Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation shows early promise to ameliorate depression, especially if combined with other therapies and dosage optimized

By SharpBrains | October 1, 2018

___ Tran­scra­nial Direct Cur­rent Stim­u­la­tion Promis­ing for Major Depres­sive Dis­or­der (Psy­chi­a­try Advi­sor): “Tran­scra­nial direct cur­rent stim­u­la­tion (tDCS) is an inves­tiga­tive modal­i­ty for major depres­sive dis­or­der (MDD) that has shown some promis­ing results. Though it has a while before it is approved by the US Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion, clin­i­cians and patients have been clam­or­ing for…

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FDA clears deep transcranial magnetic stimulation device to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder

By SharpBrains | September 14, 2018

Brain­sWay’s Brain Stim­u­la­tion Device Receives FDA Approval to Treat Obses­­sive-Com­pul­­sive Dis­or­der (IEEE Spec­trum): “In 2013, Jerusalem-based Brain­sWay began mar­ket­ing a new type of brain stim­u­la­tion device that uses mag­net­ic puls­es to treat major depres­sive dis­or­der. Now, thanks to pos­i­tive results in a study of 100 patients, the com­pa­ny has received approval from the U.S. Food…

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tDCS coming to an Equinox gym near you: Good, Bad or Depends?

By SharpBrains | April 27, 2018

___ Brain-Zap­ping Work­out Tech Is Com­ing to an Equinox Near You (Giz­mo­do): “Ath­letes are gen­er­al­ly will­ing to enter­tain any sci­en­tif­ic-sound­ing trend that promis­es an edge. For ref­er­ence: Michael Phelps and cup­ping or Shaquille O’Neal’s ener­­gy-enhanc­ing bracelets. Which is prob­a­bly why Equinox jumped at the chance to offer Halo Neuroscience’s brain-zap­ping, sup­pos­ed­ly per­­for­­mance-enhanc­ing head­sets as part of…

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Research trend: Combining brain stimulation with cognitive training to enhance attention and memory

By Tessa Abagis | April 2, 2018

In 47 CE, Scri­bo­nius Largus, court physi­cian to the Roman emper­or Claudius, described in his Com­po­si­tiones a method for treat­ing chron­ic migraines: place tor­pe­do fish on the scalps of patients to ease their pain with elec­tric shocks. Largus was on the right path; our brains are com­prised of elec­tri­cal sig­nals that influ­ence how brain cells…

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DARPA invests in nonsurgical neurotechnologies for eventual use in healthy human subjects

By SharpBrains | March 21, 2018

___ Non­sur­gi­cal Neur­al Inter­faces Could Sig­nif­i­cant­ly Expand Use of Neu­rotech­nol­o­gy (DARPA News): “Over the past two decades, the inter­na­tion­al bio­med­ical research com­mu­ni­ty has demon­strat­ed increas­ing­ly sophis­ti­cat­ed ways to allow a per­son­’s brain to com­mu­ni­cate with a device, allow­ing break­throughs aimed at improv­ing qual­i­ty of life, such as access to com­put­ers and the inter­net, and more…

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With pharma exiting Alzheimer’s research, new hope (and urgency) seen in the combination of brain training and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

By SharpBrains | January 22, 2018

___ What does the future hold for the war on Alzheimer’s? (The Globe and Mail): “After spend­ing huge sums on clin­i­cal trails in recent years, the phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal indus­try has failed to find a drug that can halt the mind-rob­bing dis­ease. And this month, Pfiz­er announced it is end­ing its Alzheimer’s research, although oth­er com­pa­nies haven’t thrown…

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