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The latest news from across neurorehabilitation.
Smarter rehab18 OctAI experts have successfully addressed what they call a "major, long-standing obstacle to increasing AI capabilities" by drawing inspiration from a human brain memory mechanism known as "replay."
They have developed a new method to protect - "surprisingly efficiently" - deep neural networks from "catastrophic forgetting" - upon learning new lessons, the networks forget what they had learned before. The work, by postdoctoral researcher Gido van de Ven and principal investigator Andreas Tolias at Baylor, with Hava Siegelmann at UMass Amherst, was published in Nature Communications. Siegelmann and colleagues point out that deep neural networks are the main drivers behind recent AI advances, but progress is held back by this forgetting.
Research18 OctDuring group problem solving the components of the social brain are co-activated, but they do not increase their coupling during cooperation as would be suggested for a holistic network.
That is according to a new study - 'social brain', a hypothetical network of different areas of the brain responsible for interacting with other people; published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. In this science, the brain of a person is most often studied while the person observes interactions between others without taking part in them themselves. This is due to the complexity of conducting experiments with active communication. Modern equipment for studying the brain is not adapted to situations in which a person can freely move and talk during the scanning process.
Tech & industry18 OctArtificial intelligence is lauded for its ability to solve problems humans cannot, thanks to novel computing architectures that process large amounts of complex data quickly. As a result, AI methods, such as machine learning, computer vision, and neural networks, are applied to some of the most difficult problems in science and society.
One tough problem is the diagnosis, surgical treatment, and monitoring of brain diseases. The range of AI technologies available for dealing with brain disease is growing fast, and exciting new methods are being applied to brain problems as computer scientists gain a deeper understanding of the capabilities of advanced algorithms.
Brain injury18 OctIn a studio in East London, a studio full of artists get to work, with one small difference – they all survived a traumatic brain injury. Photographer Leon Foggitt tells NR Times about his experience capturing the artists.
More than four years ago, photographer Leon Foggitt spotted an article about a collective of artists who’d survived a brain injury, and there was a charity where they could learn to be artists. He was intrigued.
News17 OctA new study has given hope that a 'brain retraining' approach could be effective in treating fibromyalgia. Globally it is estimated that at least 2% to 5% of the population suffer from this complex pain condition in some form, and until now there has been a lack of effective treatments. But a novel neuroplasticity treatment known as “amygdala and insula retraining” was delivered in addition to mindfulness, in a combination known as MAIR, or the “Gupta Programme”. It was tested for eight weeks against a control group engaging in an equivalent amount of relaxation techniques.
News16 OctRegeneration of functional new neurons to repair injured human brain is a long-term unsolved problem up till today. The lack of neuroregeneration is one of the major reasons why so many brain disorders such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease do not have a cure yet.
A research team led by Prof. Gong Chen at Jinan University (Guangzhou, China) published a work in Neural Regeneration Research, providing unambiguous data that brain internal astrocytes are directly converted into neurons through lineage tracing studies. Using brain internal astrocytes, a type of supporting cells to neurons, to directly convert into new neurons is an innovative brain repair technology that may benefit millions of patients worldwide.
News16 OctWhen newborn babies or children with heart or lung distress are struggling to survive, doctors often turn to a form of life support that uses artificial lungs. This treatment, called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), has been credited with saving countless lives. But in some cases, it can also lead to long-term brain injury.
Now, a research team led by scientists in the US - at UT Southwestern in Texas - has shown that a machine learning program can predict, more accurately than doctors, which babies and children are most likely to suffer brain injury after ECMO. "Doctors have always had some intuition about who might be at risk, but until now we really haven't had good data to pinpoint what factors are precipitating brain injury from ECMO," says study leader Lakshmi Raman, associate professor of paediatrics at UT Southwestern and a critical care specialist at Children's Health.
Legal16 OctIn personal injury claims, there is a three year time limit (in the vast majority, but not all, cases) to start a claim, writes Irwin Mitchell's David Withers.
If an injured person fails to start Court Proceedings within the three year period and there are no exceptions that apply, they run the risk of the Court finding that their claim has become “statute barred”. In other words, the Defendant would have a complete defence, even if the breach of duty (fault) had been obvious. Under the Limitation Act 1980, the Courts have the discretion to allow cases to proceed even if they are brought out of time.
News16 OctMental health problems such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and depression are common among healthcare staff during and immediately after pandemics – according to new research from the University of East Anglia.
Researchers investigated how treating patients in past pandemics such as SARS and MERS affected the mental health of front-line staff. They found that almost a quarter of health-care workers (23.4 per cent) experienced PTSD symptoms during the most intense ‘acute’ phase of previous pandemic outbreaks – with 11.9 per cent of carers still experiencing symptoms a year on.
News16 OctMore than four out of five (85%) stroke survivors have reported being told that their recoveries would be limited to within the first year after their stroke according to a survey conducted by the Stroke Association pre-Covid-19.
Stroke survivors also said as a result, this has left them despairing about their recovery. When told about the timing of their recovery: Almost all stroke survivors reported feeling low (91%), worried (91%) and afraid (90%) Over three quarters (77%) of stroke survivors felt angry. One in five (20%) stroke survivors did not feel any hope at all. The charity is releasing these new findings as part of its Rebuilding Lives campaign to highlight the importance that hope plays in people’s recovery.
