The link between heart disease and depression could be inflammation, research suggests.
The two conditions have been heavily linked to each other for years but scientists have struggled to explain why this is.
Now experts have found inflammation — the body’s first line of defence — could be to blame.
Clumps of harmful proteins that interfere with brain functions have been partially cleared in mice using nothing but light and sound.
Research led by MIT has found strobe lights and a low pitched buzz can be used to recreate brain waves lost in the disease, which in turn remove plaque and improve cognitive function in mice engineered to display Alzheimer’s-like behaviour.
It’s a little like using light and sound to trigger their own brain waves to help fight the disease.
As many labs have established, Dr. Zaghloul’s team knew that our episodic memories are controlled by neurons in at least two different parts of the brain, but they did not know exactly how the cells worked together to retrieve memories. Based on a growing of body of evidence, they suspected that the short, high frequency electrical waves seen in ripples may somehow be involved. For instance, two earlier patient studies suggested that ripples may be important for solidifying memories during sleep.
A sound, a smell, a word can all flood our minds with memories of past experiences. In a study of epilepsy patients, researchers at the National Institutes of Health found that split seconds before we recall these events tiny electrical waves, called ripples, may flow through key parts of our brains that help store our memories, setting the stage for successful retrieval.
“We showed for the first time that ripples may be the neural substrates through which the human brain successfully recalls memories,” said Kareem Zaghloul, M.D., Ph.D., a neurosurgeon-researcher at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and senior author of the study published in Science. “These results help us understand how the brain processes the details of our past waking experiences or episodic memories.”
The study was led by Alex P. Vaz, B.S., an M.D., Ph.D. student at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, who was completing his dissertation work with Dr. Zaghloul. For years, Dr. Zaghloul’s team has been using grids of surgically implanted electrodes to record the electrical brain activity of drug resistant epilepsy patients enrolled in a trial at the NIH’s Clinical Center. The recordings have helped identify the source of a patient’s epileptic seizures as well as provide an opportunity to study how the brain encodes memories.
Last year, the Japan Transhumanist Association, a general incorporated group that aims to promote transhumanism in Japan, used Twitter to solicit volunteers for free chip implants. More than 20,000 people applied, and 20 are currently being prepared for the procedure.
With microchip implants, humankind has taken a step toward what future-minded experts predict will be a world filled with cyborgs, but Japan lags behind other countries in this regard.
The microchips inserted under the skin are currently limited to such tasks as opening doors and paying for small items, like drinks.
However, Yuichiro Okamoto, a professor of philosophy at Tamagawa University who is well-versed on the ideological background of science and technology, says the implants are just the beginning of “transhumanism,” the theory that science can allow humans to evolve beyond their current physical and mental limitations.
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has removed books from its website that promoted “cures” for autism, the latest major company to try to limit the amount of misinformation related to autism and the bogus notion that it’s caused by vaccines.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says there is no cure for autism spectrum disorder, only medications that can help some function better. It also says there is no link between vaccines and autism.
An Amazon.com Inc. spokeswoman confirmed the books were no longer available, but did not answer any additional questions.
Posted in aging, biotech/medical, business, chemistry, futurism, genetics, health, innovation, life extension, neuroscience | Leave a Comment on Pain Control in a Post-Opioid World — Prof. Peter McNaughton FMedSci — IdeaXme — Ira Pastor
For decades, we’ve thought that memories were formed in two distinct stages—short-term first, then long-term later.
We might be wrong. New research suggests that our brains make two copies of each memory in the moment they are formed. One is filed away in the hippocampus, the center of short-term memories, while the other is stored in cortex, where our long-term memories reside.
These findings, published yesterday in the journal Science, upend more than 50 years of accepted neuroscience, and they’re being hailed by other neuroscientists. Here’s James Gallagher, reporting for BBC News:
Of all the conditions that affect the elderly, one of the hardest for family and medical providers to deal with is Alzheimer’s disease. This condition impairs memory to the point that some afflicted with the condition can’t remember their loved ones. MIT researchers have found a new potential treatment that has shown promise in testing.
The questions that kids ask about science aren’t always easy to answer. Sometimes, their little brains can lead to big places that adults forget to explore. That is what inspired our series Science Question From A Toddler, which uses kids’ curiosity as a jumping-off point to investigate the scientific wonders that adults don’t even think to ask about. The answers are for adults, but they wouldn’t be possible without the wonder that only a child can bring. I want the toddlers in your life to be a part of it! Send me their science questions, and they may serve as the inspiration for a column. And now, our toddler …
