• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • About Us
    • FAQ
    • Meet the Team
  • Contact us
  • Guest Content
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
NEWSLETTER
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Opinion
  • Elevenses
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • Film
    • Lifestyle
      • Horoscopes
    • Lottery Results
      • Lotto
      • Thunderball
      • Set For Life
      • EuroMillions
  • Food
    • All Food
    • Recipes
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
  • JOBS
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

The brain actually ‘beats’… just like the heart, say scientists.

And its tiny movements - less than the width of a human hair - have been caught on film for the first time.

Joe Mellor by Joe Mellor
2018-05-29 19:00
in News, Science
FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmailWhatsapp

The brain actually ‘beats’… just like the heart, say scientists.

And its tiny movements – less than the width of a human hair – have been caught on film for the first time.

The breakthrough could lead to better ways of spotting concussions and other brain injuries before they become life threatening.

It also offers hope of developing cycling and motorbike crash helmets that provide better protection.

The US team used a revolutionary imaging technique to capture and magnify the movement of the brain every time the heart beats – in real time.

They say it is a promising and long awaited diagnostic tool for a host of brain disorders that will improve and hasten treatment.

These include weakened blood vessels in the brain called aneurysms that can trigger potentially fatal haemorrhages.

Understanding how the brain moves – at rest and upon impact – has been crucial to shedding light on them, but technology to clearly see it has lagged behind.

Co lead author Professor Mehmet Kurt, a biomechanical engineer at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, said: “It is proof of concept.

RelatedPosts

Unite secures 28% pay rise for hundreds of Luton airport workers

Woman dies from hypothermia after telling her doctor she ‘couldn’t afford heating’

Serving Met Police officer pleads guilty to child sexual offences

BBC chairman set to be grilled by MPs amid questions over Boris Johnson loan

“We wanted to see if we could amplify the tiny movements of the brain with every heartbeat and capture that movement as it naturally occurs – so without introducing noise.

“That is important when you are trying to do what we are trying to do – detect abnormal motions in the brain to diagnose and monitor disorders.”

The brain moves minutely with each heartbeat – on the order of ten to 150 micrometres which is less than the width of a single human hair.

The movements are so small standard MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans are unable to film them in detail.

The new technique reported in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is called phase-based amplified MRI and was originally developed while the researchers were based at the University of Stanford, California.

In the past two years they have fine tuned the method to show it can be used for diagnostic benefit.

In experiments they attached a pulsometer that monitors heart rate to the wrists of healthy subjects and coordinated the timing of the beat with images of the brain, stitching the slices together to create a smooth movement.

An algorithm, tailored to the piston-like motions of blood and spinal fluid coursing through the brain, then intelligently magnifies the brain’s motion to a more visible scale while keeping potential noise subdued.

The resulting video images, reconstructed slice by slice, retain the spatial characteristics of an MRI.

The skull and all anatomical features are displayed at actual scale. But the pulse-driven motion is amplified significantly as they animate.

Co lead senior author Dr Samantha Holdsworth, a medical physicist who is now at the University of Auckland, explained: “You can actually capture the whole head ‘nodding’ in the scanner due to the force of the blood pumping into the brain every time the heart beats.”

The researchers found the technique provided few errors and good visibility, particularly in areas of the brain that move most. These included the mid brain and spinal cord, which helps relay sensory information.

It also spots movement in areas resistant to motion such as the frontal cortex which is important for planning, reasoning and judgement.

The team applied the technique on two subjects, a control and a patient with Chiari malformation I.

The condition, present at birth, can cause many symptoms, including headaches or stiffness in the neck, due to malformations at the base of the skull and upper spinal area.

Unlike the control, video images of the patient showed significantly abnormal brain movement in at least two locations.

The researchers will continue to use the technology in clinical settings involving larger numbers of patients with known medical diagnoses of various conditions such as concussion, aneurysm and structural brain abnormalities.

Prof Kurt, who is also known for his work on concussions, added: “Better visualisation and understanding of the biomechanical properties of the brain could lead to earlier detection and monitoring of brain disorders.

“It could also help with prevention, as it could lead to the design of better helmets.”

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/lifestyle/health/divorce-or-death-in-family-can-speed-up-the-ageing-of-mens-brains/06/04/

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/lifestyle/health/simple-blood-test-detects-alzheimers-years-before-symptoms-start/06/04/

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending on TLE

  • All
  • trending
Abdollah

‘Rescue us’: Afghan teacher begs UK to help him escape Taliban

CHOMSKY: “If Corbyn had been elected, Britain would be pursuing a much more sane course”

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

More from TLE

How to make Popeye’s chicken sandwich at home

MoD would not have to pay compensation if £1bn shipbuilding contract kept in UK, GMB reveals

KPMG UK chairman quits after telling staff unconscious bias is ‘complete crap’

‘Part of European family:’ EU candidate status for Ukraine would send ‘significant message’

PM follows Trump’s commands, says Swinson

Thunderball Results LIVE for Friday 25 June 2021 Tonight’s winning numbers

Newcastle need a manager with a vision

Warning of financial pressure on Councils who need ‘to lead their communities out of this crisis’

Passengers on a flight were stunned to see who they were sharing the cabin with

Preview: Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival

JOBS

FIND MORE JOBS

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Commercial enquiries, please contact: [email protected]

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Travel
  • JOBS
  • More…
    • Elevenses
    • Opinion
    • Property
    • Tech & Auto
  • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Privacy policy
  • Contact us

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.