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Category: neuroscience – Page 700

The state of the art of nanopsychiatry for schizophrenia diagnostics and treatment

Year 2020 😗😁

Schizophrenia is one of the top 25 causes of global diseases burdens in terms of years lived with the disease and the emotional and economical strains it imposes on the society. Several strategies have been used to treat the patients, specially using typical and atypical psychoactives. However, due to its multifactorial characteristic and patient resistance, schizophrenia is still a difficult disease to diagnose and treat. Thus, new strategies for diagnostics and treatment must be researched to optimize the efficacy and reduce the side effects of the actual therapy. Nanomedicine tries to improve low-weight molecular agents for treatment of diseases through the use of nanoscaled carriers. Among nanomedicine, nanopsychiatry specifically deals with the potential role of nanotechnology in solving psychiatry diseases problems. Therefore, the objective of this work is to provide an overview of the state of the art of nanopsychiatry in the sense of treating schizophrenia.

Tiny Human Brain Tissue Organoids Can’t Be Legally Considered “a Person”

Summary: Researchers proposed the need for a legal framework to guide the conversation on whether or not human brain organoids can be considered people.

Brain organoids are grown from stem cells in a lab, mimicking the growth and structure of real brains. However, they do not fulfill the requirements to be considered natural persons, according to the researchers.

The study explores the potential juridical personhood of human brain organoids, and whether they can be considered legal entities.

Schizophrenia Identified in 60 Seconds via Visual Fixation

Summary: Researchers have identified spatial and temporal abnormalities in spontaneous fixational saccades as a potential biomarker for cognitive and positive symptoms in schizophrenia. Researchers combined patient data of fixational eye movement recorded over 60 seconds with machine learning technology, which was able to determine schizophrenia with 85% accuracy. This discovery suggests that fixational saccades could serve as an easily obtainable complementary diagnostic tool for the condition.

Source: Chinese Academy of Science.

In a study published online in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, researchers from Dr. Wang Wei’s lab at the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Dr. Wang Jijun’ team at Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, demonstrated spatial and temporal abnormalities of spontaneous fixational saccades and their correlates with positive and cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia, suggesting that fixational saccades are a promising and easily obtainable biomarker for cognitive and positive symptoms and for complementary diagnosis in schizophrenia.

Digital Immortality Uncovered: How AI Could Help Us Live Forever

Discover the fascinating world of digital immortality and the pivotal role artificial intelligence plays in bringing this concept to life. In this captivating video, we delve into the intriguing idea of preserving our consciousness, memories, and personalities in a digital realm, potentially allowing us to live forever in a virtual environment. Unravel the cutting-edge AI technologies like mind uploading, AI-powered avatars, and advanced brain-computer interfaces that are pushing the boundaries of what it means to be alive.

Join us as we explore the ethical considerations, current progress, and future prospects of digital immortality. Learn about the ongoing advancements in brain-computer interfaces such as Neuralink, AI-powered virtual assistants like ChatGPT, and the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Will digital immortality redefine humanity’s relationship with life, death, and existence itself? Watch now to uncover the possibilities.

Keywords: digital immortality, artificial intelligence, mind uploading, AI-powered avatars, brain-computer interfaces, Neuralink, ChatGPT, virtual afterlife, eternal life, neuroscience, ethics, virtual reality, consciousness, future of humanity.

China syncs monkey brain with a computer in a ‘world first’ experiment

The development demonstrates that China is allegedly at the forefront of the “white-hot technology war between China and the US,” claims Chinese state-run media.

This development encourages the application of brain science research and demonstrates that China is allegedly at the forefront of the “white-hot technology war between China and the US,” according to Chinese state-run media reports on Friday evening.

Chinese researchers claim to have successfully conducted the “world’s first” brain-computer interface (BCI) experiment on a monkey, showcasing China’s BCI technological breakthrough.

“The success of the first animal trial is a breakthrough from zero to one, but getting the success to the clinic is a process from 1 to 100, so we still have a long way to go,” said Ma Yongjie, a neurosurgeon at Beijing-based Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University.

Parkinson’s May Be Caused by a Common Aquatic Bacterium

I suspected both this and alzheimers are bacterial infections.

A common genus of microbe found in wet, boggy environments could play a key role in the development of Parkinson’s disease, by excreting compounds that trigger proteins inside brain cells to form toxic clumps.

The findings, made by a small team of researchers at the University of Helsinki and the University of Eastern Finland, build on the results of an earlier investigation showing that the severity of the neurodegenerative disorder in volunteers increased with concentrations of Desulfovibrio bacterial strains in their feces.

By now demonstrating a potential path from the presence of the bacteria in genetically edited worms to physical changes in the brain that coincide with Parkinson’s disease, the researchers hope to one day improve early diagnosis of the disease in humans, or even slow its progress.

New drug slows Alzheimer’s

Drug company Eli Lilly reports that donanemab can slow the pace of Alzheimer’s disease by 35%, following a Phase 3 study in human patients.

Brain scans of Alzheimer’s patients with treatment (A and B) and placebo ©, showing clearance of amyloid plaques. Credit: Eli Lilly.

In recent years, Alzheimer’s has become an increasingly major public health issue. The prevalence of this disease – a progressive neurological disorder that affects memory, thinking, and behaviour – is being driven by aging populations, changes in lifestyle factors, and improvements in diagnostic techniques.

A Chance Event 1 Million Years Ago Changed Human Brains Forever

Like treasured recipes passed down from generation to generation, there are just some regions of DNA that evolution doesn’t dare tweak. Mammals far and wide share a variety of such encoded sequences, for example, which have remained untouched for millions of years.

Humans are a strange exception to this club. For some reason, recipes long preserved by our ancient ancestors were suddenly ‘spiced up’ within a short evolutionary period of time.

Because we’re the only species in which these regions have been rewritten so rapidly, they are called ‘human accelerated regions’ (or HARs). What’s more, scientists think at least some HARs could be behind many of the qualities that set humans apart from their close relatives, like chimpanzees and bonobos.

Foods to avoid with pituitary tumors

Pituitary tumors grow in the pituitary gland, the pea-sized structure just behind the eyes at the base of the brain. These tumors are almost always noncancerous, but they can cause problems if they create an overproduction of hormones in the body or grow large enough to press against the brain and optic nerves.

If you have a pituitary tumor, you may be wondering if there are any lifestyle changes you should make, such as your diet. We spoke with our clinical dietitians to learn more about diet and nutrition for people with pituitary tumors.

How the Human Brain Project Built a Mind of its Own

“A human brain model can simulate an experiment a million times for many different conditions, but the actual human experiment can be performed only once or a few times,” said Viktor Jirsa, a professor at Aix-Marseille University.

Responding to such critiques, the HBP worked to restructure the effort in its early days with new leadership, organization, and goals that were more flexible and attainable. “The HBP got a more versatile, pluralistic approach,” said Viktor Jirsa, a professor at Aix-Marseille University and one of the HBP lead scientists. He believes that these changes fixed at least some of HBP’s issues. “The project has been on a very productive and scientifically fruitful course since then.”

After restructuring, the HBP became a European hub on brain research, with hundreds of scientists joining its growing network. The HBP created projects focused on various brain topics, from consciousness to neurodegenerative diseases. HBP scientists worked on complex subjects, such as mapping out the brain, combining neuroscience and robotics, and experimenting with neuromorphic computing, a computational technique inspired by the human brain structure and function—to name just a few.

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