic resins layer by layer.
and, in some cases, the surrounding brain anatomy. Each print took less than 24 hours to make.
One of them was Adam Stedman, a 16-year-old with an AVM in the visual processing area of his brain.
he. ur brains work in three dimensions, and treatment planning with a printed model takes on an intuitive feel that it cannot
embedded in brain tissue. Image: Katherine Cohen, Boston Childrengreater precision, greater safetythe life-sized and enlarged 3-D models, based on brain magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance arteriography data from each child
, were created in collaboration with the Boston Children Hospital Simulator Program (SIMPEDS), directed by HMS associate professor of anesthesia Peter Weinstock, the paper first author.
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,
#Scientists visualize critical part of basal ganglia pathways Breakthrough could help see pathways that degenerate with Parkinson and Huntingdon disease Certain diseases,
like Parkinson and Huntingdon disease, are associated with damage to the pathways between the brain basal ganglia regions.
The basal ganglia sits at the base of the brain and is responsible for, among other things, coordinating movement.
deep brain structures that imaging techniques have previously been unable to visualize. For the first time, Carnegie mellon University Brainhub scientists have used a noninvasive brain imaging tool to detect the pathways that connect the parts of the basal ganglia.
Published in Neuroimage the research provides a better understanding of this area circuitry, which could potentially lead to technologies to help track disease progression for Parkinson and Huntington disease and other neurological disorders. linically,
it is difficult to see the pathways within the basal ganglia with neuroimaging techniques, like the ever popular MRI,
said Patrick Beukema, the lead author and a graduate student in the Center for Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh (CNUP) and the joint Pitt and CMU Center for the Basis of Neural Cognition (CNBC).
the pathways that connect the basal ganglia regions are highly susceptible to damage. Because they are important for motor control,
Diffusion MRI measures the movement of water molecules to create a visual representation of the brain axons.
In this study, the research team used two types of diffusion imaging to visualize the major pathways that connect the internal circuitry of the basal ganglia.
Sixty healthy adults had scanned their brains using diffusion spectrum imaging which provided a picture of the orientation of moving water molecules.
The results from both imaging techniques showed that it is possible to detect the small but important fiber connections in the brain.
The researchers also found that by looking at the general patterns of water movement in the basal ganglia,
they could automatically distinguish one small brain region from the other. he pathways that Patrick has been able to visualize are critical to so many functions,
yet we haven been able to see them in the living human brain before. This opens the door to so many research and clinical opportunities
This is not the first brain research breakthrough to happen at Carnegie mellon. CMU is the birthplace of artificial intelligence
and cognitive psychology and has been a leader in the study of brain and behavior for more than 50 years.
an initiative that focuses on how the structure and activity of the brain give rise to complex behaviors m
#Closing the loop with optogenetics Optogenetics provides a powerful tool for studying the brain by allowing researchers to activate neurons using simple light-based signals.
That means they will be responsive to the moment-to-moment needs of the nervous system. The research
and in the neurons of animal models. he same stimulus pattern can produce highly variable levels of activity,
who built the optoclamp while a Ph d. student in Georgia Tech Laboratory for Neuroengineering. Newman is now a postdoctoral researcher at MIT. he amount of optical stimulation needed to achieve the same level of activity varied by orders of magnitude,
said Newman. his is potentially a very big deal in terms of developing therapies for aberrant forms of synaptic plasticity.
phantom limb syndrome and other nervous systems disorders where the brain has overreacted to the loss of normal inputs.
allowing experiments to focus stimulation on specific areas of the brain or brain cell cultures. The light signals now affect an entire culture
or brain region. e want to precisely control where photons are being sent to activate different cells, Newman said. ptogenetics allows genetic specification
But I don believe that as precise as what will be required to speak the language of the brain
due to the point where the optic nerve must pass through the retina, Mr Miller said. hen images project to that precise location,
even though there will always be a hole in your visual field. he neuroscientists at UQ School of Psychology may have opened the way to new treatments for the developed world leading cause of blindness,
and kidney and neural circuits using larger-scale techniques. uilding functional models of the complex cellular networks such as those found in the brain is probably one of the highest challenges you could aspire to,
#Brain cells get tweaked n the goresearchers from the MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (MRC CDN) at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (Ioppn),
King College London, have discovered a new molecular witchthat controls the properties of neurons in response to changes in the activity of their neural network. The findings,
suggest that the ardwarein our brain is tuneable and could have implications that go far beyond basic neuroscience from informing education policy to developing new therapies for neurological disorders such as epilepsy.
Computers are used often as a metaphor for the brain with logic boards and microprocessors representing neural circuits and neurons, respectively.
While this analogy has served neuroscience well in the past, it is far from correct, according to the researchers from King.
They suggest that the brain is a highly dynamic, self-organising system, in which internal and external influences continuously shape information processing ardwareby mechanisms not yet understood,
and in a way not achieved by computers. Researchers from the MRC CDN, led by Professor Oscar Marín,
have shed light on this problem by discovering that some neurons in the cerebral cortex can adapt their properties in response to changes in network activity such as those observed during learning of a motor task.
The authors studied two apparently different classes of fast-spiking interneurons, only to discover that they were actually looking at the same piece of ardwarewhich had the ability to oscillate between two different ground states.
The authors also identified the molecular factor responsible for tuning the properties of these cells, a transcription factor a protein able to influence gene expression known as Er81.
Fast-spiking interneurons are part of a general class of neurons whose primary role is regulating the activity of the principal cells of the cerebral cortex, known as pyramidal cells.
The cerebral cortex is outer layer of the brain and is associated with cognition, language and memory. ur findings explain the underlying mechanisms behind the dynamic regulation of the identity of interneurons said Nathalie Dehorter of the MRC CDN
and first author of the study. he results of this study support the notion that activity plays a prominent role in the specification of neuronal properties,
which adapt in response to internal and external influences to encode information. In other words, that our ardwareis tuneable, at least to some extent.
Understanding the dynamic mechanisms that lead to the emergence of brain functions through the development and continuous remodelling of neural circuits,
and the constraints that disease and ageing impose to this multi-modal plasticity has important implications that go beyond fundamental neuroscience, from education policies to brain repair.
ur study demonstrates the tremendous plasticity of the brain, and how this relates to fundamental processes such as learning.
when we age, has enormous implications that go beyond fundamental neuroscience, from informing education policies to developing new therapies for neurological disorders such as epilepsy
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