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Archive for the ‘neuroscience’ category: Page 132

Feb 19, 2024

Scientist shows Focused Ultrasound can Reach Deep into the Brain to Relieve Pain

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Research reveals potential of using low-intensity focused ultrasound for pain management. Scientists have found soundwaves from low-intensity focused ultrasound aimed at a place deep in the brain called the insula can reduce both the perception of pain and other effects of pain, such as heart rate changes.

You feel a pain, so you pop a couple of ibuprofen or acetaminophen. If the pain is severe or chronic, you might be prescribed something stronger — an opioid pain killer that can be addictive under some circumstances.

But what if you could ease pain by non-invasively manipulating a spot inside your brain where pain is registered?

Feb 19, 2024

Endovascular thrombectomy found to be beneficial for large ischemic stroke

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

For patients with acute ischemic stroke and large cores, endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) improves clinical outcomes compared with medical management (MM), according to a study published online Feb. 7 in the Journal of the American Medical Association to coincide with the annual American Stroke Association International Stroke Conference, which was held from Feb. 7 to 9 in Phoenix.

Amrou Sarraj, M.D., from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues describe the relationship between imaging estimates of irreversibly injured brain and at-risk regions and and EVT treatment effect in an exploratory analysis of the SELECT2 trial.

Adults with due to occlusion of the internal carotid or (M1 segment) and large ischemic core were randomly allocated to EVT versus MM across 31 global centers; the analysis included 336 patients.

Feb 19, 2024

There’s No Free Will. What Now? — Robert Sapolsky

Posted by in category: neuroscience

To support me on Patreon (thank you): http://www.patreon.com/cosmicskepticTo donate to my PayPal (thank you): http://www.paypal.me/cosmicskeptic — VIDEO NOTE…

Feb 19, 2024

Dopamine isn’t just a “feel good” chemical: New study reveals its role in reversal learning

Posted by in categories: chemistry, neuroscience

Researchers discovered dopamine plays a crucial role in adapting decisions to changing situations. Using PET and fMRI scans, they found dopamine increases in the brain’s reward center during task changes, aiding learning from mistakes.

Feb 18, 2024

Making STEM accessible through translation

Posted by in categories: innovation, neuroscience

Scientific research continuously expands our collective knowledge and pushes innovation forward. But what good is that innovation if it isn’t accessible to large swaths of the global population?

English is the standard language for most scientific communication — nearly 98% of scientific research is published in English. While standardizing scientific publications into a single language can streamline discussion, it is incredibly limiting for populations that don’t speak English.

A UCLA-led project aims to alleviate this issue. A collaboration among the UCLA Brain Research Institute, the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the nonprofit organization Knowing Neurons is translating the informational content on Knowing Neurons’ platform into Spanish. Created by a group of graduate students at UCLA and USC in 2012, Knowing Neurons works to make neuroscience accessible to people interested in learning about the brain.

Feb 18, 2024

US Patient ‘Happy Again’ after Brain Implant Treats Epilepsy and OCD

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

But the repetitive rituals of her condition are largely consigned to memory, thanks to a revolutionary brain implant that is being used to treat both her epilepsy and her OCD.

“I’m actually present in my daily life and that’s incredible,” the 34-year-old told AFP.

Feb 18, 2024

Alzheimer’s disease: Animal study looks at potential new treatment

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

A study in mice and nematodes has investigated a potential new therapeutic approach that could help people with the genetic variant that predisposes them to Alzheimer’s disease.

Feb 17, 2024

Donor/recipient enhancement of memory in rat hippocampus

Posted by in categories: mathematics, neuroscience

The critical role of the mammalian hippocampus in the formation, translation and retrieval of memory has been documented over many decades. There are many theories of how the hippocampus operates to encode events and a precise mechanism was recently identified in rats performing a short-term memory task which demonstrated that successful information encoding was promoted via specific patterns of activity generated within ensembles of hippocampal neurons. In the study presented here, these “representations” were extracted via a customized non-linear multi-input multi-output (MIMO) mathematical model which allowed prediction of successful performance on specific trials within the testing session. A unique feature of this characterization was demonstrated when successful information encoding patterns were derived online from well-trained “donor” animals during difficult long-delay trials and delivered via online electrical stimulation to synchronously tested naïve “recipient” animals never before exposed to the delay feature of the task. By transferring such model-derived trained (donor) animal hippocampal firing patterns via stimulation to coupled naïve recipient animals, their task performance was facilitated in a direct “donor–recipient” manner. This provides the basis for utilizing extracted appropriate neural information from one brain to induce, recover, or enhance memory related processing in the brain of another subject.

To understand the neural basis of memory, several features of the context in which the memories occur and are utilized, and the functional aspects of the brain areas involved, need to be identified and controlled (Hampson et al., 2008; Eichenbaum and Fortin, 2009). In prior studies we achieved both of these important contingencies as well as overcoming possible alternative interpretations of the relationship between recorded hippocampal ensemble activity and the behavioral task in which short-term memory formation is necessary (Deadwyler and Hampson, 2006; Deadwyler et al., 2007), and developing an effective mathematical/operational model for online prediction of CA1 hippocampal cell activity from simultaneously recorded input firing patterns from synaptically connected CA3 neurons (Song et al., 2009; Berger et al., 2011; Hampson et al., 2011).

Feb 17, 2024

Davidson-Neuroscience-of-happiness.pdf

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could produce happiness by neuro modulation.


Shared with Dropbox.

Feb 17, 2024

Ancient viruses emerge as unexpected heroes in vertebrate brain evolution

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, neuroscience

Scentists have uncovered a fascinating link between ancient viruses and the development of myelination, the biological process crucial for the advanced functioning of the nervous system in vertebrates, including humans.


Scientists discovered a gene, ‘RetroMyelin,’ from ancient viruses, essential for myelination in vertebrates, suggesting viral sequences in early vertebrate genomes were pivotal for developing complex brains. This breakthrough in Cell unravels how myelination evolved, highlighting its significance in vertebrate diversity.

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