#X-ray vision new method to examine Alzheimer disease brain samples Superman has an x-ray vision we all know that.
Researchers at the RIKEN Brain science Institute in Japan created a way to illuminate 3d brain anatomy at very high resolutions using a new transparent tissue.
called Scales, is a real and practical way to see through brain and body tissue. Generating see-through tissue (a process called optical clearing) was a goal for many scientists recently
scientists could create transparent brains with minimal tissue damage. This method works with florescent and immunohistochemical labelling techniques
Created transparent brain samples can be stored in Scales solution for more than a year without damage.
and brain is still firm enough to be cut to micron-thick slices. Scientists note that microscopy is an important challenge as well.
Transparent brain tissue must be viewable by both light and electron microscopy. And Scales managed this task with grace it provides an optimal combination of cleared tissue and fluorescent signals
There are mysterious iffuseplaques seen in the postmortem brains of Alzheimer disease patients that are typically undetectable using 2d imaging.
but have extensive association with microglia (mobile cells that surround and protect neurons) instead. Scientists found a different application for Scales too.
They examined the 3d positions of active microglial cells and amyloid beta plaques. Although many scientists suggested that active microglial cells are located near plaques,
it can be used to research other brain diseases as well, not only Alzheimer. It provides that kind of x-ray vision we really needed,
seeking to reach a breakthrough in treating major brain diseases t
#New method for modifying natural polymers could help bring lifesaving medications to market In drug-delivery research,
including neurons to potentially reconnect a severed spinal cord and repair paralysis. A variety of agents have been shown to induce transplanted stem cells to differentiate into neurons.
Tufts University biomedical engineers recently published the first report of a promising new way to induce human mesenchymal stem cells (or hmscs,
which are derived from bone marrow) to differentiate into neuron-like cells: treating them with exosomes. Exosomes are very small,
In the nervous system, exosomes guide the direction of nerve growth, control nerve connection and help regenerate peripheral nerves.
the Tufts researchers showed that exosomes from PC12 cells (neuron-like progenitor cells derived from rats) at various stages of their own differentiation could,
in turn, cause hmscs to become neuron-like cells. Exosomes had not previously been studied as a way to induce human stem cell differentiation.
thereby avoiding the need to use any kind of neural progenitor cell line to induce neuron growth,
Until now, animal research on central nervous system disorders, such as spinal cord injury and Parkinson disease, has been limited because researchers could not extract sufficient cerebrospinal fluid to perform conventional assays. ith our technology,
researchers will be able to perform large-scale controlled studies with comparable accuracy to conventional assays, Yarmush said.
Autism spectrum disorder is a range of complex neurodevelopmental disorders affecting 2 percent of U s. children.
In the brain, calcium is used to communicate information within and between neurons and it activates a host of other cell functions,
neuronal excitability and neurotransmitter release areas known to be dysfunctional in ASD. e propose that the proper function of this channel
and its signaling pathway is critical for normal performance of neurons and that this signaling pathway represents a key ubin the pathogenesis of ASD,
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
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
While successful against blood cancers such as leukemia, CAR T cells have shown so far less efficacy against solid tumors that effect the colon, breast, prostrate, brain and other tissues.
The cell-sorting process can reduce cell viability and functions by 30 to 99 percent for many fragile or sensitive cells such as neurons, stem cells, liver cells and sperm cells.
and cell identityhat enables cells with the same genetic material to become, for example, a nerve cell, a muscle cell or a skin cell.
The differences between a muscle cell and a brain cell are attributable to differences in gene expression; that is, which genes are turned on and off.
In a study published in Cell, Feng Zhang and his colleagues at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the Mcgovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT,
says Zhang, the W. M. Keck Assistant professor in Biomedical engineering in MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive sciences.
and to be involved in brain formation, but has now been identified as a key part of photoreceptor proteins the structures that allow organisms to sense
These problems are caused by a loss of retinal ganglion cellshe cells that carry visual signals from the retina through the optic nerve and into the brain.
the mice showed a loss of retinal ganglion cells, atrophy (shrinkage) of the optic nerve, and a decline in visual responses,
as seen in a type of electrical recording from the retina known as an electroretinogram. To develop a gene therapy for LHON,
Cellular analysis of the cerebellum, amygdala and hippocampus three brain regions known to be altered in autism was vaccinated similar in
Surgeons aggressively removing a tumor run the risk of damaging normal brain tissue and impairing the patient brain functions;
on the other hand, incomplete removal of a tumor results in immediate relapse in 90%of patients. Being able to simultaneously see the surgical field
Will brain palpation soon be possible? If there is one technique used by the physician to explore the human body during every medical examination
however, the brain cannot be palpated without using a highly invasive procedure (craniotomy, or opening the skull),
Ultimately, it could be used in the early diagnosis of brain tumours or Alzheimer disease. This work is published in PNAS.
However, this method cannot be applied to the brain, which, doubly protected by the cranium and cerebrospinal fluid, is difficult for externally applied waves to access.
It is therefore impossible to directly or indirectly palpate the brain, something that greatly complicates the work of neurosurgeons.
On the other hand, the brain is the seat of natural vibrations created by the blood pulsating in the arteries and the circulating cerebrospinal fluid.
There remained a significant unprecedented challenge: how to capture this complex field of natural shear waves,
have succeeded in detecting natural shear waves in the brain using computational techniques borrowed from seismologists
thus able to build images of the brain elasticity. f this method can be developed for clinical use,
since making the brain vibrate is quite painful at the moment. Of course, this method will be complementary to those that already exist
multiple sclerosis and hydrocephalus involve changes in the stiffness of the brain tissues. This new technique allows their detection,
and could be used to avoid brain biopsies. This method for palpating the brain could have other areas of application,
such as for analysing the development of neurodegenerative processes, the impact of a lesion from a trauma or tumour, response to treatment, etc e
#Stressed dads affect offspring brain development through sperm microrna More and more, scientists have realized that DNA is not the only way that a parent can pass on traits to their offspring.
professor of neuroscience in Penn School of veterinary medicine and Perelman School of medicine, provides important clues for understanding how a father life experiences may affect his children brain development and mental health through a purely biological and not behavioral means. t remarkable to
a brain region involved in directing stress regulation, suggesting widespread changes in early neurodevelopment. Finally the researchers aimed to determine how the mirs were carrying out this effect after fertilization.
Because mirs are known to target and degrade mrna, the team looked at the stored maternal mrna,
Both cardiac cells in the heart and neurons in the brain communicate by electrical signals,
which so far has been used mainly in brain science. Dr Gil Bub, from Oxford university explained: hen there is scar tissue in the heart or fibrosis,
speed and shape of such excitation waves would mean unprecedented direct control of organ-level function, in the heart or brain,
including those in our own brains and hearts o
#Comet: A supercomputer for the ong tailof science The San diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San diego this week formally launched omet,
Neurosciences, Brain Research: SDSC Neuroscience Gateways project will contribute to the national BRAIN INITIATIVE announced by the Obama Administration to deepen our understanding of the human brain.
Social sciences: Sociologists and political scientists are analyzing newly accessible data sets to study censorship of the press, factors that affect participation in the political process,
MS is a condition of the central nervous system in which myelin, the coating around nerves, is damaged causing vision problems, stiffness, spasms and other symptoms.
Rupp calls this ess rigid computing Another possible application could be neuromorphic computing, which, as the name suggests,
aims to use electronics in a way that mimics the way neurons process information in organic brains.
At any given moment, the properties of a memristor just like those of a single neuron depend on
Eana Park/Stony Brook Universityboth cardiac cells in the heart and neurons in the brain communicate by electrical signals,
which so far has been used mainly in brain science. Dr Gil Bub, from Oxford university explained: hen there is scar tissue in the heart or fibrosis,
speed and shape of such excitation waves would mean unprecedented direct control of organ-level function, in the heart or brain,
including those in our own brains and hearts o
#Study reveals new, potent way to boost immunity and fight viruses`Many viral infections, such as the common cold, cause mild illnesses that the body immune system eventually defeats.
which causes severe damage to vital organs including the brain, heart and pancreas, 97 percent of the genetically engineered mice survived,
during which the nerve cells get out of their usual rhythm and fire in a very rapid frequency.
Such synchronous discharges in the brain occur most frequently in the temporal lobe. Often, a seizure disorder develops after a delay following transient brain damage for example due to injury or inflammation.
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. t has also been known for a long time that following transient severe brain injury and prior to an initial spontaneous epileptic seizure, the concentration of free zinc ions
increases in the hippocampus. But science has been puzzled about the significance of this phenomenon, says Prof.
Dr. Albert J. Becker from the Institute of Neuropathology of the University of Bonn. 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), have decoded now a signaling pathway
which is involved in the onset of a seizure disorder. If the number of zinc ions increases following transient severe brain damage, these ions dock in greater numbers onto a switch, the so-called metal-regulatory transcription factor 1 (MTF1.
This leads to a large increase in the amount of a special calcium ion channel in the nerve cells and overall, this significantly boosts the risk of epileptic seizures.
New technology enables observations of the living brain The scientists used a novel method during their examinations.
the researchers introduced fluorescing molecules in the brains of mice and these molecules always glowed
If the zinc ions or the transcription factor MTF1 were inhibited specifically in the brain, it is possible that the development of a seizure disorder could be prevented. owever,
signals brain tissue to form new connections to compensate for the damage and initiate repairs to the brain.
The finding could eventually lead to a new treatment to promote brain repair and functional recovery in people who have suffered a stroke,
or GDF10, a molecule that previously had known no role in the adult brain, said Dr. S. Thomas Carmichael,
and programs in the UCLA department of neurology. he brain has limited a capacity for recovery after stroke,
then it might be possible to enhance brain repair after stroke. The study, which appears in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Neuroscience,
also showed that GDF10 is released after a stroke in humans and in many different animals.
which molecules become more prevalent in the brain during the recovery period after a stroke,
researchers believed that one of the molecules on the list could be a signal telling the brain to repair itself after a stroke,
and they screened for the molecules that saw the biggest increase in the brain after stroke.
After finding that GDF10 was a possible signal for brain repair, the team analyzed the molecule in a petri dish.
The scientists found that GDF10 promotes brain cellsability to form new connections and they identified the signaling systems that control the process. e found that GDF10 induces new connections to form in the brain after stroke,
and that this mediates the recovery of the ability to control bodily movement, Carmichael said.
or off by GDF10 in brain cells after a stroke and compared the cellsrna to RNA in comparable cells during brain development and normal learning,
and to RNA in the brain cells of people with other diseases. They found that GDF10 regulates a unique collection of molecules that improves recovery after stroke.
The discovery indicates that brain tissue regenerating after a stroke is a unique process rather than just a reactivation of the molecules that are active in brain development.
and then mapped the connections in the brain that are tied to body movement. They compared those to the connections in animals who had experienced a stroke
in animals with healthy brains and with animals that had experienced a stroke and had reduced a level of GDF10. he results indicated that GDF10 normally is responsible for the very limited process of the formation of new connections after stroke,
and does so mostly in a specific brain circuit. The formation of connections in this circuit with GDF10 administration significantly enhanced recovery of limb control after stroke.
which can be used to monitor vital signs and brain activity, one step closer to mass-market manufacturing.
The sensors were able to detect a special brain signal present only when the subject eyes were closed classic electroencephalogram testing procedure.
utations in SETD2 are frequently found in kidney cancer and some childhood brain tumours, so we were excited
which is converted then into electric impulses that go to our brain via nerves. Of course, electronic devices work differently phototransistors in digital cameras sense light,
such as heart, brain, and other organs during embryonic development, Oonnell says. o we can speculate that Pol-e interaction with nucleosomes could play a role in assigning different epigenetic identities to the two new daughter cells after cell division,
#Scientists discover how better to map brain tumours The laboratory research could lead to clinical trials aimed at improving the accuracy of brain tumour treatment.
For the first time, scientists have identified a protein inside blood vessels found at the invasive edge of brain tumours highlighting the area from where cancer is most likely to spread.
This protein is produced as part of an inflammatory response caused by the brain tumour. Mapping this inflammation gives scientists a more complete picture of the cancer.
and sticks to the protein VCAM-1 on the brain blood vessels and this can be seen on MRI scans.
This new research gives scientists the most complete picture of brain tumours yet, and for the first time the edge of a growing tumour has been mapped.
Clinical MRI techniques can show images of leaky blood vessels in patients, often a sign of brain tumours.
Unfortunately, blood vessels near the edge of brain tumours are often intact, so the MRI fails to reveal the whole tumour.
700 people in the UK are diagnosed with a tumour in their brain or in other parts of their central nervous system:
and the brain tumour can grow back. his research shows that we can improve imaging of brain tumours,
Being able to delineate the edges of brain tumours is an exciting step towards better surgery and radiotherapy for patients.
The holy grail would be to be able to completely remove brain tumours with the help of this new imaging technique reducing recurrence of the disease
although Colorado surgeons in 2008 took hearts from brain-damaged newborns after waiting only 75 seconds.
then quickly clamped off the blood supply to the brain and restarted the donor heart without removing it.
#Paralyzed Man Arm Wired to Receive Brain signals Scientists at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio say theye used electronics to get around a paralyzed man spinal injury,
permitting him to use an implant in his brain to move his arm and hand.
The test represents the first time that signals collected in the brain have been conveyed directly to electrodes placed inside someone arm to restore movement,
described today at the meeting of the Society for neuroscience in Chicago, is a step toward a wireless system able to transmit brain signals through the air to electronics sewn into the limbs of paralyzed people,
thereby restoring the ability to carry out simple daily tasks. People familiar with the study results said the volunteer movements are still rough,
a consortium that is developing brain-computer interfaces and includes the Case Western team. ut the fact that they got a person to control their own body,
and do it from a small patch of brain, is incredible. Volunteers in brain-implant studies have moved previously computer cursors and controlled robotic arms.
Last year, a different Ohio man with partial arm paralysis received a brain implant and was able to mentally open
and close his hand using strips of external electrodes placed around his forearm. That effort, called Neurobridge, is led by Ohio State university and Battelle Memorial Institute.
says that nine months ago surgeons implanted two bunches of silicon electrodes, called Utah arrays, into the volunteer motor cortex.
That is the part of the brain where movements are planned. Wires from each array emerge from the skull through metal ports
To complete the bridge of the man spinal cord injury, doctors then inserted more than 16 fine wires into the volunteer right arm and hand.
According to Kirsch, the volunteer is able to very accurately control a computer simulation of his wired-up arm using his brain signals.
Moving the real arm under brain control has proved more challenging. he virtual setup is perfect,
Efforts to combine brain-computer interfaces with FES systems began 20 years ago. In a 1998 experiment, also at Case Western, a volunteer named Jim Jatich used signals collected from an EEG cap he wore over his head to trigger an early FES device known as Freehand,
Implants placed in contact with the brain motor cortex can gather far more detailed information however, including estimates of
Aprecia plans to make more 3d printed medications for the central nervous system, manufacturing them on its own proprietary equipment.
if your brain is busy before interrupting There's a modern-day malady that everyone suffers from-getting distracted by phone notifications in the middle of something important and struggling to regain focus again.
Changes in blood flow in the prefrontal cortex can signal brain activity, allowing the program to read
A machine-learning algorithm calibrates the system to different brains while tests using Google glass helped the team calibrate
-and perhaps even monitor other data besides brain activity. Now, what was I doing before I started writing this again n
Thanks to a connection straight into the brain, the paralysed patient in question has been given back the ability to actually feel objects around him.
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,
who has been paralysed for more than a decade after a spinal cord injury, was able to detect with nearly 100 percent accuracy which of his robotic fingers were being touched by researchers.
If Nica2 can degrade nicotine before it reaches the brain reward centers, it could help a smoker kick the habit by blocking a pleasurable feeling they get from cigarettes.
#Stimulating Neurons with Sound Over the past five years, optogenetics method for stimulating genetically engineered neurons with lightas taken the life sciences by storm.
Now researchers also have the option of engineering subsets of neurons and activating them with ultrasound,
Study coauthor Sreekanth Chalasani, a molecular neurobiologist at the Salk Institute, explained that sonogenetics will complement optogenetics,
as sound can travel deep into the brain unimpeded while light scatters when it hits opaque tissues.
said Stephen Baccus, a neurobiologist at the Stanford university School of medicine, who was involved not in the study. t an awesome study
a neuroscientist at Arizona State university who led the first group to directly stimulate neurons with ultrasound in 2008. t shows the mechanical sensitivity of ion channels
The worms ordinarily use these neuron-embedded TRP-4 channels to sense when their bodies are stretching.
The team hoped to engineer small groups of worm neurons to express TRP-4 channels
while allowing non-engineered neurons to remain unperturbed. But the researchers found that their low-frequency waves caused such small mechanical deformations that worms could not detect them.
and activate neurons. The researchers added TRP-4 channels to neurons known to make worms reverse directions
and were able to influence the worm movements by stimulating those neurons with ultrasound. They next decided to try out sonogenetics in a set of poorly understood worm cells called PVD neurons.
The researchers found that stimulating these neurons reduced the likelihood that the animals would change directions.
Finally, the researchers tested whether they could use sonogenetics on neurons 25 microns beneath the wormscuticles.
They used calcium imaging to show that the engineered neurons lit up when stimulated with sound.
The team is now working on adapting its technique for use in mice. Chalasani noted it may not even be necessary to use microbubbles to amplify the sound waves. e expect that perhaps
because the mammalian brain is bigger, the deformation might be sufficient to cause the neuron to detect it,
he said. Or, if the researchers do end up needing to use microbubbles, they may inject them into the mouse bloodstream.
The bubbles should travel into the tiny blood vessels of the brain. In this case, each neuron should be within 20 microns of microbubbles-filled capillaries.
The researchers would like to see sonogenetics used on humans down the line, perhaps as a less invasive form of deep-brain stimulation.
The researchers will need to figure out how to genetically engineer human cells safely to express mechanosensitive channels.
And if microbubbles are necessary for amplification the team will have to establish their safety. The bubbles dissolve after about an hour in blood vessels.
the amplified ultrasound waves also do appear to affect some other neurons. t not he same thing at this point as optogenetics, where it really an all-or-none thing,
#Artificial skin Communicates with Neurons Researchers have developed a new type of artificial skin that could pave the way for responsive prosthetics.
and translates the sensation into pulses of electricity that can be interpreted by the mammalian nervous system,
but the electrical signal that comes out from the sensor is not the right format for the brain to be able to interpret it,
That circuit allows our sensor to generate electrical pulses that can communicate with the brain.
Bao and her colleagues demonstrated that the sensors could relay pressure signals to the mammalian nervous system by linking them to a blue LED light that in turn stimulated slices of mouse brain that had been engineered to respond to those wavelengths.
When the researchers measured the responses of individual neurons within the brain slice they found that it correlated perfectly with the pulses produced by the artificial skinlike materialp to 200 beats per second.
CEO of Aprecia. his is the first in a line of central nervous system products Aprecia plans to introduce.
#Researchers demonstrate thought-controlled exoskeleton Scientists have developed a brain-computer control interface for a lower limb exoskeleton by decoding specific brain signals.
and TU Berlin-are published in the Journal of Neural engineering. Each of the five LEDS are said to flicker at a different frequency,
The researchers say that a key problem has been separating these precise brain signals from those associated with other brain activity,
the system reportedly has the potential to aid sick or disabled people. eople with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) motor neuron disease,
or high spinal cord injuries face difficulties communicating or using their limbssaid Muller. ecoding what they intend from their brain signals could offer means to communicate
and walk again. The control system could serve as a technically simple and feasible add-on to other devices
and our study shows that this brain control interface can easily and intuitively control an exoskeleton system
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