Posts tagged brain

This advice is highly premature. The News follows research into supplements containing DHA, which is the omega-3 fatty acid found in fish, seafood and algae. The trial looked at the effects of DHA on reading, memory and behaviour in children.This study was conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and was funded by Martek Biosciences Inc., who also provided the supplements and placebo for the trial.

A positive effect in terms of reading ability was only found in a small subset of children with identified difficulties.

(Source: futurenow321)

Here, microwires emerging from the green and orange tubes connect to two arrays of 16 microelectrodes. Each array is embedded in a small mat of clear, rubbery silicone. The mats are barely visible in this image. These microelectrode arrays sit on the brain without penetrating it, a step toward longer-lived, less invasive versions of “neural interfaces” that in recent experiments elsewhere have allowed paralyzed people to control a computer cursor with their thoughts. The new microelectrode arrays were placed in two patients at the University of Utah who already were undergoing brain surgery for severe epilepsy. The larger, numbered, metallic electrodes are used to locate the source of epileptic seizures in the brain, so the patients allowed the microelectrodes to be placed on their brains at the same time.

(Source: futurenow321)

Inner ear hair cells. Colored scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of sensory hair cells from the organ of corti, in the cochlea of the inner ear. These cells are surrounded by a fluid called the endolymph. As sound enters the ear it causes waves to form in the endolymph, which in turn cause these hairs to move. The movement is converted into an electrical signal, which is passed to the brain. The V-shaped arrangement of hairs lies on the top of a single cell. Magnification: x21,000 when printed 10cm wide.

(Source: futurenow321)

A man who had been paralyzed from the waist down and had lost all function in both his hands can move his fingers after doctors rewired his nerves to bypass the damaged ones in a pioneering surgical procedure, according to a case study published on Tuesday.

The 71-year-old man, who had become paralyzed after he was injured in a car accident in 2008, still had limited arm, elbow and shoulder movement, but because the C7 vertebrae in his spinal cord had been crushed, the nerve circuits responsible for sending signals from the brain to the muscles in his hands were severed and all control was lost.

However, the nearby nerves had not been injured in the accident and surgeons were able to cut an undamaged nerve in the man’s elbow and connect it to the damaged nerve responsible for activating muscles in the hand responsible for grasping objects. 

“The circuit [in the hand] is intact, but no longer connected to the brain,” Surgeon Ida Fox, an assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Washington University, explained to the BBC. “What we do is take that circuit and restore the connection to the brain.”

(Source: futurenow321)

A copyediting error appears to be responsible for critical features of the human brain that distinguish us from our closest primate kin, new research finds. When tested out in mice, researchers found this “error” caused the rodents’ brain cells to move into place faster and enabled more connections between brain cells.When any cell divides, it first copies its entire genomeDuring this process, it can make errors. The cell usually fixes errors in the DNA. But when they aren’t fixed, they become permanent changes called mutations, which are sometimes hurtful and sometimes helpful, though usually innocuous.

The researchers studied one specific gene, called SRGAP2, which they think has been duplicated at least twice during the course of human evolution, first about 3.5 million years ago and then again about 2.5 million years ago.The second, more recent, duplication seems to be incomplete, with only part of the gene being duplicated. The researchers think this partially duplicated gene is able to interfere with the actions of the original, ancestral copy of SRGAP2. When the researchers added  the partially duplicated gene copy to the mouse genome (mice don’t normally have it) it seemed to speed the migration of brain cells during development, which makes brain organization more efficient.These cells that expressed the incomplete duplication of SRGAP2 also had more “spines” — knoblike extensions on the cell surface that connect with other brain cells, which make them look more like human brain cells.

Interestingly, the incomplete copy of the gene seems to have showed up just as the extinct hominin Australopithecus made room for the genus Homo, which led to modern humans. That’s also when the brains of our ancestors began to expand and when dramatic changes in cognitive abilities are likely to have emerged.

(Source: futurenow321)

The diagnosis of a gioblastoma, one of the most common and deadliest of brain tumors, can be devastating.  While the cancer alone is harmful, its most lethal aspect is the speed at which it travels through the brain, infecting healthy tissue.

Trying to control the cancer’s spread has been one of the biggest hurdles in treating these kinds of brain cancers.  But now, researchers from John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., have potentially revealed an effective way to slow it down.

“These cancer cells move through the brain as if nothing matters,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Alfredo Quinones-Hinojosa, an associate professor of neurosurgery and oncology at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine.  “So we asked, what are the thing  that make them migrate? They must have something that makes them act like ‘spidermen’  allowing them to move quickly and stick to things along the way.”

Quinones-Hinojosa and his team focused on a protein called NKCC1, which is used by all kinds of cells to migrate.  The protein helps transport sodium, potassium and chloride to tumor cells, allowing them to more easily regulate their volume.

“Cells have to figure out how to move through a lot of stuff, so they have to regulate that ability to move their bodies,” said Quinones-Hinojosa.  “The cells can get a little but plump or skinny, depending on where they need to fit.  Just think about how a worm moves. It contracts its back to move forward, then it will stretch itself out.  For the cell to be able to move, it has to regulate its body shape in a similar way.”

The research team found the cancer cells with more NKCC1 moved farther faster because of this ability to manipulate their shapes and propel themselves through tissue.  They also discovered that when NKCC1 was absent, the cancer cells had to compensate by growing larger food processors.  These processors have a Velcro-like quality to them, so when they grow large, they act like an anchor that keeps the cell in place.  Smaller food processors allow for more mobility.

(Source: futurenow321)