The Brain In A Bucket
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A new multi-center study, including neurologists and neurosurgeons from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, reveals that Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) – a treatment for Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with medication-resistant muscle movement impairment or tremors – can improve those symptoms and reduce medications for patients implanted with the device. The study appears Online First in Lancet Neurology.
Imagine waking up and being unable to see or recognize anything on the left side of your body. This condition, called hemispatial neglect, is common after a stroke that occurs on the right side of the brain. The current treatment of attention and concentration training using computer and pencil-and-paper tasks is inadequate.
Results from the first multi-center pilot study of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for major depressive disorder were published online today by the Journal of Neurosurgery. The study, conducted at three research facilities in Canada, was designed to replicate and build upon an earlier study by Dr. Andres Lozano and Dr. Helen Mayberg which was published in the journal Neuron in 2005. Sponsored by St. Jude Medical, Inc. (NYSE:STJ), the study demonstrates significant improvement in depression symptoms among patients who are highly treatment resistant.
Electromedical Products International Inc. (EPI) issued an urgent call-to-action this past week for practitioners who prescribe Alpha-Stim to their patients. The complete details and formal announcement from Tracey B. Kirsch, President of EPI are below. Briefly, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) intend to review current evidence for the safety and effectiveness of Alpha-Stim. The FDA posted a notice whereby this matter is now open for public comment, and EPI asks that those who prescribe/use Alpha-Stim to get involved. If the FDA ignores the current positive and plentiful safety/effectiveness data, which they appear set to do, this could mean that Alpha-Stim is removed from the United States’ market until EPI goes through a lengthy and expensive FDA validation process. EPI invites all clinicians and patients who use Alpha-Stim to get involved. Included in this report are detailed instructions on how to get involved, including a suggested letter template and additional background information on this issue.
While deep brain stimulation has gained recognition by referring physicians as a treatment for Parkinson’s disease and other movement disorders, just half of the patients they recommend are appropriate candidates to begin this relatively new therapy immediately, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York say.
One decade after receiving implants that stimulate areas of their brains, patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) appear to sustain improvement in motor function, although part of the initial benefit wore off mainly because of progressive loss of benefit in other functions, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Tom Keilen could not grab a glass of water without spilling it all over himself. Plagued with uncontrollable tremors at just 57 years old, the Michigan resident was fighting a battle against an aggressive case of Parkinson’s disease. He could not work at his job as a plastering contractor. His arms would flail uncontrollably, and the medications usually prescribed for Parkinson’s did not help enough. Keilen sought help at the University of Michigan, where after an extensive assessment, he underwent a deep brain stimulation surgery. Included in this report is a video discussion of deep brain stimulation along with an interview of Tom.
As any student who’s had to study for multiple exams can tell you, trying to learn two different sets of facts one after another is challenging. As you study for the physics exam, almost inevitably some of the information for the history exam is forgotten. It has been widely believed that this interference between memories develops because the brain simply does not have the capacity necessary to process both memories in quick succession. But is this truly the case?
Inhibitory control can be boosted with a mild form of brain stimulation, according to a study published in the June 2011 issue of Neuroimage, Elsevier’s Journal of Brain Function. The study’s findings indicate that non-invasive intervention can greatly improve patients’ inhibitory control. Conducted by a research team led by Dr. Chi-Hung Juan of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, National Central University in Taiwan, the research was sponsored by the National Science Council in Taiwan, the UK Medical Research Council, the Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award, and a Fulbright Award.
Medications are the mainstay of treatment for epilepsy, but for a considerable number of patients — estimated to be as many as 1 million in the U.S. — drugs do not work. These patients suffer from a type of epilepsy known as refractory or drug-resistant epilepsy, in which drugs cannot control their seizures. But at an epilepsy conference last month, Dr. Christopher DeGiorgio, a UCLA professor of neurology, presented the results of a non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical treatment that shows promise in controlling seizures.
