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Category: neuroscience – Page 935

No more smartphones.

In Brief

  • Researchers are finding ways for us to communicate using only our minds, going so far as to give people in separate rooms the ability to send answers to each other without speaking.
  • If we can hone this technology, it could help people with paralysis or other physical disorders regain the ability to communicate or perform physical tasks.

Imagine living in a world in which verbal communication is no longer required, a society in which telepathy is the norm, where people would be able to “speak” to each other using only their thoughts.

Scientists have long been contemplating the possibilities of brain-to-brain communication in humans, and it appears as though their dreams could become a reality within the next year or so. Such a system would be made possible via major advances in the technology that have been achieved via recent trials involving animals.

Continue reading “Brain-to-Brain Communication in Humans Could Soon Become a Reality” | >

Great method btw.

Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States. Patients who have it are of all ages and it can seriously limit one’s ability to enjoy life. It’s a spectrum disorder which means the kinds of seizures people suffer and how they are managed will vary depending on the patient. Currently about 3 million people in the US are living with epilepsy and experts predict that at least 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime. While epilepsy is most often treated with anti-seizure medication, there are some patients who have not benefitted from medication. This form of the disorder is called drug-resistant epilepsy and can be very difficult to treat.

There are surgical options, but it’s crucial to have a good picture of the brain’s anatomy before any surgery is undertaken. Currently there are two methods for this. A recent article published by the American Academy of Neurology in the medical journal Neurology, looked at the two methods and revised the guidelines for each. The more common method of mapping the brain before surgery is the intracarotid amobarbital procedure, also known as the Wada test. In this procedure one side of the brain is anesthetized by injecting medication via the carotid artery. It’s invasive, can be uncomfortable and does carry some risk. The other way to get a look at the brain architecture is to use functional MRI scans.

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The ancient impulse to procreate is necessary for survival and must be hardwired into our brains. Now scientists from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have discovered an important clue about the neurons involved in that wiring.

Using advanced deep brain imaging techniques and optogenetics, the UNC scientists found that a small cluster of sex-hormone-sensitive neurons in the mouse hypothalamus are specialized for inducing mice to “notice” the opposite sex and trigger attraction.

This study, led by Garret D. Stuber, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and cell biology & physiology, and Jenna A. McHenry, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in Stuber’s lab, identified a hormone-sensitive circuit in the brain that controls social motivation in female mice.

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Interesting write up some fiction and some non-fiction brought together on a common theory about Quantum. I do have a huge curiosity around the work going on the parallel states research and the job postings by some companies for psychics. Wouldn’t it be funny that if all these folks who thought they saw something like a spirit really did due to Quantum parallel states? What if Musk and others who believe we’re living in VR was actually true and was because of the same thing with the psychics? Who knows; but does make one think for a minute about what if.

The theoretical physicist has written a bold book that deals with the biggest questions, taking in quantum theory and free will along the way.

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Now, this is a breakfast I wished that I could have experienced.

So, I tweeted about this yesterday, but I also spent the entire day feeling achy and feverish, so didn’t have brains or time for a blog post with more details. I’m feeling healthier this morning, though time is still short, so I’ll give a quick summary of the details:

— As you can see in the photo (taken with my phone at Starbucks just before I took these to the post office to mail them), I signed a contract for a new book. Four copies, because lawyers.

— The contract is with Oneworld Publications in the UK, who had a best-seller on that side of the pond with How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog.

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For decades, researchers have been seeking ways to help the millions of people with spinal cord injuries regain control of their limbs, with frustratingly little success. The new device provides a rare glimmer of hope. Scientists at the University of Louisville’s Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center, where Meas and three other patients received their im­plants, speculate that the stimu­lation may be reawakening connections between the brain and the body. “There’s residual circuitry that we can recover that no one realized was possible to do,” says Reggie Edgerton, director of the Neuromuscular Research Laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We were shocked.”

Some of the benefits, such as better bowel and bladder control and improved blood pressure, remain even when the device is switched off. Electrical stimulation isn’t a cure, of course. The patients still can’t walk. And the stimulation must be customized for each individual, a time-consuming process. But it’s an enormous advance nonetheless. Says Edgerton, “It opens up a whole new mechanism of recovery.”

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Interesting study on brain receptors.

Researchers from UZH have discovered how the perception of meaning changes in the brain under the influence of LSD. The serotonin 2A receptors are responsible for altered perception. This finding will help develop new courses of pharmacotherapy for psychiatric disorders such as depression, addictions or phobias.

Humans perceive everyday things and experiences differently and attach different meaning to pieces of music, for instance. In the case of psychiatric disorders, this perception is often altered. For patients suffering from addictions, for instance, drug stimuli are more meaningful than for people without an addiction. Or patients with phobias perceive the things or situations that scare them with exaggerated significance compared to healthy people. A heightened negative perception of the self is also characteristic of depressive patients. Just how this so-called personal relevance develops in the brain and which neuropharmacological mechanisms are behind it, however, have remained unclear.

Researchers from the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at Zurich University Hospital for Psychiatry now reveal that LSD influences this process by stimulating the serotonin 2A receptor, one of the 14 serotonin receptors in the brain. Before the study began, the participants were asked to categorize 30 pieces of music as personally important and meaningful or without any personal relevance. In the subsequent experiment, LSD altered the attribution of meaning compared to a placebo: “Pieces of music previously classified as meaningless suddenly became personally meaningful under the influence of LSD,” explains Katrin Preller, who conducted the study in conjunction with Professor Franz Vollenweider and the Neuropsychopharmacology and Brain Imaging research team.

Continue reading “LSD alters perception via serotonin receptors” | >

Scientists, have identified a brain hormone that can trigger fat burning in the gut.

Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in the US found a brain hormone that specifically and selectively stimulates f at metabolism, without any effect on food intake.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, in animal models could have implications for future pharmaceutical development.

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TDP-43 Protien tied to Alzheimers according to a Mayo Clinic Study.

Since the time of Dr. Alois Alzheimer himself, two proteins (beta-amyloid (Aβ) and tau) have become tantamount to Alzheimer’s disease (AD). But a Mayo Clinic study challenges the perception that these are the only important proteins accounting for the clinical features of the devastating disease.

In a large clinico-imaging pathological study, Mayo Clinic researchers demonstrated that a third protein (TDP-43) plays a major role in AD pathology. In fact, people whose brain was TDP positive were 10 times more likely to be cognitively impaired at death compared to those who didn’t have the protein, showing that TDP-43 has the potential to overpower what has been termed resilient brain aging. The study was published in the journal Acta Neuropathologica.

Continue reading “TDP43 and Alzheimer’s Study” | >

Babies born prematurely don’t use their expectations about the world to shape their brains as babies born at full term do, important evidence that this neural process is important to development.

The findings offer clues to the mystery of why otherwise healthy babies born prematurely face higher risk of developmental delays as they grow, according to researchers at Princeton University, the University of Rochester Medical Center and the University of Rochester.

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