People suffering from paralysis due to stroke or traumatic brain injury may be able to reprogram their brains to improve motor skills and to control artificial limbs.
With a stroke, when nerve cells are damaged, other nerve cells take over for them. But until now, scientists weren't sure which neurons compensated for damaged neurons, or how the brain cells learned their new jobs. The latest study shows how MRI images can show the active areas of the brain.

New research presented at the radiological society of North America’s annual meeting and done by Indiana university researchers used two cutting edge technologies. One, a cyberglove, translates hand movement into specific movements of a cursor on a computer screen. The other, functional MRI, which is a special brain scan that lights up in color areas of the brain which are actively being used.
The researchers had healthy persons learn new movements--just like a stroke person would have to do--and looked at which areas of the brain are active in the new learning process.
Dr, Kristine Mosier, the study researcher at Indiana University, says, “The constraints they had to work under, and the kind of mapping that their brain had to do is exactly the kind of mapping recovering stroke patients would have to undergo.”
In a stroke patient, though, there would be no hand movement, just brain power moving the cursor.
The researchers found which areas of the brain would be responsible for moving this “machine” cursor. Knowing these areas will ultimately will help a person learn how to operate machines such as wheelchairs, or robotic arms, with just thoughts, or brain power.
Based on what we’re learning about how the brain retrains how it remaps it’s going to help us identify what may be more beneficial rehabilitation strategies for stroke patients,” states Dr. Mosier.
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New research on screening whole body cat scans looked at whether the test is worth the price.
While greater than 90 percent of patients have something on the test, only two percent have real disease, such as cancer or coronary artery disease.
Those with falsely positive tests needed other procedures, which added to the cost significantly.
The cost of each year of life saved –more than 150,000 dollars, making it not a cost-effective procedure.
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Brown University researchers looked at the technique called radiofrequency ablation which uses a needle that delivers an electrical current which heats and destroys the tumor without surgery.
The study found it is safe and effective for the treatment of small lung tumors.
The problem is many lung cancer patients are poor candidates for surgery. Either they have other lung conditions such as chronic emphysema, or they have coronary artery disease which makes an operation way too dangerous.
Because it is a minimally invasive procedure, it can be done as an outpatient, and was associated with a short recovery period. There were few complications and much lower death rates than with surgery.
Dr. Damian Dupuy, the researcher out of Brown University, says, “60 percent of the patients that we used radiofrequency to treat their lung tumors were alive today in the six year period that we analyzed.
The technique is primarily used for liver cancers, and is starting to be used for bone and lung tumors. This is the largest study on radiofrequency ablation in lung cancer.

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