Thalamus News and Research

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The Thalamus is an area of the brain that helps process information from the senses and transmit it to other parts of the brain.

General anesthesia's similarities with and differences from sleep and coma

The use of general anesthesia is a routine part of surgical operations at hospitals and medical facilities around the world, but the precise biological mechanisms that underlie anesthetic drugs' effects on the brain and the body are only beginning to be understood. A review article in the December 30 New England Journal of Medicine brings together for the first time information from a range of disciplines, including neuroscience and sleep medicine, to lay the groundwork for more comprehensive investigations of processes underlying general anesthesia.

30 Dec 2010

Neuroscientists say that general anesthesia is a reversible coma

The brain under general anesthesia isn't "asleep" as surgery patients are often told -- it is placed into a state that is a reversible coma, according to three neuroscientists who have published an extensive review of general anesthesia, sleep and coma, in the Dec. 30 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

30 Dec 2010

Closer to restoring vision loss due to optic nerve damage

Damage to the optic nerve, connecting the eye with the brain, is a major cause of blindness. The most common culprit is glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans. There is currently no way to restore the lost vision, because the optic nerve, like other nerves in the mature central nervous system (CNS), cannot regenerate. Now, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report achieving the greatest regeneration to date in the mammalian optic nerve.

4 Dec 2010

New brain imaging technique can trace effects of SYN115 drug in Parkinson's disease

Neuroscientists using a new brain imaging technique could see an investigational drug for Parkinson's disease get into a patient's brain and affect blood flow in several key structures, an indicator the drug may be effective.

1 Dec 2010

Study finds biological basis of brain's ability for rapid adaptation

A new study in the Nov. 21 advance online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience details the biological basis of this ability for rapid adaptation: neurons located at the beginning of the brain's sensory information pathway that change their level of simultaneous firing.

23 Nov 2010

Research on fruit flies reveal novel human pain gene

While it has become clear in recent years that susceptibility to pain has a strong inherited component, very little is known about actual "pain genes" and how they work. In the November 12th issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and their collaborators report on a novel human pain gene. People with minor variations in this gene showed clear differences in susceptibility to acute heat pain and chronic back pain.

12 Nov 2010

New radiotracer application may advance understanding of estrogen-related diseases

A study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has demonstrated that a molecule "tagged" with a radioactive form of carbon can be used to image aromatase, an enzyme responsible for the production of estrogen, in the human brain. The research, published in the November issue of Synapse, also uncovered that the regions of the brain where aromatase is concentrated may be unique to humans.

4 Nov 2010

Medtronic Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy for severe epilepsy receives CE Mark approval

Medtronic, Inc. today announced that the company has received CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark approval for Medtronic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Therapy in Europe as adjunctive treatment for partial-onset seizures in adults with medically refractory epilepsy. DBS therapy for epilepsy delivers controlled electrical pulses to a target in the brain called the anterior nucleus of the thalamus, which is part of a circuit involved in seizures.

17 Sep 2010

Brain-wave pattern study may lead to techniques for enhancing sleep spindles

People who have trouble sleeping in noisy environments often resort to strategies like earplugs or noise-cancelling headphones that muffle the sound, but a new study from investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may lead to ways to block disturbing sounds within the brain. In their report in the August 10 issue of Current Biology, the team reports finding a brain-wave pattern, reflecting activity of a key structure, that predicts the ease at which sleep can be disrupted by noise.

10 Aug 2010

Sound sleepers show distinct pattern of spontaneous brain rhythms: Research

Ever wonder why some people can sleep through just about anything, while others get startled awake at each and every bump in the night? A new report in the August 10th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, offers some insight: sound sleepers show a distinct pattern of spontaneous brain rhythms.We found that by measuring brain waves during sleep, we could learn a lot about how well a person's brain can block the negative effects of sounds; the more sleep spindles your brain produces, the more likely you'll stay asleep, even when confronted with noise, said Jeffrey Ellenbogen of Harvard Medical School.

10 Aug 2010

IBS associated with structural changes in specific brain regions

A large academic study has demonstrated structural changes in specific brain regions in female patients with irritable bowel syndrome, a condition that causes pain and discomfort in the abdomen, along with diarrhea, constipation or both

23 Jul 2010

CPAP Therapy increases gray-matter volume in obstructive sleep apnea patients

Obstructive sleep apnea patients had reductions of grey-matter volume at baseline but showed significant grey-matter volume increase after three months of CPAP therapy, according to a research abstract that will be presented Monday, June 7, 2010, in San Antonio, Texas, at SLEEP 2010, the 24th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC.

7 Jun 2010

Researchers use CASL MRI technique to map cerebral blood flow patterns in schizophrenic patients

Researchers in Germany have used a magnetic resonance imaging technique called continuous arterial spin labeling to map cerebral blood flow patterns in schizophrenic patients quickly and without using radiation or contrast agents. Their findings appear in the online edition and July printed issue of the journal Radiology.

26 May 2010

New research shows link between mental health and creativity

New research shows a possible explanation for the link between mental health and creativity. By studying receptors in the brain, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to show that the dopamine system in healthy, highly creative people is similar in some respects to that seen in people with schizophrenia.

18 May 2010

Blood-flow fMRI to be used to study brain-wide impact of neural circuitry changes

Like a motorist who knows that the "check engine" light indicates something important but ill-defined is happening, neuroscientists have relied heavily on an incompletely understood technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging to show them what the brain is doing when people respond to different stimuli.

17 May 2010

Brain changes indicative of Fragile X syndrome take place early

Brain changes associated with the most common cause of mental retardation can be seen in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of children as young as one to three years old, according to a study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University.

4 May 2010

Transgenic mouse model study confirms passage of maternal thyroid hormones to fetus

Until now there were only indirect evidence of the transfer of thyroid hormones from mother to fetus through the placenta during pregnancy. That event is very important because the maternal thyroid hormones appear to play a key role in the development of the nervous system and other organs of the fetus; so it's true that in case of maternal thyroid disease, such hypothyroidism, have a direct bearing on the unborn child with reduction, also significant, to its Q.I..

12 Apr 2010

Study results of Medtronic DBS Therapy for epilepsy published in Epilepsia

Medtronic, Inc. today announced that a landmark publication highlighting results from the pivotal study for Medtronic Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Therapy for epilepsy, known as SANTE® (Stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus in Epilepsy), was published online today in the medical journal, Epilepsia. The SANTE study, sponsored by Medtronic, is the largest and most rigorous clinical study of DBS therapy for epilepsy in adults with medically refractory epilepsy with partial-onset seizures.

19 Mar 2010

SANTE study: Deep brain stimulation can reduce seizures

A recent study organized by Stanford University researchers found patients with refractory partial and secondarily generalized seizures had a reduction in seizures after deep brain stimulation. This multi-center clinical trial determined that the benefits of stimulation of the anterior nuclei of thalamus for epilepsy (SANTE) persisted and by 2 years there was a 56% reduction in seizure frequency.

18 Mar 2010

FDA Neurological Devices Panel recommends approval of DBS Therapy for epilepsy

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Neurological Devices Panel today voted seven to five to recommend approval with conditions of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Therapy for Epilepsy from Medtronic, Inc. as adjunctive treatment for partial-onset seizures in adults with medically refractory epilepsy.

15 Mar 2010