Author: lisaweiner

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Brain Epilepsy Parkinson's

Transparent brain implant could improve neuromodulation

University of Wisconsin professor Justin Williams and colleagues have developed a graphene based, transparent sensor implant to help researchers better view the brain.  Unlike existing devices, the sensor’s micro electrode arrays work in tandem with imaging technologies.  This could improve neuromodulation therapies used to control symptoms, restore function, and relieve pain in patients with hypertension, epilepsy, or Parkinson’s.  Researchers have been limited in their ability to directly observe how the body generates electrical signals, or how it reacts to externally generated electrical signals.  According to Williams, “Clear electrodes in combination with recent technological advances in optogenetics and optical voltage probes will enable researchers to isolate those biological mechanisms. This fundamental knowledge could be catalytic in dramatically improving existing neuromodulation therapies and identifying new therapies.”

 

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Diabetes Sensors

“Smart bandage” changes color as wounds heal

Harvard Medical School professor Conor L. Evans has developed a transparent liquid bandage that does not need to be removed to check oxygen levels.  Its phosphors glow red when a wound isn’t getting enough oxygen, and green when it is.  The glowing effect is triggered by a light source that can be captured with a smartphone camera.  The bandage can also map oxygen supply across a wound.

Diabetics with chronic wounds, burn patients, and those with tissue transplants can immediately benefit from the technology.

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Brain

2014 Nobel Prize for discovery of brain’s “inner GPS” system

The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded to professors John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard Moser for “a paradigm shift in our understanding of how ensembles of specialized cells work together to execute higher cognitive functions”  — specifically their discovery of the brain’s “inner GPS” system.

Place cells and grid cells — neurons in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex of animals appear to create a cognitive map of every room or space that we’ve ever explored. As one moves around a room or space, a very specific place cell fires — and when one visits the same place in the future, the same place cell fires every time.

The  findings may eventually lead to an understanding of the spatial losses that occur in Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases. The hippocampus and entorhinal cortex are often damaged in early stages of Alzheimer’s, with affected individuals getting lost and failing to recognize the environment.

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Brain fMRI

Brain network map may improve non-invasive stimulation

Brain stimulation treatments can alter neural circuits electrically instead of chemically.  However, understanding what brain regions should be targeted, by condition, remains a challenge, particularly in non-invasive rTMS.  A Beth Israel Deaconess study suggests that brain networks – the interconnected pathways that link brain circuits to one another– can help guide site selection for brain stimulation therapies.

According to author Michael Fox, “Although different types of brain stimulation are currently applied in different locations, we found that the targets used to treat the same disease are nodes in the same connected brain network.”

Brain stimulation treatment data for 14 conditions, including addiction, Alzheimer’s, depression, dystonia, epilepsy, essential tremor, Huntington’s, and Parkinson’s were studied. The researchers listed the stimulation sites, deep in the brain and near the surface, thought to be effective for the treatment of each disease.

Through a data set of fMRI images of people’s brains at rest, the team  found correlated fluctuations in spontaneous brain activity, illustrating which sites were functionally connected.  A map of connections from deep brain stimulation sites to the surface of the brain was created. When the research team compared the map to sites on the brain surface that work for noninvasive brain stimulation, the two matched.

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Heart Sensors

Implanted sensor continously monitors CHF

CardioMEMS is a sensor placed in the pulmonary artery of heart failure patients.   It monitors pressure in the lungs and detects deterioration in the heart,  long before changes in blood pressure and weight.  Medication can be changed immediately to correct the problem and prevent hospital readmission.  Data is sent to the physician daily.

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Autism Brain Children EEG

EEG could lead to earlier autism diagnosis

Albert Einstein College of Medicine professor Sophie Molholm has published a paper describing the way that autistic children process sensory information, as determined by EEG.  She believes that this could lead to earlier diagnosis (before symptoms of social and developmental delays emerge), hence earlier treatment, which might reduce the condition’s symptoms.

EEG readings were taken from 40 children, ages 6-17, who were diagnosed with autism,  and compared to those of unaffected children of similar age.  All were given either a flash cue, a beep cue or a combination, and asked to press a button when these stimuli occurred.  A 70 electrode cap measured brain responses every two milliseconds, including those that recorded how the brain first processed the information.

The children with autism showed a distinctly different brain wave signature from those without the condition.  There were differences in the speed in which the sights or sounds were processed, and in how the sensory neurons recruited neurons in other areas of the brain to register and understand the information. The more different this multi-processing was, the more severe the child’s autistic symptoms.

Professor Molholm acknowledges that the sample was too small to use the profile for diagnosing autism, but it could lead to such a test if the results are confirmed and repeated.

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AI Apps Brain Sensors

Smartphone sensors power mental health app

Dartmouth professor Andrew Campbell has developed a mental health monitoring app based on automatic smartphone sensing. StudentLife compares students’ happiness, stress, depression and loneliness to their academic performance

In a recent study, passive sensors continuously collected data on location, conversations, mobility, and sleep patterns of 48 participants over 10 weeks.  The students were also prompted with questions about their mood and stress several times per day.

The researchers administered (self reported) mental health and behavioral surveys at the start and end of the term, evaluating participants on depression, loneliness and stress.  Academic records, including GPAs, were also measured.

Campbell’s team found strong correlations between the self-reported data and the automatic sensing data.  They believe that, based solely on the automatic data, the app could effectively predict certain mental health issues and academic performance levels in students.

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BCI Prosthetics Robotics Sensors

NIH “Bionic Man” with 14 sensor and brain controlled functions

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering recently launched the “NIBIB Bionic Man,” an interactive Web tool detailing 14 sensor based technologies they are supporting.  They include:

1. A robotic leg prosthesis that senses a person’s next move and provides powered assistance to achieve a more natural gate.

2. A light sensitive biogel and biological adhesive to help new cartilage grow and become functional.

3. A blood clot emulator used to optimize ventricular assist devices to reduce the risk of blood clots.

4. An artificial kidney that could be used in place of kidney dialysis for treatment of end-stage kidney disease.

5. A micro needle patch that delivers vaccines painlessly and doesn’t require refrigeration.

6. An interstitial pressure sensor to help doctors determine optimal times for delivering chemotherapy/radiation to cancer patients.

7. Glucose-sensing contact lenses to provide a non-invasive solution for continuous blood sugar monitoring.

8. A tongue drive system to help individuals with severe paralysis navigate their environment using only tongue movements.

9. A wireless brain-computer interface that records and transmits brain activity wirelessly and could allow people with paralysis to use their thoughts to control robotic arms or other devices.

10. Implantable myoelectric sensors to detect nerve signals above a missing limb and can use these signals to move a prosthesis in a more natural way.

11. A synthetic glue modeled after an adhesive found in nature that could be used to repair tissues in the body.

12. Focused ultrasound used to temporarily open the blood brain barrier to let gene therapy treatments reach the brain.

13. Flexible electrode arrays that record brain activity from the surface of the brain and could be used to control robotic arms or provide real-time information about brain states.

14. Electrical stimulation of the spinal cord used in individuals with paralysis to help restore voluntary movement and other functions.

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Diabetes Sensors Wearables

Prick-free continuous glucose monitor

Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre Flash Glucose Monitoring System eliminates finger pricking for diabetics.  The insertion of a tube under the skin is required, therefore the procedure, while continuous and comfortable, is still invasive.

A user wears a sensor on the back of the upper arm,  and through a small tube inserted just under the skin, it measures blood sugar levels of tissue fluid.  A reader is scanned over the sensor, and results are reported in less than one second.  Real-time results, a historical trend and the direction the glucose is heading are displayed, so the user can adjust insulin intake . Disposable and water resistant, the sensor can be worn for up to two weeks

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AI Robotics

MIT’s running, jumping cheetah robot, now wireless

MIT‘s Biomimetic Robotics Lab has  unveiled a robotic cheetah that jumps hurdles and sprints at 10 mph, mimicking the natural bounding motions of a cheetah.   The robot can leap across uneven terrain while still maintaining a steady speed, and cleared a 33 centimeter foam hurdle.  The research team believes that the robotic cheetah could eventually reach speeds of up to 30 mph.

A “bounding algorithm” calculates the amount of force required to propel an animal forward or to jump over obstacles.  It models the running mechanics of world-class sprinters: the faster the desired speed, the greater the force the legs exert.  A 2012 version, developed for DARPA, ran at  28.3 mph on a treadmill, but was attached to a power source.

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BCI

Noninvasive brain-to-brain communication demonstrated

Giulio Ruffini and colleagues at Starlab  transmitted the words “hola” and “ciao” in binary code from the brain of a person in India to the brains of three people in France.  EEG was used to record the information from the sender’s brain, and robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to deliver the message to the brains of the receivers.

The experiment was published in PLOS ONE last month.

While attached to EEG electrodes, the sender was asked to imagine moving his hands or feet when shown an image that represented a 1 or 0.  The data was transmitted to a computer, translated into binary code, and emailed to the recipients’  system.  The blindfolded recipients received electric pulses from the robotized TMS system in the visual cortex of their brains, triggering the experience of phosphenes: the perception of seeing flashes of light that are not actually there.  They reported verbally when they experienced a flash.  This was translated into binary code and then to the message.

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AI Cancer

AI matches patients with clinical trials — in seconds

The Mayo Clinic will use IBM’s Watson to match colorectal, lung, and breast cancer patients with clinical trials, expediting a slow and inefficient process.  170,000 patient studies are being conducted worldwide at any given time–8,000 at the Mayo Clinic. Processing clinical trials is done manually, which involves sorting through patient records to ensure that proper matches are made. Watson could shorten the process considerably, with matches being made within seconds.

The clinic is providing Watson with information on all clinical trials at the clinic and in public databases. Because of its ability to process natural language, Watson can analyze both trial requirements and patient records.

According to project lead  Dr. Nicholas LaRusso, one of the biggest challenges that physicians face is the task of managing large quantities of data. In the future, as medical lab results could include rapid “genomic analyses,” LaRusso said that technologies like Watson could “help organize and aggregate huge amounts of data” that would be impossible for a human to process efficiently. “Watson can fit into a flow of how we interact with patients, and will provide input required with diagnosis and management, and ultimately become, in my opinion, a member of the provider team.”