The past ten years brought an increase of neuroscience research….
My own interest lies in how ordinary people’s lives show improvement because of astounding progress made in the last decade. Check out and let us know how the top breakthroughs in the past 10 years could improve your brain and your business….
The Infinite Mind National Public Radio's board of scientific advisors organized an event to illumine the most important discoveries of the past 10 years…. Which likely include very real benefits to your life, and to those you know….
Dr. Fred Goodwin hosted the event by highlighting why people should be excited about decade of the brain. Did you know that well over half of the human genome is composed of brain-related cells, and that those genes can influence a range of behaviors?
Dr. Guy McKhann, showed how new brain imaging techniques such as functional imaging give accurate images of the brain’s structure. ... so you can see what thebrain is doing at the precise time it does it.... and watch blood flow in the brain ... to see which parts of the brain are active. The part of the brain related to the eyes, for instance, will show increased blood flow when someone is looking at something. Doctors can now compare brain scans of patients who are recovering from stroke, and predict why others aren't recovering well.
Dr. Miguel Nicolelis successfully used brain impulses of primates to operate a robotic arm in real time. He studied the electrical activity in the brains of monkeys and then separated their motor commands from all other impulses. After feeding these impulses into a robotic arm, and simulating the movements of the monkey... he sent the signals over the Internet, and created a robot.
There are new benefits here for people you might know with spinal cord injuries.... Within the next decade this technology should enable doctors to restore parts of damaged upper limb movements. Doctors will soon implant small electrodes into the brain…
Believe it or not, this same discovery could be used to lift extremely heavy objects, but that's another post….
Dr. Creighton Phelps showed a new vaccine that reverses the symptoms of Alzheimers in mice. Seems the plaque that causes Alzheimer's symptoms in mice is, surprisingly, the same agent that causes the destruction of that plaque…. They’ve already begun testing this method in humans and in another four to five years likely treatment will be available.
Dr. John Marler showed a new treatment discovered for strokes. Apparently, a drug known as TPA has been available to treat stroke since 1996, and if used quickly, TPA, which is also used to treat heart attacks, can dissolve blood clots and restore blood flow to the brain. Sadly, only five to 10 percent of emergency rooms are prepared to give TPA... partly because the drug requires doctors to take quick action... TPA has to be given within 90 minutes of a stroke... or it can cause hemorrhaging ... so some doctors may be reluctant to make quick decisions about its use. What do you think…?
Dr. Ronald McKay showed recent breakthrough research in stem cells. By the way, stem cells are your undifferentiated cells that can grow into different kinds of cells. First discovered when scientists studying leukemia found that stem cells could turn into blood cells, researchers have now discovered that stem cells can also grow into neurons and can even turn into different kinds of neurons, depending on their location in the brain. Stem cell research could help to treat strokes, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease. What have you heard about the use or abuse of stem cell research?
Dr. Jeffrey Kordower injected monkeys with a toxin known to create a condition like Parkinson's and was able to then successfully reverse those symptoms using gene therapy. The treatment involved giving monkeys a virus that encodes for a gene that makes a chemical that in turn prevents certain nerve cells from dying. Monkeys who were given this therapy were better able to move and perform tasks than the control monkeys in his experiment. Do you know people whose quality of life would improve through gene therapy discovery?
Finally, Dr. Terry Sejnowski showed how human brains create new brain cells well into life. Until recently, we thought that humans were born with all their brain cells. We now know new cells are created and that they have better chances at surviving if they're used. Did you know about the discovery of targeted chemical pathways on the cell membrane? Or how these new chemical pathways are paving the way for a new generation of mood stabilizing drugs...?
Looking to grow or repair or alter a few of your own brain cells…? What do you think of these top 10 recent discoveries of the brain as they are being used to help humans…?
» Young Brains Can Repair Injury from Traumatic Brain Injury
Monkeys who lose an important key memory center in the brain as infants recover much more quickly than older monkeys who suffer a similar injury. The results suggest that young brains may be capable of recovery from injury. The study... [Read More]
Tracked on: January 12, 2007 12:13 PM | Permalink to Trackback