Paralysed woman uses mind to control robotic arm

A PARALYSED woman has used brain power alone to take control of a robotic arm and lift a bottle of coffee to her lips after a pioneering operation.

For the first time in 15 years the woman was able to raise the bottle, take a sip and place it back on a table simply by imagining herself doing so.

The feat was possible thanks to a brain implant which translates the patient's thoughts into commands to be carried out by a free-standing robotic arm.

Doctors said the experiment proved that so-called "brain-computer interfaces" could dramatically improve the lives of paralysed people by enabling them to carry out simple tasks like eating and drinking independently.

The 58-year-old woman, known only as S3, had lost the use of both arms and legs due to stroke several years prior to the operation.

She and a paralysed 66-year-old man dubbed T2 were the first to trial BrainGate, a 4mmx4mm chip bearing 96 electrodes which was surgically implanted into their primary motor cortex, the part of the brain that governs movement.

Five years after receiving the implant both were able to use the robot to perform complex actions like reaching and grasping for objects, and S3 demonstrated the commands could be used to perform the everyday task of drinking.

She said: "I think about moving my hand and wrist. I'm right handed so, it's very comfortable and feels natural to imagine my right hand moving in the direction I want the robotic arm to move."

Previous studies have shown that paralysed patients could use similar systems to move computer cursors across a screen and control devices like wheelchairs, but the three-dimensional arm movement is the most complex ever performed in human trials.

Dr John Donoghue of Brown University, who led the research, said the experiment showed that brain cells can still produce meaningful signals years even after going unused for 15 years.

"This is another big jump forward to control the movements of a robotic arm in three-dimensional space. We're getting closer to restoring some level of everyday function to people with limb paralysis," he said.

- Nick Collins

© Telegraph.co.uk

Link: http://www.independent.ie/health/health-news/paralysed-woman-uses-mind-to-control-robotic-arm-3110967.html

Mood Foods

The Editors of Men's Health • Men's Health

Your Mood: AnxiousYou need to stay sharp through a grueling job interview.
Your Meal: Half a grilled-chicken wrap at lunch, hold the mayo
Here's Why: Eating between 4 and 5 ounces of protein helps your brain create dopamine and norepinephrine, neurochemicals that keep you alert, says Judith Wurtman, Ph.D., author of The Serotonin Power Diet.

Your Mood: Stressed

You have to meet a deadline without being overwhelmed.
Your Meal: A handful of sesame seeds while you're working
Here's Why: Stress hormones can deplete your body's supply of magnesium, reducing your stress-coping abilities and increasing your risk of developing high blood pressure, says Elizabeth Somer, R.D., author of Food & Mood.

Your Mood: Restless

You need some serious shut-eye before the big day.

Your Meal: Nonfat popcorn half an hour before you go to bed
Here's Why: The carbs will induce your body to create serotonin, a neurochemical that makes you feel relaxed. "Make sure it's fat-free, because fat will slow the process of boosting serotonin levels," says Somer.

Your Mood: Depressed

Problems at home are doing you in.

Your Meal: Grilled salmon or sushi for dinner
Here's Why: A study in Finland found that people who eat more fish are 31 percent less likely to suffer from depression. And skip sweet, simple carbs­ — the inevitable sugar crash can actually deepen depression.

Your Mood: Insecure

Your confidence is waning as the night wears on.

Your Meal: A snack-size chocolate bar
Here's Why: Chocolate contains a host of chemicals to brighten your mood, Somer says, including anadamine, which targets the same receptors as THC, and phenylethylamine, which produces a cozy, euphoric feeling.

Your Mood: Flummoxed

You've forgotten your last two deadlines.

Your Meal: Pineapple chunks for a snack or a cup of berries in your oatmeal
Here's Why: Antioxidants from the most-colorful fruits and vegetables help pick off the free radicals that wear away at your memory. "Because your brain consumes so much oxygen, oxidants do heavy damage there," says Somer.

Foods that Cure

Minor tweaks in your diet can help fend off everything from splitting headaches to heart attacks. Three dietary tweaks from Joy Bauer, R.D., author of Joy Bauer's Food Cures:

Migraine Headaches
Migraines have many food causes. Keep a meal log for a month to see which triggers affect your head.
Eat This: Foods rich in healthy fats, such as olive oil, avocado, and salmon, help reduce inflammation, a catalyst for migraines. Riboflavin, found in lean beef and grains, helps cells maintain energy reserves, which can prevent the onset of migraines.

Not That: Nitrites, found in deli meats, bacon, and hot dogs; aspartame, the artificial sweetener found in diet soft drinks; caffeine
Irritable-Bowel Syndrome
One in five Americans is affected by IBS. A careful diet is the best cure.
Eat This: Soft foods and foods rich in soluble fiber, such as oatmeal, barley, bananas, and sweet potatoes
Not That: When symptoms are strong, limit vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which are hard for the body to break down. Other common triggers: dairy products, spicy foods, alcohol, and caffeine
Cardiovascular Disease 
A diet of heart-healthy fats may help prevent you from being one of the 1.5 million Americans who have heart attacks each year.
Eat This: Foods that boost good cholesterol (HDL), like canned tuna, mackerel, olive oil, avocado, and most nuts
Not That: Trans fat-laden foods, such as margarine; refined carbohydrates, which spike blood-thickening triglycerides; sugary soft drinks, juice, and white bread

Developing Brains Have Unique Molecular Signatures.

Messenger RNAs, or transcripts, are intermediate products that carry the message from DNA, the genetic blueprint, to create proteins, and ultimately, the many different cell types throughout the brain. Each gene can make several transcripts, which are expressed in patterns unique to each of us. To better understand how these patterns of gene expression influence the developing brain, NIMH supported the first map of how RNA expression changes across the life span through two parallel studies of postmortem brains, ranging in age from two weeks after conception to 80 years old (3, 4). The researchers found that nearly 90% of genes are expressed differently during prenatal development, infancy, and childhood. While each of these stages has a distinct transcriptional identity, the fetal brain looks like a different organ compared to the postnatal brain, with 60% of genes expressed differently and 83% of transcripts processed to make unique proteins. Many of the genetic variations associated with mental illness appear to have a specific effect on the form of the gene expressed uniquely during fetal life.

Source:http://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/director/index-treatments.shtml

Brain changes seen in cabbies who take 'The Knowledge'

The structure of a London taxi driver's brain changes during the gruelling process of learning the quickest way around the capital, scans reveal.

Dozens of trainee drivers had MRI scans before and after they acquired "The Knowledge", memorising hundreds of journeys and street names.

The University College London team, writing in Current Biology, found brain parts linked to memory grew bigger.

They said it proved the brain could adapt to new tasks, even in adulthood.

'Plastic' brains

Earlier studies of the brain of the cabbie had already noted the increase in "grey matter" in the hippocampus, an area found at the base of the brain.

However this research tried to work out if the change had happened during the intensive learning period prior to starting work, or on the job itself.

They scanned a total of 79 trainees, just before they started to learn the "All-London" Knowledge, which can take between two and four years to complete.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life”

Prof Eleanor Maguire,UCL

Would-be taxi drivers have to learn 320 routes within a six mile radius of Charing Cross, which covers a mind-boggling 25,000 streets and 20,000 landmarks and places of interest.

Throughout the process, any changes to their brains were mapped by regular MRI scans.

Compared with similar scans from non-taxi drivers, those who had attempted the Knowledge had increased the size of the posterior hippocampus - the rear section of the hippocampus which lies at the front of the brain.

As would be expected, they were better at memory tasks involving London landmarks than the non-cabbies, but this advantage appeared to come at a price, as the non-cabbies outperformed them in other memory tasks, such as recalling complex visual information.

Prof Eleanor Maguire, who led the study, said: "The human brain remains 'plastic', even in adult life, allowing it to adapt when we learn new tasks.

"By following the trainee taxi drivers over time as they acquired - or failed to acquire - the Knowledge, a uniquely challenging spatial memory task, we have seen directly and within individuals how the structure of the hippocampus can change with external stimulation.

"This offers encouragement for adults who want to learn new skills later in life."

The reasons why the brain was able to adapt remain unclear, although the hippocampus is one of the few areas of the brain in which new cells can grow.

Dr John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust, which helped fund the research, said: "Only a few studies have shown direct evidence for plasticity in the adult human brain related to vital functions such as memory, so this new work makes an important contribution."

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16086233

Neural Linkage Between Motivation And Motor Functional Recovery Through Rehabilitative Training

An effective recovery has been observed instroke patients and those with spinal cord injuries who have strong vitality and motivation to rehabilitate in clinical practice. However, it was not really clear how motivation facilitates functional recovery in brain science. The joint research team consisting of Associate Professor Yukio NISHIMURA, and Professor Tadashi ISA from the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Dr. Hirotaka ONOE, Team Leader in the Functional Probe Research Laboratory of RIKEN, the Center for Molecular Imaging Science, and also Dr. Hideo TSUKADA, Manager of PET Center, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Central Research Laboratory, revealed that the more motor function recovery progresses, the stronger the functional connectivity between the brain which regulates motivation, and in the brain regions involved in the motor learning and functional recovery. This occurs through rehabilitative training of macaque monkeys after the spinal cord injuries. The result of this study suggests that the functional recovery of motor system for a patient with damage to the central nervous system can be advanced effectively, by activating the brain region which controls "motivation". The result of this study was reported in PLoS ONE, an American science magazine (September 28, 2011 electronic edition). 
Link:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/235206.php

Older Brains Benefit From Learning By Trial And Error

Canadian researchers have found the first evidence that older brains get more benefit than younger brains from learning information the hard way - via trial-and-error learning.

The study was led by scientists at Baycrest's world-renowned Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and appears online in the journalPsychology and Aging, ahead of the print edition.

The finding will surprise professional educators and cognitive rehabilitation clinicians as it challenges a large body of published science which has shown that making mistakes while learning information hurts memory performance for older adults, and that passive "errorless" learning (where the correct answer is provided) is better suited to older brains.

"The scientific literature has traditionally embraced errorless learning for older adults. However, our study has shown that if older adults are learning material that is very conceptual, where they can make a meaningful relationship between their errors and the correct information that they are supposed to remember, in those cases the errors can actually be quite beneficial for the learning process," said Andreé-Ann Cyr, the study's lead investigator. Source:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233314.php

Shrinkage! Bad Heart Habits Lessen Brain Volume Over Time

Want a full sized brain for life? Avoid smoking, excessive drinking, keep your weight, blood sugar levels and blood pressure all under control and you should be able to avoid brain volume mass shrinkage over time a new study suggests.

Persons with high blood pressure experienced a more rapid worsening of test scores of planning and decision making, which corresponded to a faster rate of growth of small areas of vascular brain damage than those with normal blood pressure.

Those study participants with diabetes in middle age experienced brain shrinkage in an area known as the hippocampus faster than those without, and smokers lost brain volume overall and in the hippocampus faster than nonsmokers, with a more rapid increase of small areas of vascular brain damage.

Finally, persons who were obese at middle age were more likely to be in the top 25% of those with faster declines in tests of executive function and were among the top 25% with a faster drop in brain volume. 
courtesy/ Source:http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232123.php

Older Brains Benefit From Learning By Trial And Error

Canadian researchers have found the first evidence that older brains get more benefit than younger brains from learning information the hard way - via trial-and-error learning.

The study was led by scientists at Baycrest's world-renowned Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and appears online in the journal Psychology and Aging, ahead of the print edition.

The finding will surprise professional educators and cognitive rehabilitation clinicians as it challenges a large body of published science which has shown that making mistakes while learning information hurts memory performance for older adults, and that passive "errorless" learning (where the correct answer is provided) is better suited to older brains.  Read full:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/233314.php

How We Recognize Our Bodies As Our Own

How We Recognize Our Bodies As Our Own
By taking advantage of a "body swap" illusion, researchers have captured the brain regions involved in one of the most fundamental aspects of self-awareness: how we recognize our bodies as our own, distinct from others and from the outside world. That self-perception is traced to specialized multisensory neurons in various parts of the brain that integrate different sensory inputs across all body parts into a unified view of the body. Read more...
Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/228881.php

Discovery Could Result In More Effective Cognitive Therapy, Smarter Brain Games

In the 1983 movie "A Man with Two Brains," Steve Martin kept his second brain in a jar. In reality, he had two brains inside his own skull - as we all do, one on the left and one on the right hemisphere. When it comes to seeing the world around us, each of our two brains works independently and each has its own bottleneck for working memory. Read more...
Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/229096.php