Two very different roles were reported for the protein REST last week. In adults, REST activation appeared to extend lifespan by reducing overall brain activity. Principal investigator Bruce Yankner, professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging, told BioWorld MedTech that in postmortem brain samples of individuals who had had no cognitive impairments at the time of their death, his team found "a correlation between down-regulation of excitation and extended longevity."
Spinal cord stimulation company Gtx Medical BV, of Eindhoven, Netherlands, is merging with San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Neurorecovery Technologies Inc. in a move aimed at accelerating access to new therapies for spinal cord injury on both sides of the Atlantic. The combined company, which will be known as Gtx Medical BV, is developing both implantable and transcutaneous technologies for people living with paralysis. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Radiologists review thousands of images a day. The hope is that artificial intelligence (AI) applications will become useful soon to verify diagnoses, prioritize queued images and even to offer a level of detection and measurement that aren't feasible for humans. One of the latest efforts on this front is by researchers at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of California at Berkeley.
PARIS – Clinatec Research Center, of Grenoble, France, is heralding the publication of results from its Brain Computer Interface (BCI) Exoskeleton clinical trial in the journal Lancet Neurology. Its semi-invasive medical device, Wimagine, has enabled a quadriplegic patient to move by transmitting signals emitted by his brain to an exoskeleton. This is the first proof of concept for control of a four-limb exoskeleton by a neuroprosthesis.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup Doc.ai is training its sights on the $9.5 billion global epilepsy market, with the aim of using artificial intelligence to help patients find the best medication to control their seizures. To that end, the company is teaming up with the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Stanford Epilepsy Center on a digital health trial to develop a predictive treatment model that will identify the right treatment at the right time for individuals living with epilepsy.
Houston-based startup Braincheck Inc. scooped up $8 million in series A funding in a round led by S3 Ventures and Tensility Venture Partners, along with True Wealth Ventures and Nueterra Capital. Braincheck launched its digital cognitive assessment tool in 2015 and a cognitive care planning solution in 2018, and now the company is looking to broaden its footprint with physician practices, hospitals and health systems. Proceeds from the financing will help to build the company's sales and marketing and clinical development teams in Houston, as well as production development staff in Austin.
The routine application of medical device technology to neurological indications beyond pain remains challenging in all but the most severe patients. Micro-cap Neuronetics Inc. is aiming to change all that with its Neurostar transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) system that is noninvasive and used in the physician's office.
The leucine-repeat rich kinase 2 (Lrrk2) gets most of its attention in the context of Parkinson's disease (PD). Variants in Lrrk2 are a major cause of familial PD (though familial PD makes up only a small fraction of overall PD cases).
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