Brain Implant for Parkinson’s Disease Patients Approved by FDA - http://clapway.com/2015/06/13/brain-implant-for-parkinsons-disease-patients-approved-by-fda-456/

Yesterday, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved a brain implant that helps fight Parkinson’s Disease and essential tremor. The device is called the Brio Neurostimulation System, and has been described by the FDA as “an implantable deep brain stimulation device” that’s there to “help reduce the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor, a movement disorder that is one of the most common causes of tremors” in a recent press release. Over fifty thousand Americans are diagnosed annually with Parkinson’s, and millions over the age of 40 suffer from essential tremor.

 

 

Parkinson’s still uncured, but now easier to live with.

Managing Parkinson’s Disease symptoms is now easier thanks to the system, and users should see an improvement in symptom manifestation. The brain stimulation device is made up of a small rechargeable battery, a pulse generator, and wire leads going from the pulse generator to brain locations that depend on the illness at hand. Those who have received training in operation of the Brio Neurostimulation System can adjust the device for different effects as needed.

 

FDA approved brain implant based on results of two clinical trials.

Two trials were essential for the approval of the device by the FDA. One lasted for three months and had a sample size of 136 patients, while the other lasted six months and has 127 patients. The first group consisted of Parkinson’s patients, while the second was made up of people suffering from essential tremor. Both groups statistically showed significant improvement in effectiveness of action when the device was turned on versus when it was turned off.

 

Brain implant is not without its risks, though.

The Brio Neurostimulation System has its share of side effects, some quite nasty. The major one is intercranial bleeding, which can lead to stroke paralysis, or death according to the FDA. There was actually a device with a similar goal on the market, Medtronic’s Activa Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy System, which was approved in 1997 for treatment of tremors associated with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. That device was also a brain implant, and the FDA widened the system’s indications in 2002 to include the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

---

 

 

 

Stay in shape with the HidrateMi Smart Water Bottle, which reminds you to stay hydrated.

Brain Implant for Parkinson’s Disease Patients Approved by FDA

New Guinea: History of Cannibalism Protects Tribe From Brain Disease - http://clapway.com/2015/06/11/new-guinea-history-of-brain-consumption-protects-tribe-from-diseases-876/

Practice that once caused illness and death now provides immunity to some brain diseases.

A once isolated New Guinea tribe, the Fore, would traditionally consume their dead’s cadavers, including their brains. The men would eat the flesh, while the women and children would consume the brain. The ritual led to problems for the Fore people, since their consumption of a certain molecule living in the human brain caused a terrible degenerative illness named “kuru,” which is known to have killed around 2% of the tribe’s population each year. The practice of feasting on cadavers was outlawed in the ‘50s. Now, a new study shows that there was an upside to the Fore’s consumption of human brains.

 

Gene that protects from brain disease found in study.

In a study published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, one protective gene is written about as guarding people from prions. Prions are a weird, sometimes lethal type of protein that, though made by the bodies of all mammals, can be deformed in such a way that they turn on the bodies that produced them. Deformed prions can even infect surrounding prions, reshaping them, and thus filling the victim’s brains with tiny holes. These holes end up giving the brain a sponge-like texture, and historically have caused massive outbreaks of mad cow disease in cattle. These prions are directly linked to a weird kind of deadly insomnia that starves a person of sleep until he or she is dead, as well Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which leads to accelerated dementia, memory loss, and eventual loss of speech and ability to move. The gene identified by this study protects the body against prion-related diseases in an interesting way. A tiny alteration in the genome of Fore people kept prion-making proteins from making the disease-causing type of the molecule, which kept them from getting the Kuru illness. Scientists now believe that the changing of prion molecules’ shapes by other prions is likely responsible for the effects of many degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and dementia.

 

Incurable prion illnesses have two causes.

Diseases caused by prions have two causes. One is genetic, where the brain disease is passed down from a person’s parents. The other, which accounts for a smaller percentage of cases, is from consumption of infected tissue. Infected tissue can be eaten accidentally in the form of beef from an infected cow.

---

 

Protect your brain from dehydration with this smart water bottle.

New Guinea: History of Cannibalism Protects Tribe From Brain Disease