from the there's-hope-for-the-graybeards dept.
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) using wires implanted under the skull may overcome the effects of Alzheimer's disease:
LaVonne Moore has Alzheimer's disease, but her doctors hope her dementia symptoms could possibly be kept in check by a new type of treatment. Electric wires implanted deep in her brain stimulate areas involved with decision-making and problem-solving. Unlike many long-term dementia patients, LaVonne, 85, can cook meals, dress herself and organise outings. But it remains unclear whether her deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy is responsible for her independence.
DBS is already helping hundreds of thousands of patients with Parkinson's disease to overcome symptoms of tremor, but its use in Alzheimer's is still very experimental. Only a small number of DBS studies have been done for Alzheimer's and they have focused on stimulating brain regions governing memory, rather than judgement. But Dr Douglas Scharre and colleagues at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center believe their approach, which targets the decision-making frontal lobe of the brain, might help patients keep their independence for longer.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 02 2018, @07:51AM (1 child)
A case in which, if you are unable to take a decision, any decision - even one extracted with an electric show - is better: at least it offers a semblance of something functional.
Not very dissimilar with the Army - an officer needs to show decision capacity, even if/when his decisions are mostly wrong.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @01:36AM
Hello.
My name is Nancy Pelosi.
How can I learn more about this treatment?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Friday February 02 2018, @08:32AM
the article didn't say how bad Mrs Moore's functioning had been before the implant.
Very hard to do randomised control trials when many patients won't get much worse, or get worse very slowly, even without treatment.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @08:53AM (1 child)
Forget that. If you're going to impact electrodes into my brain then wire them up to the pleasure centers and let me rot away in sweet, sweet ecstasy. What a nice ending, forgetting everything but bliss.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 02 2018, @01:39PM
It would be cheaper and less invasive to just hook you up to a constant drip of MDMA or LSD or something.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @02:22PM
The catch is the person has to remember to use it.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @06:24PM (2 children)
Cures for the jewish rats.
Lifelong painful expensive "treatments" for the rest of us.
The medical establishment has been keeping cures from us in order to subjugate us. Alternative treatments are attacked from all sides instead of researching them or even allowing anyone to do research.
We won't win and will keep getting electrocuted right inside our brains until the medical profession is cleared of the jewish influence. The jews want to rule us all and basically do even now. They want total control over everything because their unholy book wants it. Read "The protocol of the elders of zion" for more.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 02 2018, @08:36PM
Fnord
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 03 2018, @04:52AM
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was debunked as a fake years ago. There is, however, an actual book about a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. It's called The New Testament. Try reading it sometime.