Category Archives: Neuroscience

Neuroscience

Study Shows Biocept’s Assays are Viable and Sensitive for Detecting Tumor Cells and Biomarkers in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Breast and…

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Biocept, Inc. (Nasdaq: BIOC), a leading commercial provider of molecular diagnostic assays, products and services designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to improve patient outcomes, announces the results of a study analyzing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples in patients with primary lung or breast cancer with either brain or leptomeningeal disease. The findings indicate that Target Selector CSF assays are a viable and sensitive platform for circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection and molecular analysis compared to the current standard of care, CSF cytology, which is typically used to establish or confirm leptomeningeal disease when imaging findings are suspicious or equivocal. CSF cytology has limited sensitivity and provides no additional information needed for target therapy choice.

The results were discussed yesterday in a poster presentation by Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, Chair and Professor, Department of Translational Neurosciences, Director of Neuro-oncology at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute and John Wayne Cancer Institute, at the Society for Neuro-Oncology's SNO2020 Virtual Conference on November 19, 2020.

"Once a tumor has metastasized to the brain, CTCs and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be found in the cerebrospinal fluid," said Dr. Kesari. "This prospective study compared the sensitivity of CTC detection and molecular analysisof Biocept's Target Selector CSF assays to cytology (microscopic examination of conventional CSF cytology slide preps). This study highlights the potential of CSF-based diagnostics for longitudinal monitoring cancers in the central nervous system."

"Our Target Selector testing is a minimally invasive, cost-effective strategy to simultaneously confirm metastasis to the brain, while also assessing cancer biomarkers in order to qualify a patient for potential targeted therapy options," said Michael Nall, President and CEO of Biocept. "Identifying CTCs and actionable biomarkers with Target Selector can help to confirm and monitor central nervous system involvement when clinically suspected, without the risk of complications associated with surgical biopsies, which are often impossible in these cases.

"This the second major scientific conference in less than two months to accept study results from Target Selector testing in cerebrospinal fluid for presentation," added Mr. Nall. "We view neuro-oncology as an area where our technology is uniquely suited to answer questions posed by treating physicians, and we are appreciative of the Society of Neuro-Oncology's recognition of our Target Selector testing."

About the SNO2020 Virtual Conference

The Society for Neuro-Oncology exists to advance multi-disciplinary brain tumor research, education, and collaboration to drive discovery and improve patient care. Over 2,600 neuro-oncology professionals are expected to register for the SNO2020 Virtual Conference being held November 19-21, 2020. More information can be found at soc-neuro-onc.org.

About Biocept

Biocept, Inc.is a molecular diagnostics company with commercialized assays for lung, breast, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancers, and melanoma. The Company uses its proprietary liquid biopsy technology to provide physicians with clinically actionable information for treating and monitoring patients diagnosed with cancer. The Company's patented Target Selector liquid biopsy technology platform captures and analyzes tumor-associated molecular markers in both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). With thousands of tests performed, the platform has demonstrated the ability to identify cancer mutations and alterations to inform physicians about a patient's disease and therapeutic options. Additionally,Bioceptis offering nationwide COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to support public health efforts during this unprecedented pandemic.For more information, please visit http://www.biocept.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer StatementThis release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. To the extent that statements in this release are not strictly historical, including without limitation statements regarding neuro-oncology being an area where Biocept's technology is uniquely suited to answer questions posed by treating physiciansthe ability of Biocept's platform to identify cancer mutations and alterations to inform physicians about a patient's disease and therapeutic options, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous risk factors as set forth in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The effects of such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. We do not plan to update any such forward-looking statements and expressly disclaim any duty to update the information contained in this press release except as required by law. Readers are advised to review our filings with the SEC, which can be accessed over the Internet at the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov.

Investor Contact:LHA Investor Relations Jody CainJcain@lhai.com310-691-7100

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Study Shows Biocept's Assays are Viable and Sensitive for Detecting Tumor Cells and Biomarkers in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients with Breast and...

Neuroscience

Suffering in silence: two-thirds of older adults say they won’t treat their depression – Newswise

Newswise SALT LAKE CITY, November 16, 2020 - A new nationwide poll, the GeneSight Mental Health Monitor, shows that nearly two-thirds (61%) of Americans age 65 or older who have concerns about having depression will not seek treatment. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 (33%) seniors who are concerned they might be suffering from depression believe they can "snap out" of it on their own.

"The 'pull yourself up by your bootstraps' mindset of some seniors and reluctance to talk about mental health are hindering them from getting the help they need - especially now when the pandemic is having an enormous impact on the mental health of older Americans," said Dr. Mark Pollack, chief medical officer of Myriad Neuroscience, makers of the GeneSight test. "People will seek treatment for conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure or diabetes. Depression is no different. It is an illness that can and should be treated."

Yet, while depression is a condition that needs to be treated:

"In my experience, there is a commonly held view that depression is a normal part of aging; it is not," said Dr. Parikshit Deshmukh, CEO and medical director of Balanced Wellbeing LLC in Oxford, Florida, which provides psychiatric and psychotherapy services to nursing and assisted living facilities. "I've found older adults have a very difficult time admitting that they have depression. When they do acknowledge it, they are still reluctant to start treatment for a wide variety of reasons."

Depression remains a taboo topic among older Americans, despite about one-third of those over the age of 65 who are concerned they have depression recognizing that depression has interfered with their relationships and their ability to enjoy activities.

"There is such a stigma about depression among people my age," said Carmala Walgren, a 74-year-old resident of New York. "I am proof that you do not have to accept living with depression. Although it may not be easy to find treatment that helps you with your symptoms without causing side effects, it is certainly worth it."

Walgren's doctor used information from the results of her GeneSight test, a genetic test that identifies potential gene-drug interactions for depression medications, to help inform Walgren's medication selection.

"The GeneSight test made such a difference in my life," said Walgren. "My doctor has used the test results to find medications that helped me."

###

The GeneSight Mental Health Monitor is a nationwide survey of US adults conducted by Acupoll from August 12-September 27, 2020. The survey was conducted among a statistically representative sample of US adults age 18+, including a US representative sample of adults age 65 and older. The margin of error in survey results for those Age 65+ who are concerned they may have depression but have not been diagnosed is +/-5%.

For more information on older adults and depression, please visit genesight.com/olderadult

Myriad Neuroscience

Myriad Neuroscience is a business unit of Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN). Through its GeneSight Psychotropic test, Myriad Neuroscience provides information to healthcare providers about their patient's genetic variations, which may impact how they metabolize or respond to certain psychiatric medications. Learn more at genesight.com/about-myriad-neuroscience/

The GeneSight Test

The GeneSight Psychotropic test from Myriad Neuroscience is the category-leading pharmacogenomic test for depression medications. The GeneSight test can help inform doctors about genes that may impact how patients metabolize or respond to certain psychiatric medications. It has been given to more than one million patients by tens of thousands of clinicians to provide genetic information that is unique to each patient. It supplements other information considered by a doctor as part of a comprehensive medical assessment. Learn more at GeneSight.com.

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Suffering in silence: two-thirds of older adults say they won't treat their depression - Newswise

Neuroscience

Brain conditions, mental and neurological alike – Open Access Government

Brain conditions, mental and neurological alike, account for a large burden on the European population. In 2017, 307.9 million neurological disease diagnoses alone were counted in the EU28 countries 540.3 million neurological diseases in the WHO European region. Across Europe, neurological disorders alone accounted for an estimated 21% of all deaths. (1) Additionally, psychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders and alcohol and drug use disorders, affect more than one in six people across the European Union in any given year. (2) It was estimated conservatively that every year, 27% of the total adult EU population are affected by a mental disorder, amounting to over 82.7 million affected persons. (3)

Despite this high prevalence, numerous conditions of the brain are shrouded in mystery and remain without disease-modifying treatments or cures. Compared to other disease areas, the pace of innovation in this field has traditionally been hindered by multiple factors, starting with the complexity of the brain itself.

Continued research and development in the brain space are crucial. Despite considerable advances in basic neuroscience, the complete understanding of brain functions and the mechanisms behind brain disorders remains a future perspective, mainly due to the complexity of the system itself. As a consequence, a large number of brain conditions remain without a disease-modifying therapy or cure and both fundamental and translational research is still highly needed. Furthermore, failure rates in drug development are higher in neuroscience than in other areas and new treatments take, on average, longer to reach the market than in other disease areas.

Understanding the brain, how to prevent brain ill-health and how to treat and cure brain diseases, mental and neurological, are the only solutions to help society cope. Prevention begins by raising awareness, developing resources and providing proper support, but concrete solutions can only be attained through well-supported and well-coordinated research efforts.

We need to change the pace: we need to innovate, remaining conscious that in brain science, innovation must be considered as a broad and inclusive concept: from novel approaches and ideas of brain researchers to translational research, to novel policy recommendations. To shift momentum, innovation in the brain needs to open to all possible prospects and through a multi-stakeholder approach.

Major developments in non-communicable diseases have demonstrated the immense benefits to be gained from a dynamic collaboration between all stakeholders committed to progress, encompassing patient organisations, academics, scientists, medical experts and industry.

Discoveries and advances in basic neuroscience are the prerequisites for describing the normal functioning of the nervous system and improving our understanding of the aetiology and pathophysiology of brain disorders. Researchers play a key role yet without patient engagement, public and policymaker support, pharmaceutical R&D, entrepreneurial inventions, and more, the brain space remains stagnant and fragmented. Without these key players working together, no progress can be made. Enhanced multi-stakeholder engagement in the brain ecosystem is needed to foster dialogue, exchange knowledge, accelerate investment in research and innovation and facilitate treatment and cure development.

The EU-funded European Brain Research Area (EBRA) project (4), coordinated by the European Brain Council in partnership with the Human Brain Project, ERA-NET NEURON and the EU Joint Programme on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) is a prime example of the European Commissions vision for improved facilitation of research across Europe. The project in itself was designed as a catalysing initiative for brain research stakeholders to streamline and better coordinate brain research across Europe while fostering global initiatives.

Patient organisations are continuously mobilising for better awareness and calls for inclusion. EU-funded projects like MULTI-ACT (5) exist to create pathways for responsible research for and with the patients the research ultimately impacts. Collaboration in the field of brain disorders is less prevalent than in other fields such as oncology for example, public-private partnerships, which bring together top academic institutions and the pharmaceutical industry, are still relatively underdeveloped. (6)

The brain community has many examples of successful collaborations and more continue to exist. Through projects like the above, community-building activities such as the Brain Innovation Days (7) and continued policy work, improved solutions are in sight. Ongoing work in the field of innovation and demonstrating the value of innovation are currently underway to help create an enabling environment to foster investment in innovation in brain disorders in Europe and propose concrete avenues to remove existing barriers.

European Institutions can play a key role in the improvement of key policies in health and research. A long-term research ecosystem that helps support interdisciplinary networks, cross-border initiatives, health data infrastructures, robust collaboration, medical education and regulatory flexibility is necessary. In order to tackle our major health challenges, we need to develop a coordinated and strategic approach to plan (brain) health research, linked to the need of wider health and research policy.

To reduce the societal impact of neurological disorders and mental ill-health, European authorities must devise and implement a plan to tackle brain health in an integrated and comprehensive manner in cooperation with all EU Member States. Acknowledgement of urgency and prioritisation are needed to make sure that brain disorders remain high on the health policy agenda at the country level and globally.

References

(1) The Lancet Public Health, VOLUME 5, ISSUE 10, E551-E567, OCTOBER 01, 2020, The burden of neurological diseases in Europe: an analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017; Deuschl, G, et al. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30190-0

(2) OECD/European Union (2018), Health at a Glance: Europe 2018: State of Health in the EU Cycle, OECD Publishing, Paris/European Union, Brussels, https://doi.org/10.1787/health_glance_eur-2018-en

(3) Wittchen HU, Jacobi F, Rehm J, Gustavsson A, Svensson M, Jnsson B, Olesen J, Allgulander C, Alonso J, Faravelli C, Fratiglioni L, Jennum P, Lieb R, Maercker A, van Os J, Preisig M, Salvador-Carulla L, Simon R, Steinhausen HC. The size and burden of mental disorders and other disorders of the brain in Europe 2010. Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011 Sep;21(9):655-79. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2011.07.018. PMID: 21896369.

(4) European Brain Research Area, https://www.ebra.eu

(5) MULTI-ACT, http://www.multiact.eu

(6) Phillips AG, Hongaard-Andersen P, Moscicki RA, Sahakian B, Quiron R, Krishnan KR, Race T. (2014) Proceedings of the 2013 CINP Summit: innovative partnerships to accelerate CNS drug discovery for improved patient care. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 18(3). pii: pyu100. doi: 10.1093/ijnp/pyu100.

(7) https://www.braininnovationdays.eu

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Brain conditions, mental and neurological alike - Open Access Government

Neuroscience

Hyperbaric oxygen treatments in healthy adults can reverse the aging process, finds study – News-Medical.Net

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Nov 19 2020

A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and the Shamir Medical Center in Israel indicates that hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT) in healthy aging adults can stop the aging of blood cells and reverse the aging process. In the biological sense, the adults' blood cells actually grow younger as the treatments progress.

The researchers found that a unique protocol of treatments with high-pressure oxygen in a pressure chamber can reverse two major processes associated with aging and its illnesses: the shortening of telomeres (protective regions located at both ends of every chromosome) and the accumulation of old and malfunctioning cells in the body. Focusing on immune cells containing DNA obtained from the participants' blood, the study discovered a lengthening of up to 38% of the telomeres, as well as a decrease of up to 37% in the presence of senescent cells.

The study was led by Professor Shai Efrati of the Sackler School of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at TAU and Founder and Director of the Sagol Center of Hyperbaric Medicine at the Shamir Medical Center; and Dr. Amir Hadanny, Chief Medical Research Officer of the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research at the Shamir Medical Center. The clinical trial was conducted as part of a comprehensive Israeli research program that targets aging as a reversible condition.

The paper was published in Aging on November 18, 2020.

For many years our team has been engaged in hyperbaric research and therapy - treatments based on protocols of exposure to high-pressure oxygen at various concentrations inside a pressure chamber. Our achievements over the years included the improvement of brain functions damaged by age, stroke or brain injury.

In the current study we wished to examine the impact of HBOT on healthy and independent aging adults, and to discover whether such treatments can slow down, stop or even reverse the normal aging process at the cellular level."

Professor Shai Efrati, Sackler School of Medicine and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at TAU

The researchers exposed 35 healthy individuals aged 64 or over to a series of 60 hyperbaric sessions over a period of 90 days. Each participant provided blood samples before, during and at the end of the treatments as well as some time after the series of treatments concluded. The researchers then analyzed various immune cells in the blood and compared the results.

The findings indicated that the treatments actually reversed the aging process in two of its major aspects: The telomeres at the ends of the chromosomes grew longer instead of shorter, at a rate of 20%-38% for the different cell types; and the percentage of senescent cells in the overall cell population was reduced significantly - by 11%-37% depending on cell type.

"Today telomere shortening is considered the 'Holy Grail' of the biology of aging," Professor Efrati says. "Researchers around the world are trying to develop pharmacological and environmental interventions that enable telomere elongation. Our HBOT protocol was able to achieve this, proving that the aging process can in fact be reversed at the basic cellular-molecular level."

"Until now, interventions such as lifestyle modifications and intense exercise were shown to have some inhibiting effect on telomere shortening," Dr. Hadanny adds. "But in our study, only three months of HBOT were able to elongate telomeres at rates far beyond any currently available interventions or lifestyle modifications. With this pioneering study, we have opened a door for further research on the cellular impact of HBOT and its potential for reversing the aging process."

Source:

Journal reference:

Hachmo, Y., et al. (2020) Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases telomere length and decreases immunosenescence in isolated blood cells : a prospective trial. Aging. doi.org/10.18632/aging.202188.

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Hyperbaric oxygen treatments in healthy adults can reverse the aging process, finds study - News-Medical.Net

Neuroscience

Neureka: Playing mind games to expand neuroscience research – Siliconrepublic.com

Our featured start-up for Future Health Week is Neureka, a young company looking to expand the possibilities of neuroscience research.

Neureka is a smartphone app designed to dramatically scale up the number of participants we can recruit for research studies in the area of brain health, explained Neureka founder Dr Claire Gillan.

The app, she said, plays host to gold-standard cognitive neuroscience tests in the form of interactive games users can play on their phone. The data from these gaming experiences is collated with information provided by users on their diet, exercise and mental health, so that a distraction in your downtime can become a useful tool for researchers.

Waiting in line or riding the bus, any time users spend on the app helps basic scientists to power up their research studies a critical step forward for research in this area that has long been plagued by small samples that produce results that cannot be reproduced, said Gillan.

People are very willing to participate in a research app, but they need something in return DR CLAIRE GILLAN

Launched this summer, Neureka attracted 3,000 active users in its first few months. Even with advertising costs we are able to acquire new users at a cost thats rare in academic research, especially given the amount of data we are able to collect per user, said Gillan.

In terms of investment, the start-up has already raised close to 2m in funding. With this backing, Gillan believes that Neureka can make studies more comprehensive by expanding their reach.

Traditional research studies are often confined to one region or, worse yet, one particular class of people like university undergraduates. Moving out of the lab helps us to not just size up our studies, but make them more representative of the population as a whole, she explained.

Because of the nature of the app, anyone can participate in the research from anywhere in the world. To make that an attractive proposition, Neureka has taken what Gillan described as somewhat boring lab-based tests and turned them into fun games that preserve their scientific relevance.

These games are modified versions of clinically validated tests to study memory, mental flexibility and decision-making. Previous research has already established that some of these tests can differentiate people with and without dementia, while others have never been studied in this context before, said Gillan.

Gillan emphasised that Neureka users are not mere guinea pigs. Work is in the early stages, but the app aims to feed back findings to users and educate them on risk factors for dementia and methods to help keep their brains healthier for longer.

This could be hugely valuable to public health as up to 40pc of dementia cases could be prevented or delayed with a combination of lifestyle interventions. Many people remain unaware of all the little things that they can do to reduce their own risk for dementia. Even something simple like wearing a hearing aid can potentially reduce the risk of dementia, said Gillan. Although each activity only reduces the risk by a little bit, collectively they make a big difference.

Providing users with information and feedback also proved essential to improving engagement with the app. People are very willing to participate in a research app, but they need something in return, if even just to understand their progress.

As well as the games, the Neureka app includes a daily mood tracker in order to study networks of depression systems. The data can tell us how specific events set off cascades of symptoms that in some cases may kickstart episodes of serious mental illness, said Gillan.

We are about to launch a new feature that helps the public detect fake news by watching out for tell-tale signs that a finding has been overblown in the media, she added.

Gillans academic journey started at University College Dublin, then the University of Cambridge, followed by New York Universitys Centre for Neural Science. She returned to Dublin in 2017 and became assistant professor of psychology at Trinity College Dublin, where she started her own research lab.

Supported by almost 3m in funding, the Gillan Lab is focused on developing online methods for large-scale research in the areas of mental health and dementia. Gillan herself has published 39 peer-reviewed papers including first-author papers in psychiatric journals, with several thousand citations.

The lab has a central goal of translating basic neuroscience into tools of clinical value and we use large samples and data-driven methods like machine learning to try and achieve those goals, said Gillan. My team has a wide range of backgrounds including marketing, game development, clinical service delivery, psychology and neuroscience.

Next steps for Neureka will include partnering with SciStarter, a citizen science initiative in the US, to increase engagement with the citizen science community there. More features will also be added to the app and Gillan is open to commercialisation.

Although we are currently a non-profit app focused on research applications, if the app proves useful, we foresee a future where Neureka could be better managed as a commercial entity, leaving the science to the scientists and the business to a dedicated team, she said.

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Neureka: Playing mind games to expand neuroscience research - Siliconrepublic.com

Neuroscience

"I’ve noticed a massive improvement in my aiming": How neuroscience can help you get better at Call of Duty – Gamesradar

There remains a woefully prevalent misconception lurking behind the pomp and pageantry of video game shooters, and it's the idea that you're either naturally good at them, or you're not.

Similar to equally false theories that skills such as singing and drawing are innate, and thus unteachable, it's an argument that implies there's no point trying to improve your form with the digital firearm, as you'll never be able to match the talents of the naturally gifted. It's one video game genre where you apparently can't, as they say, 'git gud'.

It's also an idea that is, of course, absolute nonsense, but hopefully you already knew that. What you might not know is the hows and whys of what makes that claim so untrue, especially when it relates to your brain chemistry, and the way in which that lump of fat and tissue lodged between your skull interacts with video games over time.

"Most video games will stimulate your mind to some degree," explains Colin Gardner, a PHD student of neuroscience at the University of Georgia, USA.

"But when it comes to shooters, it will be stimulating areas in your brain such as your visual centers, the pathways on which the visual information then travels to go around your brain, and your primary motor cortex, which plays a major part in getting your body to move."

"As you continually play, it'll strengthen neuronal the cells that make up your nervous system and relay information. This will enhance the connections in your primary motor cortex and allow for faster, better movement with, in this case, your hands and fingers. Although it isn't on the same level as something like playing guitar or the piano, as far as I know, in terms of stimulation it still will provide something for your brain to do and to grow."

Gardner's interests in both video games and science go back to his childhood, but it's only in recent years that he began to explore the connection between the two. He tells me that he enjoys all sorts of games, but when it comes to the subject of neuroscience shooters represent the most interesting genre for study, as their demand for high-speed trigger fingers and pinpoint precision make them the perfect metric "to track improvement in your brain's reaction time and muscle memory".

"The ridiculous amount of information that has to translate from the screen to your eyes through your brain and down to your hand is just such a cool process in my opinion. Not to get too philosophical, I also think that with shooters it's a good way to improve your mindset and the way you see things. You can always just get mad and say 'bad game is bad', but with shooters there's always areas you can see where you need to improve and things you can do better. I think that's a good mindset to have in life."

A few weeks ago, Gardner floated an idea on the official subreddit for one of his current favourite shooters, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Would the COD community be interested in a video that explains "what's going on in your brain as you engage and try to aim onto your opponent"? Within a matter of days, the post had received hundreds of upvotes. Evidently, it seems, a lot of Call of Duty players were keen to unlock the neurological potential behind their K:D ratio.

"With shooters there's always areas you can see where you need to improve and things you can do better."

"It's funny, the idea for this came to me after I had been playing guitar and learning Ozzy Osbourne's Mr. Crowley outro solo," Gardner admits. "I had to practice slowly until my fingers built up the procedural muscle memory to be able to do it. I realised it's almost the same thing with video games, and moving your mouse or joystick to aim."

Ok, so, as someone who regularly plays Call of Duty: Warzone myself, how do I improve my chances at being the last man standing in Verdansk? Let's start with the basics, which if decades of scientific research is to be believed (and it absolutely should be) also happen to resemble the foundation for improving almost everything else in your life: physical health.

Gardner elaborates: "With reaction speeds, you can actually start to see improvements through changes in diet and exercise. For example, Lutein and zeaxanthin [nutrients found in high concentration in many fruits and vegetables] has been shown in studies to cause your brain and visual system to begin to work more quickly and react to things faster. There are other factors that will lower your reaction speeds like lack of sleep, alcohol, and so on."

Beyond what we put in our body, and how much we exercise it, Gardner also points to aim trainers, programs designed to help you practice and track your precision skills, as a reliable tool for improving one's FPS performance.

"Aim trainers help build what's called procedural memory, our ability to perform motor tasks automatically, which, in turn, will cause faster reaction times and more accurate responses. I use Aim Lab for my aim trainer, for example, and have noticed a massive improvement in my aiming, especially it's consistency."

As it happens, Aim Lab's creator Statespace was founded by Dr. Wayne Mackey, a professor of yep, you guessed it neuroscience at NYU. It's just one example of the scientific field's growing interest in video games as a new frontier for uncovering the secrets within our head.

Historically, conversations around the relationship between video games and psychology have been turbulent at best, with tabloid headlines peddling unsubstantiated claims about their harmful effects on the brain. Myriad studies have proven the inverse, of course, while also stressing that we've still only scratched the surface when it comes to our understanding of the cerebral realm, let alone its relationship to external stimuli as involving and ever evolving as video games.

That's not a huge surprise. Whenever someone boots up their console of choice, they're essentially starting an interaction between two supercomputers, one organic, the other man-made, as both speak to each other in a polyphonic dance of audiovisual signals, neuromotor relays, and lightning-speed electrochemistry.

"The amount of detail that our brains work to connect our visual pathways to the rest of our brain is just mind blowing," Gardner tells me, the day after his video goes live on YouTube. "And all of it to improve our Darwinian chances of survival." It's no wonder he finds the whole thing so interesting.

For more, check out the best Call of Duty games to play right now, or watch our full review of Watch Dogs Legion in the video below.

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"I've noticed a massive improvement in my aiming": How neuroscience can help you get better at Call of Duty - Gamesradar

Neuroscience

Global Neuroscience Market 2020 | Know the Companies List Could Potentially Benefit or Loose out From the Impact of COVID-19 | Top Companies: GE…

Neuroscience-MarketOverview of Neuroscience Market 2020-2025:

Global Neuroscience Market 2020 research report presents analysis of market size, share, and growth, trends, cost structure, statistical and comprehensive data of the global market. Research reports analyses the major opportunities, CAGR, yearly growth rates to help the readers to understand the qualitative and quantitative aspects of theGlobal NeuroscienceMarket. The competition landscape, company overview, financials, recent developments and long-term investments related to theGlobal Neuroscience Marketare mentioned in this report.

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Top Key players profiled in the Neuroscience market report include:GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, Noldus Information Technology, Mightex Bioscience, Thomas RECORDING GmbH, Blackrock Microsystems, Tucker-Davis Technologies, Plexon, Phoenix Technology Group, NeuroNexus, Alpha Omega and More

Market by Type Whole Brain Imaging Neuro-Microscopy Electrophysiology Technologies Neuro-Cellular Manipulation Stereotaxic Surgeries Animal Behavior OthersMarket by Application Hospitals Diagnostic Laboratories Research Institutes Others

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Years Considered to Estimate the Market Size:History Year: 2015-2019Base Year: 2019Estimated Year: 2020Forecast Year: 2020-2025Regions Covered in the Global Neuroscience Market:The Middle East and Africa(GCC Countries and Egypt)North America(the United States, Mexico, and Canada)South America(Brazil etc.)Europe(Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)Asia-Pacific(Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)

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Key point summary of the Global Neuroscience Market report:

Detailed TOC of Neuroscience Market Report 2020-2025:Chapter 1: Neuroscience Market OverviewChapter 2: Economic Impact on IndustryChapter 3: Market Competition by ManufacturersChapter 4: Production, Revenue (Value) by RegionChapter 5: Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by RegionsChapter 6: Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by TypeChapter 7: Market Analysis by ApplicationChapter 8: Manufacturing Cost AnalysisChapter 9: Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream BuyersChapter 10: Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/TradersChapter 11: Market Effect Factors AnalysisChapter 12: Neuroscience Market ForecastContinued

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Global Neuroscience Market 2020 | Know the Companies List Could Potentially Benefit or Loose out From the Impact of COVID-19 | Top Companies: GE...

Neuroscience

The True Perception That Moves People – PRovoke Media

Communication is all about changing the perception of target audiences. With the increasing and constantly changing demand of consumers and stakeholders, understanding true perception that motivates and moves people at the most fundamental level, and establishing relevance by building deeper and more meaningful emotional connections with people, can empower organizations to make the right move. This is even more relevant given the global events this year. The publics perception has been reshaped by evolving global contexts, ongoing transformational change, uncertainty, and disruption of systems.

Neuroscience has been used in marketing for an in-depth understanding of consumers for years. Utilizing both non-conscious and conscious data, marketers are able to elicit emotional response to ensure that their messaging impacts both purchasing behavior and brand loyalty. The majority of neuroscience research applications are conducted through stimulus and response testing by exposing participants to certain advertisements and gathering consumer data beyond what is self-reported.

What perceptual neuroscience allows us to do is to go even deeper, by pinpointing with absolute precision the elements, experiences, language, and other stimuli that create interest and action

among audiences. BCWs NeuroLab, a new offering based on an exclusive partnership with the Lab of Misfits (the worlds only neurodesign lab), is focused on discovering true perception and providing deeper insights about audiences, in a bid to create compelling ways to build meaningful connections between brands and their stakeholders. Its designed to help the agency and its clients understand the conscious and unconscious mechanisms that shape audience perception and spark behavior.

Our goal here is to really understand whats driving people's motivations at the most fundamental level and use that information to drive greater connections between brands and audiences," BCW chief innovation officer Chad Latz said to PRovoke. Our solutions use brain science and experiments that enable us to study how people experience a variety of stimuli from language and ideas to images, emotions, and events all in an effort to help find values and connections shared between clients and their stakeholders.

While behavioral science studies outcomes, BCW NeuroLab evaluates the underlying motivators that move people to act and, as a result, provides the opportunity to make communication more engaging. Lets take neuroscience for brand communications strategy, one pillar of BCW NeuroLab, as an example. Advanced technologies can be used to design experiments, in order to generate a holistic understanding of stakeholders thoughts, feelings and the things they value most. This will include a psychographic understanding of the audience, which focuses on factors such as motivations, beliefs, and priorities, which will help to refine brand purpose, marketplace strategy, positioning, and activation.

An example of how we design experiments comes from some work we did with a company that specializes in protecting, repairing and replacing damaged tech products. Through monitoring participants brain waves, heart rates, and galvanic skin responses in a smartly designed environment, the experiment was able to provide a further understanding of how tech frustrations affect a users body and mind. The results showed that, while seemingly small in impact, tech frustrations bring out the worst versions of ourselves and make us feel more distant from those closest to us, more cautious, less creative, delusional, and can even unleash unconscious social biases. What an interesting finding with the potential of leading to a more resonating messaging and positioning of technology with purpose!

This case paints a future scenario of communications practices, where the understanding of stakeholders perception and deep needs allows organizations to further refine their strategy, and even identify ownable territories. We can use perceptual neuroscience to analyze the obstacles and opportunities for organizations to better drive engagement, transformation, and impact.

The new era of communications is here. With the broader application of big data and AI in communication, perceptual neuroscience can be added to better understand stakeholders behavior on modern-day communication channels such as social media. With AI algorithms used to analyze increasingly robust data and neuroscience helping to find values and connections shared between organizations and their stakeholders, communication practitioners will be empowered to further enhance their persuasive messaging and targeting strategies.

While there are concerns around this field when companies exploit blind spots in human psychology to gain an advantage, we advocate for transparency, accountability and supervision to understand stakeholders' subconscious thoughts to provide genuine value for clients and their audiences. Communication practitioners can optimize the story and create more powerful and authentic connections with stakeholders based on neuroscience. Consider too that the effectiveness of public service announcements can be boosted by encouraging society to engage in positive behaviors. As human behavior continues to evolve in response to the world around us, the future of the communication industry will rely on the limitless opportunities through neuroscience and other innovations. By using innovation to build genuine, lasting connections with key stakeholders, communications will play an even more important role in creating value for brands and the consumers they serve.

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Joe Peng, Regional Managing Director and Head of Digital Innovation, BCW Asia Pacific

To help brands understand the conscious and unconscious mechanisms that shape audience perception and spark behavior, BCW NeuroLab was launched in August 2020 as part of an exclusive partnership with the Lab of Misfits, led by world-renowned neuroscientist R. Beau Lotto, Ph.D.

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The True Perception That Moves People - PRovoke Media

Neuroscience

ST Medical Monday: "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain" – Public Radio Tulsa

Our guest is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a noted expert on both psychology and neuroscience who's also a University Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University in Boston. She tells us about her new book, "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain." As was noted of this book in a starred review in Kirkus: "An excellent education in brain science.... [Feldman Barrett] deftly employs metaphor and anecdote to deliver an insightful overview of her favorite subject.... So short and sweet that most readers will continue to the 35-page appendix, in which the author delves more deeply, but with no less clarity, into topics ranging from teleology to the Myers-Briggs personality test to 'Plato's writings about the human psyche.' Outstanding popular science."

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ST Medical Monday: "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain" - Public Radio Tulsa

Neuroscience

Kelly A. Toth – Hartford Business

Honoree Category: Nurse

Kelly A. Toth, manager of Hartford HealthCares Ayer Neuroscience Institute, has been described as a hidden gem of a leader during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 17, Toth was deployed to support Hartford HealthCares COVID-19 operations, including the regional operations command center and development of the drive-through testing site at MidState Medical Center.

After a five-month deployment, Toth accepted a position as a manager of the Ayer Neuroscience Institute.

She created a team and process at MidState Medical Centers drive-through testing site that is far above any other testing process in the Hartford HealthCare system.

I developed the most efficient testing site resulting in consistent waits of five minutes or less while processing upwards of 300 patients a day, she said.

Toth has been highly regarded by her executive leadership team for her leadership skills and tireless effort to support the COVID-19 initiative, oftentimes working seven days a week.

This experience has been humbling, but from it I have learned to lead by influence, which will only further benefit me as I advance in my career, she said.

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Kelly A. Toth - Hartford Business