Power of the scientific accident: Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory

[BurtWorm]

From the Independent:


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-way-to-reverse-loss-of-memory-775586.html

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Scientists performing experimental brain surgery on a man aged 50 have stumbled across a mechanism that could unlock how memory works.

The accidental breakthrough came during an experiment originally intended to suppress the obese man's appetite, using the increasingly successful technique of deep-brain stimulation. Electrodes were pushed into the man's brain and stimulated with an electric current. Instead of losing appetite, the patient instead had an intense experience of déjà vu. He recalled, in intricate detail, a scene from 30 years earlier. More tests showed his ability to learn was dramatically improved when the current was switched on and his brain stimulated.

Scientists are now applying the technique in the first trial of the treatment in patients with Alzheimer's disease. If successful, it could offer hope to sufferers from the degenerative condition, which affects 450,000 people in Britain alone, by providing a "pacemaker" for the brain.

Three patients have been treated and initial results are promising, according to Andres Lozano, a professor of neurosurgery at the Toronto Western Hospital, Ontario, who is leading the research.

...

[dysfunctional press]

1. jeopardy, here i come...

wire me up.

[EFerrari]

2. Kick

[bleever]

3. I like my brain.

It helps me with hard things.

K&R.

[BurtWorm]

4. This sends chills through me (more from the article)

...


The discovery had caught him and his team "completely by surprise", Professor Lozano said. They had been operating on the man, who weighed 190kg (30st), to treat his obesity by locating the point in his brain that controls appetite. All other attempts to curb his eating had failed and brain surgery was the last resort.

The treatment for obesity was unsuccessful. But, while the researchers were identifying potential appetite suppressant points in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain associated with hunger, the man suddenly began to say that memory was flooding back.

"He reported the experience of being in a park with friends from when he was around 20 years old and, as the intensity of stimulation increased, the details became more vivid. He recognised his girlfriend ... The scene was in colour. People were wearing identifiable clothes and were talking, but he could not decipher what they were saying," the researchers write in Annals of Neurology, published today.

The man, who has not been identified, was also tested on his ability to learn lists of paired objects. After three weeks of continuous hypothalamic stimulation, his performance on two learning tests was significantly improved. He was also much more likely to remember a list of unrelated paired objects with the electrodes turned on than when turned off.

...

[Mojorabbit]

5. This is wonderful!

Thanks for posting it.

[progressoid]

6. Not déjà vu though.

déjà vu: The experience of thinking that a new situation had occurred before.

[BurtWorm]

7. Déjà pensé

I had that same thought.

[jgraz]

8. I hear W is suddenly preparing for Bin Laden to strike in the U.S.

Who knew? :shrug:

[medeak]

9. husband has parkinsons and afraid of this....

thank you so much...

[mzmolly]

10. The electrode technology is very fascinating. There have been some who have been helped with

"severe" Tourette Syndrome as well.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071112105935.htm

http://www.oprah.com/tows/slide/200404/20040421/tows_slide_20040421_01.jhtml

I think this technology has far reaching implications?

Thanks for posting BW :hi:

[BurtWorm]

11. Nice to see you, mzmolly.

:hi:

I agree with you that this technology looks very promising.

[mzmolly]

12. Always nice to see you as well

B.

:pals:

[Swamp Rat]

14. mzmolly!

:hug:

[BurtWorm]

16. What the f--- was that event?!

Is that a composite or were all those gasbags really dining together with the Pimp in Chief?

:wow:

[Swamp Rat]

19. Yes they were really all dining together.

found it here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2784614&mesg_id=2784614

[BurtWorm]

20. It looks like no one can bear looking at him.

Who's the one in purple dining away among all those stenographers?

[Swamp Rat]

22. Dana "Wasn't that, like, the Bay of Pigs thing?" Perino

[BurtWorm]

23. Ah! No need for notes. She's already programmed.

:patriot:

[Swamp Rat]

24. check your PM

;)

[BurtWorm]

26. Done.

Check yours.

;)

[mzmolly]

18. Swampy!

:loveya:

Once again your graphic has me :rofl:

[juajen]

13. This is simply wonderful! Please keep going!

NT

[tridim]

15. Let's try to fill the next 8 years with nothing but news like this

I'm sick of bad news every day.

[CoffeeCat]

17. I wonder if this could help people...

with PTSD, who have some memory loss from the traumas they sustained.

Could this stimulation awaken memories that a person has buried--due to
intense trauma?

I'm also wondering, if you re-experience the emotions associated with
a specific memory--when the brain is stimulated? Or, are you merely
seeing visual details? For example, if you touch the brain and you
re-live your 5th birthday party, are you only seeing the surroundings
or are you also experiencing the emotions you felt at the time?

If so, are you, in effect, regressed?

This article is fascinating...

[Doctor Cynic]

21. Does this mean that the Bush Admin officials

who testified and kept repeating "I don't remember" can now tell the truth?

[renate]

25. well done!

:rofl:

:applause:

[Hardrada]

27. And there are some things we would rather not remember.

Particularly in detail.

[ConsAreLiars]

28. Of course, there is the very real possibility that the "memory" was sheer invention.

Most research I have seen suggests that memory is more accurately defined as "reconstruction" with a fair bit of ex post facto guessing involved. The "intensity" aspect is certainly no indication of accuracy. There are lots of ways to induce "intense" experiences that have nothing to do with anything real. On the other hand, keep up the research.

[BurtWorm]

31. You make a good point.

I would like to know more about what they find out about the "park incident" their subject described. Could anyone corroborate any of it? Why did that memory, so called, come up, out of all the ones he must have?

[BigBearJohn]

29. Thanks for posting this! K/R

[The Straight Story]

30. I had a cool reply all thought out, then forgot it

someone stimulate me :)

[BurtWorm]

32. kick

[rug]

33. I'm going to bookmark this.