Big Brain Research Articles

Big Data Brain Image Data Repair and Diagnosis Technology Based on Deep Learning

In this paper, we propose an automatic tumor detection algorithm in MRI brain images based on significance modeling based on directional features.Firstly, the MRI brain image is preprocessed to remove the interference of the skull region in the image.Then, directional-feature-based saliency detection is used to increase the contrast of the lesion area to achieve more accurate extraction of the tumor image area.A large number of experiments have been carried out on the brain image data sets, and compared with the mainstream automatic tumor detection methods, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been proved.

Opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence in the medical field: current application, emerging problems, and problem-solving strategies.

Recent advancements in the field of artificial intelligence have demonstrated success in a variety of clinical tasks secondary to the development and application of big data, supercomputing, sensor networks, brain science, and other technologies. However, no projects can yet be used on a large scale in real clinical practice because of the lack of standardized processes, lack of ethical and legal supervision, and other issues. We analyzed the existing problems in the field of artificial intelligence and herein propose possible solutions. We call for the establishment of a process framework to ensure the safety and orderly development of artificial intelligence in the medical industry. This will facilitate the design and implementation of artificial intelligence products, promote better management via regulatory authorities, and ensure that reliable and safe artificial intelligence products are selected for application.

Mapping the future of health promotion

Abstract The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion was launched in 1986, and ten global conferences later its key calls to action have never been more poignant. To see health as a resource for everyday life in settings where people live, love, work and play, and recognizing equity and the social determinants of health as core to the success of healthy societies remains important. In the nearly 35 years since the Charter was published, we have seen a proliferation of health promotion research with ever greater insights in what drive the health and well-being of populations. Yet, at the same time we also witness a strong tendency to ground health (care) policy in biomedical and clinical evidence alone, and attribute health potential to lifestyle alone, rather than adopting a systems and social perspective of where health is created, grown, and celebrated. The causes for these diverging perspectives are complex, and are grounded in complexity. Humans and their socio-political systems, including the educational and political machines, tend to suffer from what the political scientist Charles Lindblom reputedly identified as the “Big Problem, Small Brain vs Small Problem Big Brain” phenomenon: researchers and intellectual are really good at pouring great volumes of thought and creative power into studying clearly defined issues, whereas politicians and bureaucrats face enormous problems and can get their heads around the multi-faceted solutions that need to be put in place. So - how do we make the complex palatable to the small brain? In this case - how can higher education systems be turned around to truly address the challenges of our and our children's time? The solution partially lies in the deployment of multiple network analyses of key stakeholders and the language they use to construct future realities: unless we have a clear map of the present and a much wider terrain before us to enter we will forever find it hard to navigate in the environmental and conflict dimension.

Of Ethical Frameworks and Neuroethics in Big Neuroscience Projects: A View from the HBP

The recently published BRAIN 2.0 Neuroethics Report offers a very helpful overview of the possible ethical, social, philosophical, and legal issues raised by neuroscience in the context of BRAIN’s research priorities thus contributing to the attempt to develop ethically sound neuroscience. In this article, we turn to a running theme of the document: the need for an ethical framework for the BRAIN Initiative and for further integration of neuroethics and neuroscience. We assess some of the issues raised and provide an explanation of how we have addressed them in the Human Brain Project. We offer our experience in the HBP as a potential contribution to the international debate about neuroethics in the big brain initiatives. Our hope is that among other things, the type of exchange proposed by this AJOB special issue will prove productive in further identifying and discussing the issues and in inspiring appropriate solutions.

Viewpoint: Language is our greatest weapon.

Human being. A member of any of the races of Homo sapiens; person; man, woman, or child.1 But, what does it mean to be human? Philosophers and scientists alike have struggled since time immemorial to capture the vastness of the human experience and answer this very question. Let us start with the fundamentals. We are a primate, not the fiercest animal but blessed with an unusually big brain that allowed for the monumental development of language. Our brains became powerhouses that allowed us to not only survive, but to dominate the planet. In time, we could speak of danger or how best to create tools. And later still, we could speak of concepts, hope, and love. As we evolved, bolder questions were asked such as ‘what is a good life?’, ‘what is the best way to live?’. Later still, science revolutionised our …

A multimodal deep architecture for traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis

AbstractTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is found on a long‐term medical practice in China. Rare human brains can fully grasp the deep TCM knowledge derived from a tremendous amount of experience. In this big data era, a big electronic brain might be competent via deep learning techniques. For this prospect, the electronic brain needs to process various heterogeneous data, such as images, texts, audio signals, and other sensory data. It used to be a challenge to analyze the heterogeneous data by the computer‐aided system until the advances of the powerful deep learning tools. We propose a multimodal deep learning framework to mimic a TCM practitioner to diagnose a patient on the basis of multimodal perceptions of see, listen, smell, ask, and touch. The framework learns common representations from various high‐dimensional sensory data, and fuse the information for final classification. We propose to use conceptual alignment deep neural networks to embed prior knowledge and obtain interpretable latent representations. We implement a multimodal deep architecture to process tongue image and description text data for TCM diagnosis. Experiments illustrate that the multimodal deep architecture can extract effective features from heterogeneous data, produce interpretable representations, and finally achieve a higher accuracy than either corresponding unimodal architectures.

3D Visualization of Depression and Anxiety

We present a novel and technologically enhanced teaching tool geared towards both patients, students, and clinicians with the primary goal of educating these groups about the anatomical and biochemical implications of various syndromes involving depression and anxiety. Our secondary goal is to inform patients, students, and clinicians about the most common treatment methods used to treat these syndromes. We achieved this by mapping the mesolimbic system, otherwise known as the “reward pathway,” and other relevant neuroanatomical structures using a high‐resolution cryosection dataset made available by the Big Brain project at McGill University and constructing 3D visualized models using 3D analysis software tools. The results of this project were compiled into a series of three interactive educational modules serving each of our goals. The first module described the neuroanatomical structures involved in syndromes of depression and anxiety along with their functions. The second module describes various forms of clinical depression and treatment options, including the mechanism of action and how it applies to the underlying disease process. The third module did the same but described anxiety rather than depression. This tool is valuable to patients and care providers alike because it explains neuroanatomical and biochemical aspects of these syndromes in a straight‐forward and easy‐to‐understand visual manner. It also describes the context of the best pharmacological interventions for each syndrome, which is a substantial step to help engage patients in their personalized mental health treatment plan.Support or Funding InformationThank you to Dr. David Dufeau and Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine for the resources and guidance throughout this research project.

The Legal Status of Making Adult Films in Nevada

If you read this article, you'll be way more interesting at parties. Well, at least the parties that I go to, where inevitably, someone asks why isn't porn actually prostitution? Imagine how attractive you will be to both sexes when you whip out that big old brain of yours, access what you learned from this article, and start quoting the Freeman decision! And, then, there will be some know-it-all who will say uh, durrrr.... you can only shoot porn in California and New Hampshire. That clown will think that he gets all the adoration for having this obscure legal knowledge. But then, POW, you smack him in the face (figuratively, please) with your superior knowledge. So, two pages, and you get to be the constitutional law bad-ass at your next bash. Read it now, before someone else does!

Big Brain Data Initiative in Universiti Sains Malaysia: Challenges in Brain Mapping for Malaysia

Universiti Sains Malaysia has started the Big Brain Data Initiative project since the last two years as brain mapping techniques have proven to be important in understanding the molecular, cellular and functional mechanisms of the brain. This Big Brain Data Initiative can be a platform for neurophysicians and neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, cognitive neuroscientists, neurotechnologists and other researchers to improve brain mapping techniques. Data collection from a cohort of multiracial population in Malaysia is important for present and future research and finding cure for neurological and mental illness. Malaysia is one of the participant of the Global Brain Consortium (GBC) supported by the World Health Organization. This project is a part of its contribution via the third GBC goal which is influencing the policy process within and between high-income countries and low- and middle-income countries, such as pathways for fair data-sharing of multi-modal imaging data, starting with electroencephalographic data.

Evolutionary-shaped goal orientation in Homo sapiens: how life sciences contribute to a better understanding of salespeople as knowledge brokers

Life sciences uses the Latin name Homo sapiens to describe humans, an animal species. First, we discuss how “popular beliefs” about the brain have inhibited the progress of life science applications in the field of selling. Subsequently, we present the Tinbergen’s evolutionary perspective of life sciences and use “ultimate” and “proximate” explanations to understand the salesperson’s main goal of becoming a knowledge broker. First, an ultimate explanation describes how the Homo sapiens evolved to acquire a big brain through natural selection processes, which led to the emergence of multiple cultures. This evoked a runaway selection of genes affecting brain functioning called “cultural drive hypothesis.” The big brain shapes people’s goal orientation and leads to better cooperation and exact copying of knowledge. Both are constitutive for the exponential emergence of innovations within and across cultures through multiple generations. Second, the proximate view explains how, for example, neural-endocrine mechanisms modulate knowledge brokering. We explore five hard-wired processes associated with a salesperson’s skill in knowledge brokering, applying factual insights obtained from neuroscience, endocrinology, and genetics. Finally, we outline different strategies that researchers who seek to make new contributions to the field can undertake in doing research on selling.

Monotherapy Aspirin in Minor Traumatic Head Bleeds does not Worsen Outcome

Abstract INTRODUCTION Traumatic head bleeds (THBs) are one of the most common neurosurgical consults in the trauma/acute care setting. U.S. adults on monotherapy aspirin (mASA) are presumed to have increased risk for Worsened outcomes after THBs. It is crucial to understand the effect mASA has on THBs. METHODS A retrospective review of prospectively collected data on THBs at a single center from 2013 to 2018 collected age, BIG category, aspirin use and dose, Injury Severity Score (ISS), length of stay (LOS), and days in intensive care unit (ICU days). Please refer to the Brain Injury Guideline protocol as defined by the University of Arizona study. All patients were categorized according to their imaging alone. For example, a patient on mASA with an initial CT head of BIG 1 category is coded as “BIG 1a,” as opposed to “BIG 3,” per BIG brain injury guidelines. RESULTS A total of 630 patients (mean age 71.5 yr) were included. MASA use in BIG-1 and BIG-2 graded THBs did not increase LOS (P = .79; P = .159) and ICU days (P = .74; P = .089) when compared to non-aspirin counterparts. MASA use in BIG-1 and BIG-2 THBs has significantly shorter LOS (P < .0001; P < .0001) and fewer ICU days (P < .0001; P < .0001) when compared to BIG-3 counterparts. MASA use in BIG-1 and BIG-2 THBs resulted in lower ISS as compared to BIG-3 THBs (P < .0001; P < .0001). BIG-3 THBs on mASA had decreased ISS when compared to non-aspirin counterparts (P = .0001). There was no difference between BIG-2 THBs with or without mASA use (P = .353). CONCLUSION There is no significant increase in ISS, LOS, or ICU days in patients on mASA with THBs. Patients on mASA therapy behave similar hospital stays as compared to non-aspirin counterparts, requiring shorter hospitalization/ICU days.

How many years does a big brain cost?

![Graphic][1] Make sure you have access to food and avoid being snatched by a predator – these are two ingredients for living a long life in the animal kingdom. Having a big brain might also help, because big-brained animals tend to be smarter and are able to solve life-threatening problems

Choreographing with Big Cats

ABSTRACTThis article describes how third-grade dance students learn about collaborative choreography with a unit on big cats. You will find many opportunities for dancing and learning as you come along on an adventure with third-grade students as they explore the movements of big cats and create dances including a Big Cat Brain Dance, Habitat Dance, Habitat Destruction Dance, and Energy Dance. Students also collaborate in a finale dance of “Circle of Life” from The Lion King using hula hoops. This article outlines the activities and timeline of the project, which originated with National Geographic sponsorship, so that you might create this adventure at your school.

A Data Structure for Real-Time Aggregation Queries of Big Brain Networks.

Recent advances in neuro-imaging allowed big brain-initiatives and consortia to create vast resources of brain data that can be mined by researchers for their individual projects. Exploring the relationship between genes, brain circuitry, and behavior is one of the key elements of neuroscience research. This requires fusion of spatial connectivity data at varying scales, such as whole brain correlated gene expression, structural and functional connectivity. With ever-increasing resolution, these tend to exceed the past state-of-the art in size and complexity by several orders of magnitude. Since current analytical workflows in neuroscience involve time-consuming manual data-aggregation, incorporating efficient techniques for handling big connectivity data is a necessity. We propose a novel data structure enabling the interactive exploration of heterogeneous neurobiological connectivity data with billions of edges. Based on this data structure we realized Aggregation Queries, i.e. the aggregated connectivity from, to or between brain areas allows experts to compare the multimodal networks residing at different scales, or levels of hierarchically organized anatomical atlases. Executed on-demand on volumetric gene expression and connectivity data, they allow an interactive dissection of networks in real-time and based on their spatial context. The data structure is optimized in order to be accessible directly from the hard disk, since connectivity of large-scale networks typically exceeds the memory size of current consumer level PCs. This allows experts to embed and explore their own experimental data in the framework of public data resources without the need for their own large-scale infrastructure. Our data structure outperforms state-of-the-art graph engines in retrieving connectivity of arbitrary user defined local brain areas. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by analyzing fear-related functional neuroanatomy in mice. Further, we show its versatility by comparing multimodal brain networks linked to autism. Importantly, we achieve cross-species congruence in retrieving human psychiatric traits networks, which facilitates the selection of neural substrates to be further studied in mouse models.

Convection-enhanced Drug Delivery for Glioblastoma: A Systematic Review Focused on Methodological Differences in the Use of the Convection-enhanced Delivery Method.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a leading cause of brain cancer-related death. The blood–brain barrier (BBB) prevents the transport of most systemic delivered molecules to the brain. This constitutes a major problem in the therapy of brain tumors. In the last decade, numerous different drug-delivery approaches have been developed to overcome the BBB. The objective of this study is to provide an overview of the methodological aspects used in all preclinical and clinical studies published from 2011 to 2016 where convection-enhanced delivery (CED) was used for drug delivery in the treatment of GBM. A systematic review of English articles published in the past 5 years was undertaken using PubMed and Embase. The search terms (brain tumor [MeSH Terms]) AND (CED OR convection enhanced delivery) were used in PubMed and a similar search was carried out in Embase using their “multi-field search.” All studies using CED on an intracranial GBM model were included. The search resulted in 151 hits after duplicates were removed. In total, 30 studies were included in the review. Of these, two publications studied the technical aspects of the CED method. Furthermore, only one study was a clinical study. The research field is focused on preclinical drug development trials and less emphasis is placed on the CED technique itself. However, it is important that future studies focus on establishing optimal protocols for the use of CED in rodents as well as for big brain models to be able to use the CED method in patients with GBM.

Cognitive dysfunction and brain mechanisms in major depression disorder

The prevalence of major depressed disorder increased rapidly in recent year all over the world and has become a heavy burden of society. So research on depression has become a hot topic. A great amount of studies found that patients with major depression disorder had impaired cognition. Cognitive dysfunction, the important symptom of depression, has been regarded as not only an indicator of illness, but also an obstacle to the elimination of depressive mood and the overall recovery of the disease. Exploring cognitive dysfunction and the potential brain mechanism meant significantly to understanding the etiology of major depression disorder, which could benefit the prevention, diagnosis, treatment of this mental disease. Therefore, the current research aimed to discuss cognitive dysfunction, the potential brain mechanism of the impaired dysfunction as well as the molecular factors behind major depression disorder, try to threw light on the abnormal macro-brain activity and micro-molecular marker of major depression disorder. The literatures showed that patients with major depression disorder had abnormalities in executive function, attention, memory and reaction speed. Deficit in executive function was mainly related to abnormality in prefrontal lobe and the connected subcutaneous nuclei; attention deficits had connection with abnormality in the frontal network connection, occipital lobe and cingulate gyrus; and memory defects are corresponded to abnormality in the hippocampus, cingulate gyrus, and medial temporal cortex. In addition, the abnormal neurotransmitters or brain-derived neuronal factors, and long-term stress state may also be the cause of depressive symptoms and abnormal cognitive levels. At present, the study of brain structure is relatively rough, mainly focusing on the changes in a big brain area, such as the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, etc. In the future, high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging technology are needed to study more refined brain structures, such as CA1-3, entorhinal cortex to provide biological targets for neuromodulation treatment of various non-pharmacological interventions. Future studies also need to balance as much as possible irrelevant variables such as disease progression, severity of depression, gender, and neuropsychological tests. Besides, the causal link between neuroimaging and molecular biomarkers and depression remains unclear and longitudinal studies should be taken into consideration. As for clinical studies, we suggested to improve the traditional criteria of mental illness classification by combining the biological abnormality found by research evidence. Specifically, future studies of major depression disorder can consider cognitive dysfunctions assessed by psychological cognitive tasks; multimodal brain image and neurophysiological data to construct multidimensional computational modeling, in order to systematically explore potential biomarkers of depression, further identify the subtypes of depression. New classification criteria would provide full understanding of the pathogenesis as well as individual diagnosis and treatment of major depression disorder.

Insight into Notch Signaling Steps That Involve pecanex from Dominant-Modifier Screens in Drosophila.

Notch signaling plays crucial roles in intercellular communications. In Drosophila, the pecanex (pcx) gene, which encodes an evolutionarily conserved multi-pass transmembrane protein, appears to be required to activate Notch signaling in some contexts, especially during neuroblast segregation in the neuroectoderm. Although Pcx has been suggested to contribute to endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, its functions remain unknown. Here, to elucidate these roles, we performed genetic modifier screens of pcx We found that pcx heterozygotes lacking its maternal contribution exhibit cold-sensitive lethality, which is attributed to a reduction in Notch signaling at decreased temperatures. Using sets of deletions that uncover most of the second and third chromosomes, we identified four enhancers and two suppressors of the pcx cold-sensitive lethality. Among these, five genes encode known Notch-signaling components: big brain, Delta (Dl), neuralized (neur), Brother of Bearded A (BobA), a member of the Bearded (Brd) family, and N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor 2 (Nsf2). We showed that BobA suppresses Dl endocytosis during neuroblast segregation in the neuroectoderm, as Brd family genes reportedly do in the mesoderm for mesectoderm specification. Analyses of Nsf2, a key regulator of vesicular fusion, suggested a novel role in neuroblast segregation, which is distinct from Nsf2's previously reported role in imaginal tissues. Finally, jim lovell, which encodes a potential transcription factor, may play a role in Notch signaling during neuroblast segregation. These results reveal new research avenues for Pcx functions and Notch signaling.

Big Brain Data: On the Responsible Use of Brain Data from Clinical and Consumer-Directed Neurotechnological Devices

The focus of this paper are the ethical, legal and social challenges for ensuring the responsible use of “big brain data”—the recording, collection and analysis of individuals’ brain data on a large scale with clinical and consumer-directed neurotechnological devices. First, I highlight the benefits of big data and machine learning analytics in neuroscience for basic and translational research. Then, I describe some of the technological, social and psychological barriers for securing brain data from unwarranted access. In this context, I then examine ways in which safeguards at the hardware and software level, as well as increasing “data literacy” in society, may enhance the security of neurotechnological devices and protect the privacy of personal brain data. Regarding ethical and legal ramifications of big brain data, I first discuss effects on the autonomy, the sense of agency and authenticity, as well as the self that may result from the interaction between users and intelligent, particularly closed-loop, neurotechnological devices. I then discuss the impact of the “datafication” in basic and clinical neuroscience research on the just distribution of resources and access to these transformative technologies. In the legal realm, I examine possible legal consequences that arises from the increasing abilities to decode brain states and their corresponding subjective phenomenological experiences on the hitherto inaccessible privacy of these information. Finally, I discuss the implications of big brain data for national and international regulatory policies and models of good data governance.

Statistical challenges of big brain network data

We explore the main characteristics of big brain network data that offer unique statistical challenges. The brain networks are biologically expected to be both sparse and hierarchical. Such unique characterizations put specific topological constraints onto statistical approaches and models we can use effectively. We explore the limitations of the current models used in the field and offer alternative approaches and explain new challenges.

Fundamental structural and functional properties of Aquaporin ion channels found across the kingdoms of life.

Aquaporin (AQP) channels in the major intrinsic protein (MIP) family are known to facilitate transmembrane water fluxes in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Some classes of AQPs also conduct ions, glycerol, urea, CO2 , nitric oxide, and other small solutes. Ion channel activity has been demonstrated for mammalian AQPs 0, 1, 6, Drosophila Big Brain (BIB), soybean nodulin 26, and rockcress AtPIP2;1. More classes are likely to be discovered. Newly identified blockers are providing essential tools for establishing physiological roles of some of the AQP dual water and ion channels. For example, the arylsulfonamide AqB011 which selectively blocks the central ion pore of mammalian AQP1 has been shown to impair migration of HT29 colon cancer cells. Traditional herbal medicines are sources of selective AQP1 inhibitors that also slow cancer cell migration. The finding that plant AtPIP2;1 expressed in root epidermal cells mediates an ion conductance regulated by calcium and protons provided insight into molecular mechanisms of environmental stress responses. Expression of lens MIP (AQP0) is essential for maintaining the structure, integrity and transparency of the lens, and Drosophila BIB contributes to neurogenic signalling pathways to control the developmental fate of fly neuroblast cells; however, the ion channel roles remain to be defined for MIP and BIB. A broader portfolio of pharmacological agents is needed to investigate diverse AQP ion channel functions in situ. Understanding the dual water and ion channel roles of AQPs could inform the development of novel agents for rational interventions in diverse challenges from agriculture to human health.