University of Iowa researchers have confirmed in a new study that a specific region in the brain is critical to governing the mind’s communication with the body’s motor control system. The findings could yield advances in treatment for Parkinson’s disease, as declining motor coordination is a central symptom of the disorder.

In experiments with humans, the researchers pinpointed the subthalamic nucleus as the region in the brain that communicates with the motor system to help the body stop an action. This communication is vital because it helps humans avoid surprises and react to potentially dangerous or unforeseen circumstances.

The subthalamic nucleus is a tiny grouping of cells that is part of the basal ganglia, which is a key circuit in controlling movement. The basal ganglia takes initial motor commands generated in the brain and either amplify or halt specific parts of those commands as they pass from the central nervous system to the spinal cord.

Figuring out what’s going on in the brain is generally considered to be somewhere between extremely difficult and impossible. One major challenge is that the best ways to do so are room-sized machines relegated to hospitals — but brain.space is hoping that its portable, powerful and, most importantly, user-friendly EEG helmet could power new applications and treatments at home and, as a sort of cork pop for its debut, in space.

Electroencephalography, or EEG, is an established method for monitoring certain signals the brain produces. An EEG can indicate which areas of the cortex are active, whether the user is concentrating, agitated, and so on. It’s not nearly as precise as an MRI, but all you need for an EEG is a set of electrical contacts on the scalp, while an MRI machine is huge, loud and incredibly expensive.

There’s been precious little advancement in EEG tech, though, and it’s often done more or less the same way it was done decades ago. Recently, that’s begun to change with devices like Cognixion’s, which uses re-engineered EEG to interpret specific signals with the goal of allowing people with motor impairments to communicate.

Neuroscientist and physician Matthew Schrag found suspect images in dozens of papers involving Alzheimer’s disease, including Western blots (projected in green) measuring a protein linked to cognitive decline in rats.

The Neuro-Network.

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