including brain cells, cartilage bone and muscle cells. From the neural crest cell point, the team coaxed the cells to grow into dermal papillae cells,
--whose spinal cords had been severed completely--were able to once again move their hind limbs. The technology is now one step closer to clinical human trials with a flexible implant specifically designed to integrate with the patient's spine minimising the risk of rejection and further damage.
The implant called e-Dura is designed to be implanted directly onto the brain or spinal cord underneath the dura mater the membrane that encloses the brain and spinal cord.
Its mechanical properties--flexible and stretchy--are almost identical to those of the living tissue enclosing it vastly reducing the risk of inflammation friction and abrasion.
Our e-Dura implant can remain for a long period of time on the spinal cord or the cortex precisely because it has the same mechanical properties as the dura mater itself said study co-author and EPFL Bertarelli Chair in Neuroprosthetic Technology Stphanie Lacour.
This opens up new therapeutic possibilities for patients suffering from neurological trauma or disorders particularly individuals who have become paralysed following spinal cord injury.
EPFL The flexible silicon implant is covered in cracked gold conduction tracks that stretch with the silicon
These conduction tracks and electrodes convey electrical current to the spinal cord much as the brain does.
Meanwhile a fluidic microchannel in the implant delivers neurotransmitting drugs to reanimate the nerve cells beneath the injured tissue.
While this operates in concert to circumvent the injured site on the spine allowing the patient--theoretically--to use their limbs it can also be used to monitor electrical impulses from the brain in real-time allowing the researchers to accurately gauge the patient's intention to move before the signal is translated into motion.
The human trials may start as early as June of this year at a special facility called the called the Gait Platform housed in the University Hospital of Lausanne Switzerland.
The full study Electronic dura mater for long-term multimodal neural interfaces can be found online in the journal Science e
#Electronic pill that helps you slim by tricking your tummy An electronic pill that tricks the brain into thinking the stomach is full could help tackle obesity.
A gastric pacemaker is an implant that is surgically placed in the stomach and wired to the vagus nerve.
This nerve carries signals from the stomach to the hypothalamus, the area of the brain responsible for regulating appetite.
It then fires low-level electrical pulses into the vagus nerve to fool the brain into thinking the stomach has no more room.
A powerful magnetic patch is applied then to the skin to draw the pill into position over the site where the vagus nerve runs through the abdomen-near the top of the stomach just under the breastbone.
the pill begins to transmit signals along the nerve to the brain to dampen down appetite.
where the vagus nerve quickly becomes used to the extra stimulation and ignores it. Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, says:'
#Mutebutton can train your brain to ignore tinnitus By Roger Dobson for the Daily mail Published:
and is designed to help the brain turn down the volume of phantom noise of the condition.
the brain overcompensates and creates phantom noise. There is no cure although treatments such as maskers (ear-plugs that generate white noise to try to block out tinnitus noise), antidepressants,
However, the Mutebutton is designed to gradually re-train the brain (via the nerves in the tongue)
The idea is that the brain gradually begins to play down the illusory sounds of tinnitus
'Meanwhile, researchers have identified now the areas of the brain thought to be involved in tinnitus-with the hope that this new understanding could trigger new treatments.
Scientists at Newcastle University and the University of Iowa, in the U s.,have shown that more areas of the brain are involved in tinnitus than just the sound centre-the auditory cortex-which was thought previously to be responsible.
Using electrical implants to record the brain activity of a 50-year-old man they mapped the areas
and infection Doctors have developed a brain pressure test using a special set of headphones that can detect life-threatening head injuries and infections.
In particular, the pressure tests measure fluid via a channel that links the inner ear with the brain.
As fluids in the ear and brain are connected a change in pressure in the brain is reflected by a corresponding change in the ear
-which can signal the need for intervention. Changes to ICP occur when the brain swells as a result of an injury or infection and prevents blood flow,
depriving the brain of the oxygen it needs to function. Currently, it can only be measured by drilling a hole through the skull to implant a pressure probe into the brain in theatre or a lumbar puncture,
where a sample of fluid that surrounds the spinal cord is removed using a needle under local anaesthetic.
The headphones are set to be used in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as meningitis and head trauma injuries
as well as the monitoring and management of patients in comas. Called the cerebral and cochlear fluid pressure (CCFP) analyser,
it is also being adapted by Nasa to analyse brain pressure levels in astronauts to help tackle space-related visual problems and sickness.
A company called Emotiv adapted a $499 (£324) gaming headset that lets wearers control on-screen and physical objects with their brain as part of a racing game.
and the device is trained to read their unique brain patterns. They first clear their mind to train the headset to their neutral state
and monitor brain waves and these patterns are converted to commands using a brain-computer interface.
The technology is currently a proof-of-concept and there are no immediate plans to release the game and headset.
and it will work with existing brain-computer interface games and software that work with EEG readings.
The idea behind the implant is based on the body natural monitoring system known as neuromodulation. In the body peripheral nervous system, neuromodulation monitors the status of organs and manages how they respond to disease.
But, when a person is injured sick or, this process can be weakened and doesn work as well as it should.
Current medical neuromodulation devices are large and difficult to implant, but Darpa's implant would be small enough to target precise nerve endings m
our brains are actively controlling our balance all of the time, 'Stentz said.''This dynamic balance makes people nimble
Elsewhere, it is possible to connect the device to an Emotiv Brain Sensor to control holographic objects with your mind,
Scientists see neurons change in real-time as events are recorded'in the brain Scientists have discovered, for the first time exactly how memories are formed in the brain.
The US-UK team has managed to pinpoint individual neurons that fire when people file away their experiences.
The'spectacular discovery'may help better explain memory loss and lead to new methods to fight it in Alzheimer's and other neurological diseases.
The collaboration between the University of Leicester and Medical center revealed how a neuron in the brain instantly fired differently
'We had hypothesised that we'd be able to see some changes in the firing of the neurons,
in the sense of neurons being very silent or very active, and that it occurred at the exact moment of learning.'
'Specifically, the study looked at neurons in an area known as the medial temporal lobe associated with something known as'episodic memory'.
'This is the term used to describe the brain's ability to consciously recall experienced events
They found the same neurons that fired for the images of each of the actors also fired
in real-time as the patients'neurons recorded a new memory of the person at a particular place.'
'The remarkable result was that the neurons changed their firing properties at the exact moment the subjects formed the new memories,
'said Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, head of the Centre for Systems neuroscience at the University of Leicester.'
'The neuron initially firing to Jennifer Aniston started firing to the Eiffel Tower at the time the subject started remembering this association.'
while cochlear implants turn sounds into electrical signals for the brain to decode, but these devices can't fully replicate natural hearing.
Within a month, around half the mice with the mutation showed brainwave activity consistent with hearing
into electrical impulses that can be read by the brain. The electronic signals are sent wirelessly on to an array of electrodes placed over the damaged cells at the back of the retina.
The impulses stimulate the retina remaining cells, resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain.
it is exhausting. his is new information that Ray brain is receiving and his brain now needs to get use to interpreting it. he Argus II retinal implant was used previously on 130 patients with the rare eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.
However, those patients, unlike Mr Flynn, had no peripheral vision. The new system is thought to be the first in the world that combines artificial and natural eyesight
It uses a eep neural network systemthat works a little like the human brain to analyse infrared images and match them with ordinary photos.
which is a computer programme that imitates the way the human brain makes connections and draws conclusions.
convincingly fools the brain into believing the virtual scenarios. initially the caroswas very complex with advanced exo skeleton electronics,
and brain cells has been found by researchers at Northwestern University, Illinois and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
#Robot arm controlled by quadriplegic intentions Californian researchers have linked a robot arm to the brain of a quadriplegic man,
The electrodes are not in the motor cortex or attached to muscle nerves, but are in a part of the brain associated with planning muscle activity:
the posterior parietal cortex, or PPC. hen you move your arm, you really don think about which muscles to activate
and the details of the movement such as lift the arm, extend the arm, grasp the cup,
and then shaking hands begins with a visual signal that is first processed in the lower visual areas of the cerebral cortex.
These intentions are transmitted to the motor cortex, on through the spinal cord, and then to the muscles where movement is executed.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging his neurons to be monitored while Sorto imagined various types of limb and eye movements.
Based on the recorded neural activity it became possible for researchers to predict which limbs he wanted to move,
it was found that Sorto could alter the activity of neuron populations simply by imagining different motor actions.
said Andersen whose team is working on a mechanism to relay signals from the robotic arm back into the part of the brain that gives the perception of touch
and emulate the outcomes of neural activityow thought is opposed formeds to reverse-engineering the human brain itself,
Dube vision is much more grand. large part of your brain is shackled by the boredom and drudgery of everyday existence
and allow you to indulge in the forms of creative expression that only the human brain can indulge in.
they will allow them to delve into the complexity of the human brain, an organ that so far essentially unknown. he scanners are rare due to production complexities.
the spinal cord is too blurry and we don distinguish too many fine details. But with the ultra-high field scanner,
Champalimaud Foundation. here are some very important diseases of the spinal cord, like multiple sclerosis. So when the diseases begin,
there are some microstructural changes in the spinal cord. For example, the diameter of the cell can change,
to carry out comprehensive analysis of some brain diseases, the brain has to be cut and examined after death.
The new technology could change all that. A smaller machine at the Champalimaud research facility allows a brain to be scanned fully in a living person.
It enables researchers to investigate structural changes in the brain, during depression. epression is a widespread disease.
It one of the major causes of disability worldwide. And one of the main problems of depression is that currently there is no way for clinicians to guide a treatment selection,
This capability would be critical for accessing remote corners of the ventricular system of the brain
He said that they have demonstrated already up to 15mm penetration depth into a brain tissue phantom using an 18gauge needle.
We should note that real brains are basically lipid and cytoskeletal protein composites that should be expected to behave nonlinearly with regards to impacts.
and manipulating neural hardware in the ventricular system of the brain. Of the 1700ml or so available space in our skull, 1400ml of that is the brain itself, 150ml is for the blood,
and 150ml for the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in which the brain floats. An additional 30ml of CSF circulates inside a network of chambers in the center of the brain known as the ventricular system.
That a fairly roomy working environment. The fine membranes that separate these spaces are precisely the targets a Gauss gun could work on.
Of note we would offer that one of the key procedures would be making or stitching passageways between the brain and the larger immune and lymphatic systems of the body.
We won say much more here other than to mention that just a week ago, hardly anyone would have imagined the central nervous system had any classical lymphatic system,
to speak of. Now everyone wants to know how to control and access it to ensure the continued health and power of the brain
#Terapio autonomous medical robot can assist nurses Japan has a rapidly aging population, along with the longest life expectancy in the world.
loosely based on human neural circuitry and how our brains perceive and interact with the world.
which layers of artificial neurons process raw sensory data like sound waves or image pixels and then try to interpret patterns
You just need your brain to be shaken up a bit, and that what Chef Watson does. u
A brain surgeon, for example, could use GHOST to create a virtual version of the brain that he
#Device delivers drugs to brain by remote control A new wireless device the width of a human hair can be implanted in the brain
and other neurological disorders in people by targeting therapies to specific brain circuits. Published online in the journal Cell,
a technology that makes individual brain cells sensitive to light and then activates those targeted populations of cells with flashes of light.
Because it not yet practical to re-engineer human neurons researchers made the tiny wireless devices capable of delivering drugs directly into the brain, with the remote push of a button.
ACTIVATED WITH LIGHT n the future, it should be possible to manufacture therapeutic drugs that could be activated with light,
says co-principal investigator Michael R. Bruchas, associate professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Washington University in St louis. ith one of these tiny devices implanted,
we could theoretically deliver a drug to a specific brain region and activate that drug with light as needed.
But the new devices were built with four chambers to carry drugs directly into the brain.
By activating brain cells with drugs and with light, the scientists are getting an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the brain.
but it is soft like brain tissue and can remain in the brain and function for a long time without causing inflammation or neural damage,
Jeong adds. OTHER PARTS OF THE BODY, TOO As part of the study, the researchers showed that by delivering a drug to one side of an animal brain
they could stimulate neurons involved in movement, which caused the mouse to move in a circle.
In other mice, shining a light directly onto brain cells expressing a light-sensitive protein prompted the release of dopamine,
a neurotransmitter that rewarded the mice by making them feel good. The mice then returned to the same location in a maze to seek another reward.
But the researchers were able to interfere with that light-activated pursuit by remotely controlling the release of a drug that blocks the action of dopamine on its receptors.
The researchers also believe that similar more flexible devices could have applications in areas of the body other than the brain,
including peripheral organs. ee successfully produced and demonstrated an implantable, cellular-scale microfluidic and micro-optical interface to biology,
with application opportunities not only in the brain but in other parts of the nervous system and other organs as well, says the study other co-principal investigator, John A. Rogers, professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois. For now,
so that drugs can continue to be delivered to specific cells in the brain, or elsewhere in the body, for as long as required without the need to replace the entire device.
the mass production of human embryonic (pluripotent) stem cells that could provide an off-the-shelf product for clinical use in the treatment of the heart, liver, and brain.
and brain are all under investigation as possible new stem cell treatments. People are already receiving stem cells derived from eye cells for eye disorders.
#Rare case uncovers missing clue to Fragile X Fragile X syndrome may not only be a problem of receivers in the brain letting in too much information.
because they only dialed down the brain receivers, presumably leaving transmitters on overdrive. Scientists made the discovery by studying the case of someone who doesn even have the disordernly two of its classic symptoms.
which eliminates a protein that regulates electrical signals in the brain and causes a host of behavioral, neurological,
This allowed the researchers to parse out a previously unknown role for the gene. his individual case has allowed us to separate two independent functions of the fragile X protein in the brain,
when brain cells receive signals. Like radio transmitters and receivers, brain cells send and receive transmissions in fine-tuned ways that separate the signals from the noise.
Until recently, most fragile X research has focused on problems with overly sensitive receivers, those that allow in too much information.
Loss of FMRP is known to affect how cells in the brain receive signals dialing up the amount of information allowed in.
geneticist Stephen T. Warren and colleagues at Emory University replicated it in mouse brain cells and tested it for the widely known functions of FMRP.
In other words, the patient brain cells had entirely normal receivers, which appeared to work in ways that were indistinguishable from those in healthy people. his single point mutation does not seem to affect the classical,
Surprisingly, the fruit fly studies indicated that this single mutation increased the number of transmitters in brain cells, implicating a fundamental problem in
which the brain cells send out too many signals. To verify the mechanism in mammals, they turned to Klyachko lab,
which has expertise in understanding how brain cells regulate the sending of electrical signals. In past work Klyachko has shown that total loss of FMRP in mice disrupts the normal process by
which brain cells send signals, causing transmitters to send out too much information. In the new study researchers were able to verify the same effect from just the mutation and link it to human disease.
#High-res MRI links cerebellum to bipolar disorder A different type of MRI has given researchers an unprecedented look at previously unrecognized differences in the brains of people with bipolar disorder, a new study reports.
Specifically, the findings reveal differences in the white matter of patientsbrains and in the cerebellum, an area of the brain not previously linked with the disorder.
The cerebellar differences were not present in patients taking lithium, the most commonly used treatment for bipolar disorder.
professor of psychiatry at University of Iowa. o it really providing a new picture and new insight into the composition and function of the brain in bipolar disease.
including levels of glucose and acidity in the brain. ELEVATED MRI SIGNAL Compared to the brains of people without bipolar disorder,
the MRI signal was elevated in the cerebral white matter and the cerebellar region of patients affected by bipolar disorder.
The elevated signal may be due to either a reduction in ph or a reduction in glucose concentrationoth factors influenced by cell metabolism.
However, investigating metabolic abnormalities in the brain has been hindered by lack of a good imaging tools.
In contrast, the new imaging approach can rapidly acquire a high-resolution image of the whole brain.
One reason researchers didn know that the cerebellum might be important in bipolar disorder, is because no one chose to look there, says Casey Johnson,
The majority of bipolar disorder research has found differences in the frontal region of the brain.
We found focal differences in the cerebellum, which is a region that hasn really been highlighted in the bipolar literature before."
aggregation already has a stronghold in their brains, "says Lisa Lapidus, who uses lasers to study the speed of protein reconfiguration before aggregation."
and began to find pieces of evidence that suggested that the cerebellum may function abnormally in bipolar disorder
and that lithium might potentially target the cerebellum and alter glucose levels in this brain region. ur paper,
with this new technique, starts to bring all these pieces of evidence together for the first time, Johnson says.
it causes numerous unpleasant side effects for patients. f lithium effect on the cerebellum is the key to its effectiveness as a mood stabilizer,
then a more targeted treatment that causes the same change in the cerebellum without affecting other systems might be a better treatment for patients with bipolar disorder,
if your brain didn#t cycle A study with mice shows how the mammalian brain is able to maintain a constant state of up and downhile under anesthesia, during slow-wave sleep,
The findings suggest how the brain walks a healthy line between excitement and inhibition as it strives to be idle but ready,
a professor and chair of neuroscience at Brown University and senior author of the study. oo much excitation relative to inhibition you get a seizure,
or whether you are in some kind of idling state of the brain, you need to maintain that balance.
Specifically they looked at the activity of excitatory pyramidal cells and four kinds of inhibitory interneurons (PV, SOM, VIP,
and the amounts of excitation and inhibition they received from other neurons. The picture that emerged is that all types of interneurons were active.
This included the most abundant interneuron subtype (the fast-spiking PV cell), and the various more slowly spiking subtypes (SOM, VIP, NPY).
In fact, the latter cells were active at levels similar to or higher than neighboring excitatory cells, contributing strong inhibition during the up state.
There they found that only one inhibitory neuron, PV, seemed to be doing anything in the up state to balance out the excitement of the pyramidal neurons.
The other inhibitory neurons stayed virtually silent. In the new study Neske replicated those results.
Taken together, the studies indicate that even though up and down cycles occur throughout the cortex, they may be regulated differently in different parts. t suggests that inhibition plays different roles in persistent activity in these two regions of cortex
and it calls for more comparative work to be done among cortical areas, Neske says. ou can just use one cortical region as the model for all inhibitory interneuron function.
The National institutes of health and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported the research, which was published in the Journal of Neuroscience e
#How lasers make metal super water repellent Scientists have used lasers to turn metals into extremely water repellent materials without the need for temporary coatings.
#Molecule that Destroys Apoptotic Cells also Repairs Damaged Axons Two new studies involving the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Queensland (UQ) in Brisbane,
but also has the ability to repair damaged nerve cells. Known as the phosphatidylserine receptor, or PSR-1, the molecule can locate
and knit together broken axons that has caught the attention of both science teams.""I would call this an unexpected
"This is the first time a molecule involved in apoptosis has been found to have the ability to repair severed axons,
. of the UQ's Queensland Brain Institute that shows the major role played by PSR-1 in the regeneration of nerve axons.
and perhaps treat conditions like spinal cord or nerve injuries, he said. During programmed cell death,
In contrast, broken axons in nerve cells send PSR-1 molecules an SOS alert.""The moment there is a cut to the nerve cell we see a change in the cell membrane PS composition,
which acts as a signal to PSR-1 molecules in the other part of the nerve, said Dr. Xue. e propose that PS functions as a ave-mesignal for the distal fragment,
allowing conserved apoptotic cell clearance molecules to function in reestablishing axonal integrity during regeneration of the nervous system,
"Whether human PSR has the capacity to repair injured axons is still unknown, "he said."
and nerve clusters outside the brain and spinal cord in humans, there currently is no effective way to regenerate broken nerve cells in the central nervous system, noted Dr. Xue.
Such nerve damage can cause partial or total paralysis. Xue, who first identified the PSR-1 receptor in 2003,
which likely would promote faster healing in nerve axons.""We think the higher the PSR-1 level,
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