Neuroscience Blogs

(First published on BrainFacts.org ) The last time I was on Boylston Street it was to give a lecture in November at a scientific meeting in the Weston Hotel.  Today, Sunday, I’m looking out onto an empty street, barricaded.  An eerie modern-day ghost town festooned with yellow police tape rippling in the cold Boston wind.  [...]

The test subjects were able to suss out the murders on appearance alone, even though the photos were tightly cropped to reveal nothing but the parts of the human face that communicates emotion and internal states--eyes, nose, and mouth.

For many non-Irish, who are not exactly sure what St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to commemorate (and for many Irish who presumably do know the roots of the holiday), St. Patty’s is best celebrated at the local pub overindulging Jamison’s and Guinness with green-haired fun loving mates [...]

Glia are brain cells that cannot generate electrical impulses.  As a consequence glia were thought to have no function in information processing or transmission.  In fact glia were communicating with themselves and with neurons all along, but without using electricity.  For a century neuroscientists were deaf to glial communication as they passionately studied neurons, because [...]

APP for biking track, app for walking, app for finding what song it is and now an App for remote neuromontioring?, interesting!. inomed Remote Viewer by Netop Supports Neuromonitoring, February 26, 2013New app enables physicians and clinical staff to remotely monitor real-time data from intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) devices via an iPad. COPENHAGEN – inomed, a leading medical technology provider based in Germany, has announced the availability of an app that enables hospital staff to remotely monitor the signals of a patient’s intraoperative nerve activity during surgery. The app, Remote Viewer, was developed for inomed by Netop and is based on their remote access application, Netop Remote Control Mobile for iOS. With inomed Remote Viewer, doctors and hospital personnel can securely and remotely track neuromonitoring signals - recorded on an inomed IONM device - in real-time. “We’re pleased to be working with inomed on the Remote Viewer,” said Kurt Bager, CEO,...

There are some new amendments and changes to the existing state law on Chiropractic in the making in Nevada State Assembly?, this new bill makes several changes and amendments for those who are Chiropractioners and Chiropractice assistants, and it is mostly related to their involvement in nerve conduction and EMGs tests, here is the 12 page new Bill details.. Full Link: http://leg.state.nv.us/Session... THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:REQUIRES TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY VOTE (§ 8) A.B. 73 - *AB73* ASSEMBLY BILL NO. 73–ASSEMBLYMAN KIRNER PREFILED JANUARY 29, 2013 ____________ Referred to Committee on Commerce and Labor SUMMARY—Revises provisions governing the practice of chiropractic. (BDR 54-538) FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No. Effect on the State: No. ~ EXPLANATION – Matter in bolded italics is new; matter between brackets [omitted material] is material to be omitted. AN ACT relating to...

Whether you are an athlete or a desk jockey, success in your endeavor hinges on allocating your effort and rest periods optimally. In the extreme, this decision can be perilous.

Surgery insight: During surgical performance or surgical procedures and providing patient care, there is nothing like oh you mean that?, well that is very simple or take for granted in a casual way, one must show at most attention and care in every small to big steps, so do the neuromonitoring and anesthesia professionals, you can be of great help to surgeon when you detect changes or unusual activity that can get surgeons attention right away. Ofcourse for surgeons, there is no room for error but absolutely there is no room for Oh I have done 1000s of surgery, pricking a nerve or artery during my pedicle screw insertion is not going to happen, oh well, it did. The following paper describes a case and death of a patient two weeks after the surgery, so be diligent.While reading this article :Thoracic pedicle screw placement: Free-hand technique by Yongjung J. Kim, Lawrence G. Lenke regarding Scoliosis and thoraci pedicle screw placement, I came across the two back reference that...

Interesting tech developments seems to be happening in X-Ray imaging, came across news about O-Arm today and also noticed the fluoroscopic ultra-imaging developments and check those below, as well as the link to Hologic?...This area or technology can be quite useful to surgeons and hospitals, this is something they better look at for efficient surgical procedures and precision detection.Here is the O-Arm, will this help surgeon view different angles, depth and positioning of pedicle screws and so on?. Gene writes about O-Arm Imaging system- Link: O-arm™ Imaging Systemby GENE OSTROVSKY on Jul 10, 2006 • 11:54 am Have you seen the O-arm™ Imaging System before? We haven’t. Until today, that is. We learned about it this morning when a company’s rep left O-arm™ brochures (and no food) in our physicians’ lounge. The device byBreakaway Imaging, LLC, of Littleton, MA, was FDA-cleared last year and is now distributed by Medtronic. So here’s the scoop about the device that has a...

What is an itch?  That insistent tickle demanding that you cease whatever you are doing and claw with your fingernails at a particular spot on your skin.  It can come from anywhere—the top of your head to the soles of your feet–inside your ear to your eyeballs.  NOTHING will [...]

Mark Twain’s Classic Huckleberry Finn begins with an explanation to readers: “In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit:  the Missouri negro dialect ; the extremest form of the backwoods South-Western dialect ; the ordinary “Pike-Country” dialect ; and four modified varieties of this last… I make this explanation for the reason [...]

Most people are aware of the negative effects of the profound changes in newspaper and magazine publishing in the digital age, but fewer are aware of the effects the same forces are having on science.  An article on the front page of yesterday’s Washington Post (November 24, 2012) concerned the corruptive influence drug companies can have on published [...]

Rhythmic sound not only affects motor function like toe-tapping, it controls how the brain takes in and processes information.

Case Report Evolving Compartment Syndrome Detected by Loss of Somatosensory- and Motor-evoked Potential Signals During Cervical Spine SurgeryCheck the details under case reviews. in this blog.!. NEUROMONITORING CAN HELP SURGEON, PATIENTS, HOSPITAL AND INSURANCE INDUSTRY. Dr.Muni

PubMed Research Publications: Latest review from Isley etal, here is the most recent review article on Pedicle screw stimulation and evaluation using EMG monitoring techniques. It might be a good read to refresh the knowledge about the literature on pedicle screw tests.Current trends in pedicle screw stimulation techniques: lumbosacral, thoracic, and cervical levels. Abstract: Unequivocally, pedicle screw instrumentation has evolved as a primary construct for the treatment of both common and complex spinal disorders. However an inevitable and potentially major complication associated with this type of surgery is misplacement of a pedicle screw(s) which may result in neural and vascular complications, as well as impair the biomechanical stability of the spinal instrumentation resulting in loss of fixation. In light of these potential surgical complications, critical reviews of outcome data for treatment of chronic, low-back pain using pedicle screw instrumentation concluded that...

Palm reading to measure personality? How can that be?

Emerson RG's article published in the latest issue of Journal of Clinical Neurophysiology must be an eye opener for Nay sayer neurologists and some skeptic spine specialists out there who is hell bent on discrediting the predictability values and reliability of intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring. My own personal IONM experience provided to more than 1500 surgical procedures reveal even more than 99.6% accuracy of detection, wherein about 4-5 spine patients lives been saved (four lumbar and cervical fusion spine cases, and one scoliosis procedure) because of the timely warning from the IONM results during the surgical procedures, the timely warning enabled surgeon to take immediate intervention measures to reverse the risk of permanent damage thereby saved the patient from paralysis. The number of years accounted in this study, and the number of patients who underwent surgical procedures used for this analysis of Dr.Emerson's study is compelling and producing an authoritative...

The utilization and importance of Neuromonitoring in hospital or intensive care set up was reviewed elaborately 32 years ago during 1985. Did anything change or how much change has took place in this field is quite interesting, while basic principles and intraoperative modalities discussed remain pretty much same today as 32 years ago, IONM field did make lots of progress ever since, better tests, analysis and interpretation of results got savvy and reliable upto 96-99% accuracy than it was during1985. Advancements in terms of application in various surgical procedure and combinatorial tests to yield better results, some newer techniques, and the entire hardware/machine technology certainly been upgraded to fit the Operating Room environment. W.Hacks, the author of this review from the then FRG (West Germany, no longer the case after 90s unified Germany) made a remarkable attempt to provide insights 32 years ago. The review has been published in "Journal of Neurology (interestingly,...

Current issue of "Journal of Clinical Neurphyisology has an interesting article on "H' Reflexes. This technique though not routinely used inside operating room, experienced Neurophysiologists and IONM groups seems to perform H reflex when the surgeon requires it. H reflex can play important determining role in complicated spinal cord (hemiplegic spastic patients, and extreme scoliosis) or neuromuscular conditions (sports injury) or in cases of neurodegnerative disease (ALS, HD etc) to name a few. The author Leppanen provides a comprehensive background on this method, a good reading material about how to use H reflex in clinical cases inside the Operating room (IONM) about which there is not much literature, in contrast, there is plenty of material available on H reflex in the laboratory set up. In either case, a Professional Neurophysiologist or Neurologist must keep up with the latest trends in the field by scanning through research works and journal articles or reviews like the...

Brain damage after eating KFC's contaminated chicken twister?, Ouch..! are you still going to KFC?. I have to say that it has been years since I even had a glimpse of the KFC building, let alone go inside to buy some meal, it is simply a disgusting food place, no wonder why the Australian court ordered KFC to pay $8Million to a 7 year old girl who suffered Salmonella infection after eating KFC food. That is a one disgusting place to go for food?. KFC ordered to pay $8m to brain-damaged girl Paul Bibby, April 27, 2012 - 3:36PM Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw... KFC ordered to pay $8 million to girl left brain damaged after eating meal. Monika Samaan ... her family has been awarded $8 million. Photo: Picture courtesy of NBN NewsRead more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw... Samaan, then seven, was in a coma for six months and was left with...

A study published in the journal Science today (April 27, 2012) provides new understanding of the different cognitive strategies the mind uses in forming religious beliefs.

Forget about stomach staples.  Treatment for obesity in the future may involve an X-ray beam to the brain.  This is what researchers have discovered to keep mice slim, trim, and energetic while gorging on a fatty diet.  How it works offers a fascinating new insight into the cellular mechanisms of the brain in a spot [...]

"When you have all your needs solved you can buy a bigger house and you have a garden. The garden for us is Yasuní National Park. When you don’t have [wealth] you have to live in a small apartment without a garden. In Europe and the US there are big national parks because the basic problems of poverty are not present." Professor Hugo Navarrete.

New England Journal of Medicine is one of the Most respected and trustable medical journals out there, personally I place NEJM on top of some of even the well known American medical journals without a slightest doubts. And, this time it is the NEJM that has published some important results on BIS monitor usage by anesthesiologists inside the Operating Rooms.. The question many of the medical professionals must raise about this little tool is, is it a valuable technique to be used about patient's awareness or sleep/awake status during surgical procedures??. Now we know for sure from this study that the actual "validity" of BIS is seriously flawed and questionable?, further lead to a massive Re-call of FDA approved Bis monitors by the manufacturer Covidien, "Covidien PLC (COV) unveiled an expanded recall of its BIS Bilateral sensors" (Wall Street Journal) Here is the RESULT of a study published in NEJM: RESULTS A total of 7 of 2861 patients (0.24%) in the BIS group, as compared with 2...

Ethnic and religious diversity in a society should undermine cooperation, but does it?

WARNING:- Be careful in signing up to some rogue organizations and memberships, You must realize that even professionals become prey for such tactics of bottom feeders, just think before you pay that fee, do we need another neuromontioring group, or organization or association bullshit?. They do not deserve to be even in the radar of scientific and medical communities, sorry!!!. I can only alert you, the rest is in your own hands, just because some one claims to have done or do the same kind of job a Professional and trained scholar can do, it means a jack shit!!!?, A doctor and a Doctarate cannot be replaced, those who claims to be doing some jobs can do something, but be careful to assess or compare it to a Doctor or Doctorate, such comparison will fail!!!. Society for Neuroscience and American Association of Anatomists are some of the most respectable and reputed scientific organizations, I dropped off my membership mainly because of their increased fees, I thought it was...

Medscape Article: Andrew N. Wilner, MD writes about the recent developments in basic science and clinical medicine to treat some of the impending neurological diseases, including several FDA approval on new drugs, interesting article.A Look Back: Introduction2011 has been a very exciting year for neurologists and their patients. Advances in basic science and disciplined clinical trials have led to drug approvals for the prevention of stroke and treatment of epilepsy. In addition, at least 2 oral drugs for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, BG-12 and teriflunomide, boast positive results from phase 3 trials and are poised for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2010, the FDA approved dabigatran, a thrombin inhibitor, for anticoagulation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. In November 2011, the FDA approved rivaroxaban, a once-daily oral factor Xa inhibitor, for the same indication. Another factor Xa inhibitor, apixaban, recently demonstrated...

Research Crossroads published the following chart for Neurophysiology funding, pretty bleak is the research fundings in our field?. Both Neurophysiology funding and number of grants for research has been steeply declined since 2006 and it is probably at the 1994-6 levels, the lowest of funding provided to Neurophysiology research during these periods since 1992 Funding History?Charted historical Neurophysiology funding. NEUROMONITORING CAN HELP SURGEON, PATIENTS, HOSPITAL AND INSURANCE INDUSTRY. Dr.Muni

Can Science Explain the Marked Increase in Shark Attacks?   Authorities in Western Australia have failed in their attempt to hunt down and kill a great white shark that took the life of a 32 year old American diver, George Wainwright last  Saturday.  This is the fourth fatal attack by sharks in Australia in the last 14 [...]