Living a healthier life can be achieved in many ways. Simple activities like daily walks, healthy eating, and brain-boosting puzzles like Sudoku can keep your mind and body active. For a unique approach, consider trying neuromodulation, which involves sending electric shocks to the brain.
Neuromodulation is an innovative method that uses a stimulator placed on the head to deliver electrical shocks directly to the nervous system. This non-invasive technique offers numerous health benefits and has gained traction as a cutting-edge technology for enhancing well-being.
The concept of neuromodulation has been around for some time, but companies like Parasin and gamma core have reignited interest in recent years. These companies claim to improve mental performance and overall health with their devices that can be used conveniently at home.
Research from reputable institutions like UCL, Harvard University, and University College London supports the effectiveness of neuromodulation. Even tech entrepreneurs like Brian Johnson have shown interest in this technology.
What is neuromodulation and how does it work?
Neuromodulation is a technique that alters neural activity by delivering electrical signals to specific areas. Imagine it as a dimmer switch that can increase or decrease nerve or brain activity. This method can excite or inhibit nerves to alleviate pain and modify neural patterns associated with various conditions like epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease.
Companies like Parasym use “auricular vagal neuromodulation therapy” to deliver electrical signals through the ear to target the vagus nerve, which plays a crucial role in connecting the brain, heart, and digestive system.
How technology can slow aging
Neuromodulation can help slow down the aging process by combating chronic inflammation, enhancing cognitive function, and improving cardiovascular health. Research shows promising results in addressing age-related issues like Alzheimer’s disease and heart conditions.
While neuromodulation offers benefits like improved heart rate variability and reduced fatigue and depression, it remains in the early stages of development. Safety concerns and experimental results underscore the need for further research and validation.
Is neuromodulation safe?
Neuromodulation has evolved since its inception in the 1960s, with modern devices providing safer options for users. Implantable devices offer more effective treatment but come with higher risks, including infections and other complications.
Non-invasive wearable devices like those from Parasym are considered safer, with minor side effects like skin irritation being the main concern. These devices require consistent use to deliver optimal results, making them a more accessible but less durable alternative to implantable devices.
While neuromodulation technology shows promise in improving health and well-being, users should weigh the benefits against the costs and potential risks before investing in these innovative devices.
Cerebellum of a person suffering from kuru disease
Liberski PP (2013)
Genetic research in a very remote community in Papua New Guinea has revealed new insights into a brain disease that is spread when people eat dead relatives and has killed thousands of people over two decades.
Dotted with mountains, gorges, and fast-flowing rivers, Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands province is extremely isolated from the rest of the world, and it wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that outsiders realized that about 1 million people lived there.
Some tribes known as the Fore practiced a form of cannibalism called “funeral feasts,” in which they consumed the bodies of their deceased relatives as part of their funeral rites. This could mean they ingested an abnormally folded protein called a prion, which can cause a fatal neurodegenerative condition called kuru associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). However, the local people believed that the Kuru phenomenon was caused by witchcraft. At least 2,700 Kuru deaths have been recorded in the eastern highlands.
Simon Mead Researchers at University College London examined the genomes of 943 people representing 68 villages and 21 language groups in the region. Although this region of Papua New Guinea covers just over 11,000 square kilometers, smaller than Jamaica, researchers say the different groups are as genetically different as the peoples of Finland and Spain, some 3,000 kilometers apart.
The study found that not everyone who attended the funeral died from the disease. Mead and his colleagues say it appears communities were beginning to develop a resistance to kuru, which led to tremors, loss of coordination, and, ultimately, death.
The study found that some of the elderly women who survived the feast had mutations in the gene encoding the prion protein, which likely conferred resistance to kuru disease.
By the 1950s, funeral feasts had become illegal, and the kuru epidemic began to subside, but visitors say that the number of women in some villages had dwindled because so many women had died from kuru. It pointed out. Mead said women and children are most susceptible to the disease, likely because they ate the brains of deceased relatives.
However, genetic evidence shows that despite fears of the disease, there was a large influx of women into Fora tribal areas, particularly in areas where the highest levels of kuru were present.
“We believe it is likely that the sexual prejudice caused by Kuru caused single men in Kuru-affected communities to look further afield for wives than usual because they were unable to find potential wives locally. “We will,” Meade said.
He said the team wants to understand what factors confer resistance to prion diseases such as CJD, which caused a severe epidemic in the UK in the 1990s.
“[Our work sets] “This is a site to detect genetic factors that may have helped the Fore people resist kuru,” Mead said. “Such resistance genes may suggest therapeutic targets.”
Ira Debson Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, say the study provides new insight into the “rich and unique cultural, linguistic and genomic diversity” of the Eastern Highlands region.
“This is a demonstration of how genomics can be used to look almost back in time, reading the genetic signature of past epidemics and understanding how they have shaped today’s populations. It helps.”
Noland Arbor can play chess using Neuralink implant
Neuralink
Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company founded by Elon Musk, has revealed the identity of its first patient who says its implant “changed his life.” But experts say it’s not yet clear whether Neuralink has done more than replicate existing research efforts.
Who was Neuralink’s first patient?
Musk announced in January that the first human patient had received a Neuralink implant, but few details were released at the time. We now know from something. Live stream video by company – Who is that person and how will the test be done?
Noland Arbaugh explains in the video that an accident eight years ago dislocated his fourth and fifth vertebrae, leaving him a quadriplegic. He previously controlled the computer with a mouth interface, and is shown moving the cursor with just his thoughts, apparently using a Neuralink implant.
“Once I started imagining the cursor moving, it became intuitive,” Arbaugh says in the video. “Basically, it was like using ‘force’ on the cursor, and I was able to move the cursor anywhere I wanted. I could just look anywhere on the screen and the cursor would move where I wanted it. It was a very wild experience.”
He uses the device for reading, language learning, and computer games such as chess, and claims he uses it for up to eight hours at a time, at which point he needs to charge the device. “It’s not perfect, I’ve run into some problems. But it’s already changed my life,” he says.
What does the implant contain?
Neuralink did not respond to requests for an interview, but its website says the current generation coin-sized implant, called N1, generates neural activity through 1,024 electrodes distributed across 64 threads that extend into the user’s brain. It is said that it records. These are so fine that they must be placed by a surgical robot.
In a livestream video, Arbaugh said he was discharged from the hospital the day after his implant surgery, and that from his perspective the surgery was a relatively simple process.
The implant uses a small battery that is charged through the skin by an inductance charger and communicates wirelessly with an app on your smartphone.
Does this mean the first human trials were successful?
Reinhold Scherrer Researchers at the University of Essex in the UK will decide whether Neuralink’s first human trial was a success because the company “has not released enough information to form an informed opinion” He said it was too early.
“While the video is impressive and there is no doubt that it took a lot of research and development work to get to this stage, it is unclear whether what is being shown is new or groundbreaking,” he said. Masu. “Although control appears to be stable, most of the studies and experiments presented so far are primarily replications of past studies. Replication is good, but major challenges still remain. ”
Who else is working on brain implants?
Neuralink isn’t the only group exploring this idea. A number of academic organizations and commercial startups have already conducted human experiments that have successfully interpreted brain signals and produced some sort of output.
A team at Stanford University in California placed two small sensors just below the surface of the brain of a man who was paralyzed from the neck down. Researchers may be able to interpret the brain signals when a man decides to put pen to paper and translate them into text that can be read on a computer.
When will Neuralink be available and how much will it cost?
It’s too early to tell, as this has a long way to go before it becomes a commercial product, with much testing and certification to come. But Musk has made it clear that he intends to commercialize the technology.of The first product planned was named Telepathy.allows users to take control of their mobile phones and computers.
A 1,000-year-old human brain unearthed from a churchyard in Ypres, Belgium.The tissue folds, which are still soft and wet, are stained orange with iron oxide.
Alexandra L. Morton Hayward
Studies of human brains that have been naturally preserved for hundreds or thousands of years have identified 1,300 cases in which the organ survived when all other soft tissue had decomposed. Some of these brains are over 12,000 years old.
“This type of brain is the only one with preserved soft tissue and has been found in sunken ships and flooded graves with only floating bones.” alexandra morton hayward at Oxford University. “It's really, really weird.”
“To be honest, we don't expect the brain to be preserved in any environment,” she says. “As an archaeologist, if you were to dig a grave and find a brain rattling inside a skull, you would be shocked. But you don't expect soft tissue to be preserved, especially in a waterlogged environment. yeah.”
Morton-Hayward first became interested in brain preservation while working as a mortician. “The brain is known to be one of the first organs to decompose after death. I saw it liquefy pretty quickly. But I also saw it preserved.” she says.
Many researchers point out that the human brain is preserved more often than expected and in surprising circumstances, says Morton-Hayward. Now, she and her colleagues are conducting the first-ever systematic study of this phenomenon. They compiled a database of more than 4,400 preserved human brains found around the world.
They also collected and studied many preserved brains themselves. “We actually put it in an MRI machine, and that was a terrible mistake. We didn't know how much iron was in there,” says Morton Hayward.
In most cases, brain preservation can be explained by known processes. For example, the brains of sacrificial Incas buried atop volcanoes in South America around 1450 AD were freeze-dried along with the bodies, Morton-Hayward said.
2,400 years ago, the bodies and brains of swamp people like Tollundman, who was hanged and dumped in a swamp in what is now Denmark, were preserved through a tanning process similar to that used for leather.
Saponification, in which fatty substances are turned into a soap form called grave wax, also preserved the brains of some people who were shot and buried in mass graves in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War.
However, the known process preserves all soft tissue, not just the brain. They do not account for the 1300 cases in which the brain is the only surviving soft tissue.
“This unknown mechanism is completely different,” says Morton-Hayward. “The key feature of this device is that only the brain and bones remain. There is no skin, no muscle, and no intestines.”
For example, St. Hedwig of Silesia was buried in Poland in 1243. When her body was exhumed in the 17th century, it was discovered that her brain was preserved, and at the time it was thought to be due to divine powers.
Alexandra Morton Hayward holds a preserved 1000-year-old brain
graham poulter
Morton-Hayward's working hypothesis is that under certain circumstances, substances such as iron can catalyze the formation of cross-links between proteins and lipids, forming more stable molecules that resist degradation. The nature or ratio of proteins and lipids in the brain may be key.
“The mechanisms are similar to those seen in neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia,” she says. “So if we can understand what happens to the brain after death, we may be able to understand what happens to the brain as it ages during life.”
“It's great news that the data is being made public,” he says. brittany moeller He is one of the researchers at James Cook University in Melbourne, Australia who discovered that: Brain preservation is more common than thought. “This may raise researchers' awareness of the possibility of preserving brain material,” she says.
This is important because preserved brains are often the same color as the surrounding soil. “Therefore, it is very likely that brain material is not recognized for what it is and is frequently discarded during archaeological excavations,” Moller says.
Although this study focused on the human brain, the findings should also apply to animals. Morton Hayward says there are at least 700 examples of animal brains preserved as fossils, the oldest of which he says is an arthropod from 500 million years ago.
Cerebellum of a person suffering from kuru disease
Liberski PP (2013)
Genetic research in a very remote community in Papua New Guinea has revealed new insights into a brain disease that is spread when people eat dead relatives and has killed thousands of people over two decades.
Dotted with mountains, gorges, and fast-flowing rivers, Papua New Guinea’s Eastern Highlands province is extremely isolated from the rest of the world, and it wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that outsiders realized that about 1 million people lived there.
Some tribes known as the Fore practiced a form of cannibalism called “funeral feasts,” in which they consumed the bodies of their deceased relatives as part of their funeral rites.
This could mean they ingested an abnormally folded protein called a prion, which can cause a fatal neurodegenerative condition called kuru associated with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). there was. However, local people believed that the Kuru phenomenon was caused by witchcraft. At least 2,700 Kuru deaths have been recorded in the eastern highlands.
simon mead Researchers at University College London examined the genomes of 943 people representing 68 villages and 21 language groups in the region. Although this region of Papua New Guinea covers just over 11,000 square kilometers, smaller than Jamaica, researchers say the different groups are as genetically different as the peoples of Finland and Spain, some 3,000 kilometers apart. ing.
The study found that not everyone who attended the funeral died from the disease. Meade and his colleagues say it appears that communities were beginning to develop a resistance to kuru, which led to tremors, loss of coordination and, ultimately, death.
The study found that some of the elderly women who survived the feast had mutations in the gene encoding the prion protein, which likely conferred resistance to kuru disease.
By the 1950s, funeral feasts had become illegal and the kuru epidemic began to subside, but visitors say that the number of women in some villages had dwindled because so many women died from kuru. It pointed out. Mead said women and children are most susceptible to the disease, likely because they ate the brains of deceased relatives.
However, genetic evidence shows that despite fears of the disease, there was a large influx of women into Fora tribal areas, particularly in areas where the highest levels of kuru were present.
“We believe it is likely that the sexual prejudice caused by Kuru caused single men in Kuru-affected communities to look further afield for wives than usual because they were unable to find potential wives locally. “We will,” Meade said.
He said the team wants to understand what factors confer resistance to prion diseases such as CJD, which caused a severe epidemic in the UK in the 1990s.
“[Our work sets] “This is a site to detect genetic factors that may have helped the Fore people resist kuru,” Mead said. “Such resistance genes may suggest therapeutic targets.”
Ira Debson Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, say the study provides new insight into the “rich and unique cultural, linguistic and genomic diversity” of the Eastern Highlands region.
“This is a demonstration of how genomics can be used to almost look back in time, reading the genetic signature of past epidemics and understanding how they have shaped today’s populations. It helps.”
BLaine computer interface technology is at the heart of movies like Ready Player One, The Matrix, and Avatar. But outside of the world of science fiction, BCIs are used on Earth to help paralyzed people communicate, to study dreams, and to control robots.
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced in January that his neurotechnology company Neuralink had implanted the first computer chip in a human. In February, he announced that patients can now control a computer mouse with their thoughts.
Neuralink’s purpose is noble. It is about helping people who are unable to communicate or interact with their environment. But details are scant. The project quickly raised alarms about brain privacy, the risk of hacking, and other potential issues.
Dr Steve Kassem, senior research scientist at Neuroscience Research Australia, said the Neuralink news should be taken with a “large pinch of salt”. It’s not the first company to do neural implants, he says. In fact, Australia is a ‘hotspot’ for relevant neurological research.
Does the patient dream of electric sheep?
The University of Technology Sydney project, which has received millions of dollars in funding from the Department of Defense, is now in its third phase to demonstrate how soldiers can use brain signals to control robotic dogs.
“We succeeded [demonstrating] Handa can use his brain to issue commands that direct the dog to reach its destination completely hands-free…so the dog can use its hands for other purposes. ” he says.
Soldiers use assisted reality glasses with special graphene interfaces to issue brain signal commands to send the robot dog to different locations. Lin said he is working on making the technology multi-user, faster and able to control other vehicles such as drones.
Meanwhile, Sydney company Neurode has developed a headset to help people with ADHD by monitoring the brain and sending electronic pulses to help them cope with changes. Another his UTS team is working on it. dream machine, which aims to reconstruct dreams from brain signals. It uses artificial intelligence and brainwave data to generate images from your subconscious mind.
And then there are the implants.
good signal
Synchron started at the University of Melbourne and is now based in New York. it is, Mesh inserted into blood vessels in the brain This allows patients to use the Internet by transmitting signals that operate similar to Bluetooth. People can shop, send emails, and communicate online using technology that controls computers.
Synchron has implanted and monitored mesh in many patients, including one in Australia. Patient P4, who has motor neuron disease, had mesh implanted several years ago.
“I think he’s had over 200 sessions,” says Gil Lind, Sychron’s senior director of advanced technology. “He is still progressing well with his implant treatment and is working very closely with us.
“He was able to use the computer through the system…As the disease progressed, it became very difficult to use the physical buttons.
“This allows for online banking, communication with caregivers, [with] Someone I love. ”
Dr Christina Maher from the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Center said Synchron’s technology is “miles ahead” of Elon Musk’s, and is more sophisticated and safer as it does not require open brain surgery. Stated. The researchers have also published more than 25 papers, she said.
“As for Neuralink, we don’t know much about it.
“My understanding is that the top priority for them is to test the effectiveness and safety of surgical robots…so they are focusing more on the robotic side of things, and this is a commercial It makes sense from a perspective.”
Need for regulation
But amidst the hype and promise of neurotechnology, there are concerns about who will have access to the beneficial technologies and how they will be protected.
Maher says it’s important to balance the need for innovation with appropriate regulation while allowing access to those who really need it. She says the “gap between the haves and have-nots” is being discussed not just in Australia but around the world.
“As brain-computer interfaces become more common, people will be divided into those who can afford them and those who cannot,” she says.
Lind said Synchron is focused on those who have the most to gain, such as quadriplegic patients. “We want to expand it as much as possible. We hope to reach a bigger market and help more people in need,” he says.
A personal and pivotal moment for him, he says, was seeing the faces of the clinicians, team, and family of the first patient who received a successful implant.
At Neuralink, Kasem warns that there are always risks when technology is developed by a company that exists to make a profit. “A cell phone plan for the brain is not what we want,” he says.
“And what if this gets hacked? There’s always a risk when it’s not a closed system.”
But it’s more likely that Neuralink will use people’s data.
“Like every app on your phone or computer, Neuralink monitors everything it can. Everything it can,” Kasem says.
“It will be stored somewhere.”
Protect your brain data
Maher agrees that data is a big issue, saying the risk of hacking remains when devices are connected to the internet. She says much of the social media, biometrics, and other data is already out there, but her brain’s data is different.
“meanwhile [BCI companies] They are subject to the same data privacy laws…The difference in many people’s minds is that brain data is very private and it’s your personal thoughts.
“The big picture here is that once you start recording large amounts of brain data, there are absolutely megatons of data out there,” she says.
Despite privacy concerns, Kasem says interacting with the brain has exciting potential.
“We need to remember how powerful and important the brain is. All you are, all you have been, and all you will ever be is your brain and nothing else.” he says.
Quoting American physicist Emerson Pugh, he says the brain has trillions of neural connections that lead to “infinite opportunities.” hand. ”
During the activities, participants wore headsets that detected brain waves and filled out questionnaires detailing their emotional states afterward.
Researchers discovered that when playing with Aro using sound-producing toys or taking him for a walk along a park path, participants’ alpha brain waves, indicating stability and relaxation, were more pronounced. This suggests an increased sense of rest and relaxation.
Engaging with Alo, brushing, and giving gentle massages to the dog strengthened beta brain waves associated with attention and concentration. This indicates improved concentration without added stress.
After completing all eight activities, participants reported feeling less stressed, tired, and depressed.
Studies have shown that activities like massaging Aro, offering treats, and hugs can enhance people’s moods. Participants also felt more at ease and relaxed while walking and massaging the dog.
“This study illustrates that certain activities with dogs can boost relaxation, emotional stability, alertness, concentration, and creativity by stimulating increased brain activity,” said Yoo. “Interacting with dogs can reduce stress and evoke positive emotional responses.”
Past studies indicate that dogs may help alleviate symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, although the efficacy of the intervention remains ambiguous.
A 2022 survey revealed that veterans and first responders with service dogs experienced fewer PTSD symptoms than those without. However, having a dog as a pet had a minimal impact.
A 2020 clinical trial indicated that service dogs were slightly more effective in improving PTSD symptoms in veterans compared to emotional support dogs. Regardless, both types of dogs demonstrated some improvement in PTSD symptoms.
Therapy dogs from an organization called UCLA People-Animal Connection shake hands. Provided by Jennifer Dobkin
Research also suggests that for “pet therapy” to be effective, individuals must have a liking for animals.
“I was actually traumatized by dogs when I was younger, so I never fully embraced them to know if I would feel the same level of comfort,” stated Kathryn Magruder, a professor of psychiatry at the university and author of the 2020 clinical trial.
Jennifer Dobkin manages an animal therapy program called UCLA People-Animal Connection for medical patients and staff and has witnessed firsthand how interactions with dogs can aid in focus and relaxation.
“Staff members who are stressed and having a rough day visibly relax their posture. They smile. They tell us things like ‘You have no idea how much I needed this,'” she remarked.
Dobkin recounted a situation where her terrier mix dog, Toto, helped a grieving family find solace amid the sorrow and stress of losing a loved one.
Children at Stuart House in Santa Monica, Calif., also engaged with therapy dogs like a golden retriever and Labrador named North, bringing comfort and support to those coping with traumatic experiences.
“Our dogs are present to help children navigate discussions about extraordinarily stressful events they have endured. I believe it aids in concentration and provides a sense of comfort,” Dobkin concluded.
Neuroscientists at the University of Michigan have identified thermoreceptors that mediate the sensation of cold in somatosensory neurons.
GluK2 KO mice have a defect in cold sensing.Image credit: Kai other10.1038/s41593-024-01585-8.
“The field began elucidating such temperature sensors more than 20 years ago with the discovery of a heat-sensing protein called TRPV1,” said Professor Sean Hsu of the University of Michigan.
“While various studies have discovered proteins that sense hot, warm, and even cold temperatures, we have not identified any proteins that sense temperatures below about 15 degrees Celsius (60 degrees Fahrenheit).”
In 2019, scientists discovered The world's first cold receptor protein Caenorhabditis elegans a millimeter-long nematode species that the lab is studying as a model system for understanding sensory responses.
Because the gene that codes for it is Caenorhabditis elegans This protein is evolutionarily conserved across many species, including mice and humans, and this discovery was a starting point for testing cold sensors in mammals. Glutamate ion channel receptor kainate type subunit 2 (GluK2).
In a new study, Professor Xu and colleagues tested that hypothesis in mice with the deficiency. GluK2 Because of the gene, the GluK2 protein could not be produced.
Through a series of experiments testing animals' behavioral responses to temperature and other mechanical stimuli, they found that mice responded normally to hot, warm, and cold temperatures, but not to harmful cold.
GluK2 is primarily found in neurons in the brain, where it receives chemical signals and facilitates communication between neurons.
However, it is also expressed by sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system (outside the brain and spinal cord).
“We found that this protein serves a completely different function in the peripheral nervous system, processing temperature cues instead of cold-sensing chemical signals,” said Dr. Bo Duan from the University of Michigan.
of GluK2 This gene has relatives across the evolutionary tree, going back to single-celled bacteria.
“Bacteria don't have brains, so why have they evolved a way to receive chemical signals from other neurons?” Professor Xu said.
“But the need to sense its environment, and perhaps both temperature and chemicals, will be very strong.”
“Thus, I suspect that temperature sensing is an ancient function, at least for some of these glutamate receptors, that was eventually adopted as organisms evolved more complex nervous systems. .”
of result appear in the diary natural neuroscience.
_____
W. Kai other. The kainate receptor GluK2 mediates cold sensing in mice. nut neurosi, published online on March 11, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41593-024-01585-8
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurological disease that impairs brain functions such as memory and reasoning, and there is currently no known cure. People with this disease begin with basic forgetfulness, gradually lose control of their motor skills, and eventually become unable to complete normal daily activities.
Scientists have discovered that abnormal proteins that accumulate in and around brain cells are the main cause of Alzheimer’s disease. They also discovered that the disease depends on genetics, aging, and lifestyle choices such as being active and eating a healthy diet. However, it is not known how other disorders, such as sleep disorders, may exacerbate symptoms.
Scientists have hypothesized that brain activity during sleep may be related to Alzheimer’s disease because many important memory-related events occur during sleep. Scientists are therefore hoping to find out whether disruptions in brain function during sleep are related to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis recently tested whether Alzheimer’s disease is related to electrical activity that occurs in the brain during sleep. Most people experience changes in brain activity early in the night as the body relaxes and goes to sleep. Each of these changes sleep vibration event, lasts about 20-40 minutes. The researchers hypothesized that the interactions of brain circuits during sleep oscillations are different in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease and could be used for diagnostic purposes.
To test their hypothesis, the scientists used a machine that measures electrical activity in the brain. electroencephalograph, or brain waves.They chose 205 political partiesParticipants who have previously completed at least 3 nights of EEG measurements, 1 night of home sleep apnea testing, and clinical dementia testing.Based on dementia testing, most One participant had no cognitive impairment, some participants had very mild cognitive impairment, and one participant had mild cognitive impairment.
The researchers asked participants to wear the EEG as a headband while they slept, allowing them to measure brain waves during the sleep oscillation phenomenon. The three types of sleep oscillatory events they measured during the experiment were: theta burst, sleeping spindleand slow waves.
The researchers explained that theta bursts occur when humans are in light sleep and help process information and form memories. Sleep spindles occur during non-rapid eye movement sleep and are involved in memory consolidation. Slow waves occur during deep sleep, slowing heart and breathing rates, and also play a role in memory development.
The researchers categorized each patient’s individual slow-wave events by how often they coincided with sleep spindles and theta bursts. They classified sleep spindle and slow wave events that occur within 1.5 seconds of each other as coupled events. They also classified theta burst and slow wave events that occurred within 0.5 seconds of each other as coupled events.
The researchers found that people with cognitive impairment had weaker electrical activity during theta bursts and greater differences in brain electrical activity during theta bursts and slow waves. They also found that people with cognitive impairment and other biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease had fewer slow waves with theta bursts and sleep spindles. The researchers interpreted their results to confirm that disruptions in brain circuits involved in memory function during sleep may be associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers concluded that the EEG pattern of sleep oscillatory events could be used as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers suggested that early signs of the neurodegenerative process associated with Alzheimer’s disease could be detected in sleeping patients’ brain waves, even before they develop cognitive symptoms. They also believe that the results may provide an accessible and cost-effective tool for monitoring brain health and early Alzheimer’s disease, allowing for earlier responses and improved patient treatment. suggested something.
Some cancer treatments can cause so-called chemobrain, commonly defined as problems with memory and concentration.
One Bar/Alamy
An experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that involves flickering lights and low-pitched sounds may also help prevent cognitive impairment after cancer treatment, also known as chemical brain, a study in mice suggests.
In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, light and sound stimulation has been shown in small human trials to reduce memory and concentration problems, but larger studies are still investigating it.
The light flashes 40 times per second, or 40 Hz, and the sound also has a frequency of 40 Hz. This frequency was originally chosen because the brainwave intensity of Alzheimer’s patients is lower than 40 Hz and is associated with memory processing. The idea was that this treatment would stimulate these brain waves.
Subsequent research has shown that such brain waves may have a wide range of benefits for the brain, including increased immune cell activity and, more recently, strengthened drainage systems that may help remove a toxic protein called beta-amyloid. It suggests that there is.
Cai Li Hui The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who developed this approach thought it could help cancer patients who have memory and concentration problems after chemotherapy and other cancer treatments. It is thought that these may be caused by damage to brain cells, but the exact mechanism is unknown and there is no cure.
In the latest study, Professor Tsai’s team exposed cancer-free mice to light and sound for one hour a day while being given a common chemotherapy drug called cisplatin, compared to those who had just received chemotherapy. They found that they experienced less decline in mental acuity than mice.
Acuity was assessed by a memory test in which mice were exposed to either new or familiar objects, and the animals typically showed more interest in things they had never seen before. Chemotherapy reduced the mice’s ability to identify objects, but this was prevented by light and sound treatment.
The therapy had several effects, including reducing inflammation in the brain, reducing DNA damage, and reducing the loss of myelin, the insulation around nerve cell fibers.
nazanin derakshan Researchers at Britain’s University of Reading say the idea needs to be tested in people to see if it has any overall benefits. If this treatment is given at the same time as chemotherapy and reduces cell death in the brain, it may help cancer cells survive there, she says.
According to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis, individual neurons work together to generate rhythmic waves that propel fluid through dense brain tissue, cleaning it in the process.
Accumulation of metabolic waste products is a major cause of many neurological diseases, but there is still limited knowledge about how the brain performs self-cleaning.Jean Xie other. They demonstrate that neural networks synchronize individual action potentials to generate large-amplitude, rhythmic, self-perpetuating ion waves within the brain's interstitial fluid. Image credit: Jiang-Xie other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07108-6.
“These neurons are miniature pumps,” said Dr. Li-Feng Jiang-Xie, lead author of the study.
“Synchronized neural activity facilitates fluid flow and removal of debris from the brain.”
“If we can develop this process, we could slow or prevent neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, where excess waste products such as metabolic waste and junk proteins accumulate in the brain and cause neurodegeneration. It may be possible.”
Brain cells form a dynamic network that coordinates thoughts, emotions, and body movements and is essential for memory formation and problem solving.
But to perform these energy-intensive tasks, your brain cells need fuel. When you take in nutrients from your diet, metabolic waste products are produced in the process.
“It is important that the brain processes metabolic waste products that can accumulate and contribute to neurodegenerative diseases,” said Professor Jonathan Kipnis, senior author of the study.
“We knew that sleep is a time when the brain begins a cleansing process to flush out waste and toxins that have accumulated during wakefulness. But how does that happen? I didn't understand.”
“These findings may point us to strategies and potential treatments to accelerate the removal of hazardous waste and remove it before it leads to dire consequences.”
However, cleaning the dense brain is not an easy task. The cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain enters a complex network of cells, collecting toxic waste as it passes through it.
On leaving the brain, contaminated fluids must pass through a barrier in the dura mater (the outer layer of tissue that surrounds the brain under the skull) before flooding into the lymph vessels.
But what powers the flow of fluid into, into, and out of the brain?
“Researchers studied the brains of sleeping mice and discovered that neurons work together to fire electrical signals that generate rhythmic waves in the brain, prompting cleaning efforts,” says Jean. Dr. Shi said.
The study authors determined that such waves drive fluid movement.
They silenced certain brain areas so that neurons in those areas no longer produced rhythmic waves.
Without these waves, fresh cerebrospinal fluid cannot flow through the silenced brain areas and trapped waste products cannot exit the brain tissue.
“One of the reasons we sleep is to cleanse the brain,” Professor Kipnis says.
“And if we can enhance this cleansing process, perhaps we can sleep less and stay healthy.”
“Not everyone can benefit from eight hours of sleep each night, and lack of sleep can affect your health.”
“Other studies have shown that mice genetically short-sleeping have healthier brains.”
“Is it to remove waste products from the brain more efficiently?”
“Is it possible to strengthen the brain purification ability of people suffering from insomnia so that they can live with less sleep?”
of study Published in the Journal on February 28, 2024 Nature.
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LF.Jean Xie other. Neurodynamics directs cerebrospinal fluid perfusion and brain clearance. Nature, published online on February 28, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07108-6
Cross-section of a mouse brain highlighting neurons that appear to release molecules that increase toxin clearance
Tsai Laboratory/MIT Picower Laboratory
A new explanation has emerged for why an experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that involves flickering sounds and lights may help slow cognitive decline. This frequency appears to strengthen the brain’s waste processing network, helping to remove beta-amyloid and other toxic proteins that contribute to memory and concentration issues.
“Once we understand the mechanism, we can probably understand how to further optimize this whole concept and improve its effectiveness,” he says. Cai Li Hui at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The treatment involves exposure to light that flashes at a frequency of 40 times per second, or 40 hertz, and to a bass sound, also at 40 hertz. Typically, stimulation is given for one hour per day.
The key to this new approach is that large networks of brain cells naturally fire in sync with each other at different frequencies, known as brain waves. Brain waves around 40 Hz are common when people are concentrating and forming or accessing memories.
In 2016, Tsai’s team wondered if 40Hz stimulation could enhance cognitive performance in Alzheimer’s patients, since visual or auditory stimulation at a certain frequency is known to enhance brain waves at that same frequency. I decided to investigate.
Their group and other researchers have shown that this reduces amyloid accumulation in mice with Alzheimer’s disease and has cognitive benefits. Small trial in people with this condition, an even larger trial is underway. However, it is unclear how this treatment works, and another idea is that it boosts the function of immune cells in the brain.
Well, the special light and sound appears to work by enhancing the function of the brain’s drainage system, also known as the glymphatic system.
In the latest study, Tsai’s team conducted a series of experiments to study the mechanism of treatment in mice that were genetically modified to have amyloid buildup that normally occurs with age and to have worse memory than typical mice. carried out.
As expected, when the animals were exposed to light and sound, the amount of amyloid decreased. The new findings were that during treatment, the amount of cerebrospinal fluid entering the brain increased, and the amount of waste fluid leaving the brain through the glymphatic vessels increased.
This appears to occur because nearby blood vessels pulsate more, which may help glymph fluid flow through the blood vessels, allowing more water to flow into the glymph system.
The research team also found that the activity of a particular type of brain cell known as an interneuron appears to cause an increase in glymph flow by releasing a molecule called vasoactive intestinal peptide. When the research team chemically blocked the production of this molecule, the treatment no longer accelerated amyloid clearance.
Miken Nedergaard A professor at the University of Rochester in New York who helped discover the glymphatic system says the discovery is consistent with what we already know about it. “The brain, blood, and cerebrospinal fluid are all contained within the skull. When the blood volume expands, the brain tissue cannot be compressed, so the cerebrospinal fluid volume must also move.”
In the accompanying article natural medicineDr. Nedergaard says that a better understanding of the mechanisms of toxin removal in the brain “could be the key to unlocking that.” [their] Treatment Possibilities.”
we heard it all. Men's brains are larger and have better spatial awareness. Women's brains are adapted for multitasking and emotional intelligence. Stereotypes about how sex influences behavior abound, and as increasingly sophisticated brain-scanning technology emerges, claims about such inconsistencies are becoming more apparent.
But as we discovered in our feature on the human brain (“Your Amazing Brain: 10 Challenging Questions That Uncover Amazing New Discoveries About the Human Brain”), men's and women's behaviors, interests, We are trying to identify the biological reasons for population differences in . The issue of occupation is a delicate debate that includes not only sex but also gender, and has never been resolved.
Still, we should keep trying. In particular, if there really are gender-related brain differences, this would have a major impact on our health. That's because many pathologies related to the brain and neural branches affect men and women at different rates and in different ways. For example, women have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Men have higher rates of autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
There are many possible reasons for this imbalance in the gender ratio. For example, autism may be underdiagnosed among girls, or typical behaviors may manifest differently. Similarly, biological factors may make women more susceptible to depression because they tend to have lower incomes or because men are less likely to seek help for mental health problems. .
However, brain differences between the sexes may also exist. If so, the photo is not yet complete. These may not be due to direct genetic or sex hormonal effects, but may be due to the way society generally treats men and women differently throughout their lives.
Elucidating all of this could shed light on the mechanisms behind these symptoms and lead to better treatment strategies. After all, this is not a competition between male and female brains, but an initiative that has the potential to help everyone.
Micrograph of a cross-section of a mouse brain highlighting neural pathways (green)
Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute/Scientific Photo Library
By analyzing a mouse’s brain activity, scientists can tell where the animal is and the exact direction the mouse is looking. With further research, the findings could one day help robots navigate autonomously.
The mammalian brain uses two main types of neurons for navigation. “Head direction cells” indicate where the animal is facing, and “grid cells” help provide her two-dimensional brain map of where the animal is located.
To learn more about the firing of these neurons, Vasilios Marlas and colleagues at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, worked with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to analyze data from previous studies.
In this experiment, probes were inserted into the brains of several mice. They then combined data about their neural firing patterns with video footage showing their position and head position as they moved around their open environment.
Because of this, Marlas and his colleagues developed an artificial intelligence algorithm that can figure out where the mouse is looking and where it is.
In practice, it’s similar to the drop pins and directional arrows on your smartphone’s map app, except instead of connecting to GPS satellites, scientists analyze the subjects’ brain activity.
“This method eliminates the reliance on updating GPS coordinates based on preloaded maps, satellite data, etc.,” Marulas says. “In a sense, the algorithm ‘thinks’ and perceives space in the same way as a mammalian brain.”
AI could eventually allow intelligent systems to move autonomously, he says. “In other words, we are taking advantage of the way the mammalian brain processes data and incorporating it into the architecture of our algorithms.”
Adam Hines Researchers from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology say the smartphone app analogy is helpful. “The location information (drop pin) and the direction (blue arrow) match, and during navigation, as he moves, the two pieces of information are constantly updated. Grid cells are like GPS, heading cells are It’s like a compass.”
The lamprey and human hindbrains are built using very similar molecular and genetic toolkits, according to a new study led by the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
These images show an adult lamprey (top and left) and a developing lamprey embryo. Image credit: Stowers Medical Research Institute.
“Our research on the hindbrain (the part of the brain that controls important functions such as blood pressure and heart rate) is essentially a window into the distant past and can serve as a model for understanding the evolution of complexity. “, said Dr. Hugo Parker. Researcher at Stowers Medical Research Institute.
Like other vertebrates, sea lampreys have a backbone and skeleton, but they noticeably lack a jaw, a characteristic feature of the head.
Most vertebrates, including humans, have jaws, so this striking difference in sea lampreys makes it a valuable model for understanding the evolution of vertebrate traits.
“About 500 million years ago, at the origin of vertebrates, there was a split between jawless and jawed animals,” said Dr. Alice Bedois, also of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
“We wanted to know how vertebrate brains evolved and whether there is something unique to jawed vertebrates that jawless vertebrates don't.”
Previous research had identified genes that structure and subdivide the sea lamprey's hindbrain as identical to genes in jawed vertebrates, including humans.
However, these genes are part of an interconnected network or circuit that needs to be initiated and directed to properly build the hindbrain.
In a new study, the authors identify common molecular cues known to direct head-to-tail patterning in a variety of animals as part of a genetic circuit that guides hindbrain patterning in the lamprey. .
“We found that the same genes, as well as the same cues, are involved in hindbrain development in sea lampreys. This suggests that this process is ancestral to all vertebrates. ,” Dr. Bedwa said.
“This signal is called retinoic acid, commonly known as vitamin A.”
Researchers have known that retinoic acid signals the genetic circuits that build the hindbrains of complex species, but they believe it is involved in more primitive animals like sea lampreys. was not considered.
Surprisingly, they discovered that the lamprey's core hindbrain circuit is also initiated by retinoic acid, providing evidence that these sea monsters and humans are much more closely related than expected.
“People thought that because lampreys don't have jaws, their hindbrains don't form like other vertebrates,” says Dr. Rob Krumlauf, a researcher at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
“We showed that this fundamental part of the brain is built exactly the same way as in mice, and even in humans.”
Signaling molecules that signal cell fate during development are well known.
Now, researchers have discovered that retinoic acid plays another key role in signaling important steps in development, such as the formation of the brainstem.
Furthermore, if hindbrain formation is a conserved feature in all vertebrates, other mechanisms must be involved to explain its incredible diversity.
“We all come from a common ancestor,” Dr. Bedwa said.
“The lamprey provided further clues.”
“We now need to go further back in evolutionary time to discover when the genetic circuits controlling hindbrain formation first evolved.”
of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.
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AMH Bedwa other. 2024. Lamprey reveals the origins of retinoic acid signaling and its coupling to vertebrate hindbrain segments. Nat Commune 15, 1538. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-45911-x
It's easy to name people who have evolved human thinking, from Jane Austen to Albert Einstein, Zaha Hadid to Ai Weiwei, but why are these people so much more creative than others? It's much more difficult to explain what kind of thinking you do. Are their brains just built that way, or can anyone learn it? The mystery of creativity has long puzzled scientists. Now, researchers are finally making some progress towards closing the curtain. Even better, their insights can help us all exercise a little more original thinking.
Some of them are exciting insights This stems from the “dual process theory” of creativity, which distinguishes between idea generation and idea evaluation. Idea generation involves digging deep into existing knowledge for seeds of inspiration. Perhaps it is done by drawing analogies from completely different areas. Free association is key at this stage, as one thought leads to another, more original insight. The second phase, idea evaluation, requires you to apply a more critical eye to select the ideas that best fit your goals. Novelists must decide whether strange, supernatural plot twists will excite readers or turn them off. Engineers must consider whether a fish-inspired airplane would be practical and efficient. Large projects require these two stages to be repeated many times during the long and winding journey from concept to completion.
Brain scans of people engaged in creative problem solving suggest that idea generation and evaluation relies on…
Crescent Nebula: More complex than the human brain?
Reinhold Wittich/Stocktrek Images/Alamy
Back in 2012, neuroscientist Christoph Koch wrote in his book: Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist The human brain is “the most complex object in the known universe.” This seems intuitive, given that the brain has approximately 86 billion neurons, which are connected in ways that are still beginning to be understood. But when I put it, David Wolpert At New Mexico's Santa Fe Institute, founded in the 1980s as a hub for the budding field of complexity science, he doesn't think so. “It's almost a travesty that we are the most complex system in the universe,” he says. “That question is actually misguided.”
Nevertheless, I persevere. Is there a common measure of complexity that can be applied to complex systems of all kinds? After all, if you squint, galaxy clusters and the filaments that connect them look like intertwined circuits of neurons. Masu. The human brain even has almost as many neurons as there are galaxies in the observable universe. This formal similarity may have something to do with the general laws by which complexity emerges, he says. Ricard Sole At Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. Or maybe not. “By chance, it might show up in both systems, but that doesn't mean anything,” he says.
Moreover, complexity is not defined by components and their interconnections. It's the idea that the whole is more than just something.
The human brain is likely the most advanced computer in the world. While it operates differently than a traditional computer and has a much softer structure, its computing power is unparalleled.
Neuromorphic computing, which models machines after the human brain and nervous system, has been a growing concept since the 1980s. Many attempts have been made to achieve this, with the DeepSouth project at the International Center for Neuromorphic Systems at Western Sydney University aiming to be the most advanced yet, with the potential to perform 228 trillion actions per second.
How does a brain computer work?
DeepSouth uses an approach to computing that is inspired by the human brain and body, aiming to combine processing power and memory just like the human brain does. By distributing power to billions of tiny units (neurons) that interact through trillions of different connections (synapses), the brain becomes incredibly powerful while consuming very little energy.
What does this mean for the future of computers?
This approach could lead to significant improvements in energy efficiency and battery life for devices such as smartphones. It could also enable the development of smaller and more powerful computers, bringing high-powered computing to a variety of applications and industries.
How DeepSouth can help fight aging
While the primary goal of DeepSouth is to improve computing technology, the neuromorphic approach also offers insights into the workings of the human brain. This could lead to a better understanding of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s and potentially aid in developing treatments for these conditions.
Forgetting may be essential for the brain to remember
Hans Nelemann/Getty Images
There's nothing more frustrating than trying to remember a fact or memory only to realize it's gone. You may ask yourself, is this the beginning of mental decline or the beginning of a degenerative brain disease? You probably don't think forgetting is a good thing. But it's possible. New research on memory suggests that it is actually a healthy and necessary brain function that is becoming increasingly important in our rapidly changing lives. “You want to be able to adapt to your environment because the environment is always changing. But if you get too attached to your initial experience, you won't be able to act adaptively,” he says. thomas ryan At Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Interestingly, his research also suggests that forgotten memories remain in the brain and could be restored if needed.
Everyday forgetfulness, such as not remembering what you had for dinner last week, is called natural forgetfulness. This is in contrast to pathological forgetfulness caused by conditions such as brain injury or Alzheimer's disease. Far from being a problem, natural forgetfulness supports one of our most unique and powerful traits: our ability to generalize. There are times when having a very detailed memory can be invaluable, such as when reviewing for an exam or acting as a witness to a crime, but you can't generalize without considering the specifics quickly and flexibly. says Mr. edwin robertson At the University of Glasgow, UK. “For a chair to be considered a chair…
Thomas Edison says: He held a steel ball in each hand as he prepared for a nap.. When he nodded, they would fall and wake him up so he could write down ideas that came to him in the moments just before sleep, when he believed he was most creative. But are there really specific times when our brains perform better? And more broadly, are we better at different kinds of thinking at different stages of life? If so, it's worth asking how you can make the most of these mental peaks and maximize your brain's capabilities.?
Edison's methods may have been unorthodox, but It turned out that he was onto somethingas Delphine Audinet It was discovered in 2021 by the Paris Brain Institute and colleagues. They gave 103 slightly sleep-deprived people a seemingly complex math problem that they could solve with simple creative insight. Participants who woke up immediately after falling asleep were almost three times more likely to take a creative leap and solve a problem than those who stayed awake throughout the experiment.
This knowledge may be useful if you are looking for inspiration. But if that's the memory you're trying to optimize, deep sleep is when your brain does the heavy lifting, accumulating new long-term memories from the day's experiences. To get the most out of this, you need plenty of sleep. Adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. If you are among them, A lot of people…
Biologists from the Altos Institute, Cambridge Institute of Science, and the University of Cambridge have discovered that genetic elements derived from retroviruses (retrotransposons) are essential for the production of myelin (the insulating sheath that surrounds nerve axons) in mammals, amphibians, and animals. I discovered that fish. This gene sequence, called retromyelin, is likely the result of an ancient retroviral infection, and comparisons of retromyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish indicate that retroviral infection and genome invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups. suggests that it has occurred.
gauche other. suggest that retrovirus internalization played an important role in the emergence of vertebrate myelin. Image credit: Ghosh other., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.011.
Myelin, the complex fatty tissue that lines vertebrate nerve axons, allows rapid impulse conduction without the need to increase axon diameter. This means that the nerves can be packed more closely together.
It also provides metabolic support for the nerves, allowing them to lengthen.
Myelin first appeared on the tree of life around the same time as the jaw, and its importance in vertebrate evolution has been recognized for a long time, but until now it is unclear what molecular mechanism caused its appearance. was.
Tanay Ghosh and colleagues at Altos Labs-Cambridge Institute of Science noticed the role of retromyelin in myelin production while studying the gene networks used by oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin in the central nervous system. .
Specifically, they were studying the role of non-coding regions, including retrotransposons, in these gene networks. This has not been previously studied in the context of myelin biology.
“Retrotransposons make up about 40% of our genome, but we know nothing about how they helped animals acquire specific traits during evolution.” said Dr. Ghosh.
“Our motivation was to learn how these molecules serve evolutionary processes, especially in the context of myelination.”
Researchers discovered that in rodents, retromyelin RNA transcripts regulate the expression of myelin basic protein, one of the key components of myelin.
When we experimentally inhibited retromyelin in oligodendrocytes and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (the stem cells from which oligodendrocytes are derived), the cells were no longer able to produce myelin basic protein.
To find out whether retromyelin is present in other vertebrate species, scientists looked for similar sequences within the genomes of jawed vertebrates, jawless vertebrates, and some invertebrate species. Searched for.
They identified similar sequences in all other classes of jawed vertebrates (birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians) but found no similar sequences in jawless vertebrates or invertebrates. did not.
Robin Franklin, a neuroscientist at the Altos Institute at the Cambridge Institute of Science, said: “There was an evolutionary drive to speed up the conduction of impulses in axons, because the faster the impulse conduction, the faster we can grab objects and move away from them.'' Because they can run away.”
Next, the authors wanted to know whether retromyelin was integrated once in the ancestor of all jawed vertebrates, or whether there were separate retroviral invasions in different branches.
To answer these questions, they constructed a phylogenetic tree from 22 jawed vertebrate species and compared their retromyelin sequences.
This analysis revealed that retromyelin sequences are more similar within species than between species, suggesting that retromyelin has been acquired multiple times through a process of convergent evolution.
The researchers also showed that retromyelin plays a functional role in myelination in fish and amphibians.
When they experimentally disrupted the retromyelin gene sequence in fertilized zebrafish and frog eggs, they found that the developing fish and tadpoles produced significantly less myelin than normal.
“Our findings open new avenues of research exploring how retroviruses are involved in directing evolution more generally,” said Dr. Ghosh.
Comparisons are difficult because men’s brains tend to be larger than women’s.
Sergiy Tryapitsyn / Alamy
Are male and female brains that different? A new way to investigate this question has led us to the conclusion that they exist, but we need artificial intelligence (AI) to tell them apart.
The question of whether we can measure differences between male and female brains has long been debated, and previous studies have yielded conflicting results.
One problem is that men’s brains tend to be slightly larger than women’s. This is likely due to the fact that men are generally larger, and some previous studies have compared the size of various small areas of the brain. Unable to adjust whole brain volume. However, no clear findings have been made so far. “When you correct for brain size, the results change quite a bit,” he says. Vinod Menon at Stanford University in California.
To tackle this problem in a different way, Menon’s team used a relatively new method called dynamic functional connectivity fMRI. This involves recording the brain activity of people lying in a functional MRI scanner and tracking changes in how activity in different areas changes in sync with each other.
The researchers designed an AI to analyze these brain scans and trained it on the results of about 1,000 young people from an existing database in the United States called the Human Connectome Project, identifying which individuals are male and which individuals. told the AI whether the person was female. In this analysis, the brain was divided into 246 different regions.
After this training process, the AI was able to differentiate between a second set of brain scan data from the same 1000 men and women with approximately 90% accuracy.
More importantly, the AI was equally effective at differentiating male and female brain scans from two different, never-before-seen brain scan datasets. Both consisted of about 200 people of similar age, ranging in age from 20 to 35, from the United States and Germany.
“What we bring to the table is a more rigorous study with replication and generalization to other samples,” Menon says. None of the people in the training or testing data were transgender.
“Replication with a completely independent sample from the Human Connectome Project gives us even more confidence in our results,” he says. Camille Williams At the University of Texas at Austin.
The next question is whether the AI will be just as accurate when tested on an additional, larger set of brain scan results. “Time will tell what results we get with other datasets,” he says Menon.
If confirmed, the findings could help us understand why some medical conditions and forms of neurodiversity, such as depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, differ by gender. No, says Menon.
“If we don’t develop these gender-specific models, we will miss important aspects of differentiating factors.” [for example]”An autistic man and a control man, and an autistic woman and a control woman,” Menon said.
It looked like a classic case of Alzheimer's disease. The man, in his 70s, had been experiencing severe cognitive decline for three years. Frequently forgetting the names of his family members, he was unable to drive or leave the house alone. Further deterioration seemed inevitable. But then his doctor tested him and found that his cerebrospinal fluid sample I noticed a fungus called Cryptococcus neoformans. They put him on antifungal medication and the results were amazing. Within two years he had his driver's license reinstated and returned to his job as a gardener.
Neuroscientists have long suspected that certain infections can increase the risk of dementia.For example, both Porphyromonas gingivalisthe bacteria behind periodontal disease, the herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores, It has been pointed out that there is a relationship with Alzheimer's disease.. However, cases of “reversible dementia” are emerging from the idea that our brains are teeming with microbes and that imbalances in this “brain microbiome” can make people more susceptible to neurodegenerative diseases. is beginning to arouse great interest.
Until recently, it was thought that the brain was free of microorganisms. This was especially due to the blood-brain barrier, a special membrane that protects pathogens and toxins in the blood from the brain. Therefore, the idea of a brain microbiome was controversial. But new research seems to confirm the case. Richard Leeds University of Edinburgh, UK and colleagues Analyzed data obtained from postmortem brains It is housed in four brain banks in the UK and US. They discovered a wide variety of microorganisms of different types.
When you look in the mirror, you may notice slight imbalances in your facial features, such as your nose crooked to the left, a wrinkle that only appears under one eye, or your ears slightly higher than the other. .
For centuries, this lack of perfect balance has been thought to detract from our beauty, and there are a number of services aimed at “fixing” it, from photo filters to cosmetic surgery. But asymmetry is built into the human body and brain, and for good reason. Moreover, new research suggests that it has little effect on your appeal to others.
First, lopsided arrangement of our internal organs. For most people, the heart, stomach, and spleen are all on the left side of the spinal cord, and the liver and gallbladder are on the right side. This makes more efficient use of thoracic and abdominal space compared to a structure that aligns all organs to the spine.
Why is the human brain asymmetrical?
What about your brain? Although her two hemispheres may appear to be reflective of each other, corresponding areas on each side have different responsibilities. You will notice the effect this has on your movements. If you're right-handed, it's because the left hemisphere of your brain, which is connected to the right side of your body, is slightly more specialized in controlling the fine muscles of your fingers, increasing your manual dexterity. .
You may be surprised to find that this “lateralization” is seen in many fields…
Protein plaques in the brain may be caused by mitochondrial dysfunction
Sebastian Kauritzky/Alamy
If you own a car, you’ve probably noticed that your engine becomes less efficient over time. The farther you drive, the more fuel it takes to cover the same distance. Eventually, you’ll end up with so little power that you need a physical push to climb a gentle hill.
It is now becoming clear that much the same holds true for the human brain. Microscopic structures called mitochondria, found in all brain cells, are literally the engines of our thoughts and emotions. As we age, we find it increasingly difficult to generate enough energy to power mental activity. Worse, just like an old car leaves behind a cloud of smoke, the power source of our cells begins to produce unnecessary waste products that slowly pollute our brains. This means that mitochondrial dysfunction may underlie some of the most serious brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and motor neuron disease.
According to this “grand unified theory” of neurodegeneration, recharging neurons through restoration of their power plants can prolong healthy brain function. This idea has already inspired some exciting new treatments for age-related brain diseases, with multiple drug candidates under investigation. Some researchers are exploring the possibility of transplanting healthy mitochondria into damaged, aging brains to reactivate them. “If you keep replacing the parts in your car, it can last forever,” he says. claudio soto, a neurologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “So what happens if we try to run this…
Humans are not the fastest or strongest species. We have no wings, fangs, claws, poison, or armor. Physically, we are primarily controlled by nature.
However, the words “run the same way'' are ironic. This is because humans physically dominate all other species in one area: long-distance running. Thanks to our bipedalism and unique sweat glands, humans can continue running long after other species have collapsed from exhaustion.
Humans have evolved to train their bodies, or exercise, over long periods of time. But while many people actually enjoy exercise, they're in the minority (as evidenced by uncrowded gyms and abandoned New Year's resolutions in mid-February).
So why doesn't everyone enjoy exercise, even though we've evolved to do so? It’s because of the mysterious complexity of the human brain.Evolving abilities does not automatically evolve want to use it. Armored creatures do not want to be actively attacked.
Although physical exercise is not that Bad, but still usually unpleasant and uncomfortable. It must be so. You end up pushing your body to its physical limits, which leads to significant discomfort. There are limits for a reason.
What does the brain think about exercise?
Another problem is that the human brain is extremely sensitive to wasted effort. Research has shown that the insular cortex contains dedicated circuitry. Calculate the effort required for an action – They are there to ask “Is it worth it?”
This is a trend that evolved to prevent us from wasting vital resources on pointless endeavors, such as walking 20 miles to buy a handful of berries.
However, regular exercise to “get in shape” requires constant and great effort. It's all about gradual progress and uncertain rewards (it's impossible to guarantee success in advance). In other words, your brain tends to ask, “Is it worth it?” It would be difficult to keep quiet.
This trait also means that we typically prefer things that give us the most reward with the least amount of effort. So we choose the path of least resistance, stick to our routine, and stay in our comfort zone.
Starting to exercise means changing everything for an uncertain result. To keep us safe, our brains typically tend to value risk over reward, making us more reluctant to engage in physically demanding activities.
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So while our bodies may be adapted to continuous exercise, our brains are adapted to avoid it in many ways. And we have built a world for ourselves where avoiding physical activity is a viable option.
Thankfully, the human brain is an incredibly complex organ, so there are some metaphorical tricks up your sleeve. Most obviously, it is not dominated by more primitive and direct instincts and impulses. Many species' thought processes are limited to “Food, eat!”, “Danger, run!”, “Pain, avoid!”, but we have evolved beyond that.
The human brain is capable of forming multiple long-term goals and ambitions. We are rarely satisfied with just day-to-day survival. We simply simulate a desired future scenario, figure out how to achieve it, and then…do it. Or at least strive towards it.
This directly affects how our brains process motivation and willpower in many interesting ways. First, it allows you to delay gratification. In other words, you will realize that it is important to refuse the reward now.Can lead to bigger rewards later, and act accordingly.
In this case, eating four bags of potato chips as a family while watching TV is fun in the moment, but going to the gym will make you fitter, stronger, and fitter later on.
And then there's the “just world” fallacy. Here we assume the world is fair and that is what makes us believe. research shows this – No matter how much suffering you suffer, it will always lead to reward. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain.
How the brain increases motivation
So how does the brain process all these different motivations? Self-contradiction theory suggests that we have multiple “selves” active in our minds at any given time. The “real” self, the “ideal” self, and the “ideal” self.
Your “actual” self is your current state, or how you are right now. Your “ideal self” is yourself. want Something to do. And your “ideal” self is one that does whatever it takes to become your “ideal” self.you do what you do should What I'm doing. In other words, if your “ideal” self is a professional soccer player and your “real” self is not, then the “ideal” you is someone who has to train, exercise, and train a lot to get better at soccer. It's someone who spends their time.
This is just one framework for how motivation works when it comes to physical exercise. Of course, there are many other factors that play an important role, such as time constraints, body image, and ease of movement.
However, as far as the brain is concerned, there are processes that prevent movement and processes that promote movement. Ideally, you'll end up focusing more on the latter than the former. Also, moving weights is a classic exercise, so it's a good idea to start somewhere.
Two weeks before the pandemic lockdown in March 2020, I flew to Tucson, Arizona, and knocked on the door of a suburban ranch-style home. I was there to visit Stuart Hammeroff. He is an anesthesiologist and co-inventor with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Roger Penrose of a radical proposal for how conscious experience arises: that it has its origins in quantum phenomena in the brain.
Such ideas, in one form or another, have existed on the fringes of mainstream consciousness research for decades. There is no solid experimental evidence that quantum effects occur in the brain, as critics claim, and aside from a clear idea of how quantum effects produce consciousness, they come in from the cold. Not that it was. “It was very popular to bash us,” Hammeroff told me.
But after a week of questioning him about the concept, I realized that at least his version of quantum consciousness is widely misunderstood. Partly, I think it’s Hammeroff’s fault. He gives the impression of a single package. In fact, his ideas are a series of independent proposals, each forcing us to confront important questions about the relationship between fundamental physics, biology, and the indescribable thing called consciousness. I am.
Furthermore, during my visit I saw several experiments that Hammeroff had proposed come to fruition, and it became clear that his ideas could be applied to experimental research. Researchers have now provided preliminary evidence suggesting that fragile quantum states can persist in the brain and that anesthetics can influence those states.
Veterans saw improvement in combat-related brain injury after taking psychedelic drugs
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The psychedelic substance ibogaine has the potential to treat chronic disorders caused by traumatic brain injury (TBI). A single dose of this drug resulted in sustained improvements in physical and social function, cognition and mood in veterans with combat-related traumatic brain injury.
“This is the first time someone has actually been able to show that there is a neurorehabilitation effect with psychedelic drugs and that there are fairly deep signs of improvement,” he says. nolan williams at Stanford University in California.
He and his colleagues recruited 30 male veterans with traumatic brain injuries to attend a treatment facility in Mexico for five days. They were each given ibogaine, a hallucinogenic substance extracted from the iboga plant, which is native to Africa. Everyone met with a therapist before and after taking ibogaine to discuss preparation for the psychedelic experience. Participants can also participate in activities such as yoga, massage, and meditation on-site.
Participants took 12 milligrams of ibogaine per kilogram of body weight and received an intravenous infusion of magnesium to prevent heart problems associated with the drug. The researchers measured participants' disability before and after treatment on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating greater disability. At the beginning of the study, participants' average score was 30, meaning mild to moderate disability. After 4-5 days of treatment, this score dropped below 20, and after 1 month it was around 5, indicating no disability.
At least 83 percent of participants no longer met criteria for depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) one month after treatment. They also saw significant improvements in processing speed, problem solving, and working memory.
However, it is unclear whether this effect is solely due to hallucinogens. “The big problem is [that] Without a control group, it will be nearly impossible to say for sure what's going on here. ” Albert Garcia Lomu at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. He says talking to a therapist, participating in wellness activities, and even traveling may have contributed to these improvements.
But many of these variables have previously been studied as treatments for neurological diseases with little success, Williams said. He believes a series of mechanisms could explain how ibogaine can treat traumatic brain injury. For example, he says, the drug is known to increase neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to rewire.
Hypnosis may involve a therapist bringing a patient into a deeply relaxed state to treat symptoms or change habits.
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Sending electrical pulses to certain parts of the brain can make people more susceptible to hypnosis. Although the research is still in its early stages, it could eventually lead to more widespread use of hypnotherapy for conditions such as chronic pain.
“There are a lot of different ways to treat different disorders and symptoms, both in psychology and psychiatry,” he says. Afik Furman at Stanford University in California. “Hypnosis is one psychological technique that has been proven to be effective for anxiety, depression, and especially pain.”
Faerman and colleagues focused on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, located at the front of the brain, and administered transcranial magnetic stimulation to 40 people with the chronic pain condition fibromyalgia. This was administered as 800 pulses to the scalp via a paddle, and the procedure lasted just over 1.5 minutes. This method uses a magnetic field to stimulate nerve cells in the target tissue.
Another 40 people with the same symptoms were given the sham treatment. At the start of the study, none of the participants were thought to be susceptible to hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy is generally defined as the use of hypnosis to treat symptoms or change habits. Susceptibility to hypnosis was assessed by the “hypnoinduction profile,” a standard method for measuring hypnotic efficacy.
After just one session, the group that received electrical brain stimulation had increased hypnotic susceptibility for up to an hour, while the other groups showed no change.
The researchers did not measure whether fibromyalgia symptoms improved in either group. “Our main goal was to figure out whether it was possible to alter the hypnotic state, so we were really excited to be able to do that,” say team members. nolan williams at Stanford University.
Researchers now hope to repeat the study with more people with more diverse symptoms. They also want to see whether fine-tuning the length or number of electrical stimulation pulses a person receives affects hypnotic susceptibility.
Despite showing some promise as a medical use, hypnotherapy is not routinely covered by health insurance companies in the United States or the National Health Service in the United Kingdom.
Ozempic is a diabetes drug, but it is also often used for weight loss.
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Weight loss and diabetes injections such as Wigovy and Ozempic (both semaglutide) are more widely used than initially thought after studies in mice suggest they act on the brain and reduce inflammation throughout the body. Possible medical benefits.
This finding may explain why this class of drugs appears to reduce heart attacks more than would be expected from weight loss effects alone.
It also supports their use in combating a wide range of health conditions that involve inflammation, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, which is being studied in clinical trials.
Semaglutide works by mimicking a gut hormone called GLP-1. Normally released after a meal, GLP-1 reduces appetite, makes you feel full, and triggers the release of insulin, a hormone involved in blood sugar regulation.
Some studies suggest that semaglutide not only reduces weight, but also reduces inflammation, and is a mild increase in certain types of immune system activity.Lowers levels of a compound in the blood called C-reactive protein (CRP) is a well-established sign of inflammation. Daniel Drucker At the University of Toronto, Canada.
A growing body of research suggests that inflammation is involved in many conditions not previously associated with the immune system, such as heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, but this does not yet lead to new treatments available in the clinic. has not been applied.
Because obesity is also associated with inflammation, semaglutide’s effect on CRP may simply be a side effect of weight loss, rather than the drug itself reducing inflammation.
To find out, Drucker and his colleagues investigated how several GLP-1 mimics affect inflammation in mice. First, they injected bacteria from the mice’s intestines into other parts of their abdomens, causing bacterial infections in their blood. This triggers a strong immune response and causes inflammation.
Some mice were also injected with GLP-1 mimics, either semaglutide or another member of this drug class called exenatide.
GLP-1 mimics reduced the animals’ inflammatory response to infection, but this did not occur when the researchers used mice genetically modified so that their brain cells lacked receptors for GLP-1. Ta.
The researchers also found no reduction in inflammation when they tested genetically normal mice whose brains were injected with compounds that block GLP-1 receptors.
Taken together, these results show that GLP-1 mimetics such as Ozempic act on brain cells to reduce inflammation, and that this is not just a side effect of weight loss.
“Losing weight is good, but you don’t need to lose weight to be effective,” Drucker says. For example, in Wegovy’s recent randomized trial, he says, the drug started preventing heart attacks within the first few months, before people lost significant weight.
“It was known that these drugs acted on inflammation,” he says. Ivan Koichev at Oxford University. “This paper is helpful because it reveals the underlying mechanism.”
In theory, anti-inflammatory drugs could cause people to develop additional infections, but this has so far not been observed in people who received the shots for weight loss or diabetes, Koychev says. .
A new study led by Harvard Medical School has revealed the neurological foundation of daydreaming. Conducted in mice, the study found that neurons in the visual cortex fired in patterns similar to those seen during the viewing of images, indicating daydreaming. This was especially pronounced during early daydreams and could predict future brain responses to visual stimuli, implying a role in brain plasticity. The study suggests that daydreaming may play a role in learning and memory processes in mice and potentially in humans. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
However, most neuroscientists do not understand what happens in the brain during daydreaming. A team of researchers at Harvard Medical School used mice to investigate the activity of neurons in the visual cortex of the brain during quiet wakefulness and found that these neurons fire in patterns similar to when the mouse views images, indicating that the mouse was daydreaming about the image. Furthermore, the brain showed the same firing pattern during daydreams as when it was seeing an image, suggesting that the mouse was imagining the image. These daydreams occurred only when the mouse was relaxed and had a calm behavior and small pupils.
The researchers found that mice were biased towards daydreaming about recently viewed images, and this daydreaming was more prominent at the beginning of the day. The daydreams influenced the brain’s future responses to images, indicating a role in brain plasticity. The two regions of the brain, the visual cortex and the hippocampus, were also found to communicate during daydreaming. Subsequent research with imaging tools will examine how these connections change when the brain sees an image.
While it remains an open question whether human daydreams involve similar patterns in the visual cortex, preliminary evidence suggests that a similar process occurs during the recall of visual images. The findings suggest that giving the mind waking downtime is crucial for daydreams, which is important for brain plasticity. This research was published on December 13th in Nature.
NINDS Research on High Blood Pressure and Cognitive Decline
NINDS Research on High Blood Pressure and Cognitive Decline
by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) December 14, 2023
NIH-funded researchers have found that high blood pressure leads to an increase in interleukin-17 in the brain, which activates immune cells and causes cognitive decline. The discovery, made using a mouse model, points to the possibility of new treatments by targeting T cells in the brain’s protective membranes. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
An NIH-funded study in mice suggests a potential new target for treating hypertension. Research supported by National Institutes of Health The findings suggest that a response of immune system cells within the protective membrane that surrounds the brain may contribute to the cognitive decline that can occur in people with chronic hypertension. This discovery is natural neuroscience, may shed light on new ways to counter the effects of high blood pressure on cognition. This study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the NIH. “Understanding the role of immune signaling in cognitive decline is critical,” said Dr. Roderick Corriveau, NINDS program director. “These findings provide insight into how signaling from the immune system contributes to the symptoms of cognitive decline that ultimately lead to the diagnosis of dementia.”
Global impact of hypertension and its impact on cognition
High blood pressure affects more than 1 billion people worldwide and can cause cognitive decline not only when a stroke occurs, but even when a person with high blood pressure does not have a stroke. However, efforts to control cognitive decline in people who have not had a stroke with blood pressure-lowering treatments have shown mixed results. The results of this mouse study suggest that under conditions that mimic common hypertension, immune cells around and within the brain become abnormally activated, and that this activation leads to impaired brain function. Fluorescent staining reveals an extensive vascular network of the dura mater. These blood vessels contain her T cells, which are activated in mouse models of chronic hypertension, causing a condition that can lead to dementia-like symptoms. Credit: Iadecola Lab
Research Insights: Mouse models of hypertension
Researchers led by Costantino Iadecola, MD, director and director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Institute in New York City, used a mouse model of hypertension to investigate interleukin-17 (IL-17). It was discovered that the levels of A chemical normally released in the body, cerebrospinal fluid, and brain to activate the immune system. Previously, Dr. Iadekola’s team showed that a high-salt diet increases IL-17 in the intestine, followed by cognitive impairment. These new findings further deepen the story by showing that IL-17 is acting within the brain itself. It is also worth noting that these experiments used a different mouse model called the DOCA salt model, which more closely mimics common hypertension in humans. “This is the most realistic model of hypertension that we have at this time,” Dr. Iadecola said. “DOCA mice simulate low-renin hypertension, a type of hypertension that is common in people, especially black Americans.”
Role of IL-17 and brain macrophages
Further research has shown that when IL-17 enters the brain, it activates immune cells known as macrophages, which are responsible for activating inflammation and fighting infections. A series of experiments showed that both mice with brain macrophage deletion of IL-17 receptors and mice with brain macrophage depletion showed no effect of hypertension on cognitive function, and therefore these macrophages were not associated with the observed cognitive function. It was confirmed that this is important for the reduction of Functioning despite other hypertension symptoms. Researchers were still looking for a source of IL-17 that acts on brain macrophages. Based on previous studies, the researchers’ initial hypothesis was that the gut releases IL-17, which travels to the brain through the bloodstream. Once there, a reaction is triggered that damages the ability of the brain’s blood vessels to respond appropriately to increased brain activity. However, blocking the ability of cerebral blood vessels to respond to IL-17 only partially reversed the cognitive impairment, suggesting that another source of IL-17 is acting on the brain. Uncovering IL-17 pathways and protective barriers One clue suggests that one layer of the brain’s protective layer, known as the dura mater, contains immune T cells that secrete IL-17 and may influence mouse behavior. taken from other recent studies. Using special mice whose cells glow fluorescent green when they make IL-17, the researchers found that high blood pressure increases IL-17 in the dura mater, which is then released into the tissues. Normally, a barrier exists within the brain’s protective covering called the meninges to prevent unwanted spillage into the brain. However, in mice with experimentally induced hypertension, this barrier appears to be disrupted, allowing IL-17 to enter the cerebrospinal fluid. Two additional experiments helped confirm this hypothesis. First, drugs were used to block the migration of her T cells from the lymph nodes to the meninges. Second, antibodies were used to block the activity of her T cells within the meninges. In both cases, the hypertensive mice recovered cognitive function, suggesting that targeting hyperactive T cells may be a new therapeutic approach worth exploring. “Taken together, our data suggest that hypertension causes two distinct effects,” Dr. Iadecola said. “One is that IL-17 has an effect on blood vessels, but this seems to be relatively minor. The more prominent central effect is that IL-17 releases IL-17, which has a direct effect on immune cells in the brain. It is caused by cells in the meninges. These immune cells, activated by signaling from the meninges, affect the brain in a way that ultimately causes cognitive impairment.”
Future Research Directions
Dr. Iadekola and his team are now trying to connect the dots between activation of immune cells in the meninges and cognitive decline. Previous works by the group The researchers suggested a link between a high-salt diet, which suppresses the production of the chemical nitric oxide in brain blood vessels, and the resulting accumulation of tau, a toxic protein that forms clumps within affected neurons. Alzheimer’s disease disease. The findings also indicate suppression of nitric oxide production in cerebral blood vessels, and whether this also leads to increased tau production is currently being investigated.
Reference: “Meningeal interleukin-17-producing T cells mediate cognitive impairment in a mouse model of salt-sensitive hypertension” Monica M. Santisteban, Samantha Schaeffer, Antoine Anfray, Giuseppe Faraco, David Brea, Gang Wang, Melissa J. Sobanko , Rose Sciortino, Gianfranco Rachumi, Ali Wiseman, Rybaik Park, Joseph Anraser, Costantino Iadecola, December 4, 2023, natural neuroscience.DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01497-z of NINDS’ Mind Your Risks® Campaign This paper highlights the relationship between high blood pressure and brain health (including risk of stroke and dementia), particularly in Black men aged 28 to 45, and provides recommendations to prevent and reduce the impact of high blood pressure on brain health. We offer strategies. This research was funded by NINDS (NS089323, NS095441, NS123507), the Leon Levy Fellowship in Neuroscience, and the Feil Family Foundation.
AI can decode brainwave recordings and predict words someone is reading
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A team of scientists has announced that a sensor-equipped helmet, combined with artificial intelligence, can translate a person’s thoughts into text.
In this study, participants read passages of text while wearing hats, and their brain electrical activity was recorded through the scalp. These electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were converted to text using an AI model called DeWave.
Lin Ching Tian Researchers from Australia’s University of Technology Sydney (UTS) say the technology is non-invasive, relatively cheap and portable.
The system is far from perfect, with an accuracy of about 40%, but recent data currently under peer review shows an improvement in accuracy of more than 60%, Lin said.
In a study published in NeurIPS conference In New Orleans, Louisiana, the DeWave program does not use spoken language, but instead has participants read sentences aloud. However, in the researchers’ latest study, participants read the text silently.
Last year, the team he led was jerry tan Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin reported similar accuracy in converting thoughts into text, but used MRI scans to interpret brain activity. Using EEG is more practical because the subject does not have to remain still in the scanner.
UTS team member Charles Zhou said the DeWave model was trained by looking at many examples where brain signals matched a particular sentence.
“For example, when you think of saying ‘hello,’ your brain sends a specific signal,” Zhou says. “DeWave learns how these signals relate to the word ‘hello’ by looking at many examples of these signals for different words and sentences.”
Once DeWave had a good understanding of the brain signals, the team connected it to an open-source large-scale language model (LLM) similar to the AI that powers ChatGPT.
“This LLM is like a smart writer who can craft sentences. We tell these writers to pay attention to the signals from DeWave and use that as a guide to craft their sentences. ” says Zhou.
Finally, the team trained both DeWave and a language model together to further improve their ability to write sentences based on EEG data.
Researchers predict that further improvements to the system could revolutionize communication for people who have lost language due to stroke or other conditions, and could also have applications in robotics.
craig gin from the University of Sydney said he was impressed by Lin’s team’s work. “It’s great progress,” he says.
“People have long wanted to convert brainwaves to text, and the team’s model shows amazing accuracy. A few years ago, EEG-to-text conversion was complete and utter nonsense. .”
This diagram shows a VR setup with an “overhead threat” projected into the top field of view.Credit: Dom Pinke/Northwestern University For the first time, the goggles allow researchers to study responses to overhead threats. northwestern university Researchers have developed a new virtual reality (VR) goggle for mice. These tiny goggles aren’t just cute, they offer a more immersive experience for lab mice. By more faithfully simulating natural environments, researchers can more accurately and precisely study the neural circuits underlying behavior. A leap forward in VR goggles The new goggles represent a breakthrough compared to current state-of-the-art systems that simply surround a mouse with a computer or projection screen. Current systems allow the mouse to see the laboratory environment peeking out from behind the screen, but the flat nature of the screen prevents it from conveying three-dimensional (3D) depth. Another drawback was that the researchers couldn’t easily attach a screen above the mice’s heads to simulate overhead threats, such as looming birds of prey. New VR goggles avoid all of these problems. And as VR grows in popularity, the goggles could also help researchers gain new insights into how the human brain adapts and responds to repeated VR exposure. . This area is currently poorly understood. The study was published in the journal Dec. 8. neuron. This is the first time researchers have used a VR system to simulate overhead threats. A view through new miniature VR goggles.Credit: Dom Pinke/Northwestern University “For the past 15 years, we’ve been using VR systems on mice,” said Daniel Dombeck of Northwestern University, lead author of the study. “Traditionally, labs have used large computers and projection screens to surround the animals. For humans, this is like watching TV in the living room. You can still see the couch and walls. You There are cues around it that let you know you’re not in the scene. Next, consider wearing VR goggles, like the Oculus Rift, that occupy your entire field of vision, except the projected scene. They can’t see anything, and each eye projects a different scene to create depth information, which the rats lacked.” Dombeck is a professor of neurobiology in Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. His laboratory is a leader in the development of his VR-based systems and high-resolution laser-based imaging systems for animal research. The value of VR Although researchers can observe animals in nature, it is extremely difficult to image patterns of brain activity in real time while animals interact with the real world. To overcome this challenge, the researchers integrated his VR into a laboratory setting. In these experimental settings, animals use a treadmill to move through a scene, such as a virtual maze, projected onto a screen around them. By keeping the mouse in place on a treadmill, rather than running it through a natural environment or a physical maze, neurobiologists can use tools to The brain can be observed and mapped. Ultimately, this will help researchers understand the general principles of how neural circuits activated during different behaviors encode information. “VR essentially recreates a real-life environment,” Dombeck says. “While we’ve had a lot of success with this VR system, the animals may not be as immersed as they would be in a real environment. Force the mouse to pay attention to the screen and ignore the surrounding lab.” That alone requires a lot of training.” Introduction to iMRSIV Recent advances in hardware miniaturization led Dombeck and his team to wonder if they could develop VR goggles that more closely replicate real-world environments. We created compact goggles using custom-designed lenses and a small organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display. The system, called Miniature Rodent Stereo Illumination VR (iMRSIV), consists of two lenses and two screens, one on each side of the head, that illuminate each eye individually for 3D vision. This provides each eye with a 180-degree field of view that fully immerses the mouse and excludes the surrounding environment. An artist’s interpretation of a cartoon of a mouse wearing VR goggles. Credit: @rita Unlike VR goggles for humans, the iMRSIV (pronounced “immersive”) system does not wrap around the mouse’s head. Instead, the goggles are attached to experimental equipment and sit snugly right in front of the mouse’s face. Since the mouse runs in place on the treadmill, the goggles still cover the mouse’s field of view. “We designed and built a custom holder for the goggles,” said John Issa, a postdoctoral fellow in Dombeck’s lab and co-first author of the study. “The entire optical display, the screen and lens, goes all the way around the mouse.” Enhance learning and engagement By mapping the brains of mice, Dombeck and his team found that the brains of mice wearing goggles activated in a manner very similar to that of freely moving animals. And in a side-by-side comparison, the researchers found that mice with goggles were able to immerse themselves in the scene much faster than mice with traditional VR systems. “We went through the same kind of training paradigm that we’ve done in the past, but the mice with the goggles learned faster,” Dombeck said. “After the first session they were already able to complete the task. They knew where to run and were looking for the right place to get the reward. We think they may not actually need as much training because they can interact with their environment in such a way.” Simulating overhead threats for the first time Next, the researchers used goggles to simulate overhead threats. This was not possible with the current system. Since the hardware for the imaging technology is already on top of the mouse, there is no place to attach a computer screen. But the skies above rats are often where animals are searching for important, sometimes life-or-death information. “The upper part of the visual field in mice is very sensitive to detecting predators from above, like in birds,” said co-first author Dom Pinke, a research specialist in Dombeck’s lab. . “It’s not a learned behavior. It’s an imprinted behavior. It’s hardwired into the mouse’s brain.” To create the looming threat, the researchers projected a dark, expanding disk onto the top of the goggles and above the mouse’s field of view. In experiments, mice ran faster and froze up when they noticed the disc. Both behaviors are common responses to overhead threats. Researchers were able to record neural activity to study these responses in detail. “In the future, we would like to investigate situations in which rats are predators rather than prey,” Issa said. “For example, we can observe brain activity while chasing a fly. This activity involves a lot of depth perception and distance estimation. Those are things we can start to capture. is.” Accessibility in neurobiological research Dombeck hopes the goggles will not only open the door to further research, but also to new researchers. He believes the goggles could make neurobiology research more accessible because they are relatively inexpensive and require less intensive laboratory preparation. “Traditional VR systems are very complex,” Dombeck says. “It’s expensive and it’s big. You need a large lab with plenty of space. Additionally, the long time it takes to train a mouse to perform a task limits the number of experiments you can perform. Although we are still working on improvements, our goggles are small, relatively inexpensive, and also very easy to use. This could make VR technology available to other labs. There is a gender.” References: “Full-field virtual reality goggles for mice” by Domonkos Pinke, John B. Issa, Gabriel A. Dara, Gergely Dobos, Daniel A. Dombeck, December 8, 2023. neuron.DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2023.11.019 This research “Full-field virtual reality goggles for mice” National Institutes of Health (Award Number R01-MH101297), the National Science Foundation (Award Number ECCS-1835389), the Hartwell Foundation, and the Brain and Behavioral Research Foundation. (function(d, s, id){
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A new study has found that the slow brain waves typical of sleep occur in epilepsy patients when they are awake, helping to prevent the brain from becoming more excited. These waves reduce epileptic activity while negatively impacting memory, suggesting a potential new therapeutic approach for epilepsy.
UCL researchers have found that slow brain waves commonly seen during sleep occur in epilepsy patients while they are awake, preventing seizures but affecting memory, suggesting a new potential treatment for epilepsy. are doing.
A new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) has found that slow waves, which normally occur only in the brain during sleep, also occur when epilepsy patients are awake, and show that slow waves, which are associated with epilepsy symptoms, can also occur in the brain during sleep. It was found that there is a possibility of preventing increased excitement.
Methodology and findings
The study was published today (November 30) in the journal nature communications The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) UCLH Biomedical Research Center also took part in conducting electroencephalogram (EEG) scans from electrodes in the brains of 25 patients with focal epilepsy (a type of epilepsy characterized by seizures originating from specific parts of the brain). was inspected. brain), they performed an associative memory task.
Electrodes were placed in the patient’s brain to localize abnormal activity and inform surgical treatment.
During the task, participants were presented with 27 pairs of images that remained on the screen for 6 seconds. The images are divided into nine groups of three, and each group contains photos of people, places, and objects. In each case, participants had to remember which images were grouped together. EEG data were recorded continuously throughout the task.
After reviewing EEG data, the researchers found that the brains of people with epilepsy produce slow waves lasting less than a second while they are awake and participating in tasks.
The occurrence of these “awakening” slow waves increased in response to increased brain excitability, reducing the influence of epileptic spikes on brain activity.
In particular, it reduces the “firing” of nerve cells, which the researchers say can prevent epileptic activity.
Implications and future research
Lead author Professor Matthew Walker (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) said: “Sleep is crucial for repairing, maintaining, and resetting brain activity. When we are awake, our brains gradually become more excitable, which recovers during sleep.
“Recent research has shown that a specific form of brain activity, namely slow waves during sleep, plays an important role in these restorative functions. We believe that these ‘sleep’ slow waves , we wanted to consider whether this could occur during wakefulness in response to the abnormal increase in brain activity associated with epilepsy.
“This study reveals for the first time ‘arousal’ slow waves, a potential protective mechanism used by the brain to counter epileptic activity. This mechanism takes advantage of brain defense activity that normally occurs during sleep, but can also occur during wakefulness in epileptic patients. ”
As part of the study, the team also wanted to test whether the occurrence of “awake” slow waves had a negative impact on cognitive function.
Researchers found that during memory tasks, “awake” slow waves reduced neuronal activity, thus affecting cognitive performance and increasing the time patients needed to complete the task.
The researchers reported that for every additional slow wave per second, reaction time increased by 0.56 seconds.
Professor Walker said: “This observation suggests that the cognitive impairments experienced by epilepsy patients, particularly memory impairments, may be due in part to short-term impairments caused by these slow waves. “
The research team hopes that future studies will increase such activity as a potential new treatment for epilepsy patients.
Lead author Dr Laurent Sheibany (UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology) said:
“Our study suggests that naturally occurring activity is utilized by the brain to offset pathological activity. However, slow waves of ‘wake’ may have no effect on memory performance. This comes at a cost because we know we give.
“From a purely neurobiological perspective, this study also supports the idea that sleep activity does not occur uniformly throughout the brain, but may occur in specific regions of the brain.”
Reference: “Awakening slow waves in focal human epilepsy affect network activity and cognition” November 29, 2023 nature communications. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42971-3
This research was funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome, UCLH Biomedical Research Center and the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Football is a great model of social belonging, promoting inclusivity, teamwork, community spirit, social change, and individual achievement. Still, collective factors may be the reason behind acts of violence and vandalism. In a new study, neuroscientists at the University of San Sebastian investigate the brain mechanisms underlying positive and negative social stimuli in soccer fans in positive and negative social scenarios.
Mendieta other. fMRI was used to measure the brain activity of fans of rival soccer teams during a match. This image shows the contrast between winning and losing in the “good fanatic’s brain.” Activities related to important victories are shown in warm colors. The blue scale represents activations associated with significant losses. This pattern is consistent with a mentalization network suggesting a pain rationalization process triggered by a losing scenario. Image credit: Mendieta other.
“Our study aims to uncover the behaviors and dynamics associated with extreme competitiveness, aggression, and social belonging within and between fans’ groups,” said the first author. Dr. Francisco Zamorano Mendietaa researcher at the University of San Sebastian.
Rivalries are deeply rooted in the history of sports, and fans can be very protective of their “home” team and favorite players.
These same fans run through a range of emotions as they watch their team succeed or fail during a game, cheering when they score or being furious at a bad call.
Soccer fans are known for their loyalty and enthusiasm for their team, especially in Europe and South America.
To gain insight into the brain mechanisms behind fan behavior, Dr. Zamorano and his colleagues recruited 43 healthy male volunteers for a functional MRI (fMRI) study.
Participants are fans of Chile’s two most popular soccer teams, which are considered arch-rivals.
They were divided into two groups: 22 supporters of one team and 21 supporters of the rival team.
They completed a survey to determine their Soccer Enthusiasm Score and underwent a psychological evaluation.
All participants received an edited version of the match containing 63 goals.
While participants watched a compilation of matches, their brain activity was measured using fMRI, a non-invasive imaging technique that detects changes in blood flow in the brain.
The fMRI results showed that fans’ brain activity changed depending on whether their team was successful or unsuccessful.
“When your team wins, the reward system in your brain is activated,” Dr. Zamorano says.
“Losing activates the mentalization network, putting fans into a reflective state, which may alleviate some of the pain of the loss.”
“We also observed that the brain hub connecting the limbic system and frontal cortex was disrupted, disrupting mechanisms that regulate cognitive control and increasing the likelihood of destructive or violent behavior. .”
The research team’s findings could shed light on social dynamics at all levels.
“People inherently crave social connection, whether it’s membership in a running club, participation in a book discussion group, or participation in a virtual forum,” Dr. Zamorano said.
“These social bonds are often formed around shared beliefs, values and interests, but there can also be elements of persuasive proselytism, or ‘groupthink’; That can lead to irrational beliefs and social discord.”
“The enthusiasm we see among some sports fans can serve as a convincing example of intense emotional investment, occasional aggressive behavior, and a decline in rationality.”
“Understanding the psychology of group identification and competition sheds light on decision-making processes and social dynamics, allowing us to more fully understand how societies operate.”
Francisco Zamorano Mendieta other. Brain mechanisms underlying emotional responses in social pain. Football as a surrogate for studying fanaticism: an fMRI study. RSNA 2023
Global collaboration has led to the creation of the world’s most comprehensive primate brain atlas, consisting of 4.2 million cells. This atlas has provided insights into region-specific functions, associations with neurological diseases, and has guided future brain research and disease intervention. The project aims to explore the evolution of the human brain and discover new targets for disease treatment. The initiative, known as the “Brain Initiative Cell Census Network” project by the National Institutes of Health, has been working towards mapping the cell groups and understanding their functions for over 21 years. The recent breakthrough discovery has allowed scientists to gain a deeper understanding of the brain and the medical mysteries behind disorders such as autism and depression. The research team, led by scientists from Arizona State University, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, and the Brotman Beatty Institute, created the largest atlas of the primate brain to date. The atlas consists of profiles of over 4 million cells, providing valuable information on the evolution of human cognition and behavior, as well as the occurrence of neurological diseases. The data collected has been made publicly available for the scientific community and the general public. The research team utilized state-of-the-art single-cell techniques and analyzed gene expression and DNA regulatory regions to identify molecularly distinct brain cell types and their functional characteristics. They also investigated the genetic architecture of neurological disease risk at the cellular level. The atlas serves as a crucial resource for further research on the human brain and potential interventions for neurological diseases.
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