The Biomag Blog

Call for Abstracts - Biomag 2012, Paris France, August 26-30

2012-01-29T10:18:00.000-08:00

Biomag 2012 is coming up fast, the call for abstracts is now out as you can see below.

BioMag 2012 – Call for Abstracts

We are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract to the 18^th International Conference on Biomagnetism, that will be held in Paris, France from Sunday, August 26th through Thursday, August 30th, 2012. We will meet in the beautiful 18^th century Hotel de la Rochefoucauld d'Estissac, now a state-of-the-art meeting center located a few hundred meters away from the Eiffel tower, the Musée d'Orsay and the Saint Germain des Prés area.

The scientific program includes, but is not limited to, technological, methodological, clinical and fundamental research in biomagnetism. This year, we will highlight the quickly growing field of human brain dynamics, taking the MEG perspective but also taking advantage of the multiple methods (EEG, fMRI) and recording levels (intracranial EEG, LFP, unit activity) now available. Those issues will be developed in five keynote lectures, twenty symposia and poster sessions.

Please submit your abstract by March 15th, 2012 through the BioMag website:

http://www.biomag2012.org/submission/

Video(s) of the month

2011-10-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since we posted videos to watch, so we'll catch up by posting a whole series from a short symposium held at the University of Utah this Spring. The description from the website of the UofU Brain Institute is:

"The Brain Institute and the Department of Neurology hosted a half-day symposium on state-of-the-art applications of magnetoencephalography (MEG). Nine speakers from around the world discussed how MEG studies benefit diverse areas of research, from diagnostics to decoding human thought. These talks can now be viewed online."

The link to view these videos is:
http://brain.utah.edu/portal/site/brain/menuitem.b99f7df401ce98fd54eef041d1e916b9/?vgnextoid=62101654bbc0f210VgnVCM1000001c9e619bRCRD

Enjoy!

MEG service engineer job opening

2011-08-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

Elekta is looking for a service engineer in North America, to serve the expanding customer base for the Neuromag line of MEG systems. The job posting is on the Elekta website at:

http://www.elekta.com/jobs_details.php?id=551

Harvard Scientists Control Minds of Worms

2011-08-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's part of an article from earlier this year in the Harvard Crimson Magazine:

To the extent that a worm smaller than a pinhead has a mind, Harvard scientists working at the intersection of neurobiology, computer science, physics, and optogenetics have shown that they are capable of controlling it.
A study published Sunday in Nature Methods revealed that with the use of newly designed software and precise laser technology a team, including researchers at Harvard’s Center for Brain Science, successfully induced Caenorhabditis elegans worms to perform activities such as reversing direction, changing speeds, and laying eggs.
The researchers controlled a worm’s behavior by shining a laser on specific neurons. Depending on which neuron was targeted by the laser, the worm would perform a different action.
For years, scientists have been able to observe neurons one at a time, but an understanding of how neurons work together has proved elusive.
“Up until now most experiments had to be done on immobilized worms,” said study co-author Andrew M. Leifer, a researcher in the laboratory of physics professor Aravinthan D.T. Samuel ’93.
In pursuit of a deeper understanding of neural circuits, Leifer and others began work on what they called the CoLBeRT system—Controlling Locomotion and Behavior in Real Time. The “MindControl” software Leifer developed directs light with such speed and precision that it can activate or inhibit specific neurons in a moving C. elegans worm—allowing scientists to observe the worm’s subsequent behavior.
“This is an exciting tool because it potentially allows us to go in and poke around inside the nervous system of a living organism,” Leifer said.

For the full article go to:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/1/19/leifer-neurons-worms-elegans/#

MEG in Canada

2011-05-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Almost a year ago the MEG sites in Canada banded together to form a consortium. I'm not sure if other countries have done anything similar, but it is unique within North America. Thanks to Gordon Haid for making me aware of this. Here is an excerpt from the consortium's website:

"The Canada Magnetoencephalography Consortium (CMC) was formed to coordinate, support, and enhance the fundamental and applied scientific research and development at Magnetoencephalography (MEG) brain imaging centres across Canada. This initiative will leverage the investment in equipment and personnel to standardize and communicate methods across Canadian MEG labs. Today, there are approximately 360 scientists and graduate students involved in MEG research across Canada."

The website (https://www.webdepot.umontreal.ca/Usagers/jolicop/MonDepotPublic/CMC-english.html) goes on to describe MEG, outlines the CMC mandate and initiatives, and list the National Executive Board, events, research, facilities and where to contact the CMC.

MIT gets first Triux MEG in North America

2011-03-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

I just got back from MIT, where the first Elekta Triux MEG was delivered to the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. It is great to have a prestigious research institution such as MIT re-join the MEG community, and to have the first major new development in MEG technology in the last 5 years or so ready for users.

For more information about the McGovern Institute, see http://mcgovern.mit.edu/about-the-institute

For more information about the Triux MEG, check out http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_elekta_neuromag_triux.php

Babies process words just like adults - results of MRI/MEG study at UCSD

2011-03-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

From http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/babies-process-words-just-adults

Babies just over a year old are able to understand words just like adults, find researchers.

In a new study, specialized MRI and MEG imaging tests that look at the brain were used to see how babies respond to spoken words. Scientists from University of California, San Diego found they process words and not just sounds, much like adults, and in the same area of the brain as grown-ups.
Scientists used non-invasive MEG and MRI tests to view brain activity in 12 to 18 months old. MEG (magnetoencephalography) is a type of test that measures weak magnetic fields generated by electrical activity in the neurons of the brain.
Co-leader of the study, Katherine E. Travis, of the Department of Neurosciences and the Multimodal Imaging Laboratory, all at UC San Diego explains, “Babies are using the same brain mechanisms as adults to access the meaning of words from what is thought to be a mental 'database' of meanings, a database which is continually being updated right into adulthood.”
There have been several theories about how babies process language, one being that the brain evolves from infancy to adulthood, but begins with a primitive form of learning. Adults with frontotemporal lesions in the brain have difficulty processing language leading to speculation about language processing, but for infants, that part of the brain doesn’t seem critical.
One theory is that the difference between adults and babies is that a different area of the brain engages in infancy for language development - specifically, the right hemisphere and inferior frontal regions that become less dominant as babies mature, but the theory lacks evidence.
One way to observe how language is processed with the imaging techniques used by the scientists in the current study, which allowed the researchers to observe areas of the brain activated when a baby hears words. The scientists found out that babies understand the meaning of words, before they speak.
The researchers exposed the babies to sounds, pictures and words in the study. Some of the words were paired with acoustic sounds with no associative meaning. In the second part of the study, words were spoken and either matched or mismatched to pictures to see if babies really do understand the meaning of words.
Brain activity on the scans showed that babies knew the difference between words that did not match the pictures. The same brain response occurred in the babies as in adults, in the same left frontotemporal areas. The researchers confirmed the response was the same in adults shown pictures that did not match words.
When the scientists showed pictures of a ball for instance, and spoke the word, the same area of the brain used by adults was activated, showing babies do understand language and that they can process words.
Eric Halgren, PhD, professor of radiology in the School of Medicine says, “Our study shows that the neural machinery used by adults to understand words is already functional when words are first being learned. This basic process seems to embody the process whereby words are understood, as well as the context for learning new words.”
The findings show babies do understand words and process language just like adults. The scientists say their research results mean infants could be screened for language disabilities and autism at an early age.
University of California, San Diego Health Sciences

Video of the week

2011-02-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

This week's video is by Pat Kuhl of the I-LABS at University of Washington. They recently acquired a Neuromag system from Elekta, and in this talk from TED.com she eloquently explains what they have already learned about baby's linguistic learning, and what they hope to achieve in the future.

Patricia Kuhl: The linguistic genius of babies | Video on TED.com

Anders Ynnerman: Visualizing the medical data explosion | Video on TED.com

2011-02-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

So much of the interesting news is coming via video clips now, I am going to start regularly posting links to clips I see that are interesting and relevant to Biomag. I just watched this one tonight, it has some really cool demos of what is being done with visualization of huge medical datasets. Near the end is a demo of real-time fMRI mapping. I'm curious if anyone is working on doing something similar with MEG.

Anders Ynnerman: Visualizing the medical data explosion | Video on TED.com

Today medical scans produce thousands of images and terabytes of data for a single patient in mere seconds, but how do doctors parse this information and determine what's useful? At TEDxGöteborg, scientific visualization expert Anders Ynnerman shows us sophisticated new tools -- like virtual autopsies -- for analyzing this myriad data, and a glimpse at some sci-fi-sounding medical technologies in development. This talk contains some graphic medical imagery.

Orasi Medical Inc. partners with pharmaceutical giant Novartis

2011-02-07T19:38:00.000-08:00

This is from a months ago, just noticed it recently. There is a trend to apply MEG to look at what new drugs actually do to brain function, and Orasi Medical seems to be in the lead in that area. There is still some controversy about the techniques used by Orasi, maybe readers have some comments about that?

MINNEAPOLIS, M.N. – September 9, 2010 ¬-- Orasi Medical®, today announced that it has entered an agreement with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation (Novartis) to develop a novel central nervous system (CNS) biomarker.

Under the agreement, Novartis will utilize Orasi Index™ Orasi Medical’s key product, to develop a new CNS biomarker to support measurement of disease and treatment effect. The companies will collaborate to identify and develop a biomarker through the use of magnetoencephalography (MEG). Orasi Medical develops neurological biomarkers based on electrical activity of the brain and Orasi Index can accelerate drug development, reduce costs and improve CNS drug innovation by accurately measuring neurological drug effects and real-time brain function throughout key phases of the drug development process.

“We are quite pleased that Novartis will utilize Orasi Index to develop more effective drugs for the many people affected by CNS diseases,” said Shawn Lyndon, Chief Executive Officer of Orasi Medical. "We look forward to working with Novartis on this innovative project, and similar collaborations in the future.”

About Orasi Medical
Orasi Medical develops products to measure the effect of neurological treatments and track the progression of neurological disorders. Pharmaceutical companies use Orasi Index™, the company’s flagship product, to reduce costs and improve clinical development of neurological treatments. Orasi’s high-resolution measurement of brain function provides a robust, non-invasive and reproducible measure of pharmacodynamics and treatment effect and its software as a service model enables highly efficient web-based analysis and reporting of the results. For more information, please visit www.orasimedical.com

For further information, please contact:
Sarah Haecker, Vice President Business Development, Orasi Medical, Inc
Tel: +1 (612) 202-6805; sarah.haecker@orasimedical.com

NFL Charities Awards Research Grant to UCSD School of Medicine Researcher

2011-02-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, it being Super Bowl week it seems kind of appropriate to have an article related to the NFL, as unlikely as that may seem. This press release came out just after Christmas.

(Media-Newswire.com) - NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League owners, has awarded more than $1.6 million in grants to support sports-related medical research at 16 organizations, the NFL announced today. Of these grants, $99,700 will go to a team of researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine who are studying novel methods of detecting brain injury.

The research project led by Mingxiong Huang, PhD, professor and associate director of the MEG Radiology Imaging Laboratory in the UCSD Department of Radiology, will develop a new neuro-imaging technique using Magnetoencephalography ( MEG ) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging ( DTI ) for detecting neuronal injuries.

“Injuries such as concussions are not visible using conventional CT or MRI in football players or other athletes with mild traumatic brain injury,” Huang said. “The work being done at UC San Diego’s imaging labs will enable a coach, parent, or athlete to better assess a head injury and decide on the most appropriate course of treatment – including possibly staying on the sidelines.”

The NFL has supported sports-related medical research for decades through NFL Charities Medical Research Grants. Since 2000, NFL Charities has committed grants to medical facilities nationwide, including studies on brain injury, ACL injury prevention and heat stress risks.

This year’s grants include studies on association between football exposure and dementia in retired football players; the dynamic heart rate behavior of NFL athletes; the prevalence, distribution and fate of MRSA on synthetic turf grass systems; concussion surveillance among a large national sample of middle school football players; the role of cervical spine in football-related concussion; and an integrated neuroimaging study for diagnosing and monitoring mild TBI in football players.

“We are proud to support sports-related medical research proposals through NFL Charities Medical Research Grants,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, President of the NFL Charities Board. “These grants will help to address risk factors for football players and all athletes, and make the game safer.”

NFL Charities is a non-profit organization created by the 32 member clubs of the National Football League to enable the teams to collectively make grants to charitable and worthwhile causes on a national scale. Since its inception, NFL Charities has granted more than $120 million to more than 640 different organizations. NFL Charities’ primary funding categories include: sports-related medical research and education grants; player foundation grants in support of the philanthropic work of current and former NFL players; impact grants to support national youth health and fitness education initiatives as part of a league-wide commitment to fight childhood obesity; financial assistance for former NFL players in need via direct support to the NFL Player Care Foundation; team program grants which supplement the charitable and community activities of the 32 NFL clubs.

# # #

Media Contact: Debra Kain, 619-543-6163, ddkain@ucsd.edu

Inception - Can dreams be read?

2010-11-26T12:57:00.001-08:00

Have you seen the movie "Inception" yet? I haven't, but I know it deals with tapping into and manipulating people's dreams, which seems pretty far fetched. But some researchers are taking baby steps in that direction. Check out an article in IEEE Spectrum Magazine (highly recommended) from earlier this year:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/bionics/braincomputer-interface-eavesdrops-on-a-daydream

Human Connectome Project

2010-11-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

Popular Science -
It took cartographers and explorers thousands of years to map every nook, cranny, and crevasse of planet Earth. Now, a consortium of researchers from across the U.S. is going to try to map the entire human brain in just five. Working with $30 million and just half a decade, the Human Connectome Project aims to create a first-of-its-kind map of the brain’s complex circuitry, detailing every connection linking thousands of different regions of the brain.

The team consists of 33 researchers at nine different institutions, including Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the University of Minnesota, the lead universities in the effort and the sites where much of the brain-scanning will take place. Their success will depend in part on another HCP grant to another research consortium headed up by Massachusetts General Hospital and UCLA that will develop advanced, custom brain scanners with higher spatial resolution and increased sensitivity. The funds themselves come from various bodies within the National Institutes of Health.

For more info click here:
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/introducing-human-connectome-project-first-its-kind-map-brains-circuitry

UHC updates coverage policy for MEG

2010-10-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

This is copied from the AAN website, dated August 18, 2010:

"Neurologists that perform Magnetoencephalography (MEG) will be pleased to learn that UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has updated its coverage policy for the procedure. Specifically, UHC shares a positive coverage decision for MEG for pre-surgical evaluation in patients with intractable focal epilepsy and for pre-surgical evaluation of brain tumors and vascular malformations.

UHC joins Aetna and WellPoint as the third large private insurer to recently modify its coverage policy for MEG. (Click here to view the related Aetna story; Click here to view the WellPoint MEG Medical Policy.)

UHC references the AAN's own Model Medical Policy for MEG in its updated coverage policy. Subject matter experts within the Academy have provided valuable input on policies for UHC and other private insurers for the past several years to assist in updating medical coverage policies. UHC now provides the AAN with monthly updates on changes made to relevant medical policies."

For more information go to http://www.aan.com/news/?event=read&article_id=8947.

MEG Community Website

2010-09-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

Summer 2010 is over and its time to get back into the swing of blogging, I will try to keep things a bit more active. I want to make readers aware of another resource on the web, especially MEG researchers. There is a website at http://www.megcommunity.org with two main purposes:

1. Find up to date information

At this website you can find up to date lists of MEG research groups, analysis software packages, vendors of MEG systems and MEG related conferences and courses. Also teaching materials will be gathered here.

2. Improve communication

One of the goals of this website is to improve communication between MEG researchers. To do so your most welcome to join the discussion list and post your opinion about papers in the online journal club.

Hope you find time to check it out!

Consulting opportunities in MEG

2010-06-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

Greetings Biomag followers! Hope all of you that attended the recent Biomag 2010 and HBM 2010 conferences enjoyed the travels and discussions. As many know I have changed my working relationship with Elekta to a part-time basis, and started my own company. I have taken this step to enable me to explore consulting and business opportunities in the MEG field and in other high technology areas. There are not many consultants working in the MEG field so keep me in mind if you need some help that cannot be provided through normal channels. For instance...

Do you ever think about adding some third party hardware to your system, but are scared of causing compatibility issues with your MEG? One of the ways I can help is to thoroughly evaluate hardware products for RF, magnetic, and electronic compatibility, and provide instruction on how to best interface and use the new components. The benefit to you and your colleagues is that someone with extensive experience in this area in on the case, and there will be no surprises down the road.

My company is Candoo Systems Inc., and we can handle large or small projects, I have several associates that can be enlisted to assist in areas of documentation, QA/RA, and electronics design. If you have some projects that you need some help with, please contact me at jim.mckay@candoosys.com. And enjoy your summer!

Talking Brains Blog

2010-06-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

Here is a neuroscience blog that I find interesting, moderated by David Poeppel and Greg Hickock: http://www.talkingbrains.org/. This blog has been active for over 3 years and included opinion postings, announcements, and job postings. Check it out!

Conference alert

2010-05-19T22:44:00.000-07:00

There is a conference being sponsored by the DSRF Centre in Burnaby BC, the site of a CTF MEG system. See below for info:

2010 International Conference on Developmental Disabilities and Aging/Alzheimers Disease

TRENDS | DISCOVERIES | INNOVATIVE INTERVENTIONS

NS

About the DDAA Conference
Individuals with developmental disabilities, including Down syndrome and autism, are living longer. As life expectancy increases, clinicians, families and service providers are witnessing new challenges in managing age-related issues. These novel challenges require innovative solutions. The Developmental Disability and Aging/Alzheimer’s Disease Conference is designed to bring clinicians, scientists and families together to address changing trends with aging, highlight recent research discoveries and innovative approaches for interventions. The conference will provide opportunities for lively discussions related to best practices in diagnosis, intervention and quality of life.

Website: http://www.dsrf.org/programs_%26_services/our_workshops/2010_international_conference_on_developmental_disabilities_and_aging_alzheimer_s_disease

Recent MEG sales

2010-03-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

As Biomag 2010 nears I thought I would mention a few of the many sites in North America, Asia, and Europe that acquired new MEG systems in the last year.

MIND Research Network (Albuquerque):
http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_press_release_20070850.php

Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia:
http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_press_release_20070529.php

Heinrich-Heine-University (Dusseldorf):
http://www.elekta.com/healthcare_international_press_release_20070514.php

Looking forward to another year of growth!

MEG on ABC's Good Morning America

2010-02-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

My friend Dr. Sylvain Baillet sent me this link to a video of a segment that aired recently on ABC, recorded at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee. Please refer to this link (http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MindMoodNews/sixty-seizures-brain-scan-detects-source/story?id=9730383). It includes interviews with Dr. Manoj Raghavan and Sylvain as well as a patient with epilepsy, and shows the process of recording the MEG and the results of analysis. Kudos to Froedtert and Medical College of Wisconsin!

3/4 Epilepsy specialists agree MEG useful before surgery

2009-12-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

At the recent American Epilepsy Conference in Boston, there was a short debate on the topic of MEG, the resolution was: "MEG Adds Value to the Surgical Evaluation Process." Debaters were Robert Knowlton M.D. and Hermann Stefan M.D. After the arguments 73% of the voters in the audience agreed with the resolution. Overall the recognition and interest in MEG by the conference attendees was much higher than in previous years. The next AES meeting is Dec. 3-7, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas.

More insurance companies accept MEG

2009-11-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

I found out recently that more US health insurance companies have accepted MEG as a reimbursable procedure. These include Aetna nationally as reported at:
http://www.aetna.com/cpb/medical/data/200_299/0279.html.

Here is a summary of Aetna's policy:
"Aetna considers magnetic source imaging (MSI) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) medically necessary for presurgical evaluation in patients with intractable focal epilepsy to identify and localize areas of epileptiform activity, when discordance or continuing questions arise from among other techniques designed to localize a focus. Aetna considers MEG or MSI experimental and investigational when used as a stand-alone test or as the first order of test after clinical and routine electroencelphalographic (EEG) diagnosis of epilepsy.

Aetna considers magnetic source imaging (MSI) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) experimental and investigational for all other indications, including the evaluation of persons with Alzheimer's disease, autism, brain tumors, cognitive and mental disorders, developmental dyslexia, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, stroke rehabilitation, and traumatic brain injury."

Additionally, Blue Cross of Idaho has accepted MEG but oddly only for language lateralization, which other insurance companies do not even mention, as reported at:

https://www.bcidaho.org/providers/medical_policies/rad/mp_60121.asp

Here is a summary of BC Idaho's policy:

"Magnetoencephalography for the purpose of determining the laterality of language function, as a substitute for the Wada test, in patients undergoing diagnostic workup for evaluation of surgery for epilepsy, brain tumors, and other indications requiring brain resection, may be considered medically necessary. Magnetoencephalography is considered investigational for all other indications, including localization of seizure focus for patients undergoing evaluation for surgical treatment of intractable seizures."

If readers know of other insurance provider policies for MEG that are posted on the Web please let me know.

Ultrasound brain surgery

2009-09-22T22:16:00.000-07:00

An interesting item of news I found at:
http://www.medicaldeviceguru.com/showthread.php?t=6643

Maybe this could be applied to epilepsy?

"High intensity focused ultrasound has already been approved to treat uterine fibroids and clinical trials for its use to destroy breast cancers and other tumors are underway. Treating the brain, however, requires a slightly different approach. The human skull acts as a shield, absorbing energy and distorting the path of waves including the sound waves found in ultrasound beams. Insightec solved this difficulty by designing a collection of over one thousand independently focusable transducers and placing them inside a helmet worn over the patient's head. The resulting level of control allows the operator to precisely compensate for the shielding effect, allowing the resulting beams to reach the desired location. A cooling system is also used to ensure the skull doesn't overheat during the procedure.

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging scans, better known as MRIs, are used to locate the desired focal point of the beams (which differs from patient to patient depending on their specific problem and their individual brain morphology) and to monitor their effectiveness. The beam heats the target area to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to kill the cells within the affected 10 cubic millimeter volume.

So far the new procedure has been tried on nine patients suffering from extreme chronic pain that hasn't responded to medication or other less severe intervention. The traditional treatment for these patients is to remove a portion of the thalamus using either an invasive procedure involving electrodes placed through holes drilled in the skull or radiation applied over many weeks or months. The ultrasound is both less invasive and immediately effective in a single session. All nine patients in the first test group reported considerable relief as soon as the procedure was completed. A few seconds of tingling or dizziness while the beams were active were the only common side effects; one of the nine patients also experienced a brief headache. No neurological problems or permanent side effects of any kind occurred in any of the patients.

The one potential drawback of the ultrasound procedure is that it doesn't include any mechanism for testing that the proper section of brain tissue has been identified. Neurosurgeons performing the invasive electrode procedure have the opportunity to zap the targeted tissue and observe the response to double check they've properly identified the location to remove. That isn't possible with ultrasound.

An expansion of the current testing with additional patients suffering from chronic pain is planned for later in 2009, as are additional tests designed to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease and other functional neurological diseases.

TFOT has previously reported on other innovative surgical procedures including a new partial knee replacement system incorporating robotics and three dimensional imaging, tiny robot pills that perform targeted surgeries once swallowed by the patient, and a new laser microscalpel that can target individual cancer cells.

Read more about focused ultrasound and the use of magnetic resonance imaging to guide ultrasound beams at this Insightec informational page or at the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation website. Limited information about the brain surgery procedure is also available at this Insightec product page. The abstract of a paper describing the initial test results in Annals of Neuroscience is also available from Wiley Interscience."

Helium supply forecast

2009-07-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some research on the net regarding the outlook for Helium supply, it looks like the supply chains are producing sufficient gas for present demands but prices will probably not decrease. The supply should be stable for the near future if there is no disaster at the sources. Here are a couple of good articles for those who want to learn more about the supply and consumption of gaseous and liquid Helium:
http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/7746/
http://www.photonics.com/Content/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=35225

I-LABS picks Elekta Neuromag for Child Brain Imaging Center

2009-07-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE, WA, 30 June 2009 – The University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) has purchased Elekta Neuromag, a device for non-invasive measurement of brain activity using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology. Completely non-invasive and painless, MEG is a powerful tool used for studying normal brain function, as well as brain disorders, such as epilepsy and autism.
Based in Seattle, I-LABS conducts early childhood learning and brain development research. With a goal of becoming the world's foremost generator of early learning and development research, the scientists at the Institute believe that the study of the developing brain is the next great research frontier.

Full article can be read at http://medicalphysicsweb.org/cws/article/newsfeed/39694

Recent study using first Whole Head MEG

2009-07-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

It gave me great pleasure to see that one of the most influential studies cited by the AAN in their recent policy announcement about MEG/MSI applications in epilepsy diagnosis (see previous post) was lead by Dr. Bill Sutherling in Pasadena. It is amazing that this study is based on results from what was originally the prototype system for CTF's whole-head MEG, first fired up in 1991 and still going strong despite travelling to three continents, being retrofitted at least 4 times, and I'm sure holding a world record for most thermal cycles (for large systems anyway). Bill has always been complimentary about the performance of the 68 sensor system whenever I talk to him, and I guess the results his team has published prove that to be a correct assessment. In some ways I hope he never gets enough money to upgrade, so that my old CTF colleagues and I can see how long that system can continue to do its thing, in spite of a very difficult birth that will always be a memorable part of our careers. If you are interested, the study was published as:
W.W. Sutherling et al, "Influence of magnetic source imaging for planning intracranial EEG in epilepsy," Neurology 2008; 71:990-996.

AAN policy on MEG for clinical application

2009-06-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

The American Academy of Neurologists recently published a policy regarding clinical application of MEG on their website. This is one of the most positive developments for clinical MEG in some years. The conclusion of the policy paper, which can be read in full at http://www.aan.com/globals/axon/assets/5641.pdf, is:

6. Indications
* Epilepsy – Pre-surgical evaluation in patients with intractable focal epilepsy to identify
and localize area(s) of epileptiform activity. MEG can be valuable when discordance or
continuing questions arise from amongst other techniques designed to localize a focus.
* Tumors and AVM Surgeries – Pre-surgical evaluation of brain tumors and vascular
malformations. The aim is to identify, localize and preserve eloquent cortex during
resective surgery.

7. Limitations
* MEG cannot replace, but may guide the placement of intracranial EEG and, in some
patients, avoid an unnecessary intracranial EEG.
* MEG is not the first order of test after clinical and routine EEG diagnosis of epilepsy. It
is one of several advanced pre-surgical investigative technologies. The need for MEG is
much lower than surface EEG and anatomical imaging studies.
* MEG is not a stand-alone test. To realize its optimum clinical potential a comprehensive
team evaluation, such as that available in comprehensive epilepsy centers, is necessary.
The team usually comprises a neurologist with expertise in epilepsy, a neurosurgeon,
MEG-physicists, psychologists, nurses and staff experienced in treatment of seizure
disorders.

All for now.

NITRC

2009-06-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

I found out about a new resource for brain researchers at the HBM conference. Check out www.nitrc.org, it is a clearinghouse for resources and tools funded by the NIH. From the website:

"Funded by the National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, NITRC facilitates finding and comparing neuroimaging resources for functional and structural neuroimaging analyses—including popular tools as well as those that once might have been hidden in another researcher's laboratory or some obscure corner of cyberspace. NITRC collects and points to standardized information about tools, making the task of finding and comparing them easier than before. Awarded "Best Overall" for Excellence.Gov 2009, this site can help you find the right functional or structural neuroimaging tool or resource and help you decide whether it can help in your research."

WEB: www3.telus.net/biomag
BLOG: thebiomagblog.blogspot.com
GROUP: tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/biomag

HBM Conference

2009-06-10T19:14:00.001-07:00

The Human Brain Mapping conference starts next Thursday June 18 in San Francisco and runs over the weekend. I will be there, if any readers are I hope you will drop by the Elekta booth in the Exhibit area and say Hi!

MEG Scanner is available at The Nebraska Medical Center

2009-04-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

This is from the Nebraska Medical Center website (http://www.nebraskamed.com/health_news/megScanner.aspx) , they have some professionally made videos of the MEG patient experience and interviews with the lead clinicians.

MEG Scanner is available at The Nebraska Medical Center

The most powerful and advanced tool for studying brain function is now available at The Nebraska Medical Center. The magnetoencephalograph (MEG) scanner will provide doctors the ability to look inside the brain with greater vision that’s never been possible before, giving patients in need of brain surgery the assurance of a safer and more effective surgery and allowing doctors to identify the region of the brain giving rise to epileptic seizures.

Click on a Link for MEG Information:

Who Benefits?
How does MEG work?
Additional MEG facts
Watch MEG Scanner Test
Doctors Describe MEG Scanner

Map to MEG Center

The Nebraska Medical Center is one of only about a dozen clinical sites in the country to have a MEG scanner.

“This new technology detects brain activity in much greater detail and with more accuracy than previous testing methods,” said Sanjay Singh, M.D., director of the MEG Center at The Nebraska Medical Center and associate professor in the department of neurological sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

This kind of view into the brain will give doctors the ability to identify where the brain is malfunctioning with increased precision, it will provide neurosurgeons greater precision when operating and it will give epileptologists an increased ability to identify where the brain is malfunctioning.

“MEG is potentially the most helpful tool for treating patients with neurological illnesses like epilepsy,” said Dr. Singh who is also director of the Nebraska Epilepsy Center.

MEG will also allow doctors to explore and gain a better understanding of other neurological and psychiatric diseases like depression, schizophrenia, autism, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“Unlike other testing methods, the MEG scanner gives us the ability to look at the brain in real time,” said Dr. Singh. “For example, we get to look inside the brain when a person is solving complex problems like mathematics, when a person is feeling happy or sad and when a person responds to a noise. If a person moved his finger, the MEG would also allow us to see what part of the brain told the finger to move.”

The MEG works by measuring and recording the brain’s magnetic fields that are created by the brain’s electrical activity. The scanner detects instantaneous changes in brain activity, allowing doctors to track changes that happen in milliseconds.

“During a MEG scan, we get to see the brain in action,” said Tony Wilson, PhD, MEG scientist at The Nebraska Medical Center and assistant professor in the department of neurological sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “During the MEG scan, we may ask a patient to read a specific word, and we can see the word appear in the visual areas of the brain first, then get transferred to the language areas of the brain, and then to the speech areas.”

“The MEG is the future,” adds Dr. Wilson. “Compared with other brain imaging technologies, it has the unique ability to monitor brain ‘dynamics.’ MEG takes pictures with millisecond precision, therefore, I can see brain areas become active and communicate with other brain areas to produce complicated actions and thoughts.”

At The Nebraska Medical center, the MEG scanner will be used for patients needing brain surgery near critical areas of the brain (or parts of the brain that make a person uniquely human). For epilepsy patients, surgery is done to remove the areas of brain tissue causing seizures. For patients with a brain tumor, the goal of surgery is to remove as much of the tumor as possible.

“One of the great challenges of brain surgery is removing the diseased part of the brain, while sparing healthy brain tissue that controls vital functions,” said Deepak Madhavan, M.D., associate director of the MEG Center at The Nebraska Medical Center and assistant professor in the department of neurological sciences at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “The MEG will give neurosurgeons a roadmap of the brain to help them identify the areas to be removed and help to preserve the critical areas of the brain.”

“For a patient with epilepsy who has had no luck controlling epilepsy with medications, the MEG opens up a whole range of surgical options to becoming seizure free,” adds Dr. Madhavan. “The MEG allows us to localize the area of seizure generation or the seizure onset area with greater precision so that neurosurgeons can perform a more complete surgical removal of that area.”

The non-invasive, outpatient MEG scan takes about an hour. MEG recordings are done in a special shielded room that blocks magnetic fields in the environment. This ensures that only the magnetic fields generated by the brain are detected by the MEG sensors. The patient sits underneath a helmet shaped area, which resembles a 1950s salon hair dryer. The helmet has 306 super-cooled sensors that measure changing patterns of the brain’s magnetic activity. After the MEG scan, the MEG recordings are combined with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, which shows the actual structure of the brain. The combined scan, called magnetic source imaging (MSI), shows areas of the brain that may be generating seizures as well as localizes areas of normal brain function with precise timing. MSI can provide neurosurgeons a detailed “map” of the brain.

“The MEG technology is the best thing that has happened to neurosciences in a long time,” said Dr. Singh. “The clinical uses of the MEG are many and the research possibilities are endless.”

Joint funding for the MEG scan was secured from an anonymous donor by the Office of Development at The Nebraska Medical Center and the medical center funded the remainder of the expense.

MRN to get new MEG

2009-04-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hot off the wire, well at least luke warm...

ATLANTA, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mind Research Network (MRN) will bring world-leading technology to Albuquerque, with the acquisition of an Elekta Neuromag(R), a device for non-invasive measurement of brain activity using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) technology.

MRN has been utilizing MEG technology to study brain function and disorders for approximately the last five years; however, the organization will upgrade to the Elekta Neuromag MEG system in early 2009, allowing researchers to record human brain activity better and more accurately than before.

"When looking to replace our current MEG system, we chose Elekta because we felt that their data collection software and analysis and archiving of records would meet all of our research and clinical needs," says Michael Weisend, Ph.D., director of MEG/EEG Core at MRN, and expert in identifying and specifically defining the location of epileptic seizures.

"We are funded to study a variety of neuroscience areas that will exploit the Elekta Neuromag's capability," says Weisend. "Currently, we investigate the fundamental mechanisms of learning and memory in healthy individuals, as well as those with brain-based disorders such as traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, drug addiction, and schizophrenia. We also are collaborating with Dr. Bruce Fisch, director of the epilepsy treatment program at the University of New Mexico to develop a clinical MEG program. This program will help to guide neurosurgical intervention in people with epilepsy and brain tumors."

"With a long-term commitment to the development of MEG technology, Elekta was the natural choice when MRN made its decision to purchase a new MEG system," says Stephen Otto, Chairman of Elekta's Neuromag Business. "We are pleased to see an increasing interest around the world for Elekta Neuromag systems, particularly in the U.S. We will continue to develop new features and technological advances so that organizations like MRN can continue to be at the forefront of MEG instrumentation."

MEG technology is regarded as the most efficient method for tracking brain activity at millisecond resolution. Compared to EEG technology, MEG has uniquely accurate localization capabilities. Other technologies such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), only provide anatomical or metabolic information; whereas MEG is a direct measure of neuronal electric activity. When complemented with MRI, MEG increases the ability to understand brain activity and improve treatment of functional disorders particularly, epilepsy.

    For clinical, scientific or sales inquiries, please contact:
 Michael Enwall
 Director, MEG Marketing Europe & AFLAME
 Tel: +46 8 587 25 448
 Email: michael.enwall@elekta.com
 or
 Gordon Haid
 Director of Sales, North America, Functional Mapping Business Unit
 Tel: +1-604-395-5339
 Email: gordon.haid@elekta.com

About The Mind Research Network

The Mind Research Network (MRN) is an independent non-profit organization dedicated to the discovery and advancement of clinical solutions for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and brain disorders.

Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, MRN consists of an interdisciplinary association of scientists who are focused on imaging technology and its emergence as an integral element of neuroscience investigation. With an extended community of researchers, academicians, graduate students and technicians, MRN is uniquely positioned with its national infrastructure to link the brightest minds in neuroscience with some of the most advanced neuroimaging capabilities in the world today. For additional information, visit www.mrn.org.

About Elekta

Elekta is a human care company pioneering significant innovations and clinical solutions for treating cancer and brain disorders. The company develops sophisticated state of the art tools and treatment planning systems for radiation therapy and radiosurgery, as well as workflow enhancing software systems across the spectrum of cancer care.

Stretching the boundaries of science and technology, providing intelligent and resource-efficient solutions that offer confidence to both healthcare providers and patients, Elekta aims to improve, prolong and even save patient lives, making the future possible today.

Today, Elekta solutions in oncology and neurosurgery are used in over 5,000 hospitals globally, and every day more than 100,000 patients receive diagnosis, treatment or follow-up with the help of a solution from the Elekta Group. Elekta employs around 2,500 employees globally. The corporate headquarter is located in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company is listed on the Nordic Exchange under the ticker EKTAb. For additional information, visit www.elekta.com.

Website: http://www.elekta.com/

MEG predicts when subjects are going to err

2009-03-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

This article was just published in my local newpaper, thanks to Mom for alerting me to it!

Brain research will help predict mistakes

By Jessica Hinds, Canwest News Service

Researchers have found that brain activity called alpha rhythms, the most predominant signal recorded in the brain, increases before a mistake is made.

Photograph by: Donders Institute, Canwest News Service

New brain research finds it may be possible to predict when a person is going to make a mistake, let his attention wander, or determine if drugs for attention deficit disorders are working.

Researchers have found that brain activity called alpha rhythms, the most predominant signal recorded in the brain, increases before a mistake is made in a simple "go-no-go" laboratory test that involved pressing a button every time a number flashes on a screen, except in the case of the Number 5. Pressing Number 5 indicates a mistake.

"What wasn't known before was that alpha activity can actually predict errors, so the state of high alpha activity is the state that makes you prone to errors," said Toronto native Ali Mazaheri, the lead researcher in the study. He specified that the errors he was talking about were "slips of attention," during sustained attention tasks.

The study was published in the online version of Human Brain Mapping.

Mazaheri, currently a research fellow at University of California, Davis, Center for Mind and Brain, conducted his research in the Netherlands with a scholarship from the Dutch government. He recorded test subjects' brain activity using a non-invasive magnetoencephalography (MEG) machine.

Although, the equipment used to measure alpha activity already exists in the form of electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) machines, Mazaheri said software could be created for these machines to sound an alarm when alpha activity reaches a threshold that indicates an increased likelihood that an error will be made.

This would be especially useful in jobs that require a sustained attention span, such as truck driving, and air traffic control.

Mazaheri said such technology could also be useful for people with an attention deficit disorder.

He said it could alert a person when their attention is declining and direct them to refocus on their task. It could also be used to determine whether drugs for the disorders are effective.

Commenting on the research, an expert on perception and attention said it could have many implications.

"While it is early yet, the potential implications are astounding. Simply put, if one were able to be given feedback that they are in a state that is conducive to making a mistake, then the individual would be able to regulate his/her system . . . to possibly avoid the potential attentional lapse," said Scott Sinnett, director of the Perception and Attention Research Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, in an e-mail interview.

New video on MEG for autism and PTSD

2009-03-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

The Elekta blog site has a link to an MSNBC video interview with Jeff Lewine regarding autism and PTSD, and with two patients. Its well produced and gives a good impression of MEG. You can see for yourself (its about 2 minutes long) at http://blog.elekta.com/?p=31.

MEG at MIT, Brainscan publication

2009-03-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Have been visiting MIT McGovern Institute today, happened across a publication of theirs that has a lot of articles of interest to the Biomag community, and is very well produced. You can download PDFs from brain scan website.

In the Fall 2008 issue there is an article titled "Challenge Grant for MEG Brain Imaging" about funding for an MEG at MIT. Here is an excerpt:

"An anonymous donor has presented the
McGovern Institute with a $2M challenge
grant toward the creation of a magnetoencephalography
(MEG) facility for human
brain scanning that will serve researchers at
MIT and throughout the Boston community.
The new facility will be integrated into
the Martinos Imaging Center at MIT, one
of the few places in the world where
researchers can conduct comparative brain
imaging studies of humans and animals.
The MEG machine will represent a major
expansion of the Center’s existing functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain
imaging capabilities. MEG has the potential
to revolutionize the study of both normal
human cognition and disorders of the brain
in children and adults.
To make this vision a reality, we must raise
an additional $2M to match the challenge
grant. A formal fundraising campaign will
be launched in the fall; meanwhile, anyone
interested in making a donation or learning
more about this opportunity is invited to
contact Laurie Ledeen at ledeen@mit.edu."

4D Neuroimaging ceases operation

2009-02-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Rumours that 4D had closed its doors circulating since late last week were made official today, when an open letter to Customers was posted on the 4D Neuroimaging website. The letter says operations have ceased because of a lack of financing to offset the continuing losses. Those most affected will be the customers with systems that need support and servicing, the letter says that a method of continuing service is being worked on.

Although I have always worked for competitors of 4D, I do regret the loss of a worthy adversary that competed long and hard in a difficult business. They will be missed and the repercussions of recent events will be felt for some time. Good luck to the former 4D staff now looking for jobs.

So what now? The market seems to be pretty strong right now and there will be lots of new systems installed this year. Will a new company attempt to enter the market? Will the CTF or 4D technology be revived by new investors? Or will it become a sole-source market for the Neuromag MEG system? I'm sure I don't know...

MEG in Epilepsy Report

2009-02-05T22:16:00.000-08:00

Found a report on MEG use for clinical epilepsy by Blue Cross/Blue Shield at: http://www.bcbs.com/blueresources/tec/vols/23/special-report-meg-and-msi.html

The conclusion appears to be that the the jury is still out. Here is the introduction to the exec summary:

Special Report: MEG and MSI for the Purpose of Presurgical Localization of Epileptic Lesions - A Challenge for Technology Evaluation

Executive Summary

Background

This Special Report examines the use of magnetoencephalography (MEG) and/or magnetic source imaging (MSI) to provide additional diagnostic information that improves the management and outcomes of patients who are being evaluated for neurosurgical treatment of epilepsy. MEG/MSI would be used to characterize the location of the epileptic zone for resection. No other uses of MEG/MSI are considered in this Report. In this Report, the general term “MEG” will be used for simplicity and consistency.

However, most clinical studies combine MEG information with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images to form what is called magnetic source imaging (MSI) when providing anatomic localization of epileptogenic lesions or functionally important cortical regions.

Objective

The objective of this Special Report is to present the particular challenges that this diagnostic technology presents in terms of evaluating the evidence to determine its potential benefit. Without a thorough presentation of the manner in which MEG is used in the evaluation of patients, it is difficult to determine whether the technology is beneficial. Various problems such as ascertainment biases, patient dropouts, and imperfect reference standards crop up in the published studies evaluating MEG, making it more difficult to assess them. To some extent, these difficulties may be inherent in the clinical setting in which MEG is used.

Last post of 2008

2008-12-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

This year has been a good one for me, I hope that the same can be said for all those reading this. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2009!

It came to my attention today that this is the 39th anniversary of the 1st MCG recording (and 1st SQUID biomag recording) made at MIT by James Zimmerman and David Cohen on Dec. 31, 1969.

Delay in sound response may explain language problems in autism

2008-12-31T13:36:00.000-08:00

The autism paper just presented at RSNA by Tim Roberts and colleagues at CHOP has stimulated a lot of interest, I found this post at: http://sfari.org/news/

Delay in sound response may explain language problems in autism

Virginia Hughes

9 Dec 2008 9:44 AM

Cumulative effect: For children with autism, even a delay of 50 milliseconds in processing sound could translate to serious problems with language and communication.

Children with autism process sounds a split second slower than typically developing children, according to a new study that measured the magnetic fields emitted from the children's brains.

Although preliminary, the findings may partly explain the language and communication problems that burden so many with the disorder, the researchers say.

"The findings [show a delay of] only fractions of a second, but those really matter in spoken speech," says Timothy Roberts, vice chair of radiology research at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who presented the data last week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. "Our thought here is these delays kind of cascade through later and later processing," Roberts says.

Many parents and clinicians report a delay in language acquisition or a loss of previously learned language in young children with autism. Reflecting the diversity of the disorder, some people with autism are also extremely sensitive to normal sounds, whereas others are insensitive to extremely loud sounds¹.

Roberts and his team were the first, about nine years ago, to explore these auditory deficits using magnetoencephalography (MEG), a brain imaging technique used to measure magnetic fields produced by the electrical activity of neurons. MEG is routinely used to pinpoint the misfiring brain areas that cause seizures in individuals with epilepsy.

Using MEG to study autism was "just the convergence of a problem and a solution," Roberts says.

Many researchers hypothesize that autism is a communication failure between neighboring brain regions.

But the difficulty with proving this theory is that electrical signaling between brain regions occurs over a few hundredths of a second — much too rapid to be picked up by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), which detect temporal differences on the order of seconds or minutes,.

Like those methods, MEG can pinpoint the region of activity, but is much more sensitive to changes over short periods of time. "MEG's real-time capability seemed to be ideally suited to look at autism," Roberts says.

Short lag:

In 1999, Roberts led MEG experiments on 15 children with autism and 17 healthy controls²^,³ which were the first to show that the brain response to sound in children with autism lags behind that of typically developing children.

In July 2007, a $1.25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health allowed the researchers to broaden these experiments to a much larger number of children.

For the scans, participants sit in a large and comfortable chair, their heads under a large MEG helmet that resembles "one of those old-fashioned hair dryers," Roberts says.

The children watch a soundless movie, while tiny earphones play a series of beeps or vowel sounds. Each frequency evokes an automatic electrical 'signature' in the brain. This little bit of electrical activity generates a magnetic field, which passes through the skull and is immediately sensed by the 275 detectors lining the inside of the helmet.

At last week's conference, Roberts reported results from 64 children aged 6 to 15, including 30 who have autism. In the first set of experiments, the children heard beeps of different frequencies, and the MEG detectors recorded the brain’s response to each sound.

In children with autism, this response is delayed by about 20 milliseconds compared with the response in typically developing children, Roberts found.

In a second ‘mismatch’ experiment, the children heard three successive speech sounds, such as ‘ah, ah, ah,’ followed by a different speech sound, such as ‘ou’. Compared with the control group, children with autism respond to the novel sound with a delay of about 50 milliseconds.

People normally speak at a rate of about four syllables per second, or 250 milliseconds per syllable, meaning that a delay of 50 milliseconds could be “quite catastrophic,” Roberts says.

“If you're saying 'elephant', they'd be stuck on the 'el' when you're on the 'ant'. If the brain can't catch up, can't cope with the constant stream of information, then that might be why spoken speech presents such difficulties,” he says.

Diagnostic tool:

Roberts is still recruiting participants, hoping to enroll a total of 300 before the grant expires in 2012. He has not yet submitted the results to a journal for publication.

In future experiments, he plans to test young toddlers, in hopes of using MEG signatures as a diagnostic tool for autism. “We'd like to predict if there's some sort of abnormal brain function even before they get a diagnosis [of autism],” he says.

Other experts agree that auditory processing should be studied in much younger children Studies in the past year have shown that the perception of native speech sounds begins in babies as young as 7 or 8 months of age⁴.

“Those studies have shown now that language process is developing very, very early, and that auditory processing is much linked to language learning,” says Eira Jansson-Verkasalo, a professor at the University of Oulu, in Finland. Jansson-Versakalo has used electroencephalography (EEG), a cousin of MEG, to identify millisecond delays in sound processing in people with Asperger's syndrome⁵^,⁶.

“It will be very important to study these children as infants, because when we find it early enough, we can teach or rehabilitate the child so that these difficulties don't get worse,” she says. MEG is a great technique for studying babies, she adds, because it's non-invasive and doesn't require them to perform specific cognitive tasks.

The biggest downside to using MEG as a diagnostic tool is cost. The machines cost about as much as an fMRI machine, roughly $3 million. There are only about 100 machines worldwide; of the 30 in the U.S., only 2 are in pediatric hospitals.

“It's expensive, but when you're thinking about rehabilitation, that's expensive as well,” Jansson-Verkasalo says. “I think if we find these children early enough, then this rehab will be cheaper.”

References:

O'Neill M. and Jones R.S. J. Autism Dev. Disord. 27, 283-293 (1997) PubMed ↩
Gage N.M. et al. Neuroreport 14, 2047-2051 (2003) PubMed ↩
Gage N.M., Siegel B. and Roberts T.P. Brain Res. Dev. Brain Res. 144, 201-209 (2003) PubMed ↩
Kuhl P.K. et al. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 363, 979-1000 (2008) PubMed ↩
Jansson-Verkasalo E. et al. Neurosci Lett. 338, 197-200 (2003) PubMed ↩
Jansson-Verkasalo E. et al. Eur. J. Neurosci. 22, 986-990 (2005) PubMed ↩

posted by ApoorvaMandavilli

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Army developing `synthetic telepathy', funding researchers using EEG and MEG

2008-12-31T13:29:00.000-08:00

An interesting news article I came across today:

Army developing `synthetic telepathy'
Similar technology marketed as a way to control video games by thought
By Eric Bland
Discovery Channel
updated 9:52 a.m. ET, Mon., Oct. 13, 2008

Vocal cords were overrated anyway. A new Army grant aims to create email or voice mail and send it by thought alone. No need to type an e-mail, dial a phone or even speak a word.

Known as synthetic telepathy, the technology is based on reading electrical activity in the brain using an electroencephalograph, or EEG. Similar technology is being marketed as a way to control video games by thought.

"I think that this will eventually become just another way of communicating," said Mike D'Zmura, from the University of California, Irvine and the lead scientist on the project.

"It will take a lot of research, and a lot of time, but there are also a lot of commercial applications, not just military applications," he said.

The idea of communicating by thought alone is not a new one. In the 1960s, a researcher strapped an EEG to his head and, with some training, could stop and start his brain's alpha waves to compose Morse code messages.

The Army grant to researchers at University of California, Irvine, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Maryland has two objectives. The first is to compose a message using, as D'Zmura puts it, "that little voice in your head."

The second part is to send that message to a particular individual or object (like a radio), also just with the power of thought. Once the message reaches the recipient, it could be read as text or as a voice mail.

While the money may come from the Army and its first use could be for covert operations, D'Zmura thinks that thought-based communication will find more use in the civilian realm.

"The eventual application I see is for students sitting in the back of the lecture hall not paying attention because they are texting," said D'Zmura. "Instead, students could be back there, just thinking to each other."

EEG-based gaming devices are large and fairly conspicuous, but D'Zmura thinks that eventually they could be incorporated into a baseball hat or a hood.

Another use for such a system is for patients with Lou Gehrig's disease, or ALS. As the disease progresses, patients have fully functional brains but slowly lose control over their muscles. Synthetic telepathy could be a way for these patients to communicate.

One of the first areas for thought-based communication is in the gaming world, said Paul Sajda of Columbia University.

Commercial EEG headsets already exist that allow wearers to manipulate virtual objects by thought alone, noted Sajda, but thinking "move rock" is easier than, say, "Have everyone meet at Starbucks at 5:30."

One difficulty in composing specific messages is fundamental ?EEGs are not very specific. They can only locate a signal to within about one to two centimeters. That's a large distance in the brain. In the brain's auditory cortex, for example, two centimeters is the difference between low notes and high notes, D'Zmura said.

Placing electrodes between the skull and the brain would offer more precise readings, but it is expensive and requires invasive surgery.

To work around this problem, the scientists need to gain a much better understanding of what words and phrases light up what brain sections. To create a detailed map of the brain scientists will also use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Each technology has its own strengths and weaknesses. EEGs detect brain activity only on the outer bulges of the brain's folds. MEGs read brain activity on the inner folds but are too large to put on your head. FMRIs detect brain activity more accurately than either but are heavy and expensive.

Of all three technologies EEG is the one currently cheap enough, light enough and fast enough for a mass market device.

The map generated by all three technologies will help the computer guess which word of phrase a person means when a part of the brain is lights up on the EEG. The idea is similar to how dictation software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking uses context to help determine which word you said.

Mapping the brain's response to most of the English language is a large task, and D'Zmura says that it will be 15-20 years before thought-based communication is reality. Sajda, who is on sabbatical in Japan to research using EEGs to scan images rapidly, sounded skeptical but excited.

"There are technical hurdles that need to be ovecome first, but then again, 20 years ago people would have thought that the two of us talking to each other half a world away over Skype (and Internet-based phone service) was crazy," said Sajda.

To those who might be nervous about thought-based communication turning into a sci-fi comedy of errors, D'Zmura says not to worry. Mind-message composition would take specific conscious thoughts and training to develop them. The device would also have a on/off switch.

"When I was a kid I occasionally said things that were inappropriate, and I learned not to do that," said D'Zmura. "I think that people would learn to think in a way the computer couldn't interpret. Or they can just switch it off."
2008 Discovery Channel

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27162401/

2009 MEG/MCG Lab Logbook

2008-12-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

I am happy to announce the availability of a custom designed logbook for use at MEG and MCG laboratories. I have created this in hopes of making the record keeping process at clinical and research labs more standardized and thorough. The book contains a section for each week of the 2009 calendar year, and each section has a weekly schedule, a log for each patient or volunteer recorded, and a section for recording maintenance data like liquid Helium refills, noise tests, and phantom results.

The book is available at Lulu.com, there is a hardcover version for $35US and a softcover for $25. for those who are unsure but interested there is also a free trial download version that will let you try it out for the month of January. Please go and have a look at: http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=3493926

As always, comments and feedback welcome!

American Clinical MEG Society

2008-12-04T12:33:00.001-08:00

The American Clinical MEG Society recently held a workshop in Charlestown MA. I have talked with Michael Funke, the new President of the ACMEGS, about posting a summary of the workshop for all to see. In the mean time, you can view the agenda and find out more about the ACMEGS at:

http://homepage.mac.com/ameliestufflebeam/AmericanClinicalMagnetoencephalographySociety_000.htm

Call for submissions for Perinatal Biomag Conference

2008-11-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

This announcement came by email:

It is our great pleasure to announce that the submission of contributions
for poster presentations at Perinatal Biomagnetism 2009 is now open!
Critical issues related to the usefulness of Biomagnetism in fetal and
neonatal medicine will be addressed, and the pontential of this new
diagnostic methodology will be evaluated in comparison with techniques
routinely used in the clinical practice, such as Ultrasound or ECG/EEG.

Contributions from gynecologists, pediatricians, obstetricians,
perinatologists, pediatric neurologists and pediatric cardiologists, as
well as biomedical physicists and engineers interested in new technologies
in translational Perinatal Medicine, are welcome. The submission deadline
is January 30, 2009. More information can be found on the workshop website:
http://pb2009.udanet.it

Please, diffuse this announcement among your colleagues!

Looking forward to welcome you in Chieti, we remain.

                           Sincerely,

                           Prof. Silvia Comani and Prof. Janette Strasburger
                           Perinatal Biomagnetism 2009 Chair persons

NIH Awards Funds to MRN for BabySQUID Research

2008-11-19T09:05:00.000-08:00

NIH Awards Funds for Infant Epilepsy Research

Local organization to expand neurodiagnostic capabilities

The Mind Research Network (MRN) has received a two-year, $455,000 grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIH) to study high-frequency brain activity in infants with epilepsy.

Photo: The Mind Research Network

For most people, the treatment of epilepsy, a brain disorder where clusters of nerve cells suddenly produce large, abnormal, synchronous activity, involves controlling seizures with medications. But determining the most effective drug treatment can be time-consuming and relies on a rule-out process; and in some instances, pharmaceuticals are ineffective. In these situations, surgery is the only treatment option available.

If surgery treatment is indicated, clinicians must first determine the seizure onset zone. Unfortunately, this zone – or the area of the brain where a seizure starts – is difficult to identify; and, until now, the only method of pinpointing the area has been the utilization of an EEG (electroencephalography) and the insertion of intracranial electrodes. This procedure requires opening the skull, and therefore has associated risks, including infection. Moreover, this technique might not provide the precise information needed.

That’s where Dr. Julia Stephen, a research scientist at the Mind Research Network, comes in. The NIH award will provide Stephen with funds to study the use of a non-invasive procedure that uses the BabySquid®, a one-of-a-kind infant/child magnetoencephalograph (MEG) machine located at MRN, to identify the seizure onset zone.

The BabySquid® was invented by Dr. Yoshio Okada, director of the BRaIN Imaging Center at the University of New Mexico. Okada is a collaborator on the NIH study.

Dr. Pete Engel, an epileptologist at UCLA and a consultant on this project, has identified high-frequency activity called interictal spikes during brain surgery in adults. He has hypothesized that this high-frequency activity, which is associated with interictal spikes, may provide a better marker for identifying the seizure onset zone if it can be identified noninvasively. The current study will utilize the BabySquid® to noninvasively measure this high-frequency brain activity in children. This technique could help determine whether the interictal spikes are associated with the seizure onset zone.

“Once surgery becomes an option, it’s absolutely critical that clinicians have the ability to identify the seizure onset zone in infants and children as early as possible,” according to Stephen. “The earlier the surgery takes place, the less likely that damage can occur from seizure activity during the child’s critical brain-development period. We hope to develop a safer and simpler diagnostic tool for identifying the seizure onset zone; one that is timely and thus will allow for repair and subsequent normal brain development in these children.”

The research will involve 30 children from birth to six years of age who have epilepsy. Stephen adds that surgery is often not an option for children younger than four, because clinicians need to rule out the use of pharmaceuticals before proceeding with surgery.

The National Institutes of Health reports that more than two million people in the United States – about 1 in 100 – have experienced an unprovoked seizure or have been diagnosed with epilepsy. For about 80 percent of those diagnosed with epilepsy, the seizures can be controlled with medicines and surgical techniques.

Media Contacts: MRN - Dolores González, (505) 925-4747 or UNM - Luke Frank, (505) 272-3679; e-mail: lfrank@salud.unm.edu

Biomag Web Site Announcement, Curry 6 release

2008-11-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

This week's announcement is the creation of a Biomag Website by yours truly. Ideally this will become (still in development) one-stop shopping for biomagnetism resources and information links, please check it out and let me know what you think! The site is: http://www3.telus.net/biomag
If you have any funds left over in your lab's account that have to be spent by the end of the year, there are some recommended product and publication listings in the Store section that you should check out.

The other bit of news is a bit stale, but I wanted to mention that Neuroscan has released Curry 6. If you use Curry and have not upgraded yet you should check it out, if you don't use it you may want to check out the new features:
CURRY 6 Available!
Multi-Modal Neuroimaging
CURRY integrates multiple complementary functional and image modalities (EEG, ECoG, MEG; MRI, fMRI, PET, SPECT and CT) in a single software package for the purpose of obtaining the maximum accuracy of electrical source analysis. CURRY uses the full physical anatomy from MR and CT to provide three-dimensional models of the skull and brain allowing the neural generators of the topographic EEG to be computed. CURRY was developed for mapping and identification of the neural generators of EEG and MEG recordings. However, the functionality offered and the revolutionary changes in this latest version CURRY also make it suitable for wider application, including clinical applications in neurology, epilepsy and radiology. The powerful tools within Curry have received FDA Market Clearance for its intended clinical applications.
Click HERE to learn more and view the brochure.

Hot off the news wire!

2008-10-30T21:28:00.000-07:00

MISL Plans MEG Manufacturing

Last update: 2:43 p.m. EDT Oct. 30, 2008

COQUITLAM, British Columbia, Canada, Oct 30, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- MEG International Services Ltd. (MISL) of Coquitlam, BC, Canada is pleased to announce its plans to begin manufacturing of magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems for sale throughout the world.

"We know that MISL possesses the finest MEG technology available in the world. We believe that the time is right to make this technology available again to meet the growing demand by researchers and clinicians." said Michael J. Smith, President.

Magnetoencephalography is used by researchers and physicians to observe human brain activity noninvasively. A growing number of leading research institutions are using MEG to advance the understanding of human brain function. Clinical institutions are beginning to use MEG to improve the diagnosis and treatment of an increasing range of brain diseases and trauma from injury.

The MEG technology owned by MISL was principally developed by CTF Systems Ltd. of Coquitlam, BC and subsequently manufactured by VSM MedTech Ltd. MISL acquired exclusive rights to its MEG technology from VSM MedTech Ltd. when VSM MedTech entered receivership in 2007. MISL has provided maintenance and service to CTF/VSM MEG operators around the world since 2007.

About MEG International Services Ltd. (MISL)

MISL services medical devices for research, diagnosis, and treatment of neurological disorders. MISL is planning to expand beyond its service capabilities and include the manufacture of the medical devices they currently service. In its service and manufacturing capacity, MISL equips researchers and healthcare providers with noninvasive technology that improves research capability and the standard of patient care.

SOURCE: MEG International Services Ltd.

MEG International Services Ltd.
M. Bryl, Vice president & General Manager
Tel. +1 604 540 6044 ext. 2402
Cell: + 1 778 384 4871
Fax: +1 604 540 6099
Marlene.Bryl@megservice.com
www.MEGservice.com

This will be interesting to watch, it is a long road back.

New article on MEG

2008-10-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

New article published, Magnetoencephalography (MEG)

By: Andreas A. Ioannides.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) encompasses a family of non-contact, non-invasive techniques for detecting the magnetic field generated by the electrical activity of the brain, for analyzing this MEG signal and for using the results to study brain function. The overall purpose of MEG is to extract estimates of the spatiotemporal patterns of electrical activity in the brain from the measured magnetic field outside the head. The electrical activity in the brain is a manifestation of collective neuronal activity and, to a large extent, the currency of brain function. The estimates of brain activity derived from MEG can therefore be used to study mechanisms and processes that support normal brain function in humans and help us understand why, when and how they fail.

For more info including full abstract: http://www.springerprotocols.com/Abstract/doi/10.1007/978-1-59745-543-5_8

MEG resources on the Web

2008-10-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to those who may not be already aware of a few MEG resources on the Web. First there is the Biomag Group on Yahoo! which I moderate, this has about 190 members from MEG labs all over the world. Secondly there is another Yahoo! group specifically for users for CTF MEG systems.
Third there is a MEG Wiki maintained by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center staff that is a good introduction to MEG for newbies. Check out

Biomag Group: tech.dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/1600700994

CTF Users Group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ctf-vsm-meg/?yguid=310999410

MEGWiki: www.megwiki.org

2009 Perinatal Biomagnetism Workshop

2008-10-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

I recently received an announcement of the 1st International Workshop on Perinatal Biomagnetism, to be held in Chieti Italy on April 4, 2009. This is for discussion of fetal and neonatal MEG and MCG and comparison with other modalities. More information is at the website:
http://pb2009.udanet.it.

Biomag 2010

2008-10-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

The next Biomag conference is March 28-April 1, 2010 at Dubrovnik, Croatia. The location is a very interesting and historic city, and the conference committee appears to be already very organized and enthusiastic. Also this conference will be much earlier in the year to avoid the height of summer, so only about 18 months between conferences this time. Here is a link to the conference website: http://mbanusic.fizika.org/

First Post

2008-07-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Biomag blog. I will be posting news and thoughts of interest to those involved in MEG, MCG, and detection of magnetic activity in the human body in general.

I am also the moderator of the Biomag Group on Yahoo! Groups, if you are interested in this area then you should check it out and request membership if you want to be included in the biomagnetic community.

I will soon be going to Sapporo for the Biomag 2008 conference, which will be a good chance to catch up with old friends and colleagues, and find out what is new in the field.