disease

Deep learning model built on neuroimaging data identifies “Brain Age Gaps” as markers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)

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Brain Age Gap is a Com­pos­ite Bio­mark­er for Demen­tia Pathol­o­gy or Sever­i­ty (GEN):

Mayo Clin­ic sci­en­tists have devel­oped a com­pu­ta­tion­al mod­el that pre­dicts brain age using a large col­lec­tion of neu­roimag­ing data obtained using FDG-PET (flu­o­rodeoxyglu­cose positron emis­sion tomog­ra­phy) and struc­tur­al MRI (mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing). The deep learn­ing-based mod­el tests the rela­tion­ship between brain age gaps in var­i­ous forms of demen­tia, includ­ing mild cog­ni­tive impair­ment (MCI), Alzheimer’s dis­ease (AD), fron­totem­po­ral demen­tia (FTD), and Lewy body demen­tia (LBD), as well as in nor­mal brains.

[Read more…] about Deep learn­ing mod­el built on neu­roimag­ing data iden­ti­fies “Brain Age Gaps” as mark­ers of Alzheimer’s dis­ease (AD)

Jan Samzelius, CEO of Brainnovations Winner NeuraMetrix, encourages pioneers to focus on “simple, elegant solutions to big problems”

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What sur­prised you the most from the Judges’ ques­tions and feed­back dur­ing the Brain­no­va­tions Pitch Con­test last month?

Even with only a brief pre­sen­ta­tion the judges imme­di­ate­ly got the poten­tial impact of our tech­nol­o­gy to mea­sure and mon­i­tor brain health and began to think about oth­er appli­ca­tions for us – sev­er­al we had not thought about. That was fun.

In a nut­shell, what is the core idea behind Neu­raMetrix?

Typ­ing Cadence is among the strongest habit we have. If the brain is attacked by a dis­ease, the habit will begin to break – very slow­ly and in very small incre­ments. Our way of mea­sur­ing is so sen­si­tive that we can pick up changes at the lev­el of 1/100th of sec­ond – many orders of mag­ni­tude bet­ter than today’s tools.

When and how did the idea come to you?

Com­ing from data secu­ri­ty, our first idea was to use typ­ing cadence for authen­ti­ca­tion, and then were alert­ed to the brain health appli­ca­tion by an out­sider. [Read more…] about Jan Samzelius, CEO of Brain­no­va­tions Win­ner Neu­raMetrix, encour­ages pio­neers to focus on “sim­ple, ele­gant solu­tions to big problems”

Update: The Neurotech Revolution Could Lead To ‘Frankenstein’ Brains. Here’s How We Avoid It

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Time for Sharp­Brains’ August e‑newsletter, this time start­ing with a con­ver­sa­tion whose time has come…

New thinking:

Year 2030, your col­lege-age daugh­ter, who has nor­mal hear­ing, has been pound­ing on you to get the lat­est hear­ing aid that allows one to can­cel out noise on demand, ampli­fy select­ed ambi­ent con­ver­sa­tions at will, and can eas­i­ly con­nect to the music store. Should you buy one for her? Maybe you should buy one not only for her, but also for you as you enter your 60s? Keep read­ing The Neu­rotech Rev­o­lu­tion Could Lead To ‘Franken­stein’ Brains. Here’s How We Avoid It

New research:

New tools:

Upcoming events (and discount codes):

 

Have a great September!

 

The Sharp­Brains Team

“We need people-centered wellness solutions that integrate brain health factors” — Charlie Hartwell, Operating Partner at the Bridge Builders Collaborative

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Ques­tion: Char­lie, please share 1–2 major brain health needs you observe right now whose solu­tion demands a cre­ative and sig­nif­i­cant tech-enabled innovation.

Answer: I’d encour­age peo­ple to remem­ber that Brain Health is just part of over­all Whole Per­son Health.  Brain health solu­tions may reduce some dis­ease symp­toms but not help achieve actu­al well­ness.  We need peo­ple-cen­tered well­ness solu­tions that inte­grate brain health factors.

What advice would you give an entre­pre­neur launch­ing an inno­va­tion to address that?

Think hard about the way to grow and through what dis­tri­b­u­tion chan­nel you want to bring your solu­tion. No dis­tri­b­u­tion, no innovation.

– Char­lie Hartwell is the Oper­at­ing Part­ner at the Bridge Builders Col­lab­o­ra­tive, help­ing fund and sup­port the visions of social entre­pre­neurs build­ing bridges in the mind train­ing space. Char­lie is a Har­vard Busi­ness School grad­u­ate who has led, found­ed, run and worked in orga­ni­za­tions in 16 dif­fer­ent indus­tries. He will serve as a Judge in the first Brainnova­tions Pitch Con­test host­ed by the 2017 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit: Brain Enhance­ment in the Dig­i­tal Age (Decem­ber 5–7th, 2017).

– Brain­no­va­tions Judg­ing Panel

Executive Functions in Health and Disease: New book to help integrate Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuropsychology

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Neu­ro­science used to be the monop­oly of a few elite uni­ver­si­ties locat­ed in a hand­ful of coun­tries. Neu­ropsy­chol­o­gy used to be a quaint niche dis­ci­pline rel­a­tive­ly uncon­nect­ed to the larg­er world of neu­ro­science and con­tent in its meth­ods with paper-and-pen­cil tests. [Read more…] about Exec­u­tive Func­tions in Health and Dis­ease: New book to help inte­grate Cog­ni­tive Neu­ro­science and Neuropsychology

7 ways in which the Human Connectome Project is moving the brain research needle

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humanconnectome———-

The Human Con­nec­tome Project: Progress and Prospects (Cere­brum):

“Under­stand­ing the human brain in health and dis­ease rep­re­sents a grand sci­en­tif­ic chal­lenge for the 21st cen­tu­ry and beyond. How does a col­lec­tion of 90 bil­lion neu­rons inter­con­nect­ed by 150 tril­lion synaps­es give rise to the extra­or­di­nary capa­bil­i­ties of human behav­ior and the amaz­ing diver­si­ty of tal­ents among the bil­lions of peo­ple pop­u­lat­ing our earth?” Keep read­ing The Human Con­nec­tome Project: Progress and Prospects over at the Dana Foun­da­tion website.

To learn more: