Slashdot Mirror
Banjo Used In Brain Surgery
Ponca City, We love you writes "Legendary bluegrass musician Eddie Adcock has undergone brain surgery to treat a hand tremor, playing his banjo throughout to test the success of the procedure. Adcock suffers from essential tremor, a condition where there is a continuing deterioration in areas of the brain that control movement, causing a tremor that usually appears when the person tries to act or move. Deep brain stimulation can be used to treat the movement difficulties of both Parkinson's and essential tremor by sinking an electrode into the thalamus, a deep brain area that is part of the motor loop — a circuit that helps coordinate movement. Surgeons placed electrodes in Adcock's brain and fitted a pacemaker in his chest, which delivers a small current that shuts down the region of his brain causing the tremors. The most sensible thing to do was to tweak the system while Adcock was playing the banjo to optimize the effect for the thing that's most important to him."
...for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyKvD-4IxOY
(Now imagine the brain surgeon trying to work with that going on...)
Oliver Sacks has anecdotes in his book Musicophilia about patients that have lost all interest in music, or even consider it irksome noise. Things could have been worse after brain surgery than just losing the ability to play the banjo. It's crazy to think how malleable our interest in or capability for music could be.
I was told that to really appreciate music, you have to get inside the head of the musician. This wins...
Yes, they're that immature.
"It's not Lupus, now go fry his brain."
Did anyone else find the title more interesting without reading the summary?
...this means when i have the surgery i will be enjoying some self loving, in the form of hand pleasure. "The most sensible thing to do was to tweak the system while Adcock was playing the banjo to optimize the effect for the thing that's most important to him.""
the bariatric surgery retractor and the spinal pedicle screw have successfully been used to perform "I am a Man of Constant Sorrow" by the Soggy Bottom Boys
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Actually this isn't that unusual. In nerosurguries where the goal is not to correct some gross defect (e.g. cancer, stroke, railroad spike in a frontal lobe) the subject is often kept awake while the surgeon uses a probe to see if they can stimulate the neurological event that they're trying to surpress. I've seen it mostly with things like epilepsy, but I've been following the deep brain stim research, and it seems completely logical that they'd use the same methodology for that procedure.
That being said, watching a video (oh yes, there are videos) of someone with a big chunk out of the top of their head chattering away while a bunch of surgeons stand around behind them, poking at their brain...Lot of times the stimulation will create neurological artifacts...Memories, smells, lights...It's truly bizarre to watch. Not for the weak of stomach. //Former cognitive science major. Didn't much care for neuroanatomy.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Sure thing. Here's your money back, asswipe.
off a skyscraper, which one hits the ground first?
A. Who cares?
Disclaimer: It's All Been Said Before.
Q: What's the difference between a banjo and a trampoline?
A: People take off their shoes before jumping on a trampoline.
Q: Ever hear someone say, "Hey, there's that mansion where that famous banjo player lives?"
A: No, and you never will
I am currently trolling on slashdot to test the success of my brain surgery. So far everything is just fi ~2 ,'`~ s asb a77777777777
Table-ized A.I.
I find this both increible and humbling at the same time... incredible because of the patient's bravery and the surgeons ability to get in there and treat his condition. But humbling because it seems like a car engineer repeatedly reving an engine when trying to work out where some squeek or somesuch is coming from. Perhaps one day we'll have scanners that can analyse brain function and guide tiny little robots to make repairs - rather than cut the top of someone's head off while they play the bango.
It's very common to have brain surgery like this while awake. In fact it's more common than being unconscious for this type of "functional" surgery because they need to know what they are doing to you in real time.
Usually they anethetise the patient for the first bit, opening the skull and so on. Then they gently bring them back to consciousness to check that the operation is not effecting brain function adversely. For example, when a tumour is removed in speech areas they'll have a nice chat with the patient. Once done they'll put the patient back under. The conscious part of the operation doesn't usually last that long.
I just hope no one from Slashdot forum has to undergo such a procedure as Adcock did. They might allow you to play with your banjo in the operating room but with their hobbies tending towards masturbation and all... Well you get the idea..
-*ZIP ZIP ZAP!*- "Giggidy Giggidy! Right there doc! Hold whatcha got!"
It looks like a job for Buckaroo Banzai !
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Dueling Brain-Stems??? Gotta love it! Anyone for "Devil Went Down to Thalamus"? Ok, I'll stop here.
I guess in this case, the banjo tuned him.
Jackhammer. Now that's news.
Or how about: "Good thing he doesn't play the tuba".
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
I have a friend who constantly gets those mixed up... "it's not brain science" she says, or "it's not rocket surgery."
I think she does it deliberately to irritate people.
If anyone is wondering about the type of surgery being performed, here is a link describing it: http://mdc.mbi.ufl.edu/candidate/candidate-whatisdbs.htm
With Deep Brain Stimulation, the patient is often awake for as much of the surgery as possible. The surgeries usually can be done in a morning or an afternoon.
Here is a video of a DBS surgery: http://www.or-live.com/vanderbilt/2319/
It also helps that you don't have pain receptors (or pressure receptors?) inside your brain, only around it.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
...on whose shoulders everyone else is standing. SDs readership has never heard of him, but he's a pioneer and still a great player. A nice guy too, and a good teacher. He did a terrific banjo workshop at my school when I was an undergrad, and kept showing us licks and cracking us up with stories, for hours past the scheduled time.
Hey. Mods. Whoosh.
Brain function? Grammar?
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
If I have to have a procedure, better it be Adcock than Subtractcock!
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Damn kids... :p
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."