Author: lisaweiner

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BCI Brain

Optogenetics may enter brain therapy mainstream

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/26/256881128/experimental-tool-uses-light-to-tweak-the-living-brain

Optogenetics, the process of controlling brain cells using light, could be used to understand and treat brain diseases, including epilepsy and depression.   Previously, scientists relied on fMRI and a wire probe inserted into the brain to switch on cells.

The technique must be refined before it can be used in people or in remote parts of the brain.

Columbia’s Elizabeth Hillman describes the process:   “Instead of activating just one brain cell at a time with a probe, researchers had a way to cause large groups of cells to fire without touching them. You can select that very specific genetic cell type, and you can tell that specific cell type to react when you shine light on it.  First, though, scientists are going to have to overcome some big challenges.  You’re actually altering the genes of the neurons.”  That’s because most neurons don’t normally respond to light.  Genetic material must be added to every brain cell to control it.  Scientists can do that in mice with genetic engineering, but not in people.  Professor Hillman continues: “Another challenge for optogenetics has to do with delivering light to cells deep in the brain. It’s really hard to get light to go deep,and we all know this just from trying to shine a flashlight through our hand.”

Optogenetics is already changing our understanding of epilepsy.

According to Berkeley professor Hillel Adesnik, “Scientists have known for a long time that epileptic seizures occur when brain cells start firing out of control. But they’ve been struggling to understand the role of brain cells called inhibitory neurons, which can reduce firing in other cells. Prior to optogenetics, there was no way to control these neurons and test hypotheses. Now scientists have shown that by altering that activity of inhibitory neurons in mice, it’s possible to start and stop epileptic seizures.”

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Wearables

Smart glasses see veins beneath skin

http://evenamed.com/products/glasses

Eyes-On smart glasses allow healthcare providers to see the vasculature beneath a patients skin, simplifying intravenous placement.  Veins are seen by the the device’s capture of multi-spectral lighting through two stereoscopic cameras which highlight deoxygenated hemoglobin.  The cameras can transmit the images wirelessly, store photo and video documentation of a procedure, and connect to a hospital electronic medical record system.  Built-in speakers allow video conferencing during procedures.

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Heart

Miniature pacemakers inserted with out surgery

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/522306/worlds-smallest-pacemaker-can-be-implanted-without-surgery/

Medtronic and St. Judes Medical have developed miniaturized pacemakers that can be implanted in the heart through blood vessels via an incision in the thigh, reducing or eliminating the need for invasive surgery.

Doctors in Austria implanted the 24mm Medtronic device in a patient last week as part of a human trial. St. Jude Medical’s 41mm device has been approved for patients in Europe.

The manufacturers claim a battery life of 8-10 years when running at full stimulating capacity.  The pacemakers sit inside the heart and do not require long electrodes. Small prongs on Medtronic’s device fasten it to heart tissue, and an electrode that touches the heart delivers electric pulses. The design reduces the amount of power required and eliminates a major source of device failure.

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Conference

“Passive sensor” home health monitoring platform launches

http://www.irc-sphere.ac.uk/

The Universities of Bristol, Southhampton and Reading have launched their long anticipated continuous monitoring Sensor Platform for Healthcare in a Residential Environment (SPHERE). The system will detect overnight or mini-strokes by noticing small changes in behavior or expression. It can be used to identify the early stages of heart disease, dementia, diabetes, depression and obesity, or to prevent falls in seniors.  A key part of the project will be producing “passive sensors” embedded in clothing or jewelry.

The goal is not to develop new sensor technologies for individual health conditions, but to impact these healthcare needs simultaneously through data fusion and pattern recognition from a common platform. The platform will be low-cost and accessible.

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BCI Brain Sensors

Microscale torsional muscle system can simulate active neuromuscular system

http://newscenter.lbl.gov/news-releases/2013/12/19/a-micro-muscular-break-through/

U.S. Department of Energy and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers have developed a micro-sized robotic torsional muscle/motor made from vanadium dioxide. For its size, it is a thousand times more powerful than a human muscle, able to catapult objects 50 times heavier than itself over a distance five times its length within 60 milliseconds.

“Multiple micro-muscles can be assembled into a micro-robotic system that simulates an active neuromuscular system,” said Berkely professor Junqiao Wu.  “The naturally combined functions of proximity sensing and torsional motion allow the device to remotely detect a target and respond by reconfiguring itself to a different shape. This simulates living bodies where neurons sense and deliver stimuli to the muscles and the muscles provide motion.”

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AI BCI Brain Crowdfunding

Crowdfunded 3-D augmented reality glasses aim to compete with Google Glass

https://www.spaceglasses.com/

For several months, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, Meta has been developing augmented reality glasses “that combine the power of a laptop and smartphone in a pair of thick Ray-Bans and a small pocket computer.”

The Meta Pro will have an i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. It will cost $3,000, and the company hopes to ship by June.

Meta is hoping to compete with Google Glass, although it is not currently wireless.  The glasses have 15x the display of Google Glass, and runs 3-D instead of 2-D. Its optics are thinner, at 2mm vs 5mm, and its sensors recognize hand gestures, which makes control easier than touching the side of your face.

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BCI Brain

EEG patch monitors attention in students

 http://www.calcalist.co.il/local/articles/0,7340,L-3619747,00.html

http://www.calcalist.co.il/local/articles/0,7340,L-3620186,00.html

Professor Nathan Intrator of Tel Aviv University’s Blavatnik School of Computer Science and Sagol School of Neuroscience, and Guy Levi, Chief Innovation Officer of Israel’s Center for Educational Technology are disrupting education through brain science.

In an attempt to improve learning abilities in children with attention issues, Intrator and Levi attach a patch to student’s foreheads to measure brain activity during lessons.  The learning process can then be adapted to their skills and needs. A student’s lack of attention is identified and better methods or times for delivery of information are suggested.

Through advanced signal processing, Intrator uses a patch with three electrodes to extract information about attention and cognitive strategies.

This less obtrusive approach allows widespread use of EEG in diagnostic studies. Intrator’s current focus includes attention, dementia, and sleep.

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Brain fMRI

fMRI shows emotional reactions in vegetative patients

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0074711

Using fMRI, Tel Aviv University and Sourasky Medical Center’s Haggai Sharon, Yotam Pasternak, Talma Hendler and colleagues have shown that the brains of patients in a vegetative state emotionally react to photographs of people they know, as though they recognize them.

“We showed that patients in a vegetative state can react differently to different stimuli in the environment depending on their emotional value,” said Dr. Sharon. “It’s not a generic thing; it’s personal and autobiographical. We engaged the person, the individual, inside the patient.”

Research focused on the “emotional awareness” of patients in a vegetative state is relatively new. The researchers hope to eventually contribute to improved care and treatment. They are also working with patients in a minimally conscious state to better understand how regions of the brain interact in response to familiar cues.

Categories
Brain

Medical students simulate surgery on 3-D printed brains

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/16/250577798/novice-neurosurgeons-train-on-brains-printed-in-3-d

University of Malaya neurosurgeons use 3-D printers to make realistic skulls and brains for surgical residents.  The models combine different materials to mimic the feel of human bone, membrane and tissue. Each practice patient is made to order from the scans of an actual patient, so students can attempt the same procedures as senior surgeons.

At the University of Florida, neurosurgeons have combined a similar 3-D printed model with a visual simulator similar to fluoroscopy.

Categories
AI BCI Brain

Year end review of “neuromorphic” chip prototypes

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/522476/thinking-in-silicon/

MIT Technology Review today features an overview of processors that they claim are “about to narrow the gulf between artificial and natural computation—between circuits that crunch through logical operations at blistering speed and a mechanism honed by evolution to process and act on sensory input from the real world.”

Caltech’s Carver Mead pioneered “brain inspired” computing in the 1980’s, based on theoretical math and logic.  ApplySci has featured related research from The University of Zurich/ETH, DARPA, Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, and others, as well as the “deep learning” initiatives of Google and Facebook.  We anticipate and will report on advances in this space in the coming year.

Categories
Conference

Orthopedic surgeons “draw” regenerating bone material on body with “BioPen” prototype

http://media.uow.edu.au/news/UOW162803

Researchers from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science at the University of Wollongong unveiled a prototype of an orthopedic surgery aid they call “BioPen”.  They claim that it enables customized implants to be created at the time of surgery, eliminating the need to harvest cartilage and grow it for weeks in a lab as a replacement for damaged or diseased material.

Professor Peter Choong is leading the effort to optimize cell material for clinical trials, which is ejected from the pen in a method similar to 3D printing.  

The device has two reservoirs filled with ”hydrogels”. The gel provides embedded cells with a hydrated environment and protection from the build-up of pressure as they are pushed towards the nozzle tip. An ultraviolet light is cast over the material as it emerges, causing the gel to form a hard, protective layer over the embedded cells, which multiply and differentiate into nerve, muscle or bone cells. The implantable materials are non-toxic and will biodegrade as the cells fill in the injured bone area.

Categories
AI Assistive Technologies BCI Brain

Nerve interface simulates touch in prosthetic hand

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/522086/an-artificial-hand-with-real-feelings/

Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University researchers have developed an interface that can convey a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand. It directly stimulates nerve bundles, known as peripheral nerves, in the arms of patients.   Two people have been fitted with the interface to date. The implants continue to work after 18 months, which is notable because electrical interfaces to nerve tissue can gradually degrade in performance.

According to Case Western Professor Dustin Miller, who is leadning the project:  “The work opens up the possibility that prosthetic limbs could one day provide enduring and nuanced feedback to humans.”