www.verbamentis.com


A Cortex Congress Publication


Issue 1 | 2010 Contents


Verba Mentis 32 56 9


Finding the news that matters


Editorial Comment Contact us News


NEWS ANALYSIS MARKET REVIEW


The problem for new antipsychotics


CONFERENCES: Updates and news


Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a method of bundling thousands of nano-sized glass tubes, each having a conducting carbon core. This technology may make the interface of artifi cial neural bundles and prostheses a real possibility.


ULTIMATELY, the goal is to du- plicate the function of a living system by combining the ex- isting technology of glass fi ber drawing with the multi-func- tionality of sub-micron (0.4 micron) scale carbon nano- tubes, according to Ivanov [Ilia Ivanov, researcher at the Cent- er for Nanophase Materials Sciences Division, ORNL—ed], who described the process. “We make this material in a


way similar to what you may have done in high school when making a glass capillary over a Bunsen burner,” Ivanov said. “There, you would take the glass tube, heat it up and pull, or draw, as soon as the glass be- came soft.” Ivanov and John Simpson of


the Measurement Science and Systems Engineering Division are doing something similar except they use thousands of glass tubes fi lled with carbon


nanotube powder. After several draw cycles, they demonstrat- ed that they could make fi bers just four times thicker than a human hair containing 19,600 sub-micron channels with each channel fi lled with con- ducting carbon. Each carbon nanotube-containing channel is electrically insulated from its neighbors by glass so it can be used as an individual commu- nication channel. “The human hand has a den-


sity of receptors at the fi ngertips of about 2,500 per square cen- timeter and about 17,000 tactile receptors in the hand,” Ivanov said. “So in terms of density of channels, we are already in the range needed for 17,000 recep- tors in the hand.” The next steps are to make


these channels highly con- ductive and then show sensor communication through indi- vidual channels.


Press release: New ORNL carbon composite holds promise for bionics...


Abstract in Nanotechnology: Processing of loose carbon nanotubes into isolated, high density submicron channels


Website: copy and paste this link to your browser – http://medgadget.com/ archives/2010/04/carbon_nano- tube_assemblies_may_serve_as_ artifi cial_nerve_bundles_1.html


An artifi cially colored scanning electron microscope photograph of one of the channels with the carbon nanotube bundle (yellow-green) protruding from it, above the surface of the glass (blue).


See page 3 for more on carbon nanotubes


Analysing the relationship between obsessive- compulsive symptoms and schizophrenia


Compr Psychiatry. 2010 July – August;51(4):357-362 Authors: Tiryaki A, Ozkorumak E


Video clip here


THE AUTHORS raise the question that schizo- phrenia and obsessive compulsive disorders are closely linked. Schizophrenia presents with different symptom domains and functionality during its course. Obsessive- compulsive (OC) symptoms in schizophrenia have many themes to be clarifi ed. The study’s objective was to compare schizophrenia pa- tients with and without OC symptoms in terms of symptom domains, cognitive func- tions, and quality of life. 62 patients who met the diagnostic cri-


teria for Schizophrenia were assessed over 12 months. Obsessive-compulsive symp- toms along with schizophrenia were present in a considerable number (35.5%). Level of psychotic symptoms was more severe and quality of life was lower in schizophrenia


patients with OC symptoms. A positive cor- relation was found between obsessions and delusions. Moreover, there was a posi- tive correlation between compulsions and total Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms score and bizarre behaviors sub- score. There was no difference between the 2 groups regarding neurocognitive functions. The level of quality of life of schizophrenic patients with OC symptoms was lower. Be- sides, no correlation was found between OC symptoms and neurocognition and quality of life. The fi ndings of this study indicate that


schizophrenia patients with OC symptoms had severe psychotic symptoms with a dis- tinctive clinical picture including good neurocognition but poor functioning.


comment@verbamentis.com PMID: 20579507 [PubMed – as supplied by publisher]


Neurology • Neurosurgery • Neuroscience • Psychiatry Neuropsychiatry • Neurotechnology • Neuro-oncology


Business News Conference report


Artifi cial nerve bundles – science fact or science fi ction?


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9