Neuroscience

Articles and news from the latest research reports.

484 notes

Brain Games are Bogus A decade ago, a young Swedish researcher named Torkel Klingberg made a spectacular discovery. He gave a group of children computer games designed to boost their memory, and, after weeks of play, the kids showed improvements not only in memory but in overall intellectual ability. Spending hours memorizing strings of digits and patterns of circles on a four-by-four grid had made the children smarter. The finding countered decades of psychological research that suggested training in one area (e.g., recalling numbers) could not bring benefits in other, unrelated areas (e.g., reasoning). The Klingberg experiment also hinted that intelligence, which psychologists considered essentially fixed, might be more mutable: that it was less like eye color and more like a muscle. It seemed like a breakthrough, offering new approaches to education and help for people with A.D.H.D., traumatic brain injuries, and other ailments. In the years since, other, similar experiments yielded positive results, and Klingberg helped found a company, Cogmed, to commercialize the software globally. (Pearson, the British publishing juggernaut, purchased it in 2010.) Brain training has become a multi-million-dollar business, with companies like Lumosity, Jungle Memory, and CogniFit offering their own versions of neuroscience-you-can-use, and providing ambitious parents with new assignments for overworked but otherwise healthy children. The brain-training concept has made Klingberg a star, and he now enjoys a seat on an assembly that helps select the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The field has become a staple of popular writing. Last year, the New York Times Magazine published a glowing profile of the young guns of brain training called “CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF SMARTER?” The answer, however, now appears to be a pretty firm no—at least, not through brain training. A pair of scientists in Europe recently gathered all of the best research—twenty-three investigations of memory training by teams around the world—and employed a standard statistical technique (called meta-analysis) to settle this controversial issue. The conclusion: the games may yield improvements in the narrow task being trained, but this does not transfer to broader skills like the ability to read or do arithmetic, or to other measures of intelligence. Playing the games makes you better at the games, in other words, but not at anything anyone might care about in real life. Read more

Brain Games are Bogus

A decade ago, a young Swedish researcher named Torkel Klingberg made a spectacular discovery. He gave a group of children computer games designed to boost their memory, and, after weeks of play, the kids showed improvements not only in memory but in overall intellectual ability. Spending hours memorizing strings of digits and patterns of circles on a four-by-four grid had made the children smarter. The finding countered decades of psychological research that suggested training in one area (e.g., recalling numbers) could not bring benefits in other, unrelated areas (e.g., reasoning). The Klingberg experiment also hinted that intelligence, which psychologists considered essentially fixed, might be more mutable: that it was less like eye color and more like a muscle.

It seemed like a breakthrough, offering new approaches to education and help for people with A.D.H.D., traumatic brain injuries, and other ailments. In the years since, other, similar experiments yielded positive results, and Klingberg helped found a company, Cogmed, to commercialize the software globally. (Pearson, the British publishing juggernaut, purchased it in 2010.) Brain training has become a multi-million-dollar business, with companies like Lumosity, Jungle Memory, and CogniFit offering their own versions of neuroscience-you-can-use, and providing ambitious parents with new assignments for overworked but otherwise healthy children. The brain-training concept has made Klingberg a star, and he now enjoys a seat on an assembly that helps select the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The field has become a staple of popular writing. Last year, the New York Times Magazine published a glowing profile of the young guns of brain training called “CAN YOU MAKE YOURSELF SMARTER?”

The answer, however, now appears to be a pretty firm no—at least, not through brain training. A pair of scientists in Europe recently gathered all of the best research—twenty-three investigations of memory training by teams around the world—and employed a standard statistical technique (called meta-analysis) to settle this controversial issue. The conclusion: the games may yield improvements in the narrow task being trained, but this does not transfer to broader skills like the ability to read or do arithmetic, or to other measures of intelligence. Playing the games makes you better at the games, in other words, but not at anything anyone might care about in real life.

Read more

Filed under brain intelligence memory memory training working memory psychology neuroscience science

162 notes

Flies with personality Fruit flies may have more individuality and personality than we imagine. And it might all be down to a bit of genetic shuffling in nerve cells that makes every fly brain unique, suggest Oxford University scientists. Their new study has found that small genetic elements called ‘transposons’ are active in neurons in the fly brain. Transposons are also known as 'jumping genes', as these short scraps of DNA have the ability to move, cutting themselves out from one position in the genome and inserting themselves somewhere else. The inherent randomness of the process is likely to make every fly brain unique, potentially providing behavioural individuality – or ‘fly personality’. So says Professor Scott Waddell, who led the work at the University of Oxford Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour: ‘We have known for some time that individual animals that are supposed to be genetically identical behave differently. 'The extensive variation between fly brains that this mechanism could generate might demystify why some behave while others misbehave,' he suggests. The Oxford researchers, along with US colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, were able to deep-sequence the DNA from small numbers of nerve cells in the brains of Drosophila fruit flies. They identified many transposons that were inserted in a number of important memory-related genes. Whether this is detrimental or advantageous to the fly remains an open question, the researchers say. Scott Waddell notes that neural transposition has been described in rodent and human brains, and transposons have historically been considered to be problematic parasites. New insertions of transposons can on occasion disrupt genes (as was found in this study), and transposons have been associated to some human disorders such as schizophrenia. However, it is also possible that organisms have harnessed transposition to generate variation within cells, and by extension create variation between individual animals that may turn out to be favourable. Scott Waddell wants next to determine whether neural transposition provides an explanation for variation in fruit fly behaviour by finding ways of halting the process in flies in his lab.

Flies with personality

Fruit flies may have more individuality and personality than we imagine.

And it might all be down to a bit of genetic shuffling in nerve cells that makes every fly brain unique, suggest Oxford University scientists.

Their new study has found that small genetic elements called ‘transposons’ are active in neurons in the fly brain. Transposons are also known as 'jumping genes', as these short scraps of DNA have the ability to move, cutting themselves out from one position in the genome and inserting themselves somewhere else.

The inherent randomness of the process is likely to make every fly brain unique, potentially providing behavioural individuality – or ‘fly personality’. So says Professor Scott Waddell, who led the work at the University of Oxford Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour: ‘We have known for some time that individual animals that are supposed to be genetically identical behave differently.

'The extensive variation between fly brains that this mechanism could generate might demystify why some behave while others misbehave,' he suggests.

The Oxford researchers, along with US colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, were able to deep-sequence the DNA from small numbers of nerve cells in the brains of Drosophila fruit flies.

They identified many transposons that were inserted in a number of important memory-related genes. Whether this is detrimental or advantageous to the fly remains an open question, the researchers say.

Scott Waddell notes that neural transposition has been described in rodent and human brains, and transposons have historically been considered to be problematic parasites. New insertions of transposons can on occasion disrupt genes (as was found in this study), and transposons have been associated to some human disorders such as schizophrenia.

However, it is also possible that organisms have harnessed transposition to generate variation within cells, and by extension create variation between individual animals that may turn out to be favourable.

Scott Waddell wants next to determine whether neural transposition provides an explanation for variation in fruit fly behaviour by finding ways of halting the process in flies in his lab.

Filed under fruit flies neurons transposons jumping genes genetics neuroscience science

263 notes

State science fair winner creates robot The winner of this year’s State Science and Engineering Fair is from South Florida, and her project can someday make life easier for the physically challenged. "It captures the brain waves of electrochemical activity. Basically, the nerve impulse produced by the brain, and it sends it over to the robot," said Daniela Rodriguez. Steve is an award winning robot controlled by brain waves. He was invented by 13-year-old Daniela Rodriguez, who loves math and science. “I’ve always been interested in robotics; it’s my passion,” she said. This year, Rodriguez won first place in the Annual State Science and Engineering Fair against 900 other finalists. Rodriguez’ goal is to help people. “If the person is disabled, they can sit in their wheelchair, and they can use their thoughts and brain waves to control its movements, so they don’t have to move,” she said. Her science project comes from the heart. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, and she is trying to find a way to keep her mom independent. “I work really hard to try to stay mobile, but the fact that she wants to help patients dealing with this illness is just a Godsend” said Rodriguez’ mom Jeannie. Rodriguez’ wants to one day use her technology to help paralyzed people. Steve’s technology can even give wounded veterans the ability to use their brains to move the robot. “To help them move around in their wheelchairs or move their prosthetics because usually prosthetics now is just the muscle movement, but now it can be used and be more natural. It’s moving by your brain,” said Rodriguez. Not only is Rodriguez winning awards, prosthetic companies have expressed interest in her program.

State science fair winner creates robot

The winner of this year’s State Science and Engineering Fair is from South Florida, and her project can someday make life easier for the physically challenged.

"It captures the brain waves of electrochemical activity. Basically, the nerve impulse produced by the brain, and it sends it over to the robot," said Daniela Rodriguez.

Steve is an award winning robot controlled by brain waves. He was invented by 13-year-old Daniela Rodriguez, who loves math and science. “I’ve always been interested in robotics; it’s my passion,” she said.

This year, Rodriguez won first place in the Annual State Science and Engineering Fair against 900 other finalists.

Rodriguez’ goal is to help people. “If the person is disabled, they can sit in their wheelchair, and they can use their thoughts and brain waves to control its movements, so they don’t have to move,” she said.

Her science project comes from the heart. Her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, and she is trying to find a way to keep her mom independent. “I work really hard to try to stay mobile, but the fact that she wants to help patients dealing with this illness is just a Godsend” said Rodriguez’ mom Jeannie.

Rodriguez’ wants to one day use her technology to help paralyzed people. Steve’s technology can even give wounded veterans the ability to use their brains to move the robot. “To help them move around in their wheelchairs or move their prosthetics because usually prosthetics now is just the muscle movement, but now it can be used and be more natural. It’s moving by your brain,” said Rodriguez.

Not only is Rodriguez winning awards, prosthetic companies have expressed interest in her program.

Filed under brain brainwaves robots robotics Steve prosthetics neuroscience science

99 notes

Non-Invasive Brain-to-Brain Interface (BBI): Establishing Functional Links between Two Brains Transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) is capable of modulating the neural activity of specific brain regions, with a potential role as a non-invasive computer-to-brain interface (CBI). In conjunction with the use of brain-to-computer interface (BCI) techniques that translate brain function to generate computer commands, we investigated the feasibility of using the FUS-based CBI to non-invasively establish a functional link between the brains of different species (i.e. human and Sprague-Dawley rat), thus creating a brain-to-brain interface (BBI). The implementation was aimed to non-invasively translate the human volunteer’s intention to stimulate a rat’s brain motor area that is responsible for the tail movement. The volunteer initiated the intention by looking at a strobe light flicker on a computer display, and the degree of synchronization in the electroencephalographic steady-state-visual-evoked-potentials (SSVEP) with respect to the strobe frequency was analyzed using a computer. Increased signal amplitude in the SSVEP, indicating the volunteer’s intention, triggered the delivery of a burst-mode FUS (350 kHz ultrasound frequency, tone burst duration of 0.5 ms, pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz, given for 300 msec duration) to excite the motor area of an anesthetized rat transcranially. The successful excitation subsequently elicited the tail movement, which was detected by a motion sensor. The interface was achieved at 94.0±3.0% accuracy, with a time delay of 1.59±1.07 sec from the thought-initiation to the creation of the tail movement. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of a computer-mediated BBI that links central neural functions between two biological entities, which may confer unexplored opportunities in the study of neuroscience with potential implications for therapeutic applications.

Non-Invasive Brain-to-Brain Interface (BBI): Establishing Functional Links between Two Brains

Transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) is capable of modulating the neural activity of specific brain regions, with a potential role as a non-invasive computer-to-brain interface (CBI). In conjunction with the use of brain-to-computer interface (BCI) techniques that translate brain function to generate computer commands, we investigated the feasibility of using the FUS-based CBI to non-invasively establish a functional link between the brains of different species (i.e. human and Sprague-Dawley rat), thus creating a brain-to-brain interface (BBI). The implementation was aimed to non-invasively translate the human volunteer’s intention to stimulate a rat’s brain motor area that is responsible for the tail movement. The volunteer initiated the intention by looking at a strobe light flicker on a computer display, and the degree of synchronization in the electroencephalographic steady-state-visual-evoked-potentials (SSVEP) with respect to the strobe frequency was analyzed using a computer. Increased signal amplitude in the SSVEP, indicating the volunteer’s intention, triggered the delivery of a burst-mode FUS (350 kHz ultrasound frequency, tone burst duration of 0.5 ms, pulse repetition frequency of 1 kHz, given for 300 msec duration) to excite the motor area of an anesthetized rat transcranially. The successful excitation subsequently elicited the tail movement, which was detected by a motion sensor. The interface was achieved at 94.0±3.0% accuracy, with a time delay of 1.59±1.07 sec from the thought-initiation to the creation of the tail movement. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of a computer-mediated BBI that links central neural functions between two biological entities, which may confer unexplored opportunities in the study of neuroscience with potential implications for therapeutic applications.

Filed under brain-to-brain interface transcranial focused ultrasound neural activity computer-to-brain interface BCI neuroscience science

68 notes

Improved Hearing Anticipated for Implant Recipients The cochlear implant is widely considered to be the most successful neural prosthetic on the market. The implant, which helps deaf individuals perceive sound, translates auditory information into electrical signals that go directly to the brain, bypassing cells that don’t serve this function as they should because they are damaged. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 188,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants since these devices were introduced in the early 1980s, including roughly 41,500 adults and 25,500 children in the United States. Despite their prevalence, cochlear implants have a long way to go before their performance is comparable to that of the intact human ear. Led by Pamela Bhatti, Ph.D., a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a new type of interface between the device and the brain that could dramatically improve the sound quality of the next generation of implants. A normal ear processes sound the way a Rube Goldberg machine flips a light switch — via a perfectly-timed chain reaction involving a number of pieces and parts. First, sound travels down the canal of the outer ear, striking the eardrum and causing it to vibrate. The vibration of the eardrum causes small bones in the middle ear to vibrate, which in turn, creates movement in the fluid of the inner ear, or cochlea. This causes movement in tiny structures called hair cells, which translate the movement into electrical signals that travel to the brain via the auditory nerve. Dysfunctional hair cells are the most common culprit in a type of hearing loss called sensorineural deafness, named for the resulting breakdown in communication between the ear and the brain. Sometimes the hair cells don’t function properly from birth, but severe trauma or a bad infection can cause irreparable damage to these delicate structures as well. Contemporary cochlear implants Traditional hearing aids, which work by amplifying sound, rely on the presence of some functioning hair cells. A cochlear implant, on the other hand, bypasses the hair cells completely. Rather than restoring function, it works by translating sound vibrations captured by a microphone outside the ear into electrical signals. These signals are transmitted to the brain by the auditory nerve, which interprets them as sound. Cochlear implants are only recommended for individuals with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, meaning those who aren’t able to hear sounds below 70 decibels. (Conversational speech typically occurs between 20 and 60 decibels.) The device itself consists of an external component that attaches via a magnetic disk to an internal component, implanted under the skin behind the ear. The external component detects sounds and selectively amplifies speech. The internal component converts this information into electrical impulses, which are sent to a bundle of thin wire electrodes threaded through the cochlea. Improving the interface As an electrical engineer, Bhatti sees the current electrode configuration as a significant barrier to clear sound transmission in the current device. "In an intact ear, the hair cells are plentiful, and are in close contact with the nerves that transmit sound information to the brain," says Bhatti. "The challenge with the implant is getting efficient coupling between the electrodes and the nerves." Contemporary implants contain between 12 and 22 wire electrodes, each of which conveys a signal for a different pitch. The idea is the more electrodes, the clearer the message. So why not add more wire electrodes to the current design and call it a day? Much like house-hunting in New York City, the problem comes down to a serious lack of available real estate. At its widest, the cochlea is 2 millimeters in diameter, or about the thickness of a nickel. As it coils, it tapers down to a mere 200 micrometers, about the width of a human hair. "While we’d like to be able to increase the number of electrodes, the space issue is a major challenge from an engineering perspective," says Bhatti. With funding from the National Science Foundation, Bhatti and her team have developed a new, thin-film, electrode array that is up to three times more sensitive than traditional wire electrodes, without adding bulk. Unlike wire electrodes, the new array is also flexible, meaning it can get closer to the inner wall of the cochlea. The researchers believe this will create better coupling between the array and the nervous system, leading to a crisper signal. According to Bhatti, one of the biggest challenges is actually implanting the device into the spiral-shaped cochlea: "We could have created the best array in the world, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the surgeon couldn’t get it in the right spot," says Bhatti. To combat this problem, the team has invented an insertion device that protects the array and serves as a guide for surgeons to ensure proper placement. Before it’s approved for use in humans, it will need to undergo rigorous testing to ensure that it is both safe and effective; however, Bhatti is already thinking about what’s next. She envisions that one day, the electrodes won’t need to be attached to an array at all. Instead, they will be anchored directly to the cochlea with a biocompatible material that will allow them to more seamlessly integrate with the brain. The most important thing, according to Bhatti, is not to lose sight of the big picture. "We are always designing with the end-user in mind," says Bhatti. "The human component is the most important one to consider when we translate science into practice."

Improved Hearing Anticipated for Implant Recipients

The cochlear implant is widely considered to be the most successful neural prosthetic on the market. The implant, which helps deaf individuals perceive sound, translates auditory information into electrical signals that go directly to the brain, bypassing cells that don’t serve this function as they should because they are damaged.

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 188,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants since these devices were introduced in the early 1980s, including roughly 41,500 adults and 25,500 children in the United States.

Despite their prevalence, cochlear implants have a long way to go before their performance is comparable to that of the intact human ear. Led by Pamela Bhatti, Ph.D., a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a new type of interface between the device and the brain that could dramatically improve the sound quality of the next generation of implants.

A normal ear processes sound the way a Rube Goldberg machine flips a light switch — via a perfectly-timed chain reaction involving a number of pieces and parts. First, sound travels down the canal of the outer ear, striking the eardrum and causing it to vibrate. The vibration of the eardrum causes small bones in the middle ear to vibrate, which in turn, creates movement in the fluid of the inner ear, or cochlea. This causes movement in tiny structures called hair cells, which translate the movement into electrical signals that travel to the brain via the auditory nerve.

Dysfunctional hair cells are the most common culprit in a type of hearing loss called sensorineural deafness, named for the resulting breakdown in communication between the ear and the brain. Sometimes the hair cells don’t function properly from birth, but severe trauma or a bad infection can cause irreparable damage to these delicate structures as well.

Contemporary cochlear implants

Traditional hearing aids, which work by amplifying sound, rely on the presence of some functioning hair cells. A cochlear implant, on the other hand, bypasses the hair cells completely. Rather than restoring function, it works by translating sound vibrations captured by a microphone outside the ear into electrical signals. These signals are transmitted to the brain by the auditory nerve, which interprets them as sound.

Cochlear implants are only recommended for individuals with severe to profound sensorineural hearing loss, meaning those who aren’t able to hear sounds below 70 decibels. (Conversational speech typically occurs between 20 and 60 decibels.)

The device itself consists of an external component that attaches via a magnetic disk to an internal component, implanted under the skin behind the ear. The external component detects sounds and selectively amplifies speech. The internal component converts this information into electrical impulses, which are sent to a bundle of thin wire electrodes threaded through the cochlea.

Improving the interface

As an electrical engineer, Bhatti sees the current electrode configuration as a significant barrier to clear sound transmission in the current device.

"In an intact ear, the hair cells are plentiful, and are in close contact with the nerves that transmit sound information to the brain," says Bhatti. "The challenge with the implant is getting efficient coupling between the electrodes and the nerves."

Contemporary implants contain between 12 and 22 wire electrodes, each of which conveys a signal for a different pitch. The idea is the more electrodes, the clearer the message.

So why not add more wire electrodes to the current design and call it a day?

Much like house-hunting in New York City, the problem comes down to a serious lack of available real estate. At its widest, the cochlea is 2 millimeters in diameter, or about the thickness of a nickel. As it coils, it tapers down to a mere 200 micrometers, about the width of a human hair.

"While we’d like to be able to increase the number of electrodes, the space issue is a major challenge from an engineering perspective," says Bhatti.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Bhatti and her team have developed a new, thin-film, electrode array that is up to three times more sensitive than traditional wire electrodes, without adding bulk.

Unlike wire electrodes, the new array is also flexible, meaning it can get closer to the inner wall of the cochlea. The researchers believe this will create better coupling between the array and the nervous system, leading to a crisper signal.

According to Bhatti, one of the biggest challenges is actually implanting the device into the spiral-shaped cochlea:

"We could have created the best array in the world, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the surgeon couldn’t get it in the right spot," says Bhatti.

To combat this problem, the team has invented an insertion device that protects the array and serves as a guide for surgeons to ensure proper placement.

Before it’s approved for use in humans, it will need to undergo rigorous testing to ensure that it is both safe and effective; however, Bhatti is already thinking about what’s next. She envisions that one day, the electrodes won’t need to be attached to an array at all. Instead, they will be anchored directly to the cochlea with a biocompatible material that will allow them to more seamlessly integrate with the brain.

The most important thing, according to Bhatti, is not to lose sight of the big picture.

"We are always designing with the end-user in mind," says Bhatti. "The human component is the most important one to consider when we translate science into practice."

Filed under cochlear implants prosthetics auditory nerve hair cells deafness neuroscience science

77 notes

New minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser treatment for brain tumor found to be promising in study The first-in-human study of the NeuroBlate™ Thermal Therapy System finds that it appears to provide a new, safe and minimally invasive procedure for treating recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant type of brain tumor. The study, which appears April 5 in the Journal of Neurosurgery online, was written by lead author Andrew Sloan, MD, Director of Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, who also served as co-Principal Investigator, as well as Principal Investigator Gene Barnett, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues from UH, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Florida, University of Manitoba and Case Western Reserve University. NeuroBlate™ is a device that “cooks” brain tumors in a controlled fashion to destroy them. It uses a minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser system to coagulate, or heat and kill, brain tumors. The procedure is conducted in an MRI machine, enabling surgeons to plan, steer and see in real-time the device, the heat map of the area treated by the laser and the tumor tissue that has been coagulated. "This technology is unique in that it allows the surgeon not only to precisely control where the treatment is delivered, but the ability to visualize the actual effect on the tissue as it is happening," said Dr. Sloan. "This enables the surgeon to adjust the treatment continuously as it is delivered, which increases precision in treating the cancer and avoiding surrounding healthy brain tissue." The study was a Phase I clinical trial investigating the safety and performance of NeuroBlate™ (formerly known as AutoLITT™), a specially-designed laser probe system. The FDA gave the system’s developer Monteris Medical and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, (comprised of the UH Case Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine), an investigatory device exemption (IDE) to study the system in patients with GBMs. The device has recently been cleared by the FDA due, in part, to the results of the study. The paper describes the treatment of the first 10 patients with this technology. These patients, who had a median age of 55, had tumors which were diagnosed to be inoperable or “high risk” for open surgical resection because of their location close to vital areas in the brain, or difficult to access with conventional surgery. "Overall the NeuroBlate™ procedure was well-tolerated," said Dr. Sloan. "All 10 patients were alert and responsive within one to two hours post-operatively and nine out of the 10 patients were ambulatory within hours. Response and survival was also nearly 10 ½ months, better than expected for patients with such advanced disease." "Previous attempts using less invasive approaches such as brachytherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery have proven ineffective in recent meta-analysis and randomized trials," said Dr. Barnett. "However, unlike therapies using ionizing radiation, NeuroBlate™ therapy results in tumor death at the time of the procedure. A larger national study will be developed, as a result of this initial success."

New minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser treatment for brain tumor found to be promising in study

The first-in-human study of the NeuroBlate™ Thermal Therapy System finds that it appears to provide a new, safe and minimally invasive procedure for treating recurrent glioblastoma (GBM), a malignant type of brain tumor. The study, which appears April 5 in the Journal of Neurosurgery online, was written by lead author Andrew Sloan, MD, Director of Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, who also served as co-Principal Investigator, as well as Principal Investigator Gene Barnett, MD, Director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, and colleagues from UH, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Clinic Florida, University of Manitoba and Case Western Reserve University.

NeuroBlate™ is a device that “cooks” brain tumors in a controlled fashion to destroy them. It uses a minimally invasive, MRI-guided laser system to coagulate, or heat and kill, brain tumors. The procedure is conducted in an MRI machine, enabling surgeons to plan, steer and see in real-time the device, the heat map of the area treated by the laser and the tumor tissue that has been coagulated.

"This technology is unique in that it allows the surgeon not only to precisely control where the treatment is delivered, but the ability to visualize the actual effect on the tissue as it is happening," said Dr. Sloan. "This enables the surgeon to adjust the treatment continuously as it is delivered, which increases precision in treating the cancer and avoiding surrounding healthy brain tissue."

The study was a Phase I clinical trial investigating the safety and performance of NeuroBlate™ (formerly known as AutoLITT™), a specially-designed laser probe system. The FDA gave the system’s developer Monteris Medical and the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, (comprised of the UH Case Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic, and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine), an investigatory device exemption (IDE) to study the system in patients with GBMs. The device has recently been cleared by the FDA due, in part, to the results of the study.

The paper describes the treatment of the first 10 patients with this technology. These patients, who had a median age of 55, had tumors which were diagnosed to be inoperable or “high risk” for open surgical resection because of their location close to vital areas in the brain, or difficult to access with conventional surgery.

"Overall the NeuroBlate™ procedure was well-tolerated," said Dr. Sloan. "All 10 patients were alert and responsive within one to two hours post-operatively and nine out of the 10 patients were ambulatory within hours. Response and survival was also nearly 10 ½ months, better than expected for patients with such advanced disease."

"Previous attempts using less invasive approaches such as brachytherapy and stereotactic radiosurgery have proven ineffective in recent meta-analysis and randomized trials," said Dr. Barnett. "However, unlike therapies using ionizing radiation, NeuroBlate™ therapy results in tumor death at the time of the procedure. A larger national study will be developed, as a result of this initial success."

Filed under NeuroBlate brain tumor glioblastoma brain cancer MRI laser system neurology neuroscience science

46 notes

Experts Call for Research on Prevalence of Delayed Neurological Dysfunction After Head Injury

One of the most controversial topics in neurology today is the prevalence of serious permanent brain damage after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Long-term studies and a search for genetic risk factors are required in order to predict an individual’s risk for serious permanent brain damage, according to a review article published by Sam Gandy, MD, PhD, from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in a special issue of Nature Reviews Neurology dedicated to TBI.

About one percent of the population in the developed world has experienced TBI, which can cause serious long-term complications such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is marked by neuropsychiatric features such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and aggression. Patients may be normal for decades after the TBI event before they develop AD or CTE. Although first described in boxers in the 1920s, the association of CTE with battlefield exposure and sports, such as football and hockey, has only recently begun to attract public attention.  

"Athletes such as David Duerson and Junior Seau have brought to light the need for preventive measures and early diagnosis of CTE, but it remains highly controversial because hard data are not available that enable prediction of the prevalence, incidence, and individual risk for CTE," said Dr. Gandy, who is Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Cognitive Health at Mount Sinai. "We need much more in the way of hard facts before we can advise the public of the proper level of concern."

Led by Dr. Gandy, the authors evaluated the pathological impact of single-incident TBI, such as that sustained during military combat; and mild, repetitive TBI, as seen in boxers and National Football League (NFL) players to learn what measures need to be taken to identify risk and incidence early and reduce long-term complications.

Mild, repetitive TBI, as is seen in boxers, football players, and occasionally military veterans who suffer multiple blows to the head, is most often associated with CTE, or a condition called “boxer’s dementia.” Boxing scoring includes a record of knockouts, providing researchers with a starting point in interpreting an athlete’s risk. But no such records exist for NFL players or soldiers on the battlefield.

Dr. Gandy and the authors of the Nature Reviews Neurology piece suggest recruiting large cohorts of players and military veterans in multi-center trials, where players and soldiers maintain a TBI diary for the duration of their lives. The researchers also suggest a genome-wide association study to clearly identify risk factors of CTE. “Confirmed biomarkers of risk, diagnostic tools, and long-term trials are needed to fully characterize this disease and develop prevention and treatment strategies,” said Dr. Gandy.  

Amyloid imaging, which has recently been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, may be useful as a monitoring tool in TBI, since amyloid plaques are a hallmark symptom of AD-type neurodegeneration. Amyloid imaging consists of a PET scan with an injection of a contrast agent called florbetapir, which binds to amyloid plaque in the brain, allowing researchers to visualize plaque deposits and determine whether the diagnosis is CTE or AD, and monitor progression over time. Tangle imaging is expected to be available soon, complementing amyloid imaging and providing an affirmative diagnosis of CTE. Dr. Gandy and colleagues recently reported the use of amyloid imaging to exclude AD in a retired NFL player with memory problems under their care at Mount Sinai.  

Clinical diagnosis and evaluation of mild, repetitive TBI is a challenge, indicating a significant need for new biomarkers to identify damage, report the authors. Measuring cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may reflect damage done to neurons post-TBI. Previous research has identified a marked increase in CSF biomarkers in boxers when the CSF is taken soon after a fight, and this may predict which boxers are more likely to develop detrimental long-term effects. CSF samples are now only obtained by invasive lumbar puncture; a blood test would be preferable.

"Biomarkers would be a valuable tool both from a research perspective in comparing them before and after injury and from a clinical perspective in terms of diagnostic and prognostic guidance," said Dr. Gandy. "Having the biomarker information will also help us understand the mechanism of disease development, the reasons for its delayed progression, and the pathway toward effective therapeutic interventions."

Currently, there are no treatments for boxer’s dementia or CTE, but these diseases are preventable. “With more protective equipment, adjustments in the rules of the game, and overall education among athletes, coaches, and parents, we should be able to offer informed consent to prospective sports players and soldiers. With the right combination of identified genetic risk factor, biomarkers, and better drugs, we should be able to dramatically improve the outcome of TBI and prevent the long-term, devastating effects of CTE,” said Dr. Gandy.

(Source: mountsinai.org)

Filed under brain damage brain injury TBI neurodegeneration neuroimaging neurology neuroscience science

42 notes

Motor skills research nets good news for middle-aged

People in their 20s don’t have much on their middle-aged counterparts when it comes to some fine motor movements, researchers from UT Arlington have found.

In a simple finger-tapping exercise, study participants’ speed declined only slightly with age until a marked drop in ability with participants in their mid-60s.

image

Priscila Caçola, an assistant professor of kinesiology at The University of Texas at Arlington, hopes the new work will help clinicians identify abnormal loss of function in their patients. Though motor ability in older adults has been studied widely, not a lot of research has focused on when deficits begin, she said.

The journal Brain and Cognition will include the study in its June 2013 issue. It is already available online.

“We have this so-called age decline, everybody knows that. I wanted to see if that was a gradual process,” Caçola said. “It’s good news really because I didn’t see differences between the young and middle-aged people.”

Caçola’s co-authors on the paper are Jerroed Roberson, a senior kinesiology major at UT Arlington, and Carl Gabbard, a professor in the Texas A&M University Department of Health and Kinesiology.

The researchers based their work on the idea that before movements are made, the brain makes a mental plan. They used an evaluation process called chronometry that compares the time of test participants’ imagined movements to actual movements. Study participants – 99 people ranging in age from 18 to 93 – were asked to imagine and perform a series of increasingly difficult, ordered finger movements. They were divided into three age groups – 18-32, 40-63 and 65-93 – and the results were analyzed.

“What we found is that there is a significant drop-off after the age of 64,” Roberson said. “So if you see a drop-off in ability before that, then it could be a signal that there might be something wrong with that person and they might need further evaluation.”

The researchers also noted that the speed of imagined movements and executed actions tended to be closely associated within each group. That also could be useful knowledge for clinicians, the study said.

“The important message here is that clinicians should be aware that healthy older adults are slower than younger adults, but are able to create relatively accurate internal models for action,” the study said.

Caçola is a member of UT Arlington Center for Health Living and Longevity. She has published previous research on the links between movement representation and motor ability in children.

Filed under aging motor skills motor control brain psychology neuroscience science

279 notes

Scientists discover how brains change with new skills The phrase “practice makes perfect” has a neural basis in the brain. Researchers have discovered a set of common changes in the brain upon learning a new skill. They have essentially detected a neural marker for the reorganization the brain undergoes when a person practices and become proficient at a task. Successful training not only prompts skill-specific changes in the brain, but also more global changes that are consistent across many different types of skills training, the researchers report in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. Their results indicate that as you become more adept at a skill, your brain no longer needs to work as hard at it. The brain, they report, shifts from more controlled to more automatic processing as a skill is learned, regardless of the specific type of training, they said. “The training-related changes we found – that signify a shift to a more ‘efficient’ configuration of brain networks – provide a potential new brain marker for training effectiveness,” said neuroscientist Nathan Spreng, assistant professor of human development and the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. “Such neural markers are increasingly being used to inform the design of new or more-targeted interventions to improve cognitive and motor functioning in aging, brain injury or disease,” he added. The study is the most comprehensive review of the neural correlates of training to date and the first to associate training with alterations in large-scale brain networks, said Spreng, who was awarded the distinction of “rising star” in March by the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers conducted a systematic meta-analysis of 38 neuroimaging studies of cognitive and motor skills training interventions in healthy young adults – more than 500 participants in all. Using a quantitative literature review method, they analyzed functional neuroimaging data and mapped the patterns of brain activity changes before and after the training across the individual experiments. The researchers found that the brain regions that are involved in attention-demanding activities are less active after training compared with before, whereas the brain regions that typically are at rest (known as the default network), became more active. Specifically, training resulted in decreased activity in brain regions involved in effortful control and attention that closely overlap with the frontoparietal control and dorsal attention networks. Increased activity was found after training, however, in the default network that is involved in self-reflective activities, including future planning or even day dreaming. Thus, skill mastery is associated with increased activity in areas not engaged in skill performance, and this shift can be detected in the large-scale networks of the brain. “The power of meta-analysis methods to systematically and quantitatively review neuroimaging studies makes possible discoveries such as ours that can provide new insights into how the brain functions; this helps us lay the foundation for better treatments of brain disorders in the future,” said Spreng. “There have now been over 100,000 neuroimaging papers published, so these types of meta-analytic reviews offer new opportunities to identify common patterns of brain activity across a larger and more diverse array of studies,” he added. (Image: iStockphoto)

Scientists discover how brains change with new skills

The phrase “practice makes perfect” has a neural basis in the brain. Researchers have discovered a set of common changes in the brain upon learning a new skill. They have essentially detected a neural marker for the reorganization the brain undergoes when a person practices and become proficient at a task.

Successful training not only prompts skill-specific changes in the brain, but also more global changes that are consistent across many different types of skills training, the researchers report in the journal Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair. Their results indicate that as you become more adept at a skill, your brain no longer needs to work as hard at it. The brain, they report, shifts from more controlled to more automatic processing as a skill is learned, regardless of the specific type of training, they said.

“The training-related changes we found – that signify a shift to a more ‘efficient’ configuration of brain networks – provide a potential new brain marker for training effectiveness,” said neuroscientist Nathan Spreng, assistant professor of human development and the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Sesquicentennial Faculty Fellow in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology. “Such neural markers are increasingly being used to inform the design of new or more-targeted interventions to improve cognitive and motor functioning in aging, brain injury or disease,” he added.

The study is the most comprehensive review of the neural correlates of training to date and the first to associate training with alterations in large-scale brain networks, said Spreng, who was awarded the distinction of “rising star” in March by the Association for Psychological Science.

The researchers conducted a systematic meta-analysis of 38 neuroimaging studies of cognitive and motor skills training interventions in healthy young adults – more than 500 participants in all. Using a quantitative literature review method, they analyzed functional neuroimaging data and mapped the patterns of brain activity changes before and after the training across the individual experiments.

The researchers found that the brain regions that are involved in attention-demanding activities are less active after training compared with before, whereas the brain regions that typically are at rest (known as the default network), became more active.

Specifically, training resulted in decreased activity in brain regions involved in effortful control and attention that closely overlap with the frontoparietal control and dorsal attention networks. Increased activity was found after training, however, in the default network that is involved in self-reflective activities, including future planning or even day dreaming. Thus, skill mastery is associated with increased activity in areas not engaged in skill performance, and this shift can be detected in the large-scale networks of the brain.

“The power of meta-analysis methods to systematically and quantitatively review neuroimaging studies makes possible discoveries such as ours that can provide new insights into how the brain functions; this helps us lay the foundation for better treatments of brain disorders in the future,” said Spreng.

“There have now been over 100,000 neuroimaging papers published, so these types of meta-analytic reviews offer new opportunities to identify common patterns of brain activity across a larger and more diverse array of studies,” he added.

(Image: iStockphoto)

Filed under brain neural markers cognitive functioning training brain activity neuroscience science

free counters