46 results about "Long-term depression" patented technology

Disclosed are methods and systems for optimized deep or superficial deep-brain stimulation using multiple therapeutic modalities impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). Also disclosed are methods for treatment of clinical conditions and obtaining physiological impacts. Also disclosed are: methods and systems for Guided Feedback control of non-invasive deep brain or superficial neuromodulation; patterned neuromodulation, ancillary stimulation, treatment planning, focused shaped or steered ultrasound; methods and systems using intersecting ultrasound beams; non-invasive ultrasound-neuromodulation techniques to control the permeability of the blood-brain barrier; non-invasive neuromodulation of the spinal cord by ultrasound energy; methods and systems for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound for evaluating the feasibility of neuromodulation treatment using non-ultrasound / ultrasound modalities; neuromodulation of the whole head, treatment of multiple conditions, and method and systems for neuromodulation using ultrasound delivered in sessions.

The present invention relates to nanosilver-containing antibacterial and antifungal granules ("NAGs"). The NAGs have longlasting inhibitory effect on a broad-spectrum of bacteria and fungi, which include, but are not limited to, Escherichia coli, Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Chlamydia trachomatis, Providencia stuartii, Vibrio vulnificus, Pneumobacillus, Nitrate-negative bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Bacillus cloacae, Bacillus allantoides, Morgan's bacillus (Salmonella morgani), Pseudomonas maltophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus foecalis alkaligenes, Streptococcus hemolyticus B, Citrobacter, and Salmonella paratyphi C. The NAGs contain ground stalk marrow of the plant Juncus effusus L. which has been dispersed with nanosilver particles. The nanosilver particles are about 1-100 nm in diameter. Each of the nanosilver particles contain a metallic silver core which is surrounded by silver oxide. The present invention also provides a process for making the NAGs. The NAGs can be used in a variety of healthcare and industrial products. Examples of the healthcare products include, but are not limited to, ointments or lotions to treat skin trauma, soaking solutions or cleansing solutions for dental or women hygiene, medications for treating gastrointestinal bacteria infections, sexual related diseases, and eye diseases. Examples of industrial products include, but are not limited to, food preservatives, water disinfectants, paper disinfectants, construction filling materials (to prevent mold formation).

The present invention provides a method for monitoring long-term potentiation and long-term depression, comprising placing a subject in head down rest position and monitoring in real-time cerebral mean blood flow velocity using a transcranial Doppler device during psychophysiologic tasks. The method involves using Fourier analysis of mean blood flow velocity data to derive spectral density peaks of cortical and subcortical processes. The effect of head-down rest at different time intervals is seen as accentuation of the cortical peaks in long-term potentiation and attenuation of subcortical peaks in long-term depression. The effect of different interventions could be evaluated for research, diagnosis, rehabilitation and therapeutic use.

A method and apparatus for constructing a neuroscience-inspired dynamic architecture (NIDA) for an artificial neural network is disclosed. The method comprises constructing, in one embodiment, an artificial neural network embodiment in a multi-dimensional space in memory such that a neuron is connected by a synapse to another neuron. The neuron and the synapse each have parameters and have features of long-term potentiation and long-term depression. Furthermore, crossover and mutation are employed to select children of parents. Through learning, an initial network may evolve into a different network when NIDA is applied to solve different problems of control, anomaly detection and classification over selected time units. The apparatus comprises in one embodiment a computational neuroscience-inspired artificial neural network with at least one affective network coupled to receive input data from an environment and to output data to the environment.

An improved system for screening a multiple of candidate therapeutic or chemotherapeutic agents for efficacy as to a specific patient, in which a tissue sample from the patient is harvested, cultured and separately exposed to a plurality of treatments and / or therapeutic agents for the purpose of objectively identifying the best treatment or agent for the particular patient. Specific method innovations such as tissue sample preparation techniques render this method practically as well as theoretically useful. One particularly important tissue sample preparation technique is the initial preparation of cohesive multicellular particulates of the tissue sample, rather than enzymatically dissociated cell suspensions or preparations, for initial tissue culture monolayer preparation. With respect to the culturing of malignant cells, for example, it is believed (without any intention of being bound by the theory) that by maintaining the malignant cells within a multicellular particulate of the originating tissue, growth of the malignant cells themselves is facilitated versus the overgrowth of fibroblasts or other cells which tends to occur when suspended tumor cells are grown in culture. Practical monolayers of cells may thus be formed to enable meaningful screening of a plurality of treatments and / or agents. Growth of cells is monitored to ascertain the time to initiate the assay and to determine the growth rate of the cultured cells; sequence and timing of drug addition is also monitored and optimized. By subjecting uniform samples of cells to a wide variety of active agents (and concentrations thereof), the most promising agent and concentration for treatment of a particular patient can be determined. For assays concerning cancer treatment, a two-stage evaluation is contemplated in which both acute cytotoxic and longer term inhibitory effect of a given anti-cancer agent are investigated.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide methods and systems for non-invasive deep brain neuromodulation using ultrasound for the treatment of anorgasmia, hypo-orgasmia, and for the production of orgasms (Orgasmatron). This can include impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). The ultrasound transducers are attached at fixed positions on a holder. Use of ancillary monitoring or imaging to provide feedback is optional. Control of the ultrasonic transducers includes control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation.

Disclosed are methods and devices for ultrasound-mediated non-invasive deep brain neuromodulation impacting one or a plurality of points in a neural circuit using intersecting ultrasound beams. Depending on the application, this can produce short-term effects (as in the treatment of post-surgical pain) or long-term effects in terms of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD) to treat indications such as neurologic and psychiatric conditions. Multiple beams intersect and summate at one or a plurality of targets. The ultrasound transducers are used with control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency (carrier frequency and / or neuromodulation frequency), pulse duration, pulse pattern, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for patient-feedback control of non-invasive deep brain or superficial neuromodulation using sound impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce acute effects and, with application in multiple sessions, Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD) to treat indications such as neurologic and psychiatric conditions. One or more of sonic transducer positioning, intensity, frequency, dynamic sweeps, phase / intensity relationships, and firing patterns are changed through feedback from the patient to optimize patient experience through up-regulation or down regulation. Examples are decreases in acute pain or tremor due to more effective impact on the neural targets.

Disclosed are methods and systems for optimized deep or superficial deep-brain stimulation using multiple therapeutic modalities impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). Also disclosed are methods for treatment of clinical conditions and obtaining physiological impacts. Also disclosed are: methods and systems for Guided Feedback control of non-invasive deep brain or superficial neuromodulation; patterned neuromodulation, ancillary stimulation, treatment planning, focused shaped or steered ultrasound; methods and systems using intersecting ultrasound beams; non-invasive ultrasound-neuromodulation techniques to control the permeability of the blood-brain barrier; non-invasive neuromodulation of the spinal cord by ultrasound energy; methods and systems for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound for evaluating the feasibility of neuromodulation treatment using non-ultrasound / ultrasound modalities; neuromodulation of the whole head, treatment of multiple conditions, and method and systems for neuromodulation using ultrasound delivered in sessions.

The invention discloses a weight adjustment circuit for variable-resistance synapses, which relates to the fields of integrated circuits and neural networks, and is used for carrying out weight adjustment on variable-resistance synapses. The circuit is composed of a weight enhancement adjustment subcircuit A (LTP (long term potentiation) adjustment) and a weight inhibition adjustment subcircuit B (LTD (long term depression) adjustment), wherein the two subcircuits respectively contain a charging pole, a discharging pole, a charge storage pole and an output pole. The core of the circuit is implemented by using an analog circuit mode, therefore, the number of transistors required by the circuit is greatly reduced; and meanwhile, through the setting of the bias voltage on a discharge tube in the discharge pole, the size of a weight adjustment time window can be adjusted conveniently. The circuit disclosed by the invention follows an STDP (spike timing dependent plasticity) learning rule, and LTP and LTD pulse outputs are generated according to the activities of nerve units at the two ends of the variable-resistance synapses so as to carry out corresponding weight adjustment on the variable-resistance synapses. The circuit disclosed by the invention is simple in structure, convenient in parameter adjustment, and suitable for applications, such as weight adjustment on electronic synapses of a large-scale neural network, and the like.

Disclosed are methods and devices for ultrasound-mediated non-invasive deep brain neuromodulation impacting one or a plurality of points in a neural circuit using patterned inputs. These are applicable whether the ultrasound beams intersect at the targets or not. Depending on the application, this can produce short-term effects (as in the treatment of post-surgical pain) or long-term effects in terms of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD) to treat indications such as neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The ultrasound transducers are used with control of frequency, firing pattern, and intensity to produce up-regulation or down-regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for neuromodulation of the Reticular Activating System using ultrasound to produce acute effects or Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, pulse duration, frequency, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation. The invention can be applied for a variety of clinical purposes such as reversibly putting a patient to sleep or waking them up (for example, for the purpose of anesthesia) or reversibly putting a patient into a coma (for example for the purpose of protecting or rehabilitating the brain of the patient after a stroke or head injury).

Disclosed are methods and systems for treatment planning for deep brain or superficial neuromodulation using ultrasound and other treatment modalities impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce acute effects or Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD) to treat indications such as neurologic and psychiatric conditions. Ultrasound transducers or other energy sources are positioned and the anticipated effects on up-regulation and / or down-regulation of their direction of energy emission, intensity, frequency, firing / timing pattern, and phase / intensity relationships mapped onto the recommended treatment-planning targets. The maps of treatment-planning targets onto which the mapping occurs can be atlas (e.g., Tailarach Atlas) based or image (e.g., fMRI or PET) based. Atlas and imaged-based maps may be representative and applied directly or scaled for the patient or may be specific to the patient.

Disclosed are devices for producing shaped or steered ultrasound for non-invasive deep brain or superficial neuromodulation impacting one or a plurality of points in a neural circuit. Depending on the application this can produce short-term effects (as in the treatment of post-surgical pain) or long-term effects in terms of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD) to treat indications such as neurologic and psychiatric conditions. The ultrasound transducers are used with control of direction of the energy emission, control of intensity, control of frequency for up-regulation or down-regulation, and control of phase / intensity relationships for focusing on neural targets.

The invention relates to a principle about the connection among neurons in neural networks in integrated circuits and biology. A spike timing activity conversion circuit is composed of spike timing activity conversion logic and a control switch. The spike timing activity conversion logic receives a signal (PRE) and a signal (POST) which are treated to generate a long term potentiation (LTP) signal, a long term depression (LTD) signal or a transmission control (TR) signal. The three signals are output to the control switch, which is in connection with write operation voltage (Vw) and read operation voltage (Vr) of a resistive synapse. Under the control of the TR, LTP and LTD signals, output (OUT) of transinformation can be generated, or proper voltage can be output to Vw1 and Vw2 which are voltages respectively added to the two ends of the resistive synapse. The invention provides a conversion circuit, which can convert a spike timing activity relation into corresponding LTP and LTD spikes for output according to an STDP (spike timing dependent plasticity) rule, thus realizing the function of an STDP model. Therefore, the conversion circuit can be conveniently applied in neural networks, electronic synaptic weight adjustment and other circuits.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound for the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders and Alzheimer's Disease and other dementias. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, firing pattern, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods employing non-invasive ultrasound-neuromodulation techniques to control the permeability of the blood-brain barrier. For example, such an alteration can permit increased penetration of a medication to increase its therapeutic effect. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency (carrier and / or neuromodulation frequency), pulse duration, firing pattern, and phase / intensity relationships for beam steering and focusing on targets and accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat movement disorders (e.g., tremor disorders such as Parkinson's Disease and essential tremor, Tourette's Syndrome, and epilepsy). Also included are the Tourette's vocalizations. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, firing pattern, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

A method and apparatus for constructing a neuroscience-inspired dynamic architecture (NIDA) for an artificial neural network is disclosed. The method comprises constructing, in one embodiment, an artificial neural network embodiment in a multi-dimensional space in memory such that a neuron is connected by a synapse to another neuron. The neuron and the synapse each have parameters and have features of long-term potentiation and long-term depression. Furthermore, crossover and mutation are employed to select children of parents. Through learning, an initial network may evolve into a different network when NIDA is applied to solve different problems of control, anomaly detection and classification over selected time units. The apparatus comprises in one embodiment a computational neuroscience-inspired artificial neural network with at least one affective network coupled to receive input data from an environment and to output data to the environment.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for methods for neuromodulation of deep-brain and other neural targets in mammals using optogenetics to treat clinical conditions or achievement of a physiological state. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of optical intensity / amplitude, pulse width, pulse shape, pulse rate, burst frequency, pulse pattern, burst rate, burst width, and optical-fiber configuration including through the stimulation of incorporated opsins in the target neural membranes accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation.

Apparatus and methods for plasticity in a spiking neuron network. In one implementation, a plasticity mechanism is configured based on a similarity measure between neuron post-synaptic and pre-synaptic activity. The similarity measure may comprise a cross-correlogram between the output spike train and input spike train, determined over a plasticity window. Several correlograms, corresponding to individual input connections delivering pre-synaptic input, may be combined. The combination may comprise for example a weighted average. The averaged correlograms may be used to construct the long term potentiation component of the plasticity. The long term depression component of the plasticity may comprise e.g., a monotonic function based on a statistical parameter associated with the adaptively determined long term potentiation component.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat acute or chronic pain. The neuromodulation can produce acute effects or Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat schizophrenia. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, pulse pattern, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat tinnitus. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) via training Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat addiction. The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

Disclosed are methods and systems and methods for non-invasive neuromodulation using ultrasound to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The neuromodulation can produce acute or long-term effects. The latter occur through Long-Term Depression (LTD) and Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) via training. Included is control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up regulation and / or down regulation.

It is the purpose of this invention to provide methods and systems for non-invasive deep brain neuromodulation using ultrasound for the treatment of anorgasmia, hypo-orgasmia, and for the production of orgasms (Orgasmatron). This can include impacting one or multiple points in a neural circuit to produce Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) or Long-Term Depression (LTD). The ultrasound transducers are attached at fixed positions on a holder. Use of ancillary monitoring or imaging to provide feedback is optional. Control of the ultrasonic transducers includes control of direction of the energy emission, intensity, frequency, and phase / intensity relationships to targeting and accomplishing up-regulation and / or down-regulation.

The invention provides a heart fire-clearing upset-relieving health-care tea, which is characterized by being prepared from the following materials: Chinese angelica, szechuan lovage rhizome, prepared rehmannia root, turmeric root-tuber, rhizoma zingiberis preparatum, red peony root, white paeony root, peach seed, carthamus, thinleaf milkwort root-bark, lotus leaf, semen nelumbinis, mix-fried licorice, Chinese date and ginkgo seed. The preparation method comprises the following steps: cleaning the raw materials; mixing the cleaned raw materials; adding water into the mixture; after boiling the mixture for 20 to 60 minutes, filtering to remove slag and obtaining the heart fire-clearing upset-relieving health-care tea. In the tea, the raw materials jointly exert effects of promoting qi circulation and removing obstruction in the collateral, clearing heart and inducing resuscitation, activating blood and dissolving stasis and warming inside and relieving pains, so the tea can treat sadness, palpitation due to fright, mind absence, somnolence, poor memory, stagnation of the liver-qi, and qi stagnation and blood stasis. The tea can be drunk directly after being boiled, has health-care function, and can relieve long-term depression, ease mind, and be used as a daily health-care product.