Retina as indicator of disease: This is not exactly what the optician will see when s/he examines your eye...that would be too easy.
Courtesy CayusaAlzheimer’s disease, that is. A technique developed by researchers at University College London (UCL), located on Repetitious Redundant Lane, allows your optician to not only find the proper lens prescription, but also screen you for early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Their method takes advantage of the fact that the cells in the retina (the light-sensitive lining in the back of the eye) are direct extensions of the brain. As shown in the picture below, the retina is continuous with the optic nerve (also known as cranial nerve II), which then leads straight into the brain. The UCL researchers have found that the amount of retinal cell damage corresponds directly to the amount brain cell deterioration. They have also identified a particular pattern of retinal damage that is characteristic of Alzheimer’s patients.
Relation of the eyes to the optic nerve: Here you can see how closely connected the retinas (the back of the purple blobs) are to the optic nerve, and to the brain.
Courtesy William VromanThe way to measure this damage simply involves using special eye drops that highlight dying retinal cells. Your optician can then observe the extent and configuration of the deterioration. Research shows that cells start to die ten to 20 years before Alzheimer’s symptoms start to surface, so this procedure could be used to diagnose the disease in its early stages. This test would be quick, easy, and inexpensive, and being able to detect the disease early would allow doctors to treat, and possibly reverse the symptoms of this disease.
So far, the researchers have only tested this technique on mice, but they will start to test human subjects in the near future. According to UCL, you might be able to receive this test within the next five years. However, there are some reasons that people might not want to screen themselves. There is fear that insurance companies could increase the premiums of middle aged people who test positive. There are also people who would just rather not know they may have this devastating disease in their future. How about you? Would you want to know?
Tags : Finally, an objective test for autism
Magnetoencephalography (MEG): A scanner that detects magnetic fields in the brain.
Courtesy Tom Holroyd Diagnosing autism spectrum disorders (ASD), up until now, has been subjective. No hard evidence, like a blood test or some other machine measurement could be used to verify ASD.
Researchers now hope that by scanning brainwaves, early recognition and treatment might be possible. Autism spectrum disorders, which includes Aspergers, is now being found in about one per cent of the (US) population.
In the current study, published in the journal Autism Research, Dr Roberts used a magnetoencephalography (MEG), a scanner that detects magnetic fields in the brain.
The children with ASDs had an average delay of 11 milliseconds (about 1/100 of a second) in their brain responses to sounds, compared to the control children. Telegraph.co.uk
You're getting sleepy...sleepy!: Subjects in the University of Hull hypnosis study were asked to imagine a non-existent cat. This isn't it. Or is it?
Courtesy rKnightA new study out of the University of Hull in Great Britain shows a person’s brain displays visible changes while under hypnosis.
Hypnosis has been around for a long time and used by professionals to help people reduce stress or pain, eliminate phobias, quit smoking, lose weight, and for just general relaxation. It’s also used as entertainment.
We’ve all seen the classic routine of volunteers in a trance running around on stage clucking like chickens. Or where somebody suddenly jumps up to dance like Pee Wee Herman when the song “Tequila” starts playing. Or where some poor fool thinks he or she is suddenly buck-naked on stage when the hypnotist utters a “trigger” word or phrase such as “monkey wrench”.
Some folks are easily hypnotized, others aren’t. When I still smoked, I had my doctor use hypnosis to help me stop (I don’t know that it worked – I still smoked after that although I did quit several years later so maybe the hypnosis planted something in my brain). In the past, I’ve volunteered at hypnosis stage shows I’ve attended but never seemed to get picked as a malleable subject. Like me you may considered myself unsusceptible to hypnosis but I believe we’ve all experienced hypnotic states when lost in music, or when driving, or just zoned out in front of the television. It’s as if the conscious brain shifts into neutral and the subconscious takes over.
In the Hull University study, researchers compared the brainwaves of ten “highly suggestible” (i.e. easily hypnotized) individuals against those of seven individuals who had low response to hypnosis. All the test subjects were asked to perform minor tasks such as “seeing” non-existent animals, or “listening” to non-existent music. During rest period between tasks brainwaves were carefully tracked using functional magnetic imaging (fMRI).
It was in these rest periods where the brains of the highly suggestible subjects showed decreased activity in the region where daydreaming or mind wandering occurred. The other group’s brains showed no such change at those times. The results give credence to the theory that hypnosis acts as a primer for individuals susceptible to suggestion.
“Our study shows that hypnosis is real,” said Dr William McGeown, a psychologist at Hull, and the study’s lead researcher. “It corresponds to a unique pattern of brain activation which was not observed in any other experimental condition and was not seen in people who were not hypnotizable.”
Results of the study were published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition.
Hull University press release
More about hypnosis
And even more about hypnosis
Juggling animation: The classic 3-ball cascade
Courtesy Wikimedia CommonsA new study appearing in the journal Nature Neuroscience explains how learning a new complex visual-motor skill, such as juggling, can lead to a significant change in the brain’s white matter. A team from Oxford's Department of Clinical Neurology did the research. Half of the study’s 24 subjects were trained to juggle in the classic three-ball cascade (see animation). They were also asked to practice the skill each day for 30 minutes. After six weeks, MRI scans revealed that the brains of those who learned to juggle showed a marked change in the white matter, the area responsible for networking the pathways in the brain’s grey matter. This new knowledge could lead to aiding in the treatment of neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
You know, like hearing colors or tasting sounds.
And for all of us, really: day dreaming is good for your brain.
Insula Cortex: The highlighted part of the brain is responsible for a range of things such as pain, empathy, and social emotions. Other recent research has linked this part of the brain with cigarette addiction, showing that individuals with damage to this part of the brain were able to give up cigarettes instantly. Maybe similar damage would cure shopping addiction?
Courtesy Sanjay SharmaDo you prefer paying for things with cash or credit card? It seems fairly common sense that paying with a credit card, instead of cash, makes it easier to overspend. Paying with a plastic card, which looks and feels the same no matter how much you spend on it, creates a lot less immediate guilt than paying with cash. Interestingly enough, scientists have pinpointed the part of the brain that is responsible for this phenomenon, called the insula. Also, the way in which you spend (i.e. overspending to combat sadness, buying luxury items just because they're on sale, etc.) is controlled by this part of the brain. Click here for the full article in Newsweek.
The oldest brain, in its natural habitat: Really, you don't even need to read the post if you look at this picture. It tells the whole story.
Courtesy flappingwingsI hate to be the bearer of bad news, but all y’all Buzzketeers can stop your searching—the hunt is over, and the oldest brain on the island nation of Great Britain has been found. The prize goes to this crusty old skull, found in a muddy pit in York. The skull, in turn, person who had his or her head cut off about 2000 years ago, before the Roman invasion of Britain, probably as part of a ritual sacrifice and burial (the head’s body wasn’t buried nearby).
An archaeologist was cleaning the skull (archaeologists love skulls, especially clean ones), when she noticed an “unusual yellow substance” move inside the cranium. Brain.
The “unusual yellow substance” is shrunken and fragmentary, and it probably won’t reveal much about human neurological evolution, as we haven’t evolved much in the last few thousand years (although I beg to differ—let’s see who can beat Double Dragon II first, me or an Iron Age Brit), but it still takes the oldest brain cake. Or the cake for “oldest brain,” lets say. The find is remarkable because soft tissue, brain especially, is rarely preserved over such a long period of time.
The archaeologists did point out, however, that a whole bunch of well-preserved brains inside skulls) surfaced in a Florida peat bog in the 80s, and these brains date back as far as 8000 years. So, you know, USA, USA.
Check-out this website! You can see a 3D cube model of a brain MRI.
Scientists discover a single brain cell dedicated to Jennifer Anniston
To which I say, only one?
Subscribe
.-(cc_noncommercial%257Ccc_nonderived)%26hl%3Den){kind=link}
I want to learn about
Science Buzz is supported by the National Science Foundation.Copyright © Science Museum of Minnesota, 2004-2010, except where noted.
Add a new comment