source: medgadget

Monday, March 30, 2009

MRI Technology Getting Serious Boost Using Magnetic Markers

Filed under: in the news...

University of York scientists seem to have come upon a method of increasing the signal quality in magnetic resonance machines by a thousand fold. The technique transfers the magnetism of parahydrogen molecules to other molecules within the object studied, greatly increasing their visibility under MR.

The York team explains:

We have used parahydrogen to study inorganic reaction mechanisms for many years. Others have used it to polarise organic materials which have recently found use in MRI studies. However, both these approaches require the addition of parahydrogen to the molecule that is to be observed. Consequently, they involve the chemical functionalisation of materials and require the accessibility of a suitable unsaturated precursor. This marks a substantial limitation of the parahydrogen approach.

Our new technique, Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange (SABRE), achieves a similar result without any chemical change being necessary. The SABRE method delivers a proven 1000-fold increase in sensitivity. This 1000-fold signal gain means that NMR measurements which would have previously taken months can now be completed in seconds.

Explanation of SABRE technology with videos showing the technique

University of York press release: Transforming medical diagnosis with new scanning technology

Abstract in Science: Reversible Interactions with para-Hydrogen Enhance NMR Sensitivity by Polarization Transfer

More from MIT Tech Review...

Image: Top: Schematic representation of the SABRE method. The polarisation (represented by the orange colouring) is transferred from parahydrogen to a substrate which can then be seen by NMR and MRI. Side: An MRI of a one-centimeter-wide tube containing smaller tubes covered with pyridine. The pyridine has been polarized making the small tubes much more visible. Credit: University of York

研究人员发现与幻肢相关的大脑活动

幻肢（phantom limb）是某些失去四肢的人类所产生的一种幻觉，他们感觉到失去的四肢仍旧附着在躯干上、并和身体的其他部分一起移动。现在瑞士的研究人员声称他们识别出了对幻肢幻觉负责的大脑区域和与之相关的感官。研究发现幻肢并不限于截肢，一些中风半身瘫痪的患者也会感觉到固定肢体相关的移动，这显示出大脑的多个区域参与了幻肢的创造。瑞士研究人员用核磁共振研究了一位自称感觉到幻肢的中风患者的大脑活动。

source: solidot

BrainCells Inc. Appoints Philip Jochelson, M.D. Chief Medical Officer and Jason Levin Chief Business Officer

BrainCells Inc. Appoints Philip Jochelson, M.D. Chief Medical Officer and Jason Levin Chief Business Officer

SAN DIEGO, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- braincells Inc. (BCI), a company leading the scientific research of neurogenesis using its proprietary platform technology to identify novel pathways for the treatment of neurologic conditions, announced today the appointment of Dr. Philip Jochelson as chief medical officer and Jason Levin as chief business officer. Both have extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with specific expertise in building neurology assets for success. The two will serve in integral roles managing clinical programs and licensing/partnership agreements for braincells' pipeline of neurologic compounds.

..........

more on biomedicine.org

About braincells Inc.

BrainCells Inc. (BCI) is a drug discovery and development company leading the scientific research of neurogenesis by applying its robust and proprietary platform technology to identify novel pathways for small molecule therapeutics to treat various neurologic conditions. Neurogenesis is the process by which endogenous stem cells in the adult human brain produce new brain tissue, including neurons. With its predictive screening platform, BCI can direct the selection and development of neurogenic compounds, increasing the opportunity for successful clinical trials in a variety of neurological indications. For more information, visit

http://www.braincellsinc.com.

    Contact:
   Kim Richards
   Porter Novelli Life Sciences
   619-849-5377
   krichards@pnlifesciences.com

World Autism Awareness Day

Vital: Know Your Autism Facts ; Mark World Awareness Day by Trying to Learn More About the Commoncondition

- March 30, 2009

DESPITE increasing awareness in recent years, there are few conditions which are more difficult to understand than autism.

It's a condition which affects more than 500,000 people in the UK, with many sufferers and their families struggling to get the help they need.

This Thursday is World Autism Awareness Day, so here's a closer look at the condition and how it affects both those with it and the people around them.

.............

more on psycport.com

成就差距的生物基础

来源：Eureka Alert

科学家发现了一个潜在的生物基础，它可能有助于解释为什么贫困儿童与中等收入的受试者相比，成年后表现出了收入和成就的显著差异。Gary Evans 和Michelle Schamberg分析了早先的测量了童年的成就和贫困状况的研究的数据，并提出在贫困中成长的儿童面临的长期压力随着儿童的成熟而对工作（短期）记忆产 生了负面影响。这组作者指出，在海马区（它参与了记忆的制造）的帮助下管理工作记忆的前额叶皮层可能因为长期压力而被破坏。这组科学家检查了这些儿童在贫 困线下生活了多长时间，以及长期压力导致的身体折磨的迹象，诸如生化标记、血压和体重指数。这组科学家报告说，大多数时间在贫困中度过的年轻的成年人平均 可以在他们的工作记忆中记住8.5件物品，而类似的中等收入的成年人可以一次记住9.4个物品。这组作者说，这项研究提供了证据表明对长期环境需求做出响 应的神经认知变化可以影响儿童的生理系统，而且可能影响他们的收入和成就。

论文#08-11910: "Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory," 作者 Gary Evans 和Michelle Schamberg

媒体联系人：Gary Evans，康奈尔大学人类生态学系

Department of Human Ecology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

电话： 607-255-4775 (办公室), 607-272-1180 (手机)

电子邮件：gwe1@cornell.edu

PS

前几天在听系里老师讲课时听到他们试图通过计算机来模拟工作记忆的认知过程，并且将这个模型在上海地区普测，试图发展成为一个职业测评系统。

因此，这是不是表明工作记忆对于我们的daily performance很有关系呢？Baddeley在2003年将工作记忆部分称为流体智力，这也说明这部份能力与一般智力的关系。工作记忆模型中无疑执行控制功能占重要地位，那么测试这一部分的行为范式有没有潜力发展成为新的能力倾向测验呢？

Libra DBS for Parkinson's Going Live in Europe

source: medgadget

Filed under: Neurological Surgery , Neurology

St. Jude Medical is reporting that the company's Libra deep brain stimulation devices have been implanted into initial set of European patients to treat Parkinson's disease.

The announcement was made at the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies and the Société Française de Neurochirugie joint annual meeting in Marseille, France.

“We have initiated a limited launch of these systems in Europe and have recently completed implants in Austria, Germany and Greece,” said Chris Chavez, president of the St. Jude Medical Neuromodulation Division. “We look forward to expanding the availability of these systems in order to help physicians meet the needs of their patients.”

First implants were performed by Professor François Alesch, M.D., at the Medical University of Vienna, Vienna Austria, Professor Jan Vesper, M.D., at the University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany, and Professor Damianos Sakas, M.D., at the Evangelismos General Hospital, Athens, Greece.

“Deep brain stimulation is a safe surgical treatment for advanced Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Alesch, a professor of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery at the Medical University of Vienna. “The availability of the Libra DBS systems allows us to choose the system that best meets the needs of the individual patient.”

“In properly selected patients, deep brain stimulation therapy can provide extremely good results,” said Professor Alfons Schnitzler, M.D., at the University of Düsseldorf. “For these patients, DBS may reduce akinesia, rigidity, tremor and levodopa-induced motor complications resulting in a significant improvement in their quality of life.”

The Libra and LibraXP™ neurostimulators are constant current devices and feature the highest battery capacity of any DBS devices in their class, which may maximize the time between device replacement procedures. The systems consist of a neurostimulator – a surgically implanted battery operated device that generates mild electrical pulses – and leads which carry the pulses to a targeted area in the brain. The system functions in a manner similar to a cardiac pacemaker by influencing the irregular nerve signals responsible for the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. This therapy can be non-invasively adjusted by a clinician to meet individual patient needs.

News release: St. Jude Medical Announces First European Patient Implants of the Libra Deep Brain Stimulation Systems for Parkinson's Disease...

Flashback: European Union Approves Deep Brain Stimulation Systems for Parkinson's...

Action Video Games Improve Vision

Video games with lots of action, such as the shoot-'em-up variety, can improve your vision, a new study finds.

Players became up to 58 percent better at perceiving fine contrast differences in the tests.

"If you are driving at dusk with light fog it could make the difference between seeing the car in front of you or not seeing it," study leader Daphne Bavelier told LiveScience.

The ability to discern slight differences in shades of gray, or contrast sensitivity, is the primary limiting factor in how well one sees, said Bavelier, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

"Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgery—somehow changing the optics of the eye," she said. "But we've found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped."

The new finding suggests action video game used as training devices may be a useful complement to eye-correction techniques, Bavelier said, since it may teach the brain's visual cortex to make better use of the information it receives.

In 2007, Bavelier found that action video games substantially increase a player's ability to accurately see objects in a cluttered space. A study at the University of Oregon found that some video games improve the ability of children age 4 to 6 to focus their attention, also by training the brain.

In the new study, her team tested the contrast sensitivity function of 22 students, then divided them into two groups: One group played the action video games "Unreal Tournament 2004" and "Call of Duty 2." The other played "The Sims 2," which is richly visual, but does not require as much visual-motor coordination.

The volunteers each played 50 hours during the 9-week test. Then their vision was tested again.

Those who played the action games showed an average 43 percent improvement in their ability to discern close shades of gray — close to the difference Bavelier had previously observed between game players and non-game players — whereas the Sims players showed no improvement.

When comparing people who played action video games routinely for more than six months to those who do not play them, the increase was 58 percent, Bavelier said.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that contrast sensitivity can be improved by simple training," says Bavelier. "When people play action games, they're changing the brain's pathway responsible for visual processing. These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it, and we've seen the positive effect remains even two years after the training was over."

So despite concerns that time spent playing action video games could be bad for people, that time may not necessarily be harmful, at least for vision, she said.

The research, funded by the National Eye Institute and the Office of Naval Research, is detailed today in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

论文地址：nature neuroscience

source: livescience

PNAS：用纳米技术治疗毒瘾

美国科学家最近研制出一种纳米粒子，可用于运载特定的核糖核酸（RNA）链，关闭脑部一个与毒瘾有关的基因，这将有助于开发出治疗毒瘾的新疗法。

据美国《国家科学院院刊》网络版3月26日报道，过去的研究已发现，一种称为DARPP-32的脑部蛋白质在毒品成瘾过程中起关键作用。经过特别设 计的RNA链可以干扰相关基因，阻止该蛋白质分泌，因此有助于治疗毒瘾，但是缺乏安全有效的方法来将RNA链运送到所需要的部位。

美国纽约州立大学布法罗分校的科学家说，他们设计出一种杆状的纳米粒子，可以作为“运输工具”搭载治疗所需的RNA链，穿过血液与脑组织之间的屏障进入脑细胞。

实验表明，搭载在这种纳米粒子上的RNA链，有48%能穿过血脑屏障，效率比以往方法大大提高。

报道说，利用这种纳米粒子运载其他RNA链，还可治疗帕金森氏症、癌症及一些神经性疾病。该研究小组的一些科学家还将尝试用这种方法治疗艾滋病、痴呆症和哮喘等。(生物谷Bioon.com)

生物谷推荐原始出处：

PNAS，doi: 10.1073/pnas.0901715106 ，Adela C. Bonoiu，Paras N. Prasad

Nanotechnology approach for drug addiction therapy: Gene silencing using delivery of gold nanorod-siRNA nanoplex in dopaminergic neurons

Adela C. Bonoiua,1, Supriya D. Mahajanb,1, Hong Dinga, Indrajit Roya, Ken-Tye Yonga, Rajiv Kumara, Rui Hua, Earl J. Bergeya, Stanley A. Schwartzb and Paras N. Prasada,2

aInstitute for Lasers Photonics and Biophotonics, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260; and
bDepartment of Medicine, Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Rheumatology, The State University of New York, Buffalo General Hospital, Buffalo, NY 14203

Drug abuse is a worldwide health concern in which addiction involves activation of the dopaminergic signaling pathway in the brain. Here, we introduce a nanotechnology approach that utilizes gold nanorod-DARPP-32 siRNA complexes (nanoplexes) that target this dopaminergic signaling pathway in the brain. The shift in the localized longitudinal plasmon resonance peak of gold nanorods (GNRs) was used to show their interaction with siRNA. Plasmonic enhanced dark field imaging was used to visualize the uptake of these nanoplexes in dopaminergic neurons in vitro. Gene silencing of the nanoplexes in these cells was evidenced by the reduction in the expression of key proteins (DARPP-32, ERK, and PP-1) belonging to this pathway, with no observed cytotoxicity. Moreover, these nanoplexes were shown to transmigrate across an in vitro model of the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Therefore, these nanoplexes appear to be suited for brain-specific delivery of appropriate siRNA for therapy of drug addiction and other brain diseases.

source:生物谷

Brain Neurons Created From Tumor Cells

Scientists have found a new way to synthesize brain tissue. I've mentioned in the past about Japanese researchers creating brain tissue from stem cells. For this new work, Aston University (UK) researchers took tumor cells from a cancer patient and were able to coax them into becoming brain cells using chemical treatments. They weren't even brain tumor cells, just tumor cells from another part of the body. They then bundled these newly created neurons into neurospheres. The neurospheres are basically 3-dimensional aggregations of brain cells.

The Humane Research Trust is funding this research for its potential as an alternative to animal testing. I definitely think it is a worthwhile goal to reduce animal testing as much as possible. I think eventually the need for animal testing may be eliminated or at the very least greatly reduced. However I'm not sure if this specific research will have that much of an impact. A lot of neuroscience research requires the dynamics of an entire animal brain. This research would likely only be able to simulate a relatively small subset of the complexity of a whole brain. Currently it is difficult to know what it would take to completely eliminate animal testing. Perhaps reliable computer simulations of animal/human brains will be a huge step in that direction. Maybe that used in tandem with synthesized whole brain tissue as well. I'm not sure how you can reliably simulate all aspects of brain functioning and an organisms interaction with the environment while eliminating any sort of conscious suffering.

Obviously these synthesized neurons could be used to replace existing brain tissue in disorders where it is damaged or missing (an alternative to using stem cells). Theoretically it could be used to test out certain drug therapies, though it may be limited to what it can do. Here's a snippet from the press release about this new method.

In the future, the tiny three-dimensional cell clusters, which are essentially very small models of the human nervous system, could be used to develop new treatments for diseases including Alzheimer’s, Motor Neurone and Parkinson’s Disease.

I guess I'm fairly pessimistic about a lot of neurological therapies. I don't particularly see this as speeding up research that much with regards to treating those diseases. I mean there are a bunch of ways to improve brain disorders like RNA interference to knock down the functioning of proteins, gene therapy to add genes and pharmaceutical drugs. I think it is really been difficult to actually get this stuff to the market. The US regulatory market will probably only get worse in the future. I don't want to make it sound like I'm one of those neuroscience skeptic blogs because I'm definitely not. I like talking about far out ideas that are at least scientifically plausible. It's just there has been a ton of research at the preclinical level, but little has actually translated into real novel treatments.

source:brian stimulant

一些担心的事情：心理学与Da - lai - La - ma

社会科学有一个缺点，就是很容易受到政治（特别是意识形态的影响）。或许作为有一半是自然科学的心理学受影响会小一点，但是当看到下面这幅图片的时候估计各位从业者都不会笑得出来。

图片来源：Paul Ekman个人网站

《Lie to me》:别对我撒谎

source:here

原文载于《南方人物周刊》

最近风靡全球的剧集《千谎百计》（《Lie to me》）讲述了一个神奇的故事：测谎专家卡尔·莱特曼（Cal Leightman）是善于辨别谎言的高手：眉间的一皱或是嘴唇一瘪，在他眼中都是对方内心活动的流露。他比测谎仪更精确，任何人任何事在他面前都无法隐瞒……莱特曼的原形，保罗·艾克曼（Paul Ekman）在加利福尼亚医学院研究人类的欺骗行为已逾40年。他每年都要向数以百计的机场警卫系统，反恐机构，外交官员和来自中央情报局、联邦调查局的人员传授“辨谎”的策略。在现实生活中，艾克曼和他的同事们正穿梭在人群之中，甄辨那些真实或虚伪的面孔。

测谎仪是靠不住的

《千谎百计》里面，莱特曼的杀手锏是使用镇定剂，让谎言在测谎仪眼皮底下通过。测谎仪的确越来越被发现是靠不住的。最近，德克萨斯州基督教大学的查尔斯·邦德（Charles Bod）和加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的贝拉·德保罗（Bella DePaulo）完成了一项对253个测谎仪案例的元分析，结果这数百个样本的平均准确率仅有53%——和胡乱猜测的概率差不多。

测谎仪的失宠是意料当中的事情。传统的测谎仪（Polygraph test）基于人体的生理反应进行测量，但撒谎并不存在可证实的独特的生理反应。这样，用其他手段改变生理状况，就很容易像莱特曼一样躲过测谎仪的检验。因此，美国国家研究理事会（National Research Council ，NRC)已经提请撤销测谎仪在国防事务中的使用，这项议案的的负责人正是艾克曼。这也不是第一次对测谎仪的质疑了，早在10年前，美国最高法院已经判定军事法庭不再接收由测谎仪提供的证据，需要出示更具有科学检测效力的测试结果。

你的表情出卖了你的心

摒弃了测谎仪，人们将目光投向更为实证的表情分析技术。弗吉尼亚大学的博士生温迪·莫里斯（Wendy Morris） 和德保罗博士对法庭欺骗行为诊断的研究为我们提供了谎言的蛛丝马迹：当人们扯谎时，瞳孔通常放大，预示着紧张和高度集中的注意。此外，说谎者会因为紧张而 提高说话的声调，并紧闭双唇。不过出乎大多数人的意料之外，说谎者不会表现出惴惴不安的样子，也没有眨眼或坐立不安的姿态。只有在巨大赌注的驱动下，他们 才会不敢正视他人的的注视，以免暴露了自己的内心。

还记得《千谎百计》里最酷的微表情训练？艾克曼最傲人的成果就是他1978年发布的面孔动作编码系统（Facial Action Coding System，FACS），其中综合了声音和语言测量。小于1/5时间内出现的“微表情（micro-expression）”被看作是人们无意中泄露的表情讯号，特别是平时难以察觉的愤怒和羞愧，都可以通过“微表情”检测捕捉到。不过“微表情”并非总意味着谎言，有时无辜的人也可能表现出负罪的表情。这套系统对表情的捕捉准确率已达到90%，并且还在进一步的完善中。

谎言的语言侦测器

《千谎百计》中，言语也常成为说谎者的罪证。德保罗和莫里斯认为的确如此：说谎者通常需要更多的时间来回答问题；不过当计划的时间充裕时，他们的回答也会迅速 很多。此外，说谎者的言谈中包含了更多的负性信息，例如紧张和抱怨，态度也更加缺乏合作的诚意。谈话的内容也是出卖说谎者的理由。德保罗和莫里斯认为，说 谎者会尽量减少细节的描述，出于愧疚之外，也是想编造一个更完美的故事。不过他们的故事往往充满难以自圆其说，结构散乱。他们也不像其他人一样使用手势来 进行表达，并喜欢使用重复的言语。

德州奥斯汀大学校的心理学家詹姆斯·潘尼贝克（James Pennebaker）编制了语言获得和词汇计数（Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count ，LIWC）程序来进行书写内容的测谎分析。这套软件遵循了书面语的辨谎准则：首先，说谎者会减少第一人称的使用，叙述过程与自我有关的内容大大减少，以便推卸掉事件的主要责任。说谎者的文章还会掺杂仇恨，哀伤等负性词汇，透露出他们内心的紧张和负罪感。最后，说谎者很少使用 “除非”、“但是”、“没有”这样司空见惯的排除性词汇，撒谎让他们丧失了使用更复杂语言的能力。这套LIWC测验方法的准确性大大超过了测谎仪，正确率可达67%的。

艾克曼的慧眼识谎

计算机并非唯一揭开谎言奥秘的利器。人们相信，训练有素的观察人员一样可以准确分辨谎言和真相的细微差别——就像《千谎百计》里面那些专家一样！

美国心理学协会（APA）为FBI组 织的工作坊就负责教授在刑事案件中如何侦测谎言。学员们不仅要学习如何甄别谎言，也要学习认知偏差和记忆策略等基本的心理学内容。艾克曼指出，并非每个谎 言都有可辨识的特征，但例如在可脱口而出的问题上要思忖半天，抑或情绪反应不符合言语内容的情况还是比比皆是。培训的目的是培养学员找到谎言的“突破口 ”，并强调基于被观察者的人格特点等背景进行判断。艾克曼要求询问者能够和被观察者建立良好的关系，“当人们敞开心扉的时候，才会讲出他们的故事。”

《千谎百计》里面的瑞·托雷斯（Ria Torres）是个天生懂得“察言观色”的好手，不经过训练就可以洞察说谎者细微的表情变化。现实生活中，艾克曼联手旧金山大学的莫琳·奥沙利文（Maureen O’Sullivan）博士也找到了一些在人群中凤毛麟角的天生辨谎高手进行培训。他们当中的可通过本文提到的策略辨别真伪，另一些则可通过其他的方式对人们的言谈举止识别谎言。经过训练的人是否也能达到这些天赋“谎能”者的水平？奥沙利文的答案是，这和奥运会一样，有的人轻易可以跑进10s，有的人再怎么练也遥遥无望，“最终的能力还是个人素质和训练能力的综合作用。”

在艾克曼看来，好的辨谎专家应当是优秀的直觉心理学家。他们能准确判定人们在各种状况下的所知所想，并能寻觅到这些想法在行为上的蛛丝马迹。当然，辨谎的最终目的还是寻找真相，“发现真相比发现谎言要难得多。一个好的辨谎者应当更加擅长识别真相。”艾克曼如是说。

Working Memory Fluctuates in Kids With ADHD

Study reveals varied response times for tasks, though answers were still correct Source:MedlinePlus

HealthDay

By Robert Preidt

Thursday, March 26, 2009

THURSDAY, March 26 (HealthDay News) -- Compared with other children, those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have more inconsistent responses when doing short-term memory tasks, a new study finds.

"Our study helps explain why working memory may be fine at one moment and poor at another, just as one day a child with ADHD seems to be able to learn and focus in class and on another day seems distracted and not paying attention," study author Julie Schweitzer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of California, Davis, said in a news release from the school. The study was done while Schweitzer was at the University of Maryland.

"We think poor working memory is a characteristic present in many children and adults with ADHD," she said.

The study included 25 children with ADHD and 25 children without the disorder. All of them performed a computer task involving numbers and addition. Children with ADHD were much less consistent in their response times, but their answers were as accurate as those from the other group.

The researchers also found that higher levels of hyperactivity, restlessness and impulsivity were associated with slower reaction times among the children with ADHD.

The findings support the idea that the inability of a child with ADHD to consistently respond during a working memory task is what underlies impaired working memory.

Schweitzer hopes to study whether behavioral therapy or medication might help reduce working memory variability in children with ADHD. She noted that this variability means that children cannot generalize what they learn in one situation to another.

"Improving consistency in how children with ADHD respond to the environment should help them generalize what they learn in clinical interventions, improving their skills across situations," she said.

The study was published online in Child Neuropsychology.

Computational Neuroscience:The human brain is on the edge of chaos

news source: physorg

March 20th, 2009 Modern human brain

Modern human brain. Image source: Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison Brain Collection.

Cambridge-based researchers provide new evidence that the human brain lives "on the edge of chaos", at a critical transition point between randomness and order. The study, published March 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, provides experimental data on an idea previously fraught with theoretical speculation.


Self-organized criticality (where systems spontaneously organize themselves to operate at a critical point between order and randomness), can emerge from complex interactions in many different physical systems, including avalanches, forest fires, earthquakes, and heartbeat rhythms.

According to this study, conducted by a team from the University of Cambridge, the Medical Research Council Cognition & Brain Sciences Unit, and the GlaxoSmithKline Clinical Unit Cambridge, the dynamics of human brain networks have something important in common with some superficially very different systems in nature. Computational networks showing these characteristics have also been shown to have optimal memory (data storage) and information-processing capacity. In particular, critical systems are able to respond very rapidly and extensively to minor changes in their inputs.

"Due to these characteristics, self-organized criticality is intuitively attractive as a model for brain functions such as perception and action, because it would allow us to switch quickly between mental states in order to respond to changing environmental conditions," says co-author Manfred Kitzbichler.

The researchers used state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to measure dynamic changes in the synchronization of activity between different regions of the functional network in the human brain. Their results suggest that the brain operates in a self-organized critical state. To support this conclusion, they also investigated the synchronization of activity in computational models, and demonstrated that the dynamic profile they had found in the brain was exactly reflected in the models. Collectively, these results amount to strong evidence in favour of the idea that human brain dynamics exist at a critical point on the edge of chaos.

According to Kitzbichler, this new evidence is only a starting point. "A natural next question we plan to address in future research will be: How do measures of critical dynamics relate to cognitive performance or neuropsychiatric disorders and their treatments?"
• Join PhysOrg.com on Facebook!
• Follow PhysOrg.com on Twitter!More information: Kitzbichler MG, Smith ML, Christensen SR, Bullmore E (2009) Broadband Criticality of Human Brain Network Synchronization. PLoS Comput Biol 5(3): e1000314. doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000314, http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1000314

Source: Public Library of Science (news : web)

第十二届全国心理学大会（转）

第十二届全国心理学大会征文通知
(第一轮通知)
第十二届全国心理学大会将于2009年11月在山东省济南市召开。本次会议由山东师范大学心理学院承办。大会组委会热忱欢迎心理学界及相关学科专家学者和研究生前来参会。
一、会议主题：心理学促进人与社会的发展
二、会议时间：2009年11月5-8日
三、会议地点：山东师范大学
四、征文要求：大会论文摘要提交采用“在线网络投稿”的方式，具体操作如下：
（1）登陆“第十二届全国心理学大会”网站（www.ccp2009.org）；
（2）点击“提交摘要”；
（3）点击论文所属专业；
(4) 确定交流类别：专题报告会(symposium)、分组报告、张贴报告；
（5）按照要求填写有关信息并提交论文摘要。
论文摘要接受的截止日期：2009年5月30日
五、有关问题说明
1、未正式发表的论文、研究报告和系统的研究综述均在接受范围。每位作者只能以第一作者的身份提交一篇摘要；摘要字数严格控制在500字以内。
2、本次会议将增加专题报告会(symposium)这一交流形式。专题报告一般由3-5篇相关论文组成。专题报告会作者应至少来自两个以上的学术研究机构。每一专题报告会要确定一位组织者和一位讨论人。讨论人应是本组论文所涉及研究领域的专家。
3、大会学术委员会将负责对论文摘要进行筛选，结果将于9月通知作者。
六、会议联系方式:
联系电话：0531-86180831 传真：0531-86180179
大会网址: www.ccp2009.org 邮箱：ccp_2009@126.com
联系人：司继伟、李春
(大会秘书处根据会议流程随时在大会网站上发布相关信息，请及时登陆查询了解最新动向。经与中国心理学会秘书处协商，与本届大会有关的通知或其他注意事项将同时在中国心理学会网站发布。)
第12届全国心理学大会秘书处
山东师范大学心理学院（代章）
2009年3月20日

来源：心心水滴

JMG：一种大脑基因受损可形成自闭症

来源：生物谷

近日，美国研究人员宣称，与大脑功能建立连接的一种基因可能对于形成自闭症具有重要意义。

一种叫做“contactin 4”基因的瓦解损失将停止其正常工作，并使大脑正常的工作网络中断。这项研究报告发表在《医学遗传学期刊》（Journal of Medical Genetics）上。负责此项研究的纽约州立大学石溪分校伊莱·哈奇韦尔博士称，儿童体内出现三组contactin 4基因瓦解或者三组中有一组瓦解，均将导致2.5%患自闭症的几率。

哈奇韦尔在一次电话采访中说，“通常人们都错误地认为自闭症是由于后天因素导致的，并没有想到这种病症会与遗传基因突变有联系。”他表示将这项研究 添加到了自闭症潜在测试列表之中，或许将有助于对泛自闭症的治疗。泛自闭症是一种会影响儿童多方面功能的发育障碍，此障碍特征是沟通技巧迟缓、社交互动和 思维想像能力出现障碍。

哈奇韦尔的研究小组对来自81个家庭的92位泛自闭症患者与560位无自闭症人群进行对比，他们做出一个完整的基因组分 析，观看完整的DNA图，结果发现其中有三位患者的contactin 4基因不完整，其DNA片断出现瓦解受损。这些患者都是从未患自闭症的父亲那里继承该基因，患者表现出严重的社交障碍、发育延迟，甚至出现智力迟缓。他强 调称，许多人认为自闭症患者人群是一个小数目，实际上全球有数百万自闭症患者。美国疾病控制和预防中心评估每150个儿童中就有1个自闭症患者，或者是相 关的亚斯柏格症患者（该病症经常表现为轻微的社交笨拙）。

Contactin 4基因是一个发育状态中的轴突，轴突一般是传导远离神经元的神经纤维突，它们可以形成一个长线排列，彼此神经元之间进行连接。哈奇韦尔指出，这种基因突变 是出现于婴儿出生时。一些病例中，儿童患者有自闭症而其父亲却是正常的，但实际上自闭症始终与基因有直接关系，时常有一些病例显示自己是正常的，但是他们 的后代却患有严重自闭症。这可能是父亲在儿童时期曾有轻微的亚斯柏格症或相应的某些症状，但他却未曾进行诊断。目前，美国许多成年人在他儿童时期很少去医 院就诊检查是否患有自闭症，而他们的父辈接受诊断的几率则更低。

这是一个富有争议的话题，一些专家称自闭症和相关的疾病患者是近年内人数骤增，而另一些专家表示目前没有证据足以证实以上结论。哈奇韦尔说，“我个 人观点认为自闭症并不是近年来才变得很普遍，现今如果家长意识到孩子在学习方面存在问题，便会尽可能地诊断为自闭症患者，以寻找学校多方面的教育帮助。”

据了解，哈奇韦尔帮助建立了人群诊断生物科技公司，以开展症状前DNA分析和早期侦查探测自闭症、阿茨海默症、帕金森氏症、糖尿病和其他遗传疾病。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推荐原始出处：

Journal of Medical Genetics 2009;46:176-182

Disruption of contactin 4 in three subjects with autism spectrum disorder

J Roohi1, C Montagna2, D H Tegay3,4, L E Palmer5, C DeVincent3, J C Pomeroy3, S L Christian6, N Nowak7 and E Hatchwell1,8

1 Department of Genetics, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
2 Department of Pathology and Molecular Genetics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
3 Department of Pediatrics, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York, USA
4 Department of Medicine & Medical Genetics, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, New York, USA
5 Department of Microbiology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA
6 Department of Human Genetics, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
7 Department of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, RPCI and New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences, University at Buffalo, New York, USA
8 Department of Pathology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, USA

Correspondence to:
Dr E Hatchwell, Department of Pathology, BST-9, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8691, USA;

ABSTRACT

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder of the central nervous system of largely unknown aetiology. The prevalence of the syndrome underscores the need for biological markers and a clearer understanding of pathogenesis. For these reasons, a genetic study of idiopathic ASD was undertaken.

Methods and results: Array based comparative genomic hybridisation identified a paternally inherited chromosome 3 copy number variation (CNV) in three subjects: a deletion in two siblings and a duplication in a third, unrelated individual. These variations were fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) validated and the end points further delineated using a custom fine tiling oligonucleotide array. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products unique to the rearrangements were amplified and sequence analysis revealed the variations to have resulted from Alu Y mediated unequal recombinations interrupting contactin 4 (CNTN4).

Conclusion: CNTN4 plays an essential role in the formation, maintenance, and plasticity of neuronal networks. Disruption of this gene is known to cause developmental delay and mental retardation. This report suggests that mutations affecting CNTN4 function may be relevant to ASD pathogenesis.

One autism research

Short-term Intensive Treatment Not Likely to Improve Long-term Outcomes for Children with ADHD

Initial positive results gleaned from intensive treatment of childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are unlikely to be sustained over the long term, according to a recent analysis of data from the NIMH-funded Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). The study was published online ahead of print March 2009 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.


Publication：
Molina BSG, Hinshaw SP, Swanson JM, Arnold LE, Vitiello B, Jensen PS, Epstein JN, Hoza B, Hechtman L, Abikoff HB, Elliott GR, Greenhill LL, Newcorn JH, Wells KC, Wigal T, Severe JB, Gibbons RD, Hur K, Houck PR, and the MTA Cooperative Group. The MTA at 8 years: Prospective follow-up of children treated for combined type ADHD in the multisite study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Online ahead of print March 2009.

source: NIMH

Nexstim：Navigated Brain Stimulation

TMS combined with EEG & EMG system

The new Nexstim Navigated Brain Stimulation (NBS) System creates an accurate and detailed map of the critical functions of the cortex using a standard MRI brain scan.

NBS uses stereotactic MRI-guided transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to non-invasively excite precise areas of the cortex. Sophisticated, real-time data processing and modeling enables unsurpassed accuracy and control of the electric filed (E-field) inside the brain. Integrated EMG monitoring instantly shows the responses to stimuli in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nerves. NBS results are presented as detailed color maps of the critical eloquent areas visualized in a 3-D rendering of the brain.

NBS allows confident interpretation of measurement results since it is a direct method, like electrocortical stimulation. Avoiding the uncertainty of indirect methods, like fMRI for example, is a crucial advantage in neurosurgical decision making. NBS also performs cortical mapping faster and more cost-effectively than alternative functional imaging modalities.

The Nexstim NBS System offers neurosurgeons a safe and painless alternative to direct cortical stimulation that can be performed in comfort prior to surgery. 3-D cortical maps help visualize surgical strategies and give additional information to help patient and physician discuss outcomes.

Nexstim NBS has a wide range of other diagnostic applications, including testing for motor tract integrity following stroke.

Researchers are also exploring exciting neurotherapeutic applictions for NBS, including facilitating natural neuroplasticity with repetitive TMS (rTMS) in stroke rehabilitation.

sourece: Nexstim

不同思维的遗传学

据3月27日的《科学》杂志报道说，你的大脑可能与你兄弟的大脑的思维方式不同，这是因为各人的脑子因受到某种程度的同胞间基因上的差异的影响而具 有不同的运作方式。这是Jan Willem Koten, Jr.及其同僚所开展的对男性双胞胎和他们的非双胞胎兄弟的脑部成像的新研究所得出的结论。他们的研究表明，神经网络在协同解决一个诸如记住一串数字等问 题上存在的个体差异是与遗传学的影响有着某种关系。在进行这类记忆作业时，通过比对双胞胎及他们的兄弟之间的脑活动模式，研究人员发现，每个人的脑子的某 些区域并非一直处于被激活的状态。这些不同的激活模式看来与遗传学上的差异具有相关性。当每个人的脑子在处理同样的思维问题时会有不同的“思维”，而这种 现象可能会帮助阐明基因在思维上所扮演的角色。

###

Article #17: "Genetic Contribution to Variation in Cognitive Function: An fMRI Study in Twins," by J.W. Koten Jr.; K. Willmes at RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany; J.W. Koten Jr.; D.I. Boomsma at Vrije University in Amsterdam, Netherlands; G. Wood at Paris-Lodron University Salzburg in Salzburg, Austria; P. Hagoort at Radboud University Nijmegen in Nijmegen, Netherlands; R. Goebel at Maastricht University in Maastricht, Netherlands; P. Propping at University of Bonn in Bonn, Germany; P. Hagoort at Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

source：Eurekalert

心理学能一眼就看穿别人么？

PS.关键研究人物：保罗艾克曼Paul Eckeman；关键研究工具：脸部动作编码系统（FACS）

专著中文翻译版：

图片地址

1.情绪的解析(Emotions Revealed)

作者:(美国)保罗·艾克曼 译者:杨旭

图片地址

2.《说谎》 作者：[美]保罗·埃克曼 生活·读书·新知三联书店 出版




今天晚上有幸接触到刚开博 不久的美剧《Lie to me》。也许很多人对心理学的印象就是这个人能否一眼看穿我在想什么。呵呵，我以前也怀疑心理学是不是能做到，目前看来，心理学确实还不能完美地做到一眼 就看穿别人在想什么，但是一眼就能看出人撒谎的研究却已经非常成熟了，这不都拍成美剧了。

http://www.douban.com/subject/discussion/11876585/

下面是豆瓣上面的牛人对撒谎行为特征的总结。

第一季
第一集：
1、倒叙法：先说正叙，后说倒叙。测试说谎
2、眼睛法：看着你有可能是在说谎，想看看你是否相信这个谎言。看左边，回忆，真话。
3、要三个人保持秘密的方法就是，其中两个人死了。
4、心生恐惧，典型的生理逃跑反应，血液从四肢回流到腿部做好逃跑准备，他的手部首先冰凉。
5、你去过她家吗？不，我没有去过她家。 这样生硬的重复是典型的谎言。
6、真相和快乐不可兼得。
7、说话时单肩耸动，表示对所说的话极不自信，身体和语言的不一致，表明在说谎。
8、如果吃惊的表情维持超过1秒，那就是在装，说明他在说谎。真正的吃惊表情转瞬即逝。
补充：
9、眨眼睛就是真情
10、瞳孔放大代表有性欲 哈哈
11、男人摸鼻子代表想要掩饰
12、手放在眉骨附近代表羞愧
13、如果眉毛向下紧，那是真惊讶，如果眉毛上抬，表示其实知道而且在说谎


第二集：
1、说话时倒退一步，代表对自己所说的观点没有信心。
2、人们说谎的时候会摸脖子，这是个经典的动作。
3、纵火和强奸有非常大的相关性，它们都是为了自我证明而出现的犯罪行为。
4、对人说话时向前伸下巴，代表生气或者愤怒。
5、语速快，将物体放在胸前，使自己与人竖起一道屏障，这是焦虑的表现。
6、如果可以，选择观察，让别人来问问题，这样能更好地观察而避免分心。
7、没有预谋、只有一次、并且无其他暴力行为的强奸行为，一般都是罪犯为了证明自己力量的男性主义崇尚者。
8、叙述者做出撇嘴的动作（嘴角两边向下，成一个凸行的弧度），这是一个经典的泄露内心的表情，就是对自己所说的话没有信心，或者有撒谎的嫌疑。mouth shrug\hands shrug
9、不要让事实妨碍真相。（这句话同第一集的那句“真相和快乐不可兼得”一样，太精辟了）
补充：
10、说话时手掌向外一翻一翻的，代表没有信心或者编造故事。
11、吃安定可以减少情绪起伏额
12、女性如果看到同胞说自己被强奸而无动于衷的话，那说明她们知道这是在说谎，这个根本没有发生。


第三集:
1、话语重复，并且声音上扬——撒谎
2、在学校里，越受欢迎的孩子，越会撒谎，他们能说会道，隐藏自己的感情。研究by福斯特
3、当人的脸部表情两边不对称的时候，极有可能他们表现出来的感情是装出来的。
4、对自己描述的情况，会出现某些细节遗忘，但能进行及时纠正，很有可能不是在撒谎。如：回忆高度时把100000英尺改为100500英尺。
5、说话缓慢轻柔表明内心极度的悲伤和焦虑。
6、如果没有合适的问题，就不可能得到正确的答案。（同上一集的不要让事实妨碍真相，呵呵。）其实还有一句，既是在说假话，又不是在撒谎，那就是当不知道自己说的是假话。
7、摩挲自己的双手——自我安慰的状态，当你不相信自己在说什么的时候，就会出现这个动作来使自己安心。
8、如果先突然大声说话，然后再用手猛拍桌子，这是对可怕事情反应的手势时间差。如果是真的发火，这两个动作会同时进行。
9、在刑事案件中，只有清白的人才敢承认自己和死者有过争执。罪犯是不会承认任何事情的，并且表面上会装得很无辜。
10、当真正的凶手看到被害者照片的时候，会表现出恶心、轻蔑甚至是害怕。但绝对不会是吃惊。

第四集：
1、要是有人要将要实施血腥的罪行，就会出现这样的表情：眉毛朝下皱紧，上眼睑扬起，眼周绷紧。
2、（微）表情是无意识的，不是通过选择而做出的，因此是控制不了的。并且和国籍没有关系。
3、几乎所有的婚礼上，都交织着香槟和怨恨。（这句话太嘈了）
4、眉毛上扬并挤在一起，那是害怕担忧和恐惧。
5、说话时眨眼睛——隐瞒了什么。
6、说话犹豫且重复，没有办法组织好自己该说的话，所以明显是在说谎。
7、手指指向一边，眼睛却朝另一边看，说谎的时候就会这样，绞尽脑汁编造事实，肢体则完全跟不上。
8、亮出中指（fuck的手势），这是象征性的还有特定意识的下意识手势，充满敌意。

Ps：1、我把Lie to me 译成《揭穿我》，呵呵
2、我觉得这个电视要是能有连续情节就好了，不要一集一个故事，开始无趣了。


第五集：
1、被询问时，咬嘴唇、抓耳朵，这是在提高自己的控制感——焦虑的表现。
2、如果事先已经准备好了谎言，会强烈希望快点把谎话说完。也就是反应时差（提问和回答之间的停顿时间）很短很短，甚至不足一秒。
3、在痛苦的尽头，总是有欢笑。——拉蒙 德 卡波莫
4、鼻孔扩大、嘴唇绷紧——发火了，但还在控制当中。
5、叙述时低着头并且抚摸自己的额头，这是羞愧的表现。
6、脸颊升高，嘴角下撇，这是悔恨的表现。
7、适不适合并不是最关键的，关键在于适应改变的能力。达尔文
8、轻微的摇头表示“不”，当我们在说“yes”的时候却言不由衷，就会不小心做这个动作。
9、眉毛挑起、皱到一起——害怕。
ps：最近有点小忙，整理地不好。


第七集：
1、在进行类似指纹调查时，只有罪犯，才会知道指纹不是他们自己的。
2、在中东，出场顺序是很讲究的。最重要的人往往最后一个入场。
3、“。。。。。。，我只会说一次！”——经典的强势表述，如果说的是真话，就不需要这样。
4、显然，科学和商业无法融合。
5、“To my knowledge…”，“就我所知。。。”——这样的开头，也许意味着事实上知道些什么，从另一个角度上来说，也许坦白一切了已经。
6、回答问题时咬紧嘴唇，这是焦虑的体现。
7、侦破谎言的关键在于，问对问题。

成像遗传学的智力研究

《神经科学杂志》原文

日前，美国加州大学洛杉矶分校的一组研究人员运用一种新型的脑成像扫描仪发现，人类智商在很大程度上与大脑神经的轴突及其走向和位置相关，而这些特征则主要由基因控制。相关研究刊登在最近一期《神经学》杂志上。

研究人员发现，基因似乎通过决定进入髓磷脂中大脑神经轴突的数量来影响智商。覆盖在神经轴突外的髓磷脂主要由脂肪构成，可使快速信号直接进入大脑。髓磷脂越厚，神经冲动越快。

负责该项研究的加州大学洛杉矶分校副教授保罗•汤普森和他的同事使用了一种被称为“哈尔迪”（HARDI：高分辨率漫射成像 仪）的大脑扫描仪，分别对23对同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎进行了大脑扫描。该扫描仪类似于对类固醇进行扫描的高分辨率核磁共振成像仪，但速度更快，分辨率更 高。核磁共振扫描仪主要用来测量脑容量，而“哈尔迪”则通过追踪经过脑白质的信号来测量髓磷脂的数量。如果信号在一个特定的方向快速扩散，说明大脑处理信 息速度快。如果信号扩散没有明确的方向性，则说明智力略低。

研究人员发现，大脑回路中髓磷脂形成的轨迹如同一个倒置的U形，高峰在中年，而后就开始慢慢下降。汤普森认为，找出那些能够促进生成高含量髓磷脂的基因，将对预防一些脑部疾病的发生起重要作用，如多发性硬化症和孤独症，这些疾病都与髓磷脂的受损相关。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推荐原始出处：

The Journal of Neuroscience, February 18, 2009, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4184-08.2009

Genetics of Brain Fiber Architecture and Intellectual Performance

Ming-Chang Chiang,1 Marina Barysheva,1 David W. Shattuck,1 Agatha D. Lee,1 Sarah K. Madsen,1 Christina Avedissian,1 Andrea D. Klunder,1 Arthur W. Toga,1 Katie L. McMahon,2 Greig I. de Zubicaray,2 Margaret J. Wright,3 Anuj Srivastava,4 Nikolay Balov,4 and Paul M. Thompson1

1Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095-7334, 2University of Queensland, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Laboratory, Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia, 3Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Brisbane, Queensland 4029, Australia, and 4Department of Statistics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Paul M. Thompson, Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, Department of Neurology, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine, 635 Charles E. Young Drive South, Suite 225E, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7334.

The study is the first to analyze genetic and environmental factors that affect brain fiber architecture and its genetic linkage with cognitive function. We assessed white matter integrity voxelwise using diffusion tensor imaging at high magnetic field (4 Tesla), in 92 identical and fraternal twins. White matter integrity, quantified using fractional anisotropy (FA), was used to fit structural equation models (SEM) at each point in the brain, generating three-dimensional maps of heritability. We visualized the anatomical profile of correlations between white matter integrity and full-scale, verbal, and performance intelligence quotients (FIQ, VIQ, and PIQ). White matter integrity (FA) was under strong genetic control and was highly heritable in bilateral frontal (a² = 0.55, p = 0.04, left; a² = 0.74, p = 0.006, right), bilateral parietal (a² = 0.85, p <> left; a² = 0.84, p <>a² = 0.76, p = 0.003) lobes, and was correlated with FIQ and PIQ in the cingulum, optic radiations, superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, internal capsule, callosal isthmus, and the corona radiata (p = 0.04 for FIQ and p = 0.01 for PIQ, corrected for multiple comparisons). In a cross-trait mapping approach, common genetic factors mediated the correlation between IQ and white matter integrity, suggesting a common physiological mechanism for both, and common genetic determination. These genetic brain maps reveal heritable aspects of white matter integrity and should expedite the discovery of single-nucleotide polymorphisms affecting fiber connectivity and cognition.

source: 生物谷

PS.

如果中文字是生物谷的编辑写的话我可以断言他们似乎没有多少认知神经科学背景，读者可以看看中文与英文摘要，有些术语对不起来。本来我想查一下HARDI是什么，结果在英文摘要里面只有DTI，而且显然报道方式过于注重神经科学，摘要里面对于心理学家来说非常熟悉的操作智力、言语智力、结构方程模型都被忽略掉了。不过这家医学院的MRI不错，已经是4T了，比我们学校的3T先进。

Brain Atlas Brings Automation to Study of Brain

source: medgadget

Filed under: in the news...

Wired magazine is featuring an in-depth article on the Allen Brain Atlas project. Started by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the project is a systematic attempt to map the brain's cells to genes that code for them. Allen believes that the work will, among other things, provide an interdisciplinary link to knowledge about specific areas of the brain.

From Wired:

Say, for instance, someone is investigating the anatomy of autism. The scientist has done an fMRI study that reveals abnormalities in a cortical area in autistic subjects—a bit of brain is not functioning properly—and this might help explain the symptoms of the disease. But now what? The problem has been isolated, but at a very abstract level. The research has hit a dead end.

Meanwhile, another scientist is looking at autism from a very different perspective, conducting large-scale genetic studies that identify a few of the fragments of DNA associated with the disease. (Autism is one of the most heritable psychiatric disorders.) The problem with these efforts is that they often highlight obscure genes that haven't been studied. Nobody knows what these genes do, or whether they're even expressed in the brain. As a result, the research stalls and it remains completely unclear how this genetic defect might lead to the particular problems seen in the fMRIs.

But now imagine that this scientist has access to the Allen atlas. By looking at the map, he should be able to quickly see whether any of the genes known to be associated with autism—several have already been identified—are expressed in the brain areas that appear abnormal in the fMRI scans. This means that the disease can be pinpointed at a very precise level, reduced to a few dysfunctional circuits expressing the wrong set of genes. "That's what having a huge database lets you do," Allen says. "It becomes a tool that will really accelerate the pace of research." Such a map can also help neuroscientists better target their genetic searches. Instead of looking at every gene expressed in the brain—according to the institute's research, that may include nearly 80 percent of the human genome—they can focus only on those that are present in the relevant brain areas.

Read on at Wired...

Link: Allen Brain Atlas

The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine

The Coming Merging of Mind and Machine

从 Scientific American - Mind & Brain

Editor's Note: This article was originally printed in the 2008 Scientific American Special Report on Robots. It is being published on the Web as part of ScientificAmerican.com's In-Depth Report on Robots.

Sometime early in this century the intelligence of machines will exceed that of humans. Within a quarter of a century, machines will exhibit the full range of human intellect, emotions and skills, ranging from musical and other creative aptitudes to physical movement. They will claim to have feelings and, unlike today’s virtual personalities, will be very convincing when they tell us so. By around 2020 a $1,000 computer will at least match the processing power of the human brain. By 2029 the software for intelligence will have been largely mastered, and the average personal computer will be equivalent to 1,000 brains.

Mind games: Can computer brain training help schizophrenics?

SAN FRANCISCO – The popularity of brain training games has great appeal to aging baby boomers who may be having second thoughts about some of those mind-altering experiences of their now distant youth. The real value of these over-engineered video games, however, may not be for lapsed hippies: Research has shown that the games may improve the mental functioning of the learning disabled and the memory impaired – and now comes word that they may reduce the seemingly intractable symptoms of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenics suffer from a long list of cognitive deficits that may affect attention, memory and the ability to set priorities and manage everyday affairs.

One answer may lie in computerized brain-training software, according to researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, who have successfully used such software from Posit Science (a company established by neuroscience pioneer Michael Merzenich) to improve cognition in schizophrenics.

The scientists conducted a study in which they split a group of 32 people diagnosed with schizophrenia in half: one group played ordinary video games and members of the other were put through 20 hours of training in exercises that switched tasks rapidly or picked out novel objects to improve a subject’s ability to categorize, predict or link information.

Their findings, presented yesterday at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society meeting here: the brain-trained group experienced statistically significant improvement in measures of verbal learning, inhibition (impulse control) and non-verbal working memory (the brain's RAM, where info is temporarily stored). There were no significant improvements, however, in the speed of mental processing or verbal working memory.

source: Scienfic American Mind

一些精神疾病的治疗方法

1.Nature Medicine：注射神经营养因子有望治疗阿尔茨海默氏症

Nature Medicine 8 February 2009 | Corrected online: 12 February 2009 | doi:10.1038/nm.1912

Neuroprotective effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in rodent and primate models of Alzheimer's disease

2.Science：帕金森氏症脊髓治疗设备

Science，DOI: 10.1126/science.1164901，Romulo Fuentes，Miguel A. L. Nicolelis

Spinal Cord Stimulation Restores Locomotion in Animal Models of Parkinson's Disease

3.Cell：发现可抑制引发精神分裂症酶的基因

Cell,20 March 2009 doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.03.005

DISC1 Partners with GSK3 in Neurogenesis

No lie MRI法律测谎公司

fMRI测谎将被应用在法庭中

从 Never 作者：Synge

最早是斯坦福大学的法律与生物科学中心的 blog 报道了这一事件。在一项青少年性虐待的案件中，被告父母提供了一份 No Lie MRI 公司提供的他们没有说谎的fMRI扫描证据。下面是翻译连线杂志wired一篇文章(原文)。


在美国，辩护律师第一次向法庭提交了一份有争议的神经测谎报告作为证据。
在圣地亚哥即将开始的一项青少年性虐待案听证中，辩护方希望通过功能磁共振成像 (MRI)扫描来证明虐待并没有发生。fMRI扫描是通过测量血氧含量来显示大脑活动。
这项技术广泛用于大脑研究中，但作为测谎方法还没有被充分验证。任何技术要被加州法院接受，必须先在科学界被广泛接受。
进行此项大脑扫描的公司 "No Lie MRI" 声称他们的测试的准确性超过百分之九十 ，但一些科学家和律师对此表示怀疑。
“目前的这些研究非常有趣。我认为它们值得进一步研究。但是这项技术非常新，只有很少的研究支持，更没有研究是在现实场景中完成的，”Hank Greely 在他写给Wired.com的e-mail中说。Greely是斯坦福大学法律与生物科学中心的负责人。
在1921年生理多导测谎仪发明之后，测谎技术一直诱惑着律师，但测试的精度一直被怀疑。Greely指出，美国法院和科学家有“ 85年的生理多导仪测谎的经验”，而且大量研究试图说明其准确性。但目前除了新墨西哥州，生理多导测谎仍然没有被法庭普遍接受。
其他的尝试试图使用不同的大脑信号测谎，比如印度开发的以脑电图 (EEG)为基础的技术 。在印度，脑电测谎已经作为证据出现在了法庭上。去年，律师试图利用功能磁共振成像的证据达成工人对慢性疼痛的赔偿要求，但该案件达成庭外和解。如果证据被接受，圣地牙哥的案件将是美国法院第一次使用成像测谎检测作为证据。
根据最先报告这个fMRI证据 的Emily Murphy说，该案件是一个保护儿童的听证会，以确定该儿童是否应该留在家里，还是因为其被性虐待而逮捕其父母。Murphy是斯坦福大学法律与生物科学中心 的一名行为神经学家。
显然，被告父母聘请了 No Lie MRI 公司进行的大脑扫描。No Lie MRI公司总部设在圣地亚哥，测试设备在加州的Tarzana。该公司的报告说，fMRI实验表明被告声称无罪不是一个谎言。
该公司拒绝对此事接受采访。但它的创始人和首席执行官Joel Huizenga在9月份曾经向Wired.com介绍了他们的技术。
“这是人类历史上第一次，任何人都能够判断其他人是否在说谎， ”他说。
虽然该公司的科学委员会包括fMRI成像专家，比如宾夕法尼亚大学放射科专家Christos Davatzikos，但一些公司外的科学家和生物伦理学家对测验的信度提出了质疑。
“在研究了所有使用fMRI技术的测谎研究之后，我本人不会对单个个案进行评价。我们不知道在真实情境下测验的准确性如何，” Greely说。
fMRI技术测量的是大脑中血氧水平。实验室中的研究表明，当人撒谎时，大脑腹侧前额页皮层 的血流量会增加。在为数不多的几个研究中，研究人员识别撒谎被试 的准确度范围从76%到90%以上 (PDF)。但一些科学家和律师同Greely一样，怀疑这些结果在实验室环境以外的可重复性。而其他人也认为fMRI测谎技术还没有准备好。
“显然某些东西会加入，并且会变得越来越好，在某个时候将会完全准备好。我只是不确定它现在就存在，”John Vanmeter说。Vanmeter是乔治敦功能和分子成像中心的神经科学家。“另一方面，现在开始在法庭系统中进行测试也许是件好事。目前为止，这真 的还只是停留在理论上。”
No Lie MRI 公司从宾夕法尼亚大学精神病学家Daniel Langleben处获得了此项技术的授权。与 No Lie MRI 公司一样，angleben本人拒绝接受本文的采访，但他提供了一篇近期的社论。这篇“法医脑功能成像的未来”的社论发表在Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 上。
从这篇社论，很明显可以看出Langleben对他的工作被商业使用感到不安。他明确区分了和他一样的“欺骗研究者”和“fMRI测谎的商人”，他还描述了一个“由大学技术商业化部门代理的工业与学术之间的令人不安的联盟。”
Langleben推动了大规模的实验，以确定fMRI测谎技术的效率。但在2007年底接受的采访中，他怀疑是否 No Lie MRI 和其竞争对手Cephalos有足够的资源来进行他想要的实验验证。
“我们需要对200至300人进行临床试验，我们才能确定'测试的准确率'，”Langleben告诉Wired.com 。“但只有两三个公司正在努力开发这一技术。这些公司的钱袋够大么？不。但是这些临床试验却要花费很多。”
今年9月，Huizenga说该公司正在试图获得一项资助以进行大样本群体的研究。“到目前为止，还没有真正的研究试图为优化fMRI测谎技术，”他说。
但即使后面的技术没有完全建立，Edward Cheng仍然认为这项技术适合用在法庭上。Cheng在布鲁克林法学院研究诉讼程序中的科学证据。
“在进入法庭之前，一项技术并不一定需要做到万无一失，”Cheng说。
他质疑社会上传统的测谎方法，即单凭人眼的观察，是否比新技术更可靠。
“目前尚不清楚是否可靠和万无一失，但fMRI机器是不会比陪审团直接观察证人差的，”Cheng说。“最重要的是思考的基准是什么。如果你想维持现状，没问题；但在目前情况下，维持现状可能不是最好的。”
但是Cheng所说的fMRI是否可以"可靠和万无一失"的问题仍然没有答案。
Ed Vul，一名来自麻省理工学院Kanwisher实验室 的fMRI研究者说，对于犯罪嫌疑人来说太容易破坏fMRI数据了。
“我认为它是不可靠的和不可操作的。fMRI数据很容易被破坏，”Vul说。“最大的困难是，很容易就可以使fMRI数据不可用，比如小小移动一下，屏住呼吸，甚至思考一群随机的东西。”
一名受过专门训练的被告甚至可以引导fMRI数据。相对于传统的测谎方法，fMRI更值得怀疑。
“到目前为止，我可以说，破坏fMRI数据的方法要比破坏传统多导测谎仪的方法多得多，”Vul说。
纽约大学的神经学家Elizabeth Phelps也同意几乎没有证据表明fMRI是比以往测谎技术更可靠的方法。
“当你基于实验室的被试建立一个模型时，它可能不适用于另外一个总是重复说谎的人，或一个面临被起诉的人，”Phelps说。“我不认为我们有任何的证据标准，规定哪些数据将是可靠的，法院应当承认。 ”
所有这些理论思考将很快在圣地亚哥的法庭上接受考验。斯坦福大学的Murphy认为，是否受理这一证据取决于哪个科学家被允许评论这一证据。
“辩护方计划声称基于fMRI的测谎（或”真相核查“ ）是准确的并在相关科学界是普遍接受的，这个相关科学界可以狭义的界定为那些研究和开发fMRI测谎的研究者，”她写道。
Murphy说，相关科学界应该大得多，其中包括更广泛的神经科学家，统计学家，和研究记忆的专家。
如果更广泛的科学界被列入事实调查，Greely不认为证据会被采纳。
“当这个问题被两方面的专家充分讨论后，我很难相信今天一个法官会接受fMRI测谎证据，”Greely说。
但随着大脑扫描的科学与伦理基础的加强，也许某一天测谎技术会在法庭中找到自己的位置。

人类认知过程的简单框架

该图取材于《认知、脑与意识、认知神经科学导论》第53页图2.26

是对心理学-认知神经科学脑功能分类的概括性图表。

PNAS系列09.3

1.音乐改善中风患者的感知

聆听愉快的音乐可以通过帮助中风患者的注意力和视觉处理从而改善他们的心理功能，这提示音乐疗法可能成为治疗视觉忽视的有价值的临床工具。

论文#08-11681: "Pleasant music overcomes the loss of awareness in patients with visual neglect," 作者 David Soto, María J. Funes, Azucena Guzmán-García, Tracy Warbrick, Pia Rotshtein和 Glyn W. Humphreys

媒体联系人：David Soto，英国伦敦帝国理工学院神经科学和精神卫生部门

Division of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Imperial College London, London, UNITED KINGDOM

电话： +44-20-8846-7296 (办公室), +44-78-462-70191 (手机)

电子邮件：d.soto@imperial.ac.uk

2.愚蠢的财富概念

科学家发现了大脑的“货币错觉”的中心，这种错觉意味着人们更看重货币的数目，而非它的相对购买力。这种错觉认为人们倾向于重视收入的增加，而不管 它们是否能购买更多的商品，这可能有助于解释一些人对货币和财富的非理性行为。Armin Falk及其同事证明了这种错觉激励了负责处理奖赏的大脑正中前额叶皮层。这组科学家利用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）测试了受试者。受试者在研究期间得到 了高的或者低的“收入”，然后被允许从高价或低价物品目录中选择物品。这组科学家发现高收入/高价物品的受试者比低收入/低价物品的受试者的大脑奖赏中心 表现出了显著更高的活动。这组作者得出结论说，这种活动的增加表明了受试者对货币错觉有了反应，尽管每个人的相对购买力都是相同的。

论文 #09-01490: "The medial prefrontal cortex exhibits money illusion," 作者Bernd Weber, Antonio Rangel, Matthias Wibral和 Armin Falk

媒体联系人：Armin Falk，德国波恩大学经济学实验研究所

Institute for Empirical Research in Economics, University of Bonn, Bonn, GERMANY

电话：+49-228-73-9240

电子邮件：armin.falk@uni-bonn.de

3.侦查青春期的大脑

一项测量睡眠时的脑波的研究显示，11岁到16.5岁的时期对于青春期大脑发育至关重要。Ian Campbell和Irwin Feinberg通过记录睡眠脑波（EEG）研究了已知发生在青春期的广泛的大脑再组织，他们对两组正常儿童每年测量两次脑波，共测量5年，这些儿童在研 究开始时的年龄是9岁或12岁。这组作者发现，在11岁到16.5岁期间，受试者表现出了深度睡眠期间脑波的显著减少。这种变化在生理上与一种称为突触修 饰的神经组织形式相符。尽管这组科学家没有测量受试者的激素水平，他们提出这种脑波的减少与年龄相关，而不是与青春期性发育的体征相关。由于在睡眠时期测 量脑波是成本低廉、非侵入性的，且容易计量，这组作者提出这种记录可能代表了一种有用的工具，用于研究青春期大脑变化、认知发育，或许还包括研究可能随着 大脑成熟而出现的精神疾病。

论文 # 08-12947: "Longitudinal trajectories of NREM delta and theta EEG as indicators of adolescent brain maturation," 作者 Ian Campbell 和Irwin Feinberg

媒体联系人：Ian Campbell，加州大学戴维斯分校精神病学和行为科学系

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of California, Davis, CA

电话：530-752-7216

电子邮件：igcampbell@ucdavis.edu

source: EurekaAlert

PNAS:社会隔离可能减少中风后的生存率

根据一项动物研究的结果，社会隔离可能增加一个人中风后死亡的几率。Courtney DeVries及其同事报告说，单独饲养的雄性小鼠比和雌性小鼠共同饲养的雄性小鼠中风后的生存率更低，而且遇到了更多的脑损伤。这组科学家证明了只有 40%的社会隔离的小鼠在手术引发的中风后生存了7天，而所有雌性和雄性同居的小鼠在中风后都生存下来了。这组作者发现，社会隔离的雄性小鼠在它们的大脑 中风区域周围有更高浓度的几种促进炎症的化合物，这可能有助于解释更高的死亡率和脑损伤。用阻断其中一种炎症化合物效果的一种抗体治疗这些社会隔离的小 鼠，结果消除了中风严重程度的差异。这组作者得出结论说，这些结果显示，社会隔离可能通过增加对受损脑组织的炎症反应从而改变中风的结果。

论文 #08-10737: "Social isolation alters neuroinflammatory response to stroke," 作者 Kate Karelina, Gregory Norman, Ning Zhang, John Morris, Haiyan Peng和A. Courtney DeVries

媒体联系人： Courtney DeVries，俄亥俄州立大学心理学和神经科学系，行为医学研究所

Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience, Institute of Behavioral Medicine Research, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

电话： 614-292-7353

电子邮件：devries@psy.ohio-state.edu

论文地址：sorry,论文要到23以后才出来

source: EurekaAlert

之所以把这篇文献单列出来是因为这篇做的是老鼠的社会神经科学，具有独特的意义。研究的方法应该继承了早年心理学家对老鼠的生活空间拥挤程度怎样影响老鼠大脑的研究。

Body 2.0 - Continuous Monitoring Of The Human Body

一项正在开发的技术将允许未来某一天能不间断的监控身体的健康情况。
你可能无法抑制的想象到，如果人体没有实时监控的生活是多么的危险。从现在起，人们将会发现心脏病发作、中风、荷尔蒙失调、血糖浓度，数以百计的健康状况 征兆和故障都可以在植入式健康监控装置下预先发觉。我们可以称这一概念为身体2.0（body 2.0）或网络化身体。生物医学、技术和无线通信三者的结合，将很容易实现不间断的24x7监控.....从监控设置中收集的大量用于医疗研究和分析的数 据将完全是一场革命，通过数据分析能了解到人体每时每刻的变化，如精神压力和感染等。

source: solidot

英文原文

source: Sigularity Hub

Body 2.0 - Continuous Monitoring Of The Human Body

Written on March 20, 2009 – 2:01 pm | by keith kleiner |
Email This Post | ShareThis

Did you ever stop to think how silly and also how dangerous it is to live our lives with absolutely no monitoring of our body’s medical status? Years from now people will look back and find it unbelievable that heart attacks, strokes, hormone imbalances, sugar levels, and hundreds of other bodily vital signs and malfunctions were not being continuously anticipated and monitored by medical implants. We can call this concept body 2.0, or the networked body, and we need it now!

Above: concept illustration from yankodesign

The trio of biomedicine, technology, and wireless communication are in the midst of a merger that will easily bring continuous, 24×7 monitoring of several crucial bodily functions in the years ahead. Unfortunately, as is often the case with medical products, the needed innovations are either already developed or will be soon, but some of the best commercial products won’t make it to the market until years of testing have proven their safety.

自然神经科学：第一印象的神经机制

source: Nature Neuroscience
Published online: 8 March 2009 | doi:10.1038/nn.2278

A neural mechanism of first impressions

Daniela Schiller^1,2, Jonathan B Freeman^2,3, Jason P Mitchell⁴, James S Uleman² & Elizabeth A Phelps^1,2

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Abstract

Evaluating social others requires processing complex information. Nevertheless, we can rapidly form an opinion of an individual during an initial encounter. Moreover, people can vary in these opinions, even though the same information is provided. We investigated the brain mechanisms that give rise to the impressions that are formed on meeting a new person. Neuroimaging revealed that responses in the amygdala and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) were stronger while encoding social information that was consistent, relative to inconsistent, with subsequent evaluations. In addition, these responses scaled parametrically with the strength of evaluations. These findings provide evidence for encoding differences on the basis of subsequent evaluations, suggesting that the amygdala and PCC are important for forming first impressions.

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1. Center for Neural Science, Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
2. Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, New York, USA.
3. Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA.
4. Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Correspondence to: Daniela Schiller^1,2 e-mail: schiller@cns.nyu.edu

Correspondence to: Elizabeth A Phelps^1,2 e-mail: liz.phelps@nyu.edu

NBIC中国的优势：认知科学学生的观点

中国是一个崛起中的国度（暂且这么说，虽然经济衰退了），它具有以下后发国家优势

1. 便宜的劳动力成本
   也许农民工不便宜，但是高端的硕士、博士还是非常便宜，而这也就意味着R&D的费用可以下降（当然这不是长久之际）；
2. 对待被试的伦理考虑
   像美国这样的国家已经对实验动物进行了比较严格的实验制度的管理，在实验之前会面临伦理的监管。而在中国，这个制度完全没有，普通人不会对实验动物（猴子、老鼠）产生任何怜悯，在动物权利保护组织来到中国以前，杰出的科学家可以做很多深远的实验。（正像社会心理学家米尔格拉姆的著名“服从”实验一样-是对人类的-在20世纪60年代可以做，但是放在今天的美国就不能做了，因为会导致被试产生不良的情绪。然而，在中国，就可以做）目前还看不到有什么组织会为被试的权利呼吁，更何况是动物被试。
3. 大政府-大科学模式
   在中国，政府控制着很多资源。而这就可以辅助科学的变化。人类基因组计划一改过去科学研究就是单个研究团队申请经费，但是研究的主题仅仅满足科学家自己的研究目标。该计划由政府或具有影响力的国际组织推动，通过联络大量的资源、跨学科专家、成百上千研究者、跨国的合作，加速科学的发展以满足政府在国家科技实力上的需求或者说民众对科学要有所用的期望。该计划就是大科学模式。由于政府控制着主要资源，就可以任意改变科学的进展，来满足特定的科学目的（例如神州系列飞船，同样也包括脑与认知科学）。
   PS：这里我不是鼓吹政府好，我所说的大政府模式是国际间的合作，而不是单一的政府。
4. 认知具有文化特性
   现在心理学取得广泛的共识，即认知具有一定的文化特异性，例如最基本的分类：西方-个体主义；东方-集体主义。这一点会影响人们决策、归因等心理过程。即便西方国家做认知做得再好，也要到东方国家来做跨文化的验证。当然，也有可能要到非洲原始部落里面去做。
   
   

训练ADHD孩童的软件生产商

其实虚拟现实加上基于脑与认知心理学的专家训练系统很可能成为未来工作培训很重要的一部分，由于虚拟现实的存在，使得工作训练要经验变得滑稽（但愿如此，至少对于应届生来说是福音，不过不是所有的公司都买的起）。

这里介绍一个专门为大家介绍一个用软件训练儿童注意力缺陷及多动障碍（Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder，ADHD，就是俗称的多动症）的公司。

Brain Training Software

说来也巧，在谷歌广告里面看见了这家公司。看了下这家公司的历史，创始人中有神经心理学家，并且自称自己的软件使用遍及各大洲，下面转载这家公司的历史介绍。

About BrainTrain

BrainTrain was founded in 1989 by Joseph A. Sandford, Ph.D., to distribute the Captain’s Log Cognitive Training System. Dr. Sandford had written the first release of Captain’s Log in 1985, collaborating with Dr. Richard J. Browne, a neuropsychologist who sponsored his internship working with head-injured patients. The first release of Captain’s Log contained 21 programs for the Apple IIE computer. Since Dr. Sandford had been a programmer for GTE Telenet before receiving his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Nova Southeastern University, it was natural for him to perceive the unique ways in which the computer could be used to benefit head-injured patients.

In 1987, Dr. Sandford placed an ad for Captain’s Log in a computer magazine. The ad brought no sales! However, it did attract the attention of Dr. Ann Turner, a psychiatrist/programmer in California, who wrote to him offering her collaboration. Together, Dr. Turner and Dr. Sandford added fourteen new programs to Captain’s Log and updated the software, first for use on the Apple IIGS, then for PC.

Captain’s Log has now been completely revised and is available for Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista. The most recent addition is the Personal Trainer, which helps the user to create customized, brain training plans for use with the Captain's Log programs.

In 1994, Dr. Sandford and Dr. Turner produced the first version of the IVA CPT, the first commercially available, combined visual and auditory continuous performance test. IVA, now updated to IVA+Plus, has been enhanced by several interpretive report writers. It has been followed by SoundSmart, a set of auditory cognitive training programs, and a visual tracking, driving program, SmartDriver.

Despite its status as an international company – BrainTrain’s software is used extensively in all fifty states and in 27 foreign countries – the company is still essentially a family business. Dr. Sandford’s wife, Virginia, a graduate of Juilliard and a former concert pianist, serves as BrainTrain’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing. The Sandford’s older daughter, Jennifer, is an invaluable member of the company team, and their son, Michael, who holds an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh, did much of the programming for the Windows release of Captain’s Log. In addition to their two grown children, the Sandfords also have a teenage daughter, Shana, who has already done research with IVA+Plus and has presented her study, "The Effect of Music on Attention," at the national SNR meeting in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2000. Her abstract is published in the Journal of Neurotherapy, 4, 4, 96-97.

In addition to his activities as a software developer, Dr. Sandford runs a busy private clinical neuropsychology practice, plays golf and is an avid science fiction fan.

Nanorobot for Brain Aneurysm

治疗颅内动脉瘤的纳米机器人

Abstract:
In this paper we present how nanoelectronics should advance medicine, providing details on the teleoperated techniques and equipment design methodology necessary for the effective development of nanorobots. The platform architecture describes how to use a nanorobot for intracranial prognosis, and shows how it should be integrated for medical instrumentation. Furthermore, the current study establishes proteomics, nanobioelectronics, and electromagnetics as the basis to advance medical nanorobotics. To illustrate the proposed approach, the nanorobots must search for protein overexpression signals in order to recognize initial stages of aneurysm. An advanced nanomechatromics simulator, using a three-dimensional task-based environment, is implemented to provide an effective tool for device prototyping and medical instrumentation analysis. Thus, based on clinical data and nanobioelectronics, the proposed model offers details about how a nanorobot should help with the early detection of cerebral aneurysm.

Adriano Cavalcanti: CAN Center for Automation in Nanobiotech, Melbourne VIC 3168, Australia.

www.canbiotechnems.com/

Source:
Center for Automation in Nanobiotech

想法一则

neurosociety群组建立了，但是我还没把这个群组的作用想得很明确。继承心心水滴的风格，做学术bbs的话有点浪费，毕竟水滴上藏龙卧虎，这里的一些信息仅仅是小打小闹罢了。

做商业风格呢，自己不懂，不敢乱说。

目前仅仅是把它当一个二手渠道，用邮件通知大家这个博客的更新吧。

另：

1.前两天看到中科院也不知道是社科院推出了一个生物管理硕士研究生班的课程，应该类似于生物产业的MBA。这两天再到网上去找找不到了。有谁有兴趣可以看看。

2.如果有谁有比较好的线下的新闻来源请推荐啊：）

自然评论神经科学：记忆系统系列综述

Memory systems

There is a growing consensus that different types of memory are mediated by multiple distinct systems, but how these 'multiple memory systems' are organized in the brain is still a topic of debate. Nature Reviews Neuroscience presents a series of articles that discuss recent findings and controversies regarding the neural substrates of different memory systems and their components, drawing on data from neuropsychological, cognitive, neuroimaging and animal studies.

2009

April 2009 Vol 10 No 4

The anatomy of memory: an interactive overview of the parahippocampal–hippocampal network

N. M. van Strien, N. L. M. Cappaert & M. P. Witter

• Abstract
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2008

August 2008 Vol 9 No 8

The parietal cortex and episodic memory: an attentional account

Roberto Cabeza, Elisa Ciaramelli, Ingrid R. Olson & Morris Moscovitch

• Abstract
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• PDF (1,355KB)
  

2008

March 2008 Vol 9 No 3

The hippocampus and memory: insights from spatial processing

Chris M. Bird & Neil Burgess

• Abstract
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2007

December 2007 Vol 8 No 12

Where do you know what you know? The representation of semantic knowledge in the human brain

Karalyn Patterson, Peter J. Nestor & Timothy T. Rogers

• Abstract
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November 2007 Vol 8 No 11

Recognition memory and the medial temporal lobe: a new perspective

Larry R. Squire, John T. Wixted & Robert E. Clark

• Abstract
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• PDF (433KB)

source：Nature Reviews Neuroscience