Using Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's

Doctors from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are currently experimenting with an implanted “pacemaking” device in Alzheimer’s patients in an attempt to help them retain their independence. This device allows the patient to undergo Deep Brain Stimulation therapy.

This therapy involves implanting electric wires into the patient’s brain and then connecting them to a battery pack implanted in the chest. This pack sends electric currents through the wires to help stimulate the part of the brain that controls the abilities to problem-solve, plan, and use judgment.
This therapy has already been implemented in thousands of patients who have Parkinson’s disease in order to help them overcome their tremors. However, the use of Deep Brain Stimulation to treat Alzheimer’s is still in its experimental stage. While previous studies have focused on stimulating the brain regions that govern memory, this new study moves the focus area.

The Ohio state tests have shown positive results in all three of the patients who took part in the pilot study. In fact, the progression of the disease slowed significantly. By turning back on part of the brain, the two patients could be able to retain their quality of life longer than those who are not undergoing therapy. While it may not be able to cure the disease itself, Deep Brain Stimulation seems to have the potential to provide patients with some welcome, immediate relief.

However, the science behind the therapy’s effectiveness for Alzheimer’s is still developing. Andres Lozano from the University of Toronto is also undertaking studies to test how successful the therapy is for people with Alzheimer’s. In an interview, Lozano stressed that the treatment is not meant to cure the disease, and it does not cease cognitive design altogether.

Assault on Alzheimer’s

Researchers from all over the world are constantly working to better understand Alzheimer’s to fuel future breakthroughs in treatment. To meet this end, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates announced a $100 million initiative last year to help defeat this debilitating disease.

A promising blood test that is being studied in Japan could increase the time doctors have to treat the disease by up to thirty years. Not only could early detection let doctors form better treatment plans, but it could also help researchers learn a lot more about how the disease progresses over this period of time, giving greater insight into its development.

Other researchers are currently working on treatments that could potentially delay or prevent the disease from developing. Scientists from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo, are targeting a specific gene variant that increases the risk of developing the disease by a factor of 12.

Furthermore, human trials are also underway for two preventative measures that could also prevent the disease from ever developing. Researchers from the University Of Southern California Keck School Of Medicine are currently testing an oral medication as well as a vaccine that targets the proteins which build up in the brains of disease sufferers.

However, all these procedures are still under investigation. Deep Brain Stimulation therapies could be a welcome addition to treat the symptoms of the disease while researchers work on eradicating it once and for all. Allowing patients to retain greater levels of independence is a great step forward and will buy more families more time as the researchers continue their very important work.

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

Revolutionary implant helps paralysed patients walk again

A small group of paraplegic patients have once again been able to take steps after researchers implanted a device to electrically stimulate their spinal cords.

Two separate teams of scientists have revealed for the first time that the technique, together with physical training, has allowed three out of the five individuals treated to walk again after losing all voluntary movement below the site of the injury.

“It is incredible to be able to be in there and actually see them taking their first steps,” said Dr Claudia Angeli of Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Centre at the University of Louisville, and a co-author of one of the studies.

“It is an emotional time for the individual [themselves] because it is something that they have been told they are never going to be able to do again.”

In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Angeli and colleagues report that they implanted an array of 16 electrodes in the lower back of four patients, paralysed after mountain bike or traffic accidents several years before.

The device, originally developed many years ago for pain control, was placed below the site of injury, covering regions that send sensorimotor signals to the legs while a battery was implanted in the abdominal wall, allowing the frequency of the stimulation, its intensity and duration, to be tweaked wirelessly.

Electrical activity produced by muscles in the legs was monitored during the sessions.

The approach – called epidural stimulation – works on the principle that there are still some small signals from the brain that cross the site of the spinal cord injury – even though these are not enough on their own to generate voluntary movement.

“We know the spinal cord has the ability to organise very detailed motor activity,” said Angeli.

“But before the injury it was getting commands from the brain and it was getting information from the environment as well.”

The injury, she said, disrupts this.

“The spinal cord is isolated, it potentially still receives information from the environment, but it is losing the big driver, which was the brain.”

Angeli said that it is thought that when the implanted device is turned on, the resulting electrical stimulation raises the excitability of the spinal cord – in a sense making it more alert.

“It is like it is more aware, it actually can listen to that little whisper from the brain that is still there and it can generate the motor pattern,” said Angeli, adding that training to link movements with these signals is crucial.

All four of the individuals had lost all motor control below the site of the injury, although two had some level of sensation.

After implantation of the device and locomotor training, the latter two were eventually able to walk over ground unassisted.

One was able to walk after 81 sessions of stimulation over 15 weeks, although she had to use a walking frame, while the other was able to walk after 278 sessions over 85 weeks, requiring either parallel bars or holding people’s hands. In total he was able to walk just over 90 metres without a break.

The other two individuals became able to stand and sit independently and one was also able to make some stepping motions on a treadmill when supported – however the other sustained a spontaneous hip fracture after one week of training and only began training again a year later.

A separate paper by researchers from the Mayo clinic in Minnesota and UCLA, published in the journal Nature Medicine, also reports success with the same approach.

The team revealed that after 43 weeks of training with the implant a 29-year-old man, paralysed after a snowmobile accident and left with no sensation or voluntary motion below the injury, could walk without help on a treadmill – holding on to the rails – and across the ground, albeit with a moving frame and a little human help to maintain balance. He did not, however, regain sensation in his legs.

Professor Gregoire Courtine from the EPFL research institute in Switzerland, who was not involved in either study, said he welcomed the research. But he said a key problem was that the current applied to the electrodes was continuous, meaning it can only be of low intensity – which may not result in the “whisper” from the brain being heard loudly enough by the legs.

Courtine said he is working to solve this issue by synchronising the electrical stimulation with intended movements – his previous work in monkeys used brain implants to pick up on movement signals from the brain and send them to the legs, bypassing the site of injury and allowing a greater amplification of the signal to produce more robust muscle activity.

Mike Milner, CEO of the Nicholls Spinal Injury Foundation was also cautious, saying while the research looked promising, the charity supports another approach to tackle spinal injury using special cells taken from a patient’s nose, as well as nerve fibres, to patch the site of the injury.

“We are looking for not only a natural, or biological, cure for paralysis – but a permanent one,” he said.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement     

Study finds way to make medical equipment infection-free

Researchers used nanoparticles to identify the presence of deadly microbes present on medical devices, like catheters and make them infection-free.This study was conducted as an interdisciplinary collaboration between microbiologists, immunologists and engineers led by  a Dr.

Candida albicans, a commonly found microbe, can turn deadly when it colonises on devices such as catheters implanted in the human body.

While commonly found in healthy people, this microbe can become a serious problem for those who are seriously ill or immune-suppressed.

The microbe forms a biofilm when it colonises using for e.g., a catheter as a source of infection. It then spreads into the bloodstream to infect internal organs.

The mortality rate in some patients populations can be as high as 30-40 % even if you treat people. When it colonises, its highly resistant to anti-fungal treatments, he said.

The idea is that if you can diagnose this infection early, then you can have a much bigger chance of treating it successfully with current anti-fungal drugs and stopping a full-blown systemic infection, but our current diagnostic methods are backing. A biosensor to detect early stages of colonisation would be highly beneficial, added the Prof.

The researchers investigated the effects of organosilica nanoparticles of different sizes, concentrations and surface coatings to see whether and how they interacted with both C. Albicans and with immune cells in the blood.

They found that the nanoparticles bound to fungal cells, but were non-toxic to them.

They don't kill the microbe, but we can make an anti-fungal particle by binding them to a known anti-fungal drug, the Prof. said.

The researchers also demonstrated that the particles associated with neutrophils-human white blood cells in a similar way as they did with C. Albicans, remaining noncytotoxic towards them.

We've identified that these nanoparticles and by inference a number of different types of nanoparticles can be made to be interactive with cells of interest, the Dr. said.

We can actually change the surface properties by attaching different things, thereby we can really change the interactions they have with these cells- that's quite significant, added the Dr.

The Dr. said while nanoparticles were being investigated in the treatment of cancer, the use of nano-particle-based technologies in infectious diseases lags behind the cancer nano-medicine field, despite the great potential for new treatments and diagnostics.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement          

Stress hormone controls your body clock 24/7

Stress hormone, and not neurons, manage the fixed circadian rhythm that controls everything from sleep needs to body temperature, the researchers have found.

Our internal clock is controlled by some very distinct hereditary genes, known as clock genes. These genes are particularly active in the so-called suprachiasmatic nucleus area of the brain.

However, these areas of the brain are not directly linked by neurons, and this made researchers at the University of Copenhagen curious.

Using lab tests, the team demonstrated that the circadian rhythm is controlled by the stress hormone, corticosterone.

"In humans, the hormone is known as cortisol, and although the sleep rhythm in rats is the opposite of ours, we basically have the same hormonal system," said Associate Professor.

In the study with the stress hormone corticosterone, the researchers removed the suprachiasmatic nucleus in a number of rats.

As expected, this removed the circadian rhythm of the animals.

However, the circadian rhythm of the cerebellum was restored when the rats were subsequently implanted with a special programmable micropump.

In this case, however, the researchers used the pump to emit doses of corticosterone at different times of the day and night, similar to the animals' natural rhythm.

"Nobody has used these pumps for anything like this before. So technically, we were onto something completely new," said the Asst. Prof.

With the artificial corticosterone supplement, researchers were again able to read a rhythmic activity of clock genes in the animals.

"This is interesting from a scientific point of view, because it means that we have two systems - the nervous system and the hormonal system - that communicate perfectly and influence one another, all in the course of a reasonably tight 24-hour programme," he elaborated.

The researchers now plans to study other rhythmic hormones in a similar manner, including hormones from the thyroid gland.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     
https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement          

Gene therapy can help correct heart rhythm disorder

A novel gene therapy uses an implanted LED device to reset a racing heart immediately and automatically, paving the way for pain-free treatment for patients with heart rhythm disorder.

The therapy detects fast arrhythmias in the atrium of a rat's heart and sends a signal to a LED device placed near the heart. 

"The flash of light from this LED then causes the heart to generate an electric current itself to halt the arrhythmia," said the lead author of the study.


"This is made possible by using gene therapy to introduce specific light-sensitive proteins into the heart. This restores the heart's normal rhythm immediately and automatically," he added.

According to the researchers, this could represent a great improvement on the current way of stopping atrial fibrillation.
 
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder in clinical practice. The current treatment, known as cardioversion, is based on administering an electric shock to the heart, which has to be done in the hospital under general anaesthesia because of pain.


For many patients, this is the only treatment to immediately stop atrial fibrillation because drugs or an operation are ineffective.




 "The bio-electronic defibrillator can stop atrial fibrillation without an electrical shock. In this way, the heart can be reset in a fully automated manner and at any time," he said recently.
 
"We anticipate that this treatment for atrial fibrillation could improve both the patient's quality of life and their prognosis," he added.

However, considerable research is still needed before a treatment can be arrived at that is suitable for human patients, the researchers noted.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

  

Doctors Wired a Prosthetic Hand Directly Into a Woman’s Nerves

In a world first, doctors in Sweden say they've wired a prosthetic hand directly into a woman’s nerves, allowing her to move its fingers with her mind and even feel tactile sensations.
The hand is an enormous step up from existing prostheses, which often rely on electrodes placed on the outside of the skin — and it could herald a future in which robotic devices interface seamlessly with our bodies.

Researchers created the prosthetic hand as part of DeTOP, an ambitious European research program on prosthetic limbs.

Surgeons anchored the hand to the woman’s forearm bones using titanium implants. They connected an array of 16 electrodes directly to her nerves and muscles, allowing her to control the hand with her mind — and, according to photos, use it to tie shoelaces and type on a laptop computer.

“The breakthrough of our technology consists on enabling patients to use implanted neuromuscular interfaces to control their prosthesis while perceiving sensations where it matters for them, in their daily life,” a researcher said in a press release.

Virtual Light

Electronics wired straight into a human nervous system allow for mind-bending new ways to interact with technology. A video released by the Swedish researchers even shows the woman using the implant to flex a virtual hand on a computer screen — before the actual physical hand was installed.
For decades, cyborg limbs like those depicted in “Star Wars” or “Neuromancer” seemed relegated to the realm of science fiction. New research shows that they’re already here — just not yet widely available.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/       
                                                                                                                                                                      FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           
                                                                           FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com