Category: Brain

Allen Institute scientists have created a high-resolution brain map, which traces thousands of connections between brain areas in mice, which they believe  can help us understand how brain circuitry changes in diseases and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia.

This is the most detailed map of connections in a mammalian brain to date, tracing neural wiring within and between the thalamus and cortex, responsible for higher level functions like memory, decision making, and understanding the world around us.

The study describes a high-resolution expansion of the Allen Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas

Alterations in brain connections have been seen in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and several other brain diseases and disorders.

Using a computational approach, the researchers found that different sections of the cortex and thalamus can be mapped into a hierarchy, much like a company’s org chart. Parts of the cortex that are specialized for information gathered via our senses, like vision and smell, are on the bottom rungs, and regions that handle more complicated input — like calling up a memory evoked by a familiar scent — are at the top. Connections flow both up and down the brain’s org chart, but the connections moving up are different than those moving down. They also found that not all connections respect these hierarchical laws. There are hints that the human cortex uses the same organizational system.

Allen Institute president Christof Koch said that “the next step will be to look directly at how neurons pass information through their electrical activity to confirm that this pattern matters.”

Join ApplySci at the 12th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference on November 14, 2019 at Harvard Medical School featuring talks by Brad Ringeisen, DARPA – Joe Wang, UCSD – Carlos Pena, FDA  – George Church, Harvard – Diane Chan, MIT – Giovanni Traverso, Harvard | Brigham & Womens – Anupam Goel, UnitedHealthcare  – Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University | Neurosteer – Arto Nurmikko, Brown – Constance Lehman, Harvard | MGH – Mikael Eliasson, Roche – Nicola Neretti, Brown – R. Jacob  Vogelstein, Camden Partners – Yael Mandelblat-Cerf, Biogen

NINDS researcher Lawrence Latour has used an advanced imaging method to detect vascular microbleeds after head injury.   The lesions, which are too small to be detected by CT, may predict worse outcomes.

439 head injury patients who were treated in the emergency department were studied. MRI scans within 48 hours of injury, and again during four subsequent visits, showed that 31% of participants had evidence of microbleeds. (58% with severe head injury showed microbleeds and 27% of mild cases.)

Patients with microbleeds were more likely to have a greater level of disability, based on a commonly used outcome scale, compared to patients with out.

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Join ApplySci at the 12th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference on November 14, 2019 at Harvard Medical School featuring talks by Brad Ringeisen, DARPA – Joe Wang, UCSD – Carlos Pena, FDA  – George Church, Harvard – Diane Chan, MIT – Giovanni Traverso, Harvard | Brigham & Womens – Anupam Goel, UnitedHealthcare  – Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University | Neurosteer – Arto Nurmikko, Brown – Constance Lehman, Harvard | MGH – Mikael Eliasson, Roche – Nicola Neretti, Brown

Join ApplySci at the 13th Wearable Tech + Neurotech + Digital Health Silicon Valley conference on February 11-12, 2020 on Sand Hill Road featuring talks by Zhenan Bao, Stanford – Rudy Tanzi, Harvard – Shahin Farshchi – Lux Capital – Sheng Xu, UCSD – Carla Pugh, Stanford – Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University | Neurosteer – Wei Gao, Caltech – Mikael Eliasson, Roche

Helen Mayberg at Mount Sinai has published a study showing that deep brain stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate provides a lasting antidepressant effect in treatment-resistant depression.

According to Mayberg: “Over eight years of observation, most of our study participants experienced an antidepressant response to the deep brain stimulation of Area 25 that was robust and sustained. Given that patients with treatment-resistant depression are highly susceptible to recurrent depressive episodes, the ability of DBS to support long-term maintenance of an antidepressant response and prevention of relapse is a treatment advance that can mean the difference between getting on with your life or always looking over your shoulder for your next debilitating depressive episode.”

The study documents 4-8 years of outcomes data for 28 patients. Response and remission rates were maintained at or above 50 percent and 30 percent, respectively, through years 2-8 of the follow-up period. Three-quarters of all participants met the treatment response criterion for more than half of their participation in the study, with 21 percent of all participants demonstrating continuous response to treatment from the first year forward. Of 28 participants, 14 completed at least eight years of follow-up, 11 others completed at least four years, and three dropped out prior to eight years of participation.

The researchers conclude that data presented through this study support the long-term safety and sustained efficacy of SCC DBS for treatment-resistant depression.

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Join ApplySci at the 12th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference on November 14, 2019 at Harvard Medical School featuring talks by Brad Ringeisen, DARPA – Joe Wang, UCSD – Carlos Pena, FDA  – George Church, Harvard – Diane Chan, MIT – Giovanni Traverso, Harvard | Brigham & Womens – Anupam Goel, UnitedHealthcare  – Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University | Neurosteer – Arto Nurmikko, Brown – Constance Lehman, Harvard | MGH – Mikael Eliasson, Roche – Nicola Neretti, Brown

Join ApplySci at the 13th Wearable Tech + Neurotech + Digital Health Silicon Valley conference on February 11-12, 2020 on Sand Hill Road featuring talks by Zhenan Bao, Stanford – Rudy Tanzi, Harvard – Shahin Farshchi – Lux Capital – Sheng Xu, UCSD – Carla Pugh, Stanford – Nathan Intrator, Tel Aviv University | Neurosteer – Wei Gao, Caltech