Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists might have found an early detection method for some forms of dementia, according to new research by the University of Arizona and the University of Toronto’s Baycrest Health Sciences Centre.

According to the study published in the journal Neuropsychologia last month, patients with a rare neurodegenerative brain disorder called Primary Progressive Aphasia, or PPA, show abnormalities in brain function in areas that look structurally normal on an MRI scan.

“We wanted to study how degeneration affects function of the brain,” said Aneta Kielar, the study’s lead author and assistant professor in the UA Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

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The human body has powerful healing abilities. But treating brain disorders is no easy task, as brain cells—neurons—have limited ability to regenerate. Nonetheless, stem cells are a form of natural backup, a vestige of our days as still-developing embryos.

The difficulty is that with age, neural stem cells ‘fall asleep’ and become harder to wake up when repairs are needed. Despite efforts to harness these cells to treat neurological damage, scientists have until recently been unsuccessful in decoding the underlying ‘sleep’ mechanism.

Now, researchers at Kyoto University studying brain chemistry in mice have revealed the ebb and flow of gene expression that may wake neural stem cells from their slumber. These findings, which may also apply to stem cells elsewhere in the body, were recently published in the journal Genes & Development.

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Antonin Tuynman: Where we see complexity, we see high informational content, organised in a complex way which often involves hierarchical levels. The diversity in highly complex systems might at first glance seem a chaotic mixed bag and hodgepodge; it is not. The diversified apparent mishmash is not a sign of apparent chaos, where you’d expect high thermodynamic entropy. It is not the stifling rigidity of a perfect order either. Complexity is an intricate architecture of stacked and intertwined hierarchical levels, with multifarious information exchanges between them. In fact Complexity selects the best of Order and Chaos. This seemingly ordered chaos or chaotic order, brings us the gift of the ability to ever introduce new variations. An ability to regenerate, copy, multiply and spread itself. An ability to induce ever changing patterns to adapt itself to the circumstances. An ability of recursive self-modification. Also knowhttps://www.ecstadelic.net/top-stories/the-entropic-enigma-o…amorphosis #OuroborosCode

The mighty worm Ouroboros had lost trace of its path and didn’t know its whereabouts. Nor did it know where it was going. In fact it didn’t know anything anymore, as it had drunk from the Lethe, Hades’ river flowing though Hypnos’ caves. Drinking from Lethe, forgetfulness and daughter of Eris, Goddess of Strife and Discord, made one lose all memory of past existence.

Disoriented Ouroboros started turning, and by continuing to turn, it finally found a trail of what seemed to be a path. A tasty object lay there, waiting to be eaten, and as Ouroboros bit it, a painful jolt of energy shot through its body awakening all the memories it had forgotten. Abruptly Ouroboros awoke from its dreamtime of daze and stupor and recognized itself as the ever effulgent Consciousness, Creator of Macrocosm and Microcosm.

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Results from a recent study suggest that a revolutionary treatment may have the potential to slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of Parkinson disease.

Results from a February study of a revolutionary treatment suggest that it may be possible to slow, stop, or even reverse the progression of Parkinson disease, according to findings in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

The 3-part, experimental study investigated whether using a novel delivery system to increase levels of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) can regenerate dying dopamine brain cells in patients with Parkinson disease and even reverse their condition. GDNF is a naturally occurring protein that promotes the survival of many types of neurons.

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The concept of fate is often used in the context of love and choosing a partner. In your book, you talk about a study that give a scientific explanation for the idea that “opposites attract”. A panel of men was asked to wear a T-shirt for several nights and days and they weren’t allowed to wear deodorant or eat anything too smelly. The T-shirts were presented to an array of women who were asked to sniff then and rate them in terms of attractiveness based purely on smell. It turns out that the females rated the males as more attractive if their MHC [major histocompatibility complex] systems were different from their own, because then their offspring would have a stronger immune system, a better range of armoury against potential infections. So women were kind of sniffing out Mr Right.

What else does neuroscience tell us about a successful relationship? If you image the brains of the couples who have been together for a long, long time and ask them to think about their partner, their brain will react in the same way as a drug addict’s. You can almost say this couple are addicted to each other.

You say “affection is a neurochemical event” – that’s not very romantic. Valentine’s Day with me is a lot of fun!

Continue reading “Neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow: ‘Changing the way that you think is cognitively costly’” »

A new imaging technique designed to help surgeons identify the location of malignant brain tumors during surgery is showing promising early clinical trial results. The technique combines a new high-sensitivity near-infrared camera with a special imaging agent synthesized from an amino acid found in scorpion venom.

A rise in the number of game developers, adoption of brain computer technology to enhance the complete gaming experience is triggering the growth of BCI market. The BCI application in 2017 has also influenced the smart home control sector and is believed to grow rapidly during the forecast period of 2018 to 2025. The high living standards across U.S and Canada are held responsible for the demand of BCI in smart home control system industry.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a technology that agree to communicate between a human-brain with an external technology. The term can be referred to an interface that takes signals from the brain to an external piece of hardware that sends signals to the brain. There are different brain-computer interface technologies developed, through different methods and for diversified purposes, including in virtual reality technology.

Get sample copy of this study

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Statins may hold the answer to slowing the deterioration of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), scientists have said.

In a new trial hailed as “highly promising”, patients who took the daily pill retained their coordination better and suffered less brain shrinkage than those given a placebo.

It raises the prospect that MS sufferers, of whom there are more than 90,000 in the UK, may be prescribed the common cholesterol-busting drug to improve their symptoms.

Continue reading “Statins may hold key to stopping multiple sclerosis, say UCL scientists” »

Deep brain stimulation (DBS), an experimental technology that involves implanting a pacemaker-like device in a patient’s brain to send electrical impulses, is a hotly debated subject in the field of medicine. It’s an inherently risky procedure and the exact effects on the human brain aren’t yet fully understood.

But some practitioners believe it could be a way to alleviate the symptoms of depression or even help treat Alzheimer’s — and now they suspect it could help with drug addiction as well.

In a world’s first, according to the Associated Press, a patient in Shanghai’s Ruijin Hospital had a DBS device implanted in his brain to treat his addiction to methamphetamine.

Continue reading “In China, Surgeons Are Treating Addiction With Brain Implants” »