#Men and Women Process Pain Differently New research released today in Nature Neuroscience reveals for the first time that pain is processed in male and female mice using different cells.
or inflammation through the nervous system using an immune system cell called microglia. This new research shows that this is only true in male mice.
Interfering with the function of microglia in a variety of different ways effectively blocked pain in male mice,
said Michael Salter, M d.,Ph d.,Head and Senior Scientist, Neuroscience & Mental health at Sickkids and Professor at The University of Toronto,
the other co-senior author. e believe that mice have very similar nervous systems to humans, especially for a basic evolutionary function like pain,
. or the past 15 years scientists have thought that microglia controlled the volume knob on pain,
#Researchers Discover New Epigenetic Mecahnism in Brain cells For decades, researchers in the genetics field have theorized that the protein spools around
histones, remain constant in the brain, never changing after development in the womb. Now, researchers from the Icahn School of medicine at Mount sinai have discovered that histones are replaced steadily in brain cells throughout life a process
which helps to switch genes on and off. This histone replacement, known as turnover, enables our genetic machinery to adapt to our environment by prompting gene expression,
and carry signals in the brain. This new concept described in a study led by researchers in the Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at the Icahn School of medicine at Mount sinai,
and at the Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, The Rockefeller University, was published today in the journal Neuron.
are highly stable proteins in non-dividing cells like nerve cells. The study authors argue that aging histones are replaced
The research team found that histone turnover regulates how genes in the brain are turned on and off in response to various stimuli,
thereby allowing neurons to form new synaptic connections. hese are very exciting results, creating a new front in the field of chromatin biology,
this work provides a novel conceptual framework for further studies aimed at identifying the molecular underpinnings of neurodevelopmental disease and psychiatric illness. pecifically,
the study examined a specific type of histone called H3. 3 in human and rodent brains.
To study histone composition in mouse nerve cells and related turnover, researchers fed young, post-weaning rodents a special diet containing heavy labeled lysines,
When examining the nerve cells, researchers explored whether the H3. 3 variant was labeled with that stable isotope (ewhistones)
This was accomplished by isolating individual neurons from the mice and performing mass spectrometry. The prevalence of the labeled H3. 3 demonstrated the fact that the older histones had been replaced with newer ones, indicating histone turnover.
purified H3. 3 samples from brain cells of postmortem human brains, and determine present 14c/12c ratios from the time of death against past atmospheric levels from the time of the subject birth.
As with the rodent observations, the researchers found that H3. 3 turnover occurs in the human brain throughout life.
Additionally, the researchers deliberately manipulated H3. 3 dynamics in both embryonic and adult neurons, confirming the role of histone turnover in neuronal plasticity.
and new, regulator of cell-type specific transcription in the brain. istone turnover, shown through our work with H3. 3,
is essential for the behavior of brain cells, said Dr. Maze. urthering our understanding of how the brain works,
learns, forms new memories and reacts to changes in the environment can help us to find new ways to treat neurodegenerative diseases and mental illness. ource:
and C. David Allis in Neuron. Published online June 10 2015 doi: 10.1016/j. neuron. 2015.06.014 Abstractcritical Role of Histone Turnover in Neuronal Transcription and Plasticityhighlights 3. 3 displays a unique saturating profile of nucleosome occupancy in postnatal brain
istones turn over rapidly to promote activity-dependent neuronal transcription ucleosomal dynamics are required for synaptic development
remains largely unexplored in brain. Here, we describe a novel mechanistic role for HIRA (histone cell cycle regulator) and proteasomal degradation-associated histone dynamics in the regulation of activity-dependent transcription
Manipulating H3. 3 dynamics in both embryonic and adult neurons confirmed its essential role in neuronal plasticity and cognition.
Our findings establish histone turnover as a critical and previously undocumented regulator of cell type-specific transcription and plasticity in mammalian brain. ritical Role of Histone Turnover in Neuronal Transcription and Plasticityby
and C. David Allis in Neuron
#Detecting Eye diseases With Help of a Smartphone Researchers at the Medical and Surgical Center for Retina developed software that detects eye diseases such as diabetic macular edema using a smartphone.
Ph d. student in Neuroscience at the UM Miller School of medicine and first author of the study. lthough we study rare diseases such as CMT2 and optic atrophy,
Program director for the US NAVY Captain Jeff Dodge likened the upgrade from the MQ-8b based on a smaller airframe to the model aircraft to a brain transplant. e are taking the computer
It was thought that they used their eyes and brain to do it, now it seems they can bypass all that thanks to light-sensitive skin.
#Brain implant allows paralysed man to sip a beer at his own pace A brain implant that can decode what someone wants to do has allowed a man paralysed from the neck down to control a robotic arm with unprecedented fluidity
Erik Sorto was left unable to move any of his limbs after an accident severed his spinal cord 12 years ago.
People with similar injuries have controlled previously prosthetic limbs using implants placed in their motor cortex an area of the brain responsible for the mechanics of movement.
Richard Andersen at the California Institute of technology in Pasadena and his colleagues hoped they could achieve a more fluid movement by placing an implant in the posterior parietal cortex a part of the brain involved in planning motor movements."
"We thought this would allow us to decode brain activity associated with the overall goal of a movement for example,
Neuron control Andersen's team placed two implants measuring 4 millimetres squared into Sorto's posterior parietal cortex.
Each contained electrodes that recorded the activity of hundreds of individual neurons.""We weren't actually sure
"The posterior parietal cortex is a fascinating area as it doesn't control the muscles so much as the plans you make to do something."
"For nearly two years, the team recorded the patterns of electrical activity from each neuron firing
For example, certain neurons were active when Sorto imagined moving his right hand to the back of his head,
Some neurons were intended responsible for the goal of a movement, and others for the trajectory of the movement whether Sorto wanted to reach for something overarm or underarm, for example.
In addition, some neurons responded only when he imagined moving one of his arms information that might be useful for controlling two prosthetic limbs at the same time.
One unexplored possibility is that the posterior parietal cortex might also encode other kinds of intentions.
could we identify the brain activity that corresponds with the thought of wanting to watch a film,
because the messages from the nerves cannot reach the brain. It might be possible to stimulate the brain directly instead.
In 2011 Miguel Nicolelis at Duke university Medical centre in Durham, North carolina, showed that stimulating the somatosensory cortex an area that processes feelings of touch let monkeys feel the texture of virtual objects without physically touching anythingmovie Camera.
people undergoing brain surgery have had their somatosensory cortex stimulated and reported feeling things such as"a wind rushing over my hand
"Andersen and his colleagues are the first to attempt to harness this brain area to simulate touch in people.
and begun preliminary experiments to identify what kind of brain stimulation is required to replicate real sensation.
Then they must demonstrate that a nervous system will develop. Results of hand transplants show that this happens through the recipient's nerve tissue penetrating into the hand
but they don't yet incorporate other parts of the human intestine, such as blood vessels or nerve cells."
#Leaky Blood vessels In The Brain May Lead To Alzheimer's Researchers appear to have found a new risk factor for Alzheimer's disease:
and memory had much leakier blood vessels in the hippocampus.""This is exactly the area of the brain that is involved with learning
and memory,"says Berislav Zlokovic, the study's senior author and director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the University of Southern California.
The study, published in Neuron, also found that blood vessels in the hippocampus tend to become leakier in all people as they age.
But the process is accelerated in those likely to develop Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
"We were looking at brains from autopsies and it (became) quite apparent that there is a breakdown of the blood-brain barrier,
and toxins that circulate in the bloodstream from mixing with the fluid that surrounds brain cells.
toxins leak into the fluid that surrounds brain cells and eventually damage or kill the cells.
So Zlokovic and his team used a special type of MRI to study the living brains of more than 60 people.
The researchers paid special attention to the hippocampus because it is one of the first brain areas affected by Alzheimer's.
And they found that in some regions of the hippocampus, the permeability of the blood-brain barrier was more than 50 percent higher in people with mild cognitive impairment.
whether it's possible to repair damage to the blood brain barrier. That may be possible using cells known as pericytes,
which help prevent blood vessels in the brain from leaking g
#Scientists Give Genetically modified organisms A Safety Switch Researchers at Harvard and Yale have used some extreme gene-manipulation tools to engineer safety features into designer organisms.
an Icelandic orthopaedics company, has developed tiny implanted myoelectric sensors (IMES) that helped amputees to control their bionic prosthetic limbs with the commands sent from their brain.
Basis of BRETT is the neural circuitry of the human brain which perceives and interacts with everything around it.
The new technique is inspired from the neural circuitry in human brain n
#Development of Single-Molecule Diode Revolutionizes Nanotechnology A paper published on May 25 in Nature Nanotechnology titled ingle-Molecule Diodes with High On-Off Ratios through Environmental Controlreports the first ever attempt for the development of single
which enable transmission of feelings to the brain. This prosthetic limb, invented by Professor Hubert Egger from the University of Linz in Austria is fitted with six sensors
Egger explained that these sensors tell the brain that there is a foot and the wearer has the impression that it rolls off the ground when he walks.
#Neuroscientists Create rainets Effectively Link Brain Circuits of Primates with Rodents Neuroscientists at Duke university have employed successfully Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI) to link the brain circuits of primates with rodents.
2015 issue of Scientific Reports reveals the capability of the brains of these two animals to collaboratively complete simple tasks.
Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PHD, co-director of the Center for Neuroengineering at the Duke university School of medicine and principal investigator for the study,
along with his colleagues has developed for the first time mechanical brain networks called Brainets by connecting brains of rats and rhesus macaque monkeys through arrays implanted in the motor and somatosensory cortices of these animals.
The linkage of brain circuits revealed phenomenal outcomes. It allowed the animals to exchange sensory and motor information in real time,
This is the first demonstration of a shared brain-machine interface, a paradigm that has been translated successfully over the past decades from studies in animals all the way to clinical applications.
and could soon be translated to clinical practicethe researchers propose that this discovery has the future potential of using the intuitive capacity of organic brains to support machine logic,
thus facilitating the development of organic computers created by the interfacing of multiple animal brains with computers c
3-D imaging at cellular resolution in behaving organisms is a new frontier for biomedical and neuroscience research,
such as neurons firing in the rodent brain, crawling fruit fly larvae and single cells in the zebrafish heart while the heart is actually beating spontaneously.
This unique configuration permitted volumetric imaging of cortical dendrites in the awake, behaving mouse brain.
but cannot generate 3-D images quickly enough to capture events like neurons firing. SCAPE does have one drawback:
After identifying brain cancer's OCT signature, researchers at Johns hopkins university have developed a computer algorithm that rapidly generates a color-coded map that shows cancer in red and healthy tissue in green."
So far the system has been tested on fresh human brain tissue removed during surgeries and in surgeries to remove brain tumors from mice.
while keeping crucial brain tissue intact. Visually distinguishing the two is often impossible.""As a neurosurgeon,
"said Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, a professor of neurosurgery, neuroscience and oncology at the Johns hopkins university School of medicine and the clinical leader of the research team."
"Optical coherence tomography that could help surgeons differentiate a human brain tumor, red, from surrounding noncancerous tissue, green.
Brain cancer cells also lack the myelin sheaths that coat healthy brain cells, a factor that has even greater effect on OCT readings than cell density,
Doppler OCT Measures Cocaine Impact on Brain Drugs Enhance SPECT Imaging of Metastatic Cancer Compact Imaging,
#BRAIN-CONTROLLED BIONIC LEGS ARE FINALLY HERE For a full decade, Gudmundur Olafsson was unable to move his right ankle.
When the electrical impulse from his brain reaches the base of his leg, a pair of sensors embedded in his muscle tissue connect the neural dots,
Along with David Ingvasson, a fellow Ossur tester, he's one of the only people on the planet who owns a brain-controlled bionic limb.
Brain-controlled bionic limbs make headlines on a regular basis, with the implication that the science has been solved, and experimental systems are already transitioning to products.
or implanting electrodes in a subject's brain. These devices look like the real thing in brief, sometimes compelling video clips.
That a brain-controlled bionic leg would also promote muscle growth is stranger, and more exciting,
In recent years surgeons have been able to implant devices called neuromodulators that can stop pain
the Chimaera sends data about that spot to a computer where it is combined with information from a CT SCAN of the patient brain taken previously.
where the surgeon can implant the neuromodulator device. Right now these most delicate procedures can only be conducted by a handful of surgeons worldwide, Reuters reports.
But the Chimaera could make neuromodulators so much easier to implant that they could become more commonplace.
the researchers now think patients with severe spinal cord injuries may be able to recover multiple body functions,
and the almost 1. 3 million who have spinal cord injuries. he potential to offer a life-changing therapy to patients without requiring surgery would be a major advance;
For the study, Edgerton and his team used a technique called transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation where they placed electrodes on a patient lower back and sent a unique pattern of electrical currents through the electrodes.
which had been found to induce leg movement in mice with spinal cord injuries, during the final four weeks of the study.
#Paralyzed Stroke Victims Speak Again Through App I. am. here is a mobile app that analyzes brain activity of stroke victims to give paralyzed people a way to communicate with their loved ones.
The software uses Brain computer interface (BCI) to transform raw brain signals into human emotions, which are displayed then as words through the mobile app.
their brain activity can still be analyzed using preexisting research, and their mood may still be carried across through the app.
mobile studio, hen we learned that brainwaves can now be picked up, we immediately thought of paralyzed people.
After we went through a very thorough set of consultations with neuroscientists, and studied brain-computer interface technologies, we knew for sure that this was a task we could complete.
With this app, we analyze data from Emotive EPOC and transform it in a simple and clear form.
The signals sent from the brain to nerve-endings in muscles that prompt movement continued even
Ingvarsson said the new technology allows the patient's brain to control both subconscious and intentional movements."
"So, the brain power, when it takes over, it actually gives impulses through the brain into the muscles, then the muscles contract.
We put sensors into the muscles, and the muscles would pick up the signals, and the signals move their way into the prosthetics,
and then the prosthetics react as your brain wants, "he explained. The mobility technology company has designed the system to be compatible with its current bionic devices,
requiring neuroplasticity (brain retraining) to operate e
#U s. to bring Japan under its cyber defense umbrella"We note a growing level of sophistication among malicious cyber actors,
"This reads right about 10 channels of the brain, so it kind of works kind of like a muscle sensor in that it picks up small electric discharges and turns that into something you can actually read within software,
and then use the raw actual brainwaves and focus to actually close the hand or open the clamp or hand,
"A good example is had we actually an amputee use the wireless brainwave headset to control a hand,
with some using a wireless brainwave headset, designed more for prosthetic use. Another of his tele-robotic controlled hands was created with dangerous environments in mind
Different regions of the brain are known to be linked to areas of perception, such as pain. Neurostimulation involves applying an electric impulses to nerves to alter brain activity in a specific area."
"Pain is simply a series of electrical signals as transmitted through the nervous system, whether that's pain from a broken leg or pain from a headache.
So by putting an electrical signal directly into target nerves-in a known way, you need to understand the waveforms to put into that nerve-you're able to lessen,
which influences how your brain is experiencing things, "explained Simon Karger from technology developers Cambridge Consultants.
Chimaera is designed to make implanting neuromodulators to nerves much easier by integrating surgical sensing and implant delivery functions in one intelligent device.
Karger said their aim was to figure out how neuromodulators-measuring less than a centimeter in length-could be implanted as simply and quickly as possible.
#Scientists control mouse brain by remote control The tiny implant, smaller than the width of a human hair, let the scientists determine the path a mouse walks using a remote control to inject drugs
and shine lights on neurons inside the brain. Neuroscientists have until now been limited to injecting drugs through larger tubes
and delivering photostimulation through fiber-optic cables, both of which require surgery that can damage the brain
and restrict an animal's natural movements. The optofluidic implant developed by the team from Washington University School of medicine
and displace much less brain tissue than the metal tubes, or cannulas, scientists typically use to inject drugs.
In one such experiment, mice were made to walk in circles after a drug that mimics morphine was injected into the region of the mouse's brain that controls motivation and addiction.
so that their neurons are lights sensitive, to stimulate the mice's brain cells with miniature LEDS.
The test subjects were made to stay on one side of a cage by remotely making the implant shine pulses of light on the specific cells.
and send the appropriate signals to the brain: sweet, savory, bitter and so on. The electrochemical patterns of those signals register in the brain as flavors.
All receptors respond every time we take a bite we don't have specific sensors for different tastes."
you train your brain and sensors so your brain learns that this taste is from a banana,
this taste is explained from coffee Méndez. You compare sensory response patterns for every mouthful of food,
have an array of sensors that send signals to software the"brain"that analyzes the response patterns.
Like our brain, the computer can then compare new beer samples against the established, learned signal patterns.
"A successful brain cancer treatment will very likely require blocking the tumor stem cells'ability to survive
Kim studies glioblastoma, a deadly form of brain cancer that each year strikes about 18,000 people in the United states. The average length of survival after diagnosis is 15 months,
Voices Against Brain Cancer; the Elsa U. Pardee Foundation; the Concern Foundation; and the Duesenberg Research Fund d
A surgeon, for instance, will be able to work on a virtual brain physically, with the full tactile experience,
"says Jeffrey Holt, Phd, a scientist in the Department of Otolaryngology and F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children's and an associate professor of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical school.
helping convert sound into electrical signals that travel to the brain. The researchers tested gene therapy in two types of mutant mice.
In the recessive deafness model, gene therapy with TMC1 restored the ability of sensory hair cells to respond to sound--producing a measurable electrical current--and also restored activity in the auditory portion of the brainstem.
In the dominant deafness model, gene therapy with a related gene, TMC2, was successful at the cellular and brain level,
generating an electrical signal that travels to the brain and ultimately translates to hearing. Although the channel is made up of either TMC1 or TMC2
and interpret the signals travelling between its nerve-endings and the brain. Leg movement is triggered by a connected receiver,
"The brain power, when it takes over, actually gives impulses through the brain into the muscles, then the muscles contract,"orthopaedic surgeon and director of research and development at Ossur,
Thorvaldur Ingvarsson, told Amy Pollack at Reuters."We put sensors into the muscles, and the muscles would pick up the signals,
and then the prosthetics react as your brain wants.""The technology differs from similar mind-controlled prosthetics
because their brain has to get used to their muscle tissue functioning in a completely different region of the body.
With a huge binary brain to draw on and no need for either food or sleep,
these meshes can be used to monitor neural activity and even stimulate tissue and neurons. Ultimately the methods pioneered by Lieber
and his colleagues could lead to new ways to treat neurodegenerative diseases and paralysis, as well as mapping out the brain in greater detail than ever before.
Parkinson's is just one of the conditions that could be treated in this way, if it's proved to be safe for humans-so far it has only been tested on mice.
The team brought together by Lieber is made up of internationally renowned physicists neuroscientists and chemists,
and melds with the existing brain tissue-the neurons apparently look at the new mesh as a friendly support rather than something alien to the body.
From there, individual neurons can be monitored both and stimulated through a small connection to the brain.
The team says the next step in the research is to try the same technique with larger meshes and more sensors.
Lieber Research Group, Harvard Universitythe group of scientists Lieber has brought together are trying to solve a longstanding neuroscience mystery:
exactly how the activity of individual brain cells lead to larger cognitive powers (like emotion or perception.
the brain tissue is able to comfortably rearrange itself around it.""I think it's great, a very creative new approach to the problem of recording from large number of neurons in the brain,"Rafael Yuste,
director of the Neuro technology Centre at Columbia University in New york, told Nature. com. At this stage not everyone is confident the new procedure can be applied safely to human beings, however.
Jens Schouenborg, who is head of the Neuronano Research Centre at Lund University in Sweden,
Schouenborg is also working on his own gelatin-based'needle'for delivering electrodes into the brain a
#Researchers have worked out how to mind control cockroaches Engineering students in China have worked out how to control live cockroaches using a brain-to-brain interface technique,
and these brain waves were translated then into electrical impulses which were sent wirelessly to an electronic backpack receiver attached to the cockroach.
In a press release the students explain that their research"extended the traditional brain-computer interface technology
and tentatively attempted the avatar brain-brain communication"."The video on their research, which you can see below,
#This new technology lets you change the channel with your mind The BBC is testing a new type of headset that can read a user brainwaves
and use their brain activity to change the channel. Developed with London-based technology group, This Place,
and the headset allows the users to pick one using the strength of their brain activity.
when watching with his son they would be fighting over brain waves to choose the program they could both watch.
that the brain can eventually learn to interpret as an image. The Argus II received limited Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2013,
and even other people's arms, with their brain waves, the new research takes this a step further
which analyses their brain signals and converts them into electronic instructions for a robot. These instructions were sent via the Internet to a remote computer hooked up to a simple, wheeled robot.
#Scientists have built artificial neurons that fully mimic human brain cells Researchers have built the world first artificial neuron that capable of mimicking the function of an organic brain cell-including the ability to translate chemical signals into electrical impulses,
These artificial neurons are the size of a fingertip and contain no ivingparts, but the team is working on shrinking them down
This could allow us to effectively replace damaged nerve cells and develop new treatments for neurological disorders, such as spinal cord injuries and Parkinson disease."
"Our artificial neuron is made of conductive polymers and it functions like a human neuron, "lead researcher Agneta Richter-Dahlfors from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden said in a press release.
Until now, scientists have only been able to stimulate brain cells using electrical impulses, which is how they transmit information within the cells.
But in our bodies they're stimulated by chemical signals, and this is how they communicate with other neurons.
By connecting enzyme-based biosensors to organic electronic ion pumps, Richter-Dahlfors and her team have managed now to create an artificial neuron that can mimic this function
and they've shown that it can communicate chemically with organic brain cells even over large distances."
"The sensing component of the artificial neuron senses a change in chemical signals in one dish,
and translates this into an electrical signal, "said Richter-Dahlfors.""This electrical signal is translated next into the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine in a second dish,
whose effect on living human cells can be monitored.""This means that artificial neurons could theoretically be integrated into complex biological systems,
such as our bodies, and could allow scientists to replace or bypass damaged nerve cells. So imagine being able to use the device to restore function to paralysed patients, or heal brain damage."
"Next, we would like to miniaturise this device to enable implantation into the human body, "said Richer-Dahlfors. e foresee that in the future,
by adding the concept of wireless communication, the biosensor could be placed in one part of the body,
and trigger release of neurotransmitters at distant locations.""""Using such auto-regulated sensing and delivery,
the artificial neurons could one day also help us to supplement our mental abilities and add extra memory storage or offer faster processing,
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