There has been a lot of interest lately in the use of deep brain stimulation (DBS), and it is not hard to see why the surgical treatment has been getting so much attention. It has shown promise in treating conditions ranging from obesity to Parkinson’s disease, obsessive compulsive disorder, and treatment-resistant depression. In addition, DBS has been associated with neurogenesis in studies on mice.

A recent study published in the Archives of Neurology reports that DBS appears to increase neuronal activity and connectivity in a handful of patients with suspected mild Alzheimer’s disease. The study, titled “Increased Cerebral Metabolism After 1 Year of Deep Brain Stimulation in Alzheimer Disease,” states:

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Brain Resource (San Francisco, CA) has been busy lately. In March the company launched a partnership with Aetna to use its Web-based tools to help individuals optimize brain health, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Last month, the company announced that its technology would be used at St. Gregory Retreat Center (Des Moines, IA) to improve the cognitive and emotional capacities of patients undergoing drug and alcohol treatment. The company’s most recent partnership is with Keas (San Francisco, CA), which will offer Brain Resource’s brain exercises and online content as part of its cloud-based social gaming-based employee wellness platform.

The Keas program enables users to identify goals and then track progress towards reaching them. To measure that progress, the site uses a points-based system, which can be used to incentivize friendly competition among employees to meet health goals such as weight loss. “Our content fits right into that paradigm because we award ‘brain points’ for working the brain-health exercises that we are providing Keas,” Gregory A. Bayer, PhD, CEO of Brain Resource told Medgadget. The company’s proprietary exercises that will be featured on the Keas platform include “Think Focus,” “Relaxation Room,” and “Catch the Feeling,” which are designed to reduce stress, improve focus, and promote positive mind states and productivity.

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Researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand just published promising results of a study comparing a video game they designed to help treat depression in teenage kids against traditional face-to-face counseling. Called SPARX, the game guides the players through a number of challenges that help practice handling various life situations and emotions that come with them.

The study, published in the latest issue of BMJ, has shown that the game was at least as effective as counseling in helping treat depression and anxiety in a study group of kids averaging 15 years old.

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Diagnosing autism spectrum disorder usually takes lots of time. Children and their parents have to complete large questionnaires along with interviews with psychiatrists before treatment can start.

In the latest issue of Nature Translational Psychiatry, researchers from the Center for Biomedical Informatics at Harvard Medical School published a new algorithm to detect autism much quicker. They developed a web-based tool to complete these questionnaires and tested the contribution of each survey question individually to diagnose the autism disorder. They found that only seven questions were sufficient for an accurate diagnosis. The new smaller set of questions can be answered online and submitted together with a short home video of the patient. This procedure could reduce the time for autism diagnosis from hours to minutes, and could be integrated into routine child screening practices.

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People suffering from depression frequently don’t respond well to treatment. As many as two thirds of patients report that the first antidepressant they try is ineffective, according to WebMD. And as many as one third of patients don’t respond to multiple attempts to treat them.

A recent, small study at Emory University indicated that deep-brain stimulation (DBS) could help patients with severe depression that is resistant to treatment. Following up on that,  a nationwide randomized clinical research study will investigate the use of DBS in patients with major depression.

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Phobias are the most common psychiatric problems, ranging from fear of flying and heights to needles and spiders. Traditional treatment consists of psychotherapy, specifically exposure to the stimulus with attempts to control the response. Now, a new offering from Self-Study Apps purports a similar approach in the comfort of your own home.

The app goes for $2.99 and has different sections for dealing with dentists, spiders, and flying. We tested “Fear Dentists”, which should appeal to our anti-dentite readers. The app shows a picture of a teddy bear for a few seconds, then it shows a picture of the stimulus, in this case a set of teeth being threatened by a sharp implement, although you can select your own image or take a photo. Next, you use your finger to blur the evil dental picture. Following, the screen flashes between the blurred image and the teddy bear. This repeats several times, then an affirming message is displayed.

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Valkee, the Finnish maker of the recently released light headset for seasonal affective disorder, has announced positive results of a study that light shone on the brain using their music player-like device has on reaction time.

Verve Research, Finland was hired to conduct the trial on members of the Finnish national hockey league.  What they discovered was that these hockey players, already professionals in a very fast sport, improved their reaction times by around 20%, compared to the placebo group, after wearing the Valkee device for 12 minutes each morning for three weeks.

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A group of research students from the Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands, have developed a game to help children overcome their fear of dentists. The game will be played with 3D glasses and a game controller, while the children sit on the dentist’s chair. The project was initiated by Rob Kooij and the testing program was supported by many dentists.

The students have been working on this ‘serious game’ since September, but the gameplay isn’t perfect yet. In the game itself you will have to defend a row of teeth: the bad guys are represented by soda and candy, while the good guys are (of course) toothpicks, tooth paste and dental floss. The boss fight consists of a battle with a big bacteria monster. And if you open your mouth at the right moments, the game image will remain sharp. If you don’t, the image will become vague.

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As the days continue to grow shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, patients who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) will start to experience symptoms of depression. Finish company Valkee Ltd. has performed research which shows that the brain is sensitive to light, and claims that its bright light headset can help treat SAD. The CE Marked device looks like an mp3 player with earbuds, but instead of filling the patient’s head with the sounds of Lady Gaga or whatever they are playing nowadays, it pumps bright light to the brain through the ear canals.

In initial trials, 92% of patients reported that the Valkee headset reduced or completely eliminated symptoms of SAD.

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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been a promising new technology that’s been undergoing trials for such disparate conditions as depression, smoking cessation, ADD, Alzheimer’s, cocaine addiction, and multiple sclerosis. Now the FDA has issued approval to Brainsway, a leader in TMS based in Israel, to evaluate the device as a therapy option for people with bipolar disorder.

The Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) that was granted will lead to a study involving nine medical centers and 120 patients.

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