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Category: neuroscience – Page 1,192

GBM Treatment Discoveries: Why Select Drugs Might not Work

New insights on GBM resistance markers.

A research team, with the participation of the University of Granada (UGR), has made some progress in determining the causes for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), one of the most aggressive brain tumors known, to be resistant to the drugs currently used, which is one of the main limitations of its treatment. The results have been recently published in two articles in PlosOne magazine.

The researchers have proven that proteoglycans (the cells’ structural elements), called decorin (DCN) and lumican (LUM), could be decisive in the behavior and development of a resistance to the drugs used for treating glioblastoma multiforme, such as temozolamide (TMZ). In the other hand, they have laid bare that the inhibition of the transcription of some of the sub-units belonging to the mismatch-repair (MMR) complex, a system that analyzes and repairs DNA, could be responsible of the failure of current therapies against this kind of tumor.

This is a scientific breakthrough that could be useful for the search of new resistance markers in GBM as well as for the development of new therapeutic strategies which avoid the resistance to drugs that these tumors possess.

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We need leaders with emotional intelligence

This is so true and even more importantly in the space of technology as we introduce more products and services in the AI space. Reason is because we are seeing the consumer’s buying patterns changing especially as consumers have more options around devices, services, and AI available to them.

As a result of more choices and AI sophistication; consumers are now & more so in the future will chose to buy things that “fit” more with their own style and personality today. And, this places pressures on companies to change/ expand their thinking on product innovation to include emotional thinking as well. Gone are the days of technology just being a machine/ devices designed to only process information and provide information insights only. Tech consumers today and in the future want technology that marries with their own sense of style and personalities. Therefore, corporate culture as a whole will need to change their thinking at all levels.

I once wrote an article about how people with outstanding academic achievement or technical brilliance can easily get hired, but brilliance will get them nowhere if they lack emotional intelligence and the ability to build strong working relationships. This is especially true in today’s highly competitive world where organisations rely heavily on interdependence to stay ahead of the game.

However, I have heard arguments against my claim from people who point out that there is no shortage of notoriously heartless CEOs lacking in EQ. While that argument might ring true to some extent, I find the reasons for that situation rather interesting. As well, it is essential to note that most CEOs with low EQ scores are not the best-performing business leaders.

First, let’s make it clear that we are talking about managers or C-level executives who have to climb the ladder themselves and not those who founded or inherited a business. In this case, I have found research showing that middle managers often stand out with the highest emotional intelligence scores in the workplace because companies generally promote high-EQ types to supervisory positions as they are level-headed and good with people. However, EQ scores tend to decrease as people move up further in the hierarchy.

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Neuroscientists reverse autism symptoms

Autism has diverse genetic causes, most of which are still unknown. About 1 percent of people with autism are missing a gene called Shank3, which is critical for brain development. Without this gene, individuals develop typical autism symptoms including repetitive behavior and avoidance of social interactions.

In a study of mice, MIT researchers have now shown that they can reverse some of those behavioral symptoms by turning the gene back on later in life, allowing the brain to properly rewire itself.

“This suggests that even in the adult brain we have profound plasticity to some degree,” says Guoping Feng, an MIT professor of brain and cognitive sciences. “There is more and more evidence showing that some of the defects are indeed reversible, giving hope that we can develop treatment for autistic patients in the future.”

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Mind-Controlled Prosthetics: New Study Allows Patient To Move Fingers With Mind

With the success of Graphene as a material for BMI plus the new micro stints that can travel through blood cells to the brain; prosthetic technology is only going to continue to improve to maybe even a point where some athletes may wish to have physical and endurance capabilities improved through this type of technology if it is approved and allowed by the various athletic associations.

A team of researchers has demonstrated the first-ever successful prosthetic arm that can control individual fingers with thoughts.

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Trials moving ahead for treatment of most aggressive form of brain cancer

Wonderful news for Glioblastoma patients; 2nd clinical trails is underway for the two drug combination that researchers are using to disrupt the cellular process cancer cells use to hide from the immune system and allow the immune system to recognize and attack the cancer.

The UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center has started phase 2 clinical trials, targeting glioblastoma patients.

Glioblastoma is a particularly aggressive type of brain cancer. Only about one fifth of adults diagnosed with it survive two years or more after their diagnosis, UNM researchers said.

“Unfortunately, it is also the most common form of primary brain tumor, about 70 percent of newly diagnosed primary brain tumors,” Omar Chohan, director of Neurosurgical Oncology and a part of the clinical trials team said.

A new two-drug combination, currently in use in the clinical trials, might help people diagnosed with glioblastoma to fight the disease, according to a UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center press release.

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Brain Implant Will Let Amputees Move Individual Fingers on Prosthetics With Thoughts Alone

Amazing.

The Singularity isn’t NEAR…

It’s in progress.

For the first time ever, researchers have successfully demonstrated a system that enables a person to move the individual fingers of a prosthetic hand using just their thoughts.

To test the device, scientists at Johns Hopkins University recruited the help of an epilepsy patient who was preparing for surgery to pinpoint the source of his seizures. (The patient himself was not missing a limb.) The scientists used the same electrode array implanted in his brain to control the prosthetic limb. After mapping the parts of the brain responsible for individual finger control movements, the researchers programmed the prosthesis to move the corresponding finger. The details of the experiment can now be found in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

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Brain stimuator helps Parkinsons patients improve quality of life

Good news and hope for Parkinson disease patients.

Erika Jucumin, a physician assistant at Neurology Associates in Ormond Beach, programs and monitors a deep brain stimulator for patients with Parkinson’s disease, dystonia and other neurological disorders.

As a result, Jacumin said she has seen many amazing turn-arounds in patients’ health. She spoke to The News-Journal about the device.

NAME: Erika Jacumin.

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Now you can learn to fly a plane from expert-pilot brainwave patterns

Elite X-Plane General Aviation Dream Package flight simulator system (credit: Xforce PC)

You can learn how to improve your novice pilot skills by having your brain zapped with recorded brain patterns of experienced pilots via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), according to researchers at HRL Laboratories.

“We measured the brain activity patterns of six commercial and military pilots, and then transmitted these patterns into novice subjects as they learned to pilot an airplane in a realistic flight simulator,” says Matthew Phillips, PhD.

The study, published in an open-access paper in the February 2016 issue of the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, found that novice pilots who received brain stimulation via electrode-embedded head caps improved their piloting abilities, with a 33 percent increase in skill consistency, compared to those who received sham stimulation. “We measured the average g-force of the plane during the simulated landing and compared it to control subjects who received a mock brain stimulation,” says Phillips.

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