Massaging the human brain with a very low power alternating (AC) electric current can enhance learning, including math skills, according to a recently published study in Current Biology.

The research study used a transcranial random noise stimulation (TRNS) device to stimulate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), a key brain area for arithmetic skills, while subjects underwent five days of cognitive training with math calculation exercises.

The results showed that the group receiving TRNS performed significantly better on both math calculations and recall of arithmetic principles, compared to the control group. In addition, the TRNS group still showed the positive training effects six months later.

This long term training effect has some good implications for how “active” neuro devices can be combined with education principles and cognitive training to produce better classroom outcomes, along with work performance.

The Current Biology study adds to a growing list of innovative use of personal neuro devices for a variety of (future) school, work, and healthcare applications. The technology is moving at such a rapid pace that regulatory bodies are still grappling with how (or if) to apply traditional medical device guidelines to these new tools.

In the meantime, we expect active personal neuro devices to find their way into the hands of adventurous consumers who want to give them a spin. It will be interesting to see how this new market develops.

Read also: A New World of Personal Neuro Devices
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“There is no magic pill that fixes a bad diet.” This rather direct advice comes from the lead investigator of a study on the balance of food intake containing Omega 6 & Omega 3 fatty acids, recently published in the PLOS ONE online scientific journal.

In general, Omega 3 sources like fish, beans, and green leafy vegetables are known to promote good cardiovascular and brain health, while too much Omega 6 from sources like corn oil, most fried foods, frozen processed foods, margarine, and peanuts is associated with unhealthy outcomes like diabetes, obesity, and Alzheimer’s disease.

The PLOS ONE study looked at what happens when Omega 3 supplements (fish oil pills) were added to the diets of mice who were consuming high amounts of Omega 6 fats that are common in western diets, especially from fast food outlets. It turns out that supplementing with “good” Omega 3 fats on top of high Omega 6 intake actually caused a number of mice to die from sepsis, a serious inflammatory condition brought on by severe infection. The study indicates that Omega 3 supplementation impairs Omega 6 infection-induced inflammatory responses, resulting in sepsis (at least in mice).

In other words, eating a bucket of fried chicken with a side of curly fries and potato salad with extra mayonnaise, and then trying to balance out this Omega 6 orgy with a couple of fish oil pills isn’t going to work, and may end up being harmful.

A better way is to focus on heart healthy and brain healthy foods, and limit intake of fast foods/ fried foods to a very occasional indulgence. Your brain will thank you.

See also: This is Your Brain on Fat and Sugar
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Add Baxter International’s Gammagard to the ash heap of failed Alzheimer’s drug candidates.

Baxter announced today that Gammagard did not provide any cognitive or functional improvement in 390 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The patients who were enrolled in the Phase III trial received the drug through infusions over an 18 month period.

This outcome isn’t surprising for a number of reasons, including Baxter’s decision to proceed with an expensive Phase III trial based on modest improvement in a total of 4, count them: 4 patients in an earlier trial.

Gammagard is now added to the list of other clinical trial blowups that relied almost exclusively on the amyloid hypothesis. Turning the Alzheimer’s research community towards other avenues such as hyperphosphorylated tau may pick up speed now with amyloid clearance drugs approaching 20 clinical trial fails.

Readers can download a free report on early detection testing for Alzheimer’s disease that also includes a snapshot of other Alzheimer’s drug candidates.
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Want to be able to see and monitor your brainwave activity on your smart phone? There’s an app for that – or there will be by the end of this year, based on demonstrations shown at the Neuro Gaming conference this month in San Francisco.

By using consumer friendly EEG recording sensors, packaged in a wireless headband linked to a smartphone, companies like Toronto based InteraXon are pioneering the development of personal neuro devices that will be used for a wide range of wellness and entertainment applications.

Other neuro device companies include Samsara Labs, developing a transcranial direct stimulation (TDCS) headband, Personal Neuro Devices, a company developing neuro games for smartphones and tablets, and Blue Marble Game Company, developing immersive games for neuro-rehabilitation and repair, after brain injuries such as stroke and severe, debilitating concussions.

We believe this emerging market will develop along two main paths:

1. A lightly regulated market for consumer wellness neuro devices and applications, with companies using the standard disclaimer along the lines of “This product has not been evaluated by the FDA, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

2. A formally regulated market for medical devices and applications. Some companies will choose this somewhat arduous and expensive route because it establishes a higher level of credibility with the buyers, which in this case will be the health care insurance companies.

The disruptive technology and distribution models being developed by neuro device companies also bring the additional possibility of a parallel, unregulated gray-market, where enterprising free agents combine neuro devices and applications in new ways to provide a cognitive high performance edge to people willing to pay for a perceived competitive advantage (think about the sports performance doping market among pro athletes, and you can see where this could go.)

Welcome to the emerging world of personal neuro devices!

See also: Brain Training: Does it Work?
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If you’ve wondered why men and women can sometimes respond differently to the same emotional event, an integrated neuroscience session hosted by the American Academy of Neurology last month sheds some interesting light on possible causes.

Larry Cahill, Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior at UC Irvine, provided details on recent brain imaging research that indicate different activation levels of the amygdala in men and women, in response to the same emotional content.

The amygdala, commonly known as the “fear center” in the brain, is actually involved in processing a wide range of both negative and positive emotions. We have two amygdalae in our brains – the right amygdala handles the gist, or “big picture” content, while the left amygdala is better at the details of the same emotional content.

Dr. Cahill reviewed data from recent studies that indicate two things: that in men the right amygdala is preferentially activated in response to emotional content, while in women, the left amygdala is activated more by the same emotional content. (In one of the studies, the emotional content included a story about the death of a child, which was obviously designed to elicit feelings of sadness.)

This “gender lateralization” of emotional processing has recently been confirmed through several other brain imaging studies. The results are also a bit counterintuitive, with male brains apparently picking up the ‘big picture’ part of emotional content, while female brains preferentially process more of the ‘who/what/where/when/why’ part of the same emotional story.

These results also have some important implications for central nervous system (CNS) medications like antidepressants and anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs). It could be that one medication for both men and women is the wrong approach for any drug that acts on the CNS. (This is something that pharmaceutical companies probably won’t want to hear, since it means increased expense in clinical trials.)

Dr. Cahill’s work on gender differences in the human brain challenges several decades of dogma in neuroscience and related fields that except for hormone and reproductive differences (mainly with the hypothalamus), there are no credible or important differences in how men and women process emotional information. His research efforts strongly suggest the reverse is more accurate.

See also: Brain Health Primer – Four Ways to Maintain Your Brain
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