Implants against post-traumatic stress
In the US, they want to treat mental illnesses of soldiers with brain implants
American scientists intend to combat the effects of post-traumatic stress in the military by developing brain implants, writes the publication NPR (Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders).
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has officially announced the launch of a $70 million scientific project aimed at developing a brain implant for the treatment of a number of mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder.
It is expected that the program, designed for five years, will help cure patients of depression, anxiety and other conditions that are often found in soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco, together with the Massachusetts General Hospital, will work on the creation of brain implants that will monitor the work of the brain.
Scientists will begin the study by studying the brain function of volunteers with already implanted implants for the treatment of epilepsy or Parkinson's disease. This will allow researchers to get data directly from the brain, which has never been done before, said Eddie Chang, a neurosurgeon at the University of California at San Francisco.
By tracking the electrical activity of brain cells, researchers will be able to study the work of neural circuits in real time. Due to the fact that many of the volunteers suffer from depression, anxiety and other disorders, it will be possible to find out how these conditions have changed certain neural circuits, Chang added. "If we can understand exactly how the neural connection went wrong, we will get a clue how to change it," the neurosurgeon believes.
Based on these data, scientists hope to create new types of implants that will help in treatment.
Due to the plasticity property that allows the brain to adapt during life, an electronic device that stimulates certain brain cells will be able to "heal" neural circuits in which "a failure occurred," notes Eddie Chang.
The scientific program is carried out within the framework of the initiative announced in 2013 by President Barack Obama in the field of human brain research ("Brain research through innovations in advanced neurotechnology").
Brain implants that stimulate the work of neurons are already used in the treatment of patients suffering from Parkinson's disease and other diseases of the nervous system.
In case of successful results of the study, brain implants will help solve the problem facing the community of veterans. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, 11-20% of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru28.05.2014