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Study measures brain activity in infants to better understand their pain response

Recently, the accuracy of current methods of pain assessment in babies have been called into question. New research from London-area hospitals and the University of Oxford measures brain activity in infants to better understand their pain response.

22 Dec 2011

Nearly half of children with epilepsy experience adverse events due to invasive EEG

Some type of adverse event occurs in nearly half of children with severe epilepsy undergoing invasive electroencephalography (EEG) recordings, reports a study in the December issue of Operative Neurosurgery, a quarterly supplement to Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.

14 Dec 2011

Potential medical and social barriers to resective epilepsy surgery in patients after initial evaluation

Epilepsy surgery is safe, effective and often curative in selected candidates. Although candidates for epilepsy surgery in the United States are estimated between 100,000 and 200,000, fewer than 5,000 such surgeries are conducted each year. The cause of this disparity is multi-factorial, including an unexplained low level of referrals by physicians and choices made by patients themselves.

5 Dec 2011

ACGME approves Cedars-Sinai's neurology residency training program

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has approved a neurology residency training program at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Recruitment of the first group of three residents is under way through the 2012 "match," a process in which an independent organization pairs applicants with programs to meet the preferences of each.

30 Nov 2011

Biofeedback optimal performance training can improve quality of life for athletes

Biofeedback optimal performance training can benefit not only the sports performance, but also the overall life functioning of an athlete. Individual athletes, teams, and coaches can gain from a multidisciplinary approach of cognitive and behavioral psychology, biofeedback, and neurofeedback. The U.S. Air Force Academy Peak Performance Center offers student-athletes this additional focus on their sports performance and quality of life.

23 Nov 2011

Simple portable test can diagnose 'vegetative' patients with consciousness

The Coma Science Group, led by Dr Steven Laureys, has developed, along with its partners in London, Ontario, (Canada) and Cambridge (England), a portable test which will permit a simpler and less expensive diagnosis of 'vegetative' patients who still have consciousness, despite the fact that they do not have the means to express it.

9 Nov 2011

AiC: Health Research receives U.S. Army grant for neuroimaging studies of human performance

The Arlington Innovation Center: Health Research (AiC: Health Research), of Virginia Tech's National Capital Region, has been awarded a $1.5 million cooperative research and development agreement from the U.S. Army for neuroimaging studies of human performance.

14 Oct 2011

Advertisements seduce consumers to buy products

Are you wooed by advertising? Of course you are. After all, it's one thing to go out and buy a new washing machine after the old one exploded, quite another to impulse-buy that 246-inch flat screen TV that just maybe, in hindsight, you didn't really need.

21 Sep 2011

Study: K-complexes control effects of noise on sleep

During sleep, our perception of the environment decreases. However the extent to which the human brain responds to surrounding noises during sleep remains unclear. In a study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), researchers from University of Liège used brain imaging to study responses to sounds during sleep.

7 Sep 2011

Fluctuations in brain signals explained: Spontaneous electrical background rhythms in the brain influence fMRI

Until now, brain scans obtained using fMRI – one of the most important imaging methods in use today – have been affected by fluctuations in the brain activity measured which could not be explained. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig and the Charité in Berlin have now shown that certain electric background rhythms in the brain, known as Alpha oscillations, alter the fMRI signal obtained with visual stimuli. To do this, they used a new approach in which quickly changing brain activity, which cannot be captured by the scanner, was measured using

16 Aug 2011

Resection of brain regions with fast ripples may improve seizure outcome in pediatric epilepsy: Study

New research focusing on high-frequency oscillations, termed ripples and fast ripples, recorded by intracranial electroencephalography, may provide an important marker for the localization of the brain region responsible for seizure activity.

30 Jul 2011

Engineers work to design prosthetic arm that allows amputees to feel what they touch

Engineering researchers at four U.S. universities are embarking on a four-year project to design a prosthetic arm that amputees can control directly with their brains and that will allow them to feel what they touch.

28 Jul 2011

Noninvasive brain computer interface could turn thoughts into motion

"Brain cap" technology being developed at the University of Maryland allows users to turn their thoughts into motion. Associate Professor of Kinesiology José 'Pepe' L. Contreras-Vidal and his team have created a non-invasive, sensor-lined cap with neural interface software that soon could be used to control computers, robotic prosthetic limbs, motorized wheelchairs and even digital avatars.

28 Jul 2011

GTRI develops novel iPhone application for patients with Parkinson's

Researchers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) have developed a novel iPhone application that may enable persons with Parkinson's disease and certain other neurological conditions to use the ubiquitous devices to collect data on hand and arm tremors and relay the results to medical personnel.

24 Jun 2011

Electrical disturbances in injured brain lead to poor recovery

Electrical disturbances that spread through an injured brain like tsunamis have a direct link to poor recovery and can last far longer than previously realized, researchers at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute have found.

20 May 2011

Study: MMN might predict risk of developing schizophrenia

There is a significant need for objective tests that could improve clinical prediction of future psychosis. One strategy has been to determine whether physiologic measures that are abnormal in people diagnosed with schizophrenia might also be useful in estimating the risk for developing this illness. This is the strategy taken by German and Swiss researchers in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry.

18 May 2011

Cardiac pacing may help epilepsy patients with seizure-related falls

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that cardiac pacing may help epilepsy patients with seizure-related falls due to ictal asystole, an unusual condition in which the heart stops beating during an epileptic seizure. The study was recently published in the journal Epilepsia.

24 Mar 2011