Toyota and RIKEN develops control of Wheelchairs with Brain Waves

The BSI-Toyota Collaboration Centre (BTCC) managed by RIKEN has successfully developed a method to control wheelchairs using brain waves in as little as 125 milliseconds (125/1000th of a second). The rapid processing of the brain waves means that users can navigate the wheelchair as they do in real-time. Brain waves analysis are also displayed on the interface panel so quickly that users will receive nearly instant feedback. According to the press release, the system developed has been tested to have up to 95% of accuracy, which is also one of the highest in the world.

Controlling the wheelchair using brain waves. Photo from Associated Press.

The technology has also been reported around the world by Medgadget and UK’s Daily Mail.

Taiwanese doctors shows success of Deep Brain Stimulation to solve Mood Changes

Taiwan’s China Post reported that doctors at the Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital in Hualien County, northeastern Taiwan, reported earlier this week that they have solved the problem of mood changes suffered by eight patients after they received deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery to treat Parkinson’s disease.

According to Chen Shih-yuan, convener of the hospital’s Parkinson’s Clinical and Research Center, the hospital has treated 99 Parkinson’s disease patients since 2002 using the DBS therapy. He said that while most of the patients saw their quality of life improved because of the surgery, a few showed adverse changes of mood and often quarreled with their family members.

In order to understand the cause for these mood changes, Chen partnered with Tsai Sheng-tzung, chief resident at the hospital’s Department of Neurosurgery to undertake a study whereby 38 patients who received DBS surgery were placed under observation for more than one year. From this exercise, they concluded that a total of eight of the test subjects were affected by mood changes.

Comparison of research data between patients suffering from mood changes and those not affected by mood changes led to the finding that electrodes implanted in their brains were in apparently different areas of the thalamus than those patients who had no mood change problems. From this, the 8 patients who suffered from mood changes underwent additional surgery to adjust the positions of the electrodes in their brains, in conjuction with them taking medicine to stabilize their conditions. The researchers have thus far shown that the procedure has solved the problems of mood changes in the 8 patients.

Riken moves forward with research on Alzheimer’s

A team from the Laboratory for Proteolytic Neuroscience at RIKEN is conducting extensive research on Alzheimer’s disease, specifically focusing on the study of somatostatin, a neuropeptide that inhibits the secretion of growth hormones. This research in intended to lead to the discovery of new medicine for Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer’s disease is a cognitive dysfunction disorder that occurs when nerve cells are impaired and and thus affects brain activity. There are around 24 million Alzheimer patients worldwide. Amyloid peptide has been identified as the pathogen that exhibits neurotoxicity and consists of 42 amino acids which are produced in the brain. The disease occurs when amyloids peptides accumulate in excess outside of the nerve cells.

The Researchers at Riken also discovered that Neprilysin, which breaks up amyloid peptide, diminishes with age and decreases even further upon the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

In the laboratory, they treated an Alzheimer’s disease model mouse with a gene therapy that boosted the activity of Neprilysin by 10 times, and as a result, were able to suppress the accumulation of the amyloid peptide.

Riken is currently conducting bio-chemical and histological analysis of the brain using an Alzheimer’s disease model mouse.

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http://movie.diginfo.tv/2008/06/05/08-0240-gm-en.php