20,947 research outputs found
Enhancing Nervous System Recovery through Neurobiologics, Neural Interface Training, and Neurorehabilitation.
After an initial period of recovery, human neurological injury has long been thought to be static. In order to improve quality of life for those suffering from stroke, spinal cord injury, or traumatic brain injury, researchers have been working to restore the nervous system and reduce neurological deficits through a number of mechanisms. For example, neurobiologists have been identifying and manipulating components of the intra- and extracellular milieu to alter the regenerative potential of neurons, neuro-engineers have been producing brain-machine and neural interfaces that circumvent lesions to restore functionality, and neurorehabilitation experts have been developing new ways to revitalize the nervous system even in chronic disease. While each of these areas holds promise, their individual paths to clinical relevance remain difficult. Nonetheless, these methods are now able to synergistically enhance recovery of native motor function to levels which were previously believed to be impossible. Furthermore, such recovery can even persist after training, and for the first time there is evidence of functional axonal regrowth and rewiring in the central nervous system of animal models. To attain this type of regeneration, rehabilitation paradigms that pair cortically-based intent with activation of affected circuits and positive neurofeedback appear to be required-a phenomenon which raises new and far reaching questions about the underlying relationship between conscious action and neural repair. For this reason, we argue that multi-modal therapy will be necessary to facilitate a truly robust recovery, and that the success of investigational microscopic techniques may depend on their integration into macroscopic frameworks that include task-based neurorehabilitation. We further identify critical components of future neural repair strategies and explore the most updated knowledge, progress, and challenges in the fields of cellular neuronal repair, neural interfacing, and neurorehabilitation, all with the goal of better understanding neurological injury and how to improve recovery
Neuroplastic Changes Following Brain Ischemia and their Contribution to Stroke Recovery: Novel Approaches in Neurorehabilitation
Ischemic damage to the brain triggers substantial reorganization of spared areas and pathways, which is associated with limited, spontaneous restoration of function. A better understanding of this plastic remodeling is crucial to develop more effective strategies for stroke rehabilitation. In this review article, we discuss advances in the comprehension of post-stroke network reorganization in patients and animal models. We first focus on rodent studies that have shed light on the mechanisms underlying neuronal remodeling in the perilesional area and contralesional hemisphere after motor cortex infarcts. Analysis of electrophysiological data has demonstrated brain-wide alterations in functional connectivity in both hemispheres, well beyond the infarcted area. We then illustrate the potential use of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques to boost recovery. We finally discuss rehabilitative protocols based on robotic devices as a tool to promote endogenous plasticity and functional restoration
Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of ketogenic diet. New perspectives for neuroprotection in alzheimer’s disease
The ketogenic diet, originally developed for the treatment of epilepsy in non-responder children, is spreading to be used in the treatment of many diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. The main activity of the ketogenic diet has been related to improved mitochondrial function and decreased oxidative stress. B-Hydroxybutyrate, the most studied ketone body, has been shown to reduce the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), improving mitochondrial respiration: it stimulates the cellular endogenous antioxidant system with the activation of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), it modulates the ratio between the oxidized and reduced forms of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+/NADH) and it increases the efficiency of electron transport chain through the expression of uncoupling proteins. Furthermore, the ketogenic diet performs anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB) activation and nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-containing family, pyrin domain-containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome as well as inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs), improving memory encoding. The underlying mechanisms and the perspectives for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are discussed
Stress: Putting the Brain Back Into Medicine
Throughout the life course stress plays a major role in health and disease. Although it has long been known that the brain orchestrates the many ways that the body responds to these experiences, a gap exists between health care providers who focus from the head up and those who focus on the head down
Review and Comparison of Intelligent Optimization Modelling Techniques for Energy Forecasting and Condition-Based Maintenance in PV Plants
Within the field of soft computing, intelligent optimization modelling techniques include
various major techniques in artificial intelligence. These techniques pretend to generate new business
knowledge transforming sets of "raw data" into business value. One of the principal applications of
these techniques is related to the design of predictive analytics for the improvement of advanced
CBM (condition-based maintenance) strategies and energy production forecasting. These advanced
techniques can be used to transform control system data, operational data and maintenance event data
to failure diagnostic and prognostic knowledge and, ultimately, to derive expected energy generation.
One of the systems where these techniques can be applied with massive potential impact are the
legacy monitoring systems existing in solar PV energy generation plants. These systems produce a
great amount of data over time, while at the same time they demand an important e ort in order to
increase their performance through the use of more accurate predictive analytics to reduce production
losses having a direct impact on ROI. How to choose the most suitable techniques to apply is one of
the problems to address. This paper presents a review and a comparative analysis of six intelligent
optimization modelling techniques, which have been applied on a PV plant case study, using the
energy production forecast as the decision variable. The methodology proposed not only pretends
to elicit the most accurate solution but also validates the results, in comparison with the di erent
outputs for the di erent techniques
Unsupervised discovery of temporal sequences in high-dimensional datasets, with applications to neuroscience.
Identifying low-dimensional features that describe large-scale neural recordings is a major challenge in neuroscience. Repeated temporal patterns (sequences) are thought to be a salient feature of neural dynamics, but are not succinctly captured by traditional dimensionality reduction techniques. Here, we describe a software toolbox-called seqNMF-with new methods for extracting informative, non-redundant, sequences from high-dimensional neural data, testing the significance of these extracted patterns, and assessing the prevalence of sequential structure in data. We test these methods on simulated data under multiple noise conditions, and on several real neural and behavioral datas. In hippocampal data, seqNMF identifies neural sequences that match those calculated manually by reference to behavioral events. In songbird data, seqNMF discovers neural sequences in untutored birds that lack stereotyped songs. Thus, by identifying temporal structure directly from neural data, seqNMF enables dissection of complex neural circuits without relying on temporal references from stimuli or behavioral outputs
Brain Power
In 2007, UNLV began building its neuroscience program. Today, those efforts have paid off in the form of research that brings us closer to addressing neurological disorders and diseases
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