Search results for "Brain"
showing 10 items of 3997 documents
Are Neural Networks Imitations of Mind?
2015
Artificial neural networks are often understood as a good way to imitate mind through the web structure of neurons in brain, but the very high complexity of human brain prevents to consider neural networks as good models for human mind;anyway neural networks are good devices for computation in parallel. The difference between feed-forward and feedback neural networks is introduced; the Hopfield network and the multi-layers Perceptron are discussed. In a very weak isomorphism (not similitude) between brain and neural networks, an artificial form of short term memory and of acknowledgement, in Elman neural networks, is proposed.
The Insect Mushroom Bodies: a Paradigm of Neural Reuse
2013
This paper is devoted to discuss the implementation of models,which are inspired by the fly Drosophila melanogaster and able to handle open problems in the field of robotics such as attention, expectation and sequence learning. The role of the Mushroom Bodies (MBs) in solving these tasks is analyzed in detail and a unifying plausible biologically inspired model is proposed. The developed neural structure is able to show different capabilities in line with the paradigm of neural reuse. The same neural circuit can be exploited to accomplish multiple tasks showing interesting capabilities such as attention, expectation and delayed match-to-sample. The simulation results here reported suggest a…
Treatments for intracranial hypertension in acute brain-injured patients: grading, timing, and association with outcome. Data from the SYNAPSE-ICU st…
2023
Purpose: Uncertainties remain about the safety and efficacy of therapies for managing intracranial hypertension in acute brain injured (ABI) patients. This study aims to describe the therapeutical approaches used in ABI, with/without intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring, among different pathologies and across different countries, and their association with six months mortality and neurological outcome. Methods: A preplanned subanalysis of the SYNAPSE-ICU study, a multicentre, prospective, international, observational cohort study, describing the ICP treatment, graded according to Therapy Intensity Level (TIL) scale, in patients with ABI during the first week of intensive care unit (ICU) a…
Update on mechanism and therapeutic implications of spinal cord stimulation and cerebral hemodynamics: A narrative review
2017
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is well known for its early role in the management of chronic pain, mainly failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), spasticity, and bowel and bladder dysfunction. In more recent years, SCS has been proposed for patients suffering from refractory angina or peripheral vasculopathies in order to gain symptom relief, thus indicating some hemodynamic effect on the peripheral circulation. Taking into account this scientific observation, since the late1980s, researchers have started to investigate the potential effect of SCS on cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation and its possible application in certain pathological settings dealing with vascular pattern dysfunction, such…
Changes in the cerebrovascular effects of endothelin-1 and nicardipine after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage.
1993
The role of endothelium-related factors in the pathogenesis of cerebral vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) has gained interest since the discovery of endothelin-1 (ET-1). We have examined, before and after SAH, the responsiveness of the cerebrovascular bed of the goat to ET-1, the sources of Ca2+ in ET-1-induced responses, and the ability of the Ca2+ entry blocker nicardipine to counteract them. Before SAH, injection of ET-1 into the cerebral circulation increased cerebrovascular resistance, thereby producing dose-dependent reductions in cerebral blood flow (CBF), which were prevented by nicardipine. In isolated middle cerebral arteries, ET-1 induced concentration-dependent contr…
ERYTHROPOIETIN FOR THE TREATMENT OF SUBARACHNOID HEMORRAGE: A FEASIBLE INGREDIENT FOR A SUCCESS MEDICAL RECIPE
2015
Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) following aneurysm bleeding accounts for 6% to 8% of all cerebrovascular accidents. Although an aneurysm can be effectively managed by surgery or endovascular therapy, delayed cerebral ischemia is diagnosed in a high percentage of patients resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Cerebral vasospasm occurs in more than half of all patients after aneurysm rupture and is recognized as the leading cause of delayed cerebral ischemia after SAH. Hemodynamic strategies and endovascular procedures may be considered for the treatment of cerebral vasospasm. In recent years, the mechanisms contributing to the development of vasospasm, abnormal reactivity of cerebr…
Boosting working memory with accelerated clocks
2021
Our perception of time varies with the degree of cognitive engagement in tasks. The perceived passage of time accelerates while working on demanding tasks, whereas time appears to drag during boring situations. Our experiment aimed at investigating whether this relationship is mutual: Can manipulated announcements of elapsed time systematically affect the attentional resources applied to a cognitive task? We measured behavioral performance and the EEG in a whole report working memory paradigm with six items of different colors that each had to be reported after a short delay period. The 32 participants were informed about the current time after each 20 trials, while the clock was running at…
The zona incerta system: Involvement in attention and movement
2021
The zona incerta (ZI) is a large structure made of four neurochemically defined regions (at least, in rodents). It is globally involved in complex connections with telencephalic and brainstem centers. In this work, we focus on some of the anatomical links this structure develops with the cerebral cortex and the tectum. We also point to its integration within a larger basal ganglia network. The functions of this region are still mysterious, even if recent works suggest its participation in behavioral expression. Studies about the functional organization of the vibrissal system have provided the first integrated model, illustrating the ZI's role in sensory-motor programing. In addition, ZI co…
Permeability properties of a three-cell type in vitro model of blood-brain barrier.
2005
We previously found that RBE4.B brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) form a layer with blood‐brain barrier (BBB) properties if co‐cultured with neurons for at least one week. As astrocytes are known to modulate BBB functions, we further set a culture system that included RBE4.B BCECs, neurons and astrocytes. In order to test formation of BBB, we measured the amount of (3)H‐sucrose able to cross the BCEC layer in this three‐cell type model of BBB. Herein we report that both neurons and astrocytes induce a decrease in the permeability of the BCEC layer to sucrose. These effects are synergic as if BCECs are cultured with both neurons and astrocytes for 5 days, permeability to sucrose decr…
Machine learning for a combined electroencephalographic anesthesia index to detect awareness under anesthesia
2020
Spontaneous electroencephalogram (EEG) and auditory evoked potentials (AEP) have been suggested to monitor the level of consciousness during anesthesia. As both signals reflect different neuronal pathways, a combination of parameters from both signals may provide broader information about the brain status during anesthesia. Appropriate parameter selection and combination to a single index is crucial to take advantage of this potential. The field of machine learning offers algorithms for both parameter selection and combination. In this study, several established machine learning approaches including a method for the selection of suitable signal parameters and classification algorithms are a…