Category: Brain
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Precision PET scanner corrects patient movements, improving accuracy
http://www.hamamatsu.com/jp/en/news/development/20130905000001.html Japan’s Hamamatsu Photonics and Hamamatsu University School of Medicine are developing a new PET diagnostic system for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain disorders. The system combines a tracer that reflects changes in acetylcholine-related cognitive functions and a high-precision brain PET scanner that can correct the movement of a patient’s head. It is designed to improve the…
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Biofeedback tool identifies seizure brain patterns through music
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/september/seizure-music-research-092413.html In a recent experiment, Stanford professors Chris Chafe and Josef Parvizi created audio EEG recordings of both normal brain activity and seizure states. During the state of seizure, tones became more pronounced and their tempo became chaotic. “We could instantly differentiate seizure activity from non-seizure states with just our ears,” Chafe said. “It was…
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High speed fluorescent camera for blood diagnostics, brain mapping
http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v7/n10/full/nphoton.2013.245.html UCLA Professor Bahram Jalali has developed a high-speed microscopy technique, forming images by reading an entire row of pixels at once and encoding the fluorescence from each pixel on a different radio frequency. The camera forms images approximately 10 times faster than current state-of-the-art technologies. A laser beam is first split into two beams, with…
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Mind controlled bionic leg
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1300126 A robotic control system for a prosthetic leg allowed a 31-year-old man to walk and climb stairs with a nearly normal gait. The system links nerves in the thigh — including some for missing muscles in the lower limb — to a processor that decodes the signals and guides the motion of the prosthesis,…
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Neurofeedback enhances signal-to-noise ratio in thought
http://research.vtc.vt.edu/news/2013/sep/13/covert-operations-your-brain-digitally-remastered/. Virgina Tech Carillon Professor Stephen Laconte developed technology to transfer non-invasive brain activity measurements into control signals that drive physical devices and computer displays in real time. The study suggests that the signal-to-noise ratio of the brain activity underlying our thoughts can be remastered. Researchers used whole-brain, classifier-based real-time fMRI to understand the neural underpinnings…
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Data glasses controlled by eye movement — an alternative to brain machine interface
http://www.domain-b.com/technology/20130912_movements.html Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute have developed bidirectional OLED microdisplay eye-controlled data glasses. Users can view the real world while browsing a large amount of virtual information and turn pages with their eyes. Integrated camera sensors register the direction of the wearer’s eye movements and an image processing program calculates the exact position of…
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Duke researchers link visual stimulus with tactile sensation
http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/touch-and-movement-neurons-shape-the-brain-s-internal-image-of-the-body Miguel Nicolelis is one of the main contributors to brain machine interface. In a series of innovative experiments, he demonstrates the intricate connections in the brain, attempting to create a coherent model of multi-sensory input. His recent experiment shows that monkeys can be tricked when the multi-sensory input is only partially coherent. A related study…
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Video game improves cognition in seniors
http://www.ucsf.edu/news/2013/09/108616/training-older-brain-3-d-video-game-enhances-cognitive-control UCSF researchers found that older adults improved cognitive controls, including multitasking and the ability to sustain attention, by playing a specially designed videogame — and that the effects can be long lasting. In the game, participants race a car around a winding track while a variety of road signs pop up. Drivers are instructed…
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Imaging technology distinguishes between brain tissue and tumors at microscopic level
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/5/201/201ra119 Harvard’s Xiaoliang Sunney Xie and Minbiao Ji used SRS microscopy (Stimulated Raman Scattering) to “see” the tiniest areas of tumor cells in brain tissue, and to distinguish tumor from healthy tissue in the brains of living mice. They then showed that the same was possible in tissue removed from a patient with glioblastoma multiforme, one of…
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Vienna scientists create 3-D human brain tissue from stem cells
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518716/researchers-grow-3-d-human-brain-tissues/ Scientists at the Austrian Academy of Sciences have turned human stem cells into pea-sized mini-brains with a neural structure similar to the brain of a developing embryo. These “cerebral organoids”, as they are termed formally, are the best living model of a human brain created to date. The researchers have already used their mini-brains to investigate…
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Human-to-human brain interface – UW researcher controls colleague’s movement
http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/08/27/researcher-controls-colleagues-motions-in-1st-human-brain-to-brain-interface/ University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first noninvasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher able to send a brain signal via the Internet to control the hand motions of a fellow researcher. Using electrical brain recordings and a form of magnetic stimulation, Rajesh Rao sent a brain signal to Andrea Stocco on the other…
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Personalized robot companion for seniors
http://cordis.europa.eu/fetch?CALLER=OFFR_TM_EN&ACTION=D&RCN=11525 A European consortium of research institutes, universities and technology companies has developed a highly customizable robot companion to help seniors to maintain their quality of life, stay healthy and avoid social exclusion. The robot, a mobile wheeled semi-humanoid figure equipped with cameras, sensors, audio, and a touch screen interface, can remind users to take their…