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Brain Pacemaker Helps Treat Alzheimer's Disease

Posted by samzenpus on from the remember-this dept.

First time accepted submitter Press2ToContinue writes "Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is the use of a pacemaker-like device implanted in the brain to treat the symptoms of diseases like Parkinson's, or other maladies such as depression. For the first time in the US, surgeons at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland have used this technique to attempt to slow memory loss in a patient suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The fornix, a vital part of the brain that brings data to the hippocampus, is being targeted with this device. Essentially, the fornix is the area of the brain that converts electrical activity into chemical activity. Holes are drilled into the skull, and wires are placed on both sides of the brain. Then, the stimulator device pumps in small and unnoticeable electrical impulses upwards of 130 times per second. Half of the patients will begin the electrical treatment two weeks post-surgery, but the other half won't have their pacemakers turned on until a full year after the surgery to provide comparison data for the study."

9 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. What about a healthy brain by James+McGuigan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Now could you use this in a happy healthy brain to become even more happy and healthy?

    1. Re:What about a healthy brain by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Being introverted is different from being depressed. A very introverted person (someone who doesn't interact with the outside world) is may appear depressed to a lot of people since most humans tend to run towards the middle of the introversion / extroversion axis. Extremely extroverted people tend to be regarded as 'crazy' or some other pejorative. But said introvert can be happy and feel that life is good in that respect.

      A hallmark of depression is increasing introversion - a breaking of ties to the external world, but the normative curve for introversion is pretty broad. On top of that, different societies have different tolerances for all sorts of human personality traits so it gets ... complicated.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:What about a healthy brain by Rockoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Being introverted is different from being depressed.

      No shit Sherlock. Doesn't defeat the point, does it?

      Now tell us, why isn't someone that is happy all the time not considered sick?

      Apparently being locked in an emotional or behavioral state is only evidence of a problem if its not an emotional or behavioral state on the approved list.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
  2. Re:whatnow?? by Tastecicles · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know, how traumatic is having your children stolen then one of them being told to tell his new school that his parents are dead?

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.
  3. No, no, no. by Seumas · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only thing that terrifies me more than getting something like Alzheimer's and being robbed of my memories and experiences and personality is the idea of having any form of brain surgery. Thinking about this story is the kind of shit that keeps me up at night. :)

    1. Re: No, no, no. by GLMDesigns · · Score: 4, Informative

      My father went through Alzheimers. He knew that he should know something and could not recall it. It's a horrifying disease and the person knows it (at least for the first few stages.) At the end, maybe you're right. But you have years of misery before that point.

      --
      If you're scared of your govt then you need to further restrict its powers
      Vote 3rd Party in 2016 and beyond
  4. The Terminal Man by mu22le · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't this the plot of an old Michael Crichton novel? The only difference is that the protagonist was affected by epilepsia rather than parkinson.

  5. Fornix by venicebeach · · Score: 4, Informative

    "Essentially, the fornix is the area of the brain that converts electrical activity into chemical activity."

    That is an egregious description of the fornix. All of the brain's electrical activity is electro-chemical, and the fornix has no special role that relates to converting electrical activity into chemical activity.

    The fornix is a bundle of axons (i.e. a white matter tract) that connects the hippocampus with the hypothalamus.

  6. Re:whatnow?? by Tastecicles · · Score: 4, Interesting

    CPS used fraud in a commercial tribunal to "legally" kidnap my children citing "risk of future emotional harm". I have never been arrested, charged, tried or convicted of any crime. I get to see them eight times a year for one hour at a time. IF it suits CPS to allow me to do so. It was during one of these "contact" sessions in 2010 that an unprompted disclosure was made. CPS immediately STOPPED further contact, and I had to drag their arses through a commercial tribunal to *see my own children*. I still do not have letterbox or telephone contact, nor do I even know what schools they go to, although I do know that they have been separated, and the older two are being pumped full of psychotropic drugs.

    Next daft question?

    --
    Operation Guillotine is in effect.