Archive for the ‘Neurology’ Category
A new and fascinating investigation suggests that can be possible to use technology that act on the brain to achieve things as for example to learn to touch the guitar, to reduce the mental stress or to improve the aim, with little or no conscious effort, a technological capacity that seems in concept to it shown in the movies of the saga of “Matrix” and in other histories of science fiction.
The experiments carried out in the Boston University in United States, and the Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Japan, have shown that through the person’s visual cortex, researchers using brain interest patterns obtained through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can induce bosses of mental activity in the brain of the subject, of such way that those bosses agree with them exhibited in certain states mental associates to the execution of the tasks that intends to teach, and improve the efficiency of the apprentice with that task. Read the rest of this entry »
When a person breaks his arm and let it hang motionless, his brain regions occupied other arm activities increase in size, while decreasing the related disabled members. A study by the University of Zurich shows that immobilization induces rapid reorganization of the sensor motor system.
The human brain is an organ in constant evolution. For example, if it is reduced sensation and mobility of some parts of the body, plastically transforms to adapt to new conditions. A group of researchers at Zurich of University have studied how brain structure changed from 10 right-handers who had broken his right arm and had to wear a splint or cast for at least 14 days.
After immobilizing we note a reduction in the amount of the white and grey matter on the left side of the brain. In addition, it increased motor skills of the left hand, which are related to an increase of these substances in the right-hand motor area. Read the rest of this entry »
Although many mental illnesses occur only in humans, animals sometimes exhibit abnormal behaviors similar to those seen in people with certain psychological disorders.
Now researchers at California Institute of Technology have found that mice lacking a gene encoding a particular protein present in brain synapses show a set of abnormal behaviors similar to those occurring in humans with schizophrenia, and as in people suffering from autism spectrum disorders.
Mary Kennedy’s team observed the effect in mice that lack the gene for a protein has densina-180, abundant in brain synapses, which are the connections between a neuron and electrochemical other connections that allow networking between them. Read the rest of this entry »
In recent years, scientists have found several genetic mutations associated with an increased risk of suffering from mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
One such mutation, which affects the DISC1 gene, was first identified in a large Scottish family with high incidence of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression. Since then, studies have shown that mutations in the DISC1 can cause alterations in brain structure and cognition, but it was not known exactly how this occurred. Read the rest of this entry »
The hypothalamus has cells that act on the basis of the nutrients ingested. This finding would include specific nutrients in the diet of some patients during the sleep-wake cycle to optimize their diets.
“The brain, specifically the hypothalamus, contains not only cells able to detect the energy, but also others that can measure the dietary balance”, said Denis Burdakov, a researcher at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) and author of the study published this week in the Neuron journal.
“This is hypocretinergic cells, which contain a molecule – the neuropeptide hypocretin-expressed in approximately 10,000 neurons in the hypothalamus, a brain region involved in controlling food intake, circadian rhythm, the sleep wake cycle and endocrine regulation”, says Luis de Lecea Read the rest of this entry »
Enters a new phase of the research, which began last year and which we reported about the remote control of ion channels, neurons and even animal behavior, using hot clusters of magnetic nanoparticles, acting in cell membranes.
Now, the research team, from the University at Buffalo (State University of New York), has received the American National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) $ 1.3 million to verify the possible ways of using these particles on the remote control of neurons, firstly in brains of mice.
If this project gets positive results, then the research team will be able to develop a powerful new tool for neurologists: a noninvasive technique to promote activity at high deep in the brain. Read the rest of this entry »
A new ultrasonic technique allows reaching the neurons through the blood brain barrier and applies safely and noninvasively appropriate drugs. Until now, scientists thought that the only way to reach ultrasonic these neurons was using long pulses, which, unfortunately, can cause significant side effects.
In contrast, this new study, a team of researchers led by Elisa Konofagou, professor of biomedical engineering and radiology at Columbia University in New York, has proven that very short ultrasonic pulses can open the blood-brain barrier, and also has the added advantage of not involving hazards and allow the application of the drug interest evenly.
This is a great step forward. Devastating diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases, affecting millions of people today can not be treated as effectively as would be possible if there would be a safe and accurate way to apply drugs at specific points of brain. Read the rest of this entry »
A study of conscious dreamers, who can control their own dreams, shows that brain areas associated with planning and ordering the same actions are activated during sleep than during wakefulness.
The authors believe that in the future, the ability of these individuals, combined with neuroimaging and patterns of brain activity, will predict the content of dreams. There are people that, while they sleep, are aware they are dreaming and can control their actions. This complex condition is known as ‘lucid dreaming’ or conscious. People with this skill, you can learn and train, even access to his memory while building the dream. Read the rest of this entry »
Although considered a sign of boredom or fatigue, yawning could also serve to cool the brain when it is hot and the environment is cold enough air. A study led by Andrew Gallup, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University in the United States indicates that the frequency of yawning varies with the season, and that people are less likely to yawn when the outdoor heat exceeds the body temperature.
Gallup and Omar Eldakar (University of Arizona) believe that this seasonal disparity denotes that yawning can serve as a method to regulate the temperature of the brain. Gallup and Eldakar documented the frequency of yawning of 160 people during the winter and summer, in Tucson, Arizona, with a total of 80 people by each station. Read the rest of this entry »
The recent discovery of certain molecular-scale changes in the brains of women with major depressive disorder linking two hypotheses about the biological mechanisms that promotes this disease.
Although women are twice as likely as men to develop depression and have more severe symptoms and frequently, very few investigations to date have focused on them or in female mammals.
The psychiatrist team of Etienne Sibille, University of Pittsburgh, USA, examined brain tissue samples post-mortem of 21 women with depression and 21 similar women without a history of depression. Read the rest of this entry »