Mind
Written by Josh White Monday, 14 September 2009 11:56
St. Jude Medical, Inc. has recently recieved CE Mark approval of its Brio™ neurostimulator. Its currenlty the world’s smallest, longest-lasting rechargeable deep brain stimulation (DBS) device for treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. A 67-year-old man who has suffered from Parkinson’s disease for more than 26 years became the first person to be implanted with the Brio neurostimulator.
The Brio is slightly larger than a typical man’s watch, the neurostimulator has a thin 10 mm profile and weighs 29 grams (approximately 1 oz). The device also has the greatest recommended implant depth of any rechargeable DBS device. The thin profile and greater implant depth potentially makes the neurostimulator less noticeable and more comfortable for patients.
Read more: Brio Deep Brain Stimulator for Parkinson’s Disease
Written by Alison Manning Saturday, 22 August 2009 16:01
"Deep Brain Stimulation" - electrodes are implanted into the brain of a woman suffering from severe long-term depression. The idea of this man-machine merger could be thought of as disturbing but if it makes a persons life better then perhaps its OK. In the future these "brain pacemakers" will be used for other neurological and psychiatric conditions besides depression, e.g. epilepsy, Tourette's Syndrome, and possibly even autism and Alzeihmer's.
The settings on the woman's brain implant are fine-tuned. This is described as a "real roller coaster ride" because "they switch it one way and almost instantaneously you could be crying". But get it right and she's happy. It just goes to show how the human brain really is reliant on chemical balance and electrical stimulation.
Written by Josh White Monday, 25 May 2009 12:57
A study earlier in the year showed how more memories are created when the brain is thinking quicker. And more memories mean time appears to drag on for longer. Looking at the other extreme if you are hung over and don't do anything all day, then it will be dinner time before you know it.
When I was a kid the days used to seem so long, but now the days just roll on by. As people age, the brain slows down and I've often heard old people say that years are rolling by. As the brain gets slower and slower, it must seem that you just accelerate towards the end.
So quicker thinking that comes with youth, slows the appearance of time and if prolonged your overall life experienced will be longer.
Written by Josh White Friday, 08 May 2009 02:40
In 2007 there was a breakthrough in which mice with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease regained long-term memories and the ability to learn. A few years on and scientists have been replicating the same results in human trials.
Lead researcher Professor Li-Huei Tsai explained: "It brings about long-lasting changes in how other genes are expressed, which is probably necessary to increase numbers of synapses and restructure neural circuits, thereby enhancing memory.
The drugs target and boost the function of a newly pinpointed gene involved in the brain's memory formation. They reshape the DNA scaffolding that supports and controls the expression of genes in the brain. The Alzheimer's gene that the drugs act upon is called histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2). It regulates the expression of many genes implicated in plasticity - the brain's ability to change in response to experience - and memory formation. So they now know that inhibiting HDAC2 has the potential to boost synaptic plasticity, synapse formation and memory formation.
In mice, the treatment helped restore long-term memory and improve learning for new tasks.
The same HDAC inhibitors drugs are currently being tested to treat Huntington's disease and are on the market to treat some cancers.
HDAC inhibitor treatment for humans with Alzheimer's disease is still a decade or more away and the scientists are developing new HDAC2-selective inhibitors and test their function for human diseases associated with memory impairment to treat neurodegenerative diseases.
But what are the potential applications for healthy people? Is this is a drug that could increase a healthy persons memory and intelligence. It would make for interesting experimentation.
Written by Josh White Tuesday, 10 February 2009 00:00
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers found that healthy, older adults who participated in a computer-based training program to improve the speed and accuracy of brain processing showed twice the improvement in certain aspects of memory, compared to a control group.
"What's unique in this study is that brain-processing activities seemed to help aspects of memory that were not directly exercised by the program — a new finding in memory research," says Glenn Smith, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic neuropsychologist and lead researcher on the study.
