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Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a surgical procedure used to treat a variety of disabling neurological symptoms—most commonly the debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), such as tremor, rigidity, stiffness, slowed movement, and walking problems. The procedure is also used to treat essential tremor, a common neurological movement disorder. At present, the procedure is used only for patients whose symptoms cannot be adequately controlled with medications.

DBS uses a surgically implanted, battery-operated medical device called a neurostimulator—similar to a heart pacemaker and approximately the size of a stopwatch—to deliver electrical stimulation to targeted areas in the brain that control movement, blocking the abnormal nerve signals that cause tremor and PD symptoms.

Before the procedure, a neurosurgeon uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scanning to identify and locate the exact target within the brain where electrical nerve signals generate the PD symptoms. Some surgeons may use microelectrode recording—which involves a small wire that monitors the activity of nerve cells in the target area—to more specifically identify the precise brain target that will be stimulated. Generally, these targets are the thalamus, subthalamic nucleus, and globus pallidus.
Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College wins AWSM Award for Excellence

Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College wins AWSM Award for Excellence

Dr. Laurie H. Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medical College and provost for medical affairs of Cornell University, is the winner of a prestigious award from a group of female scientists from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research dedicated to celebrating outstanding women in science and medicine. [More]
Kinesia ProView™ launched to visualize motor symptom severity response to deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson’s patients

Kinesia ProView™ launched to visualize motor symptom severity response to deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson’s patients

Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies announced today the product launch of Kinesia ProView™ to visualize motor symptom severity response during programming of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for Parkinson’s disease. Kinesia ProView provides a standardized platform to quantitatively assess how symptoms such as tremor, bradykinesia, and dyskinesias change in response to specific DBS settings during outpatient programming procedures. [More]
Inhibiting powerful protein with new agents may supply broad benefit for lymphoma patients

Inhibiting powerful protein with new agents may supply broad benefit for lymphoma patients

A soon-to-be-tested class of drug inhibitors were predicted to help a limited number of patients with B-cell lymphomas with mutations affecting the EZH2 protein. [More]
Researchers successfully test new anti-cocaine vaccine in primates

Researchers successfully test new anti-cocaine vaccine in primates

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have successfully tested their novel anti-cocaine vaccine in primates, bringing them closer to launching human clinical trials. [More]
Nicotine in peppers and tomatoes may provide protective effect against Parkinson's disease

Nicotine in peppers and tomatoes may provide protective effect against Parkinson's disease

New research reveals that Solanaceae-a flowering plant family with some species producing foods that are edible sources of nicotine-may provide a protective effect against Parkinson's disease. The study appearing today in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society, suggests that eating foods that contain even a small amount of nicotine, such as peppers and tomatoes, may reduce risk of developing Parkinson's. [More]
Nearly 1/10 stroke patients suffer from chronic and debilitating pain

Nearly 1/10 stroke patients suffer from chronic and debilitating pain

Nearly 1 in 10 stroke patients suffer chronic and debilitating pain, typically described as sharp, stabbing or burning. It's called central poststroke pain syndrome (CPSP). It was first described more than 100 years ago, and it is treatable with medications and magnetic or electrical stimulation of the brain. [More]
DBS appears to reduce caloric intake and weight loss in obese animal models

DBS appears to reduce caloric intake and weight loss in obese animal models

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a precise region of the brain appears to reduce caloric intake and prompt weight loss in obese animal models, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. [More]
Transcranial magnetic stimulation benefits in Parkinson’s disease

Transcranial magnetic stimulation benefits in Parkinson’s disease

A course of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered over the supplementary motor area improves motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease, shows results from a randomized controlled trial. [More]
Sofosbuvir is safer than interferon for hepatitis C patients, say scientists

Sofosbuvir is safer than interferon for hepatitis C patients, say scientists

A new drug is offering dramatic cure rates for hepatitis C patients with two subtypes of the infection -- genotype 2 and 3, say a team of scientists led by Weill Cornell Medical College researchers. [More]
Research: DBS may provide therapeutic relief to binge eating

Research: DBS may provide therapeutic relief to binge eating

Deep brain stimulation in a precise region of the brain appears to reduce caloric intake and prompt weight loss in obese animal models, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. [More]
Non-invasive brain surgery: an interview with Dr Andres Lozano, University of Toronto

Non-invasive brain surgery: an interview with Dr Andres Lozano, University of Toronto

MR-guided focused ultrasound is a new technique that involves focusing 1024 beams of ultrasound through the skull to a focal point in the brain, very much like using the sun and a magnifying glass to burn a hole in a sheet of paper. [More]
St. Jude Medical gets European CE Mark approval for deep brain stimulation systems

St. Jude Medical gets European CE Mark approval for deep brain stimulation systems

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced European CE Mark approval of its Brio, Libra and LibraXP deep brain stimulation systems for managing the symptoms of intractable primary and secondary dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes a person's muscles to contract and involuntarily spasm, reducing the ability to control movement. [More]
Physicians stimulate patients' medial forebrain bundles to reduce major depression

Physicians stimulate patients' medial forebrain bundles to reduce major depression

Researchers from the Bonn University Hospital implanted pacemaker electrodes into the medial forebrain bundle in the brains of patients suffering from major depression with amazing results: In six out of seven patients, symptoms improved both considerably and rapidly. [More]
Weill Cornell Medical College sets up new Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute

Weill Cornell Medical College sets up new Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute

Weill Cornell Medical College has established the new Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, a unique, multidisciplinary translational neuroscience research hub. Named in honor of long-time benefactors Gertrude and Louis Feil, the institute was created with a generous $28 million gift from the Feil Family. [More]
New born neurons as a therapeutic strategy: an interview with Mi-Hyeon Jang, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota

New born neurons as a therapeutic strategy: an interview with Mi-Hyeon Jang, Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota

There are two regions in the brain that continue to produce new neurons well into adulthood. One of these regions is the hippocampus and as we converse this region is actively involved in memory formation, mood regulation and cognition. [More]
Study raises alarm over loss of individual 'genomic liberty' due to gene patents

Study raises alarm over loss of individual 'genomic liberty' due to gene patents

Humans don't "own" their own genes, the cellular chemicsals that define who they are and what diseases they might be at risk for. Through more than 40,000 patents on DNA molecules, companies have essentially claimed the entire human genome for profit, report two researchers who analyzed the patents on human DNA. Their study, published March 25 in the journal Genome Medicine, raises an alarm about the loss of individual "genomic liberty." [More]

Academic medical centers launch ASD sub-registry within ResearchMatch

Each year, only five percent of the estimated 1.5 million children with an autism spectrum disorder in the US participate in clinical research studies. This is in stark contrast to pediatric cancer studies, which have a nearly 90 percent enrollment rate - a rate that has helped advance treatment and outcomes for childhood cancers substantially in the last decade. [More]
Two studies shed light on molecular biology of three blood disorders

Two studies shed light on molecular biology of three blood disorders

Two studies led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medical College shed light on the molecular biology of three blood disorders, leading to novel strategies to treat these diseases. [More]
Researchers expand hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation

Researchers expand hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation

More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation -- a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system. [More]

Weill Cornell researcher suggests ways to improve patient safety, high-level care

In its 2001 report Crossing the Quality Chasm, the Institute of Medicine outlined six domains of quality in medical care: safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity. [More]