Optogenetics With the advent of this new technology doctors and psychiatrists may have finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. Well not exactly, but the state of the art new technology, Optogenetics, does offer an innovative new approach to the study of the brain, and, more importantly, the treatment of patients. The use of light had been surmised to be a valuable way to control cells many years prior by Francis Crick (Crick 2024), but no one had been able to pull all the pieces together. While it’s by no means perfectly safe: there are still uncertainties about the long-term effects and the level of specificity it offers can only control groups of neurons up to .3 (mm^3) instead of individual neurons. Optogenetics still provides benefits over our current pharmaceutical and surgical technologies with its specificity, both temporally and spatially. In light of these facts, doctors should consider optogenetics as a safe and efficacious way to treat neurological disorders unresponsive to current methods. Optogenetics is a new field of study that’s based upon “the integration of optics and genetics to achieve gain or loss-of-function of well-defined events within specific cells in living tissue.”(Davidson et al. 9) Scientists have now been able to genetically modify virus’ that express their genes only within specific tissues in the body. Once these viruses are inserted into the cell, specific molecules activate the transcription of cell receptors called opsins. Opsins are membrane-bound ion pumps or channels that are sensitive to specific wavelenths of light. They are typically categorized into three groups: Halorhodopsins are chloride pumps that are used to hyperpolarize, or inhibit, the cell membrane; bacteriorhodopsi... ... middle of paper ... ...ptogenetics but places parameters on when it can be used. So, optogenetics would be a good option for stimulating a neural pathway but may not be useful for more accurate stimulation like that needed in the visual field. While current treaments, which include pharmaceuticals and surgery, do work in most cases there are numerous cases where they are dangerous or innefective. Some patients are unresponsive to pharmacological treatments or are unwilling to accept the risk of side effects. For example, under 55% of patients with epilepsy cease having seizures after treatment with anti-epileptic drugs (DeGiorgio and Krahl 743) and only 20-40% of patients with depression show significant improvement after one year(DeJongh and Haight 1) While an optogenetic treatment would also necessitate surgery it would be less invasive than the removal of an entire neural population.
Understanding psychological disorders are very important in human development, the first step is to define what is meant by a disorder. How do psychologists determine that there something is psychologically wrong with a person? What behaviours are abnormal? A psychological disorder, also known as a mental disorder, is a pattern of behavioural or psychological symptoms that impact multiple life areas and/or create distress for the person experiencing these symptoms. A clear sign of abnormal behaviour or mental state is when an individual's behaviour is destructive to themselves or their social group, such as family, friends. Above all psychological disorders create a maladaptive pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that lead to detriments in relationships and other life areas. There are several ethical issues in treating psychological disorders. There two ways of treating psychological disorders through; psychotherapy this form of treatment involves social interactions between a trained professional (therapist) and client. This is delivered on a one-to-one, face-to-face meeting. Another way of treating psychological disorder is through pharmacological treatments. This is the use of proactive drugs to treat certain disorders. This essay will aim to highlight the pros and cons of using pharmacological and psychological treatments.
The purpose of this paper is to inform the reader about Wilder Penfield and his research over electric brain stimulation. This essay will give a brief biography of Wilder Penfield, a description of his research, and finally discuss the insight his experiments provided and the influence they had on our body and behavior in general.
Until recently there was virtually nothing doctors could do for the 500,000 Americans who have strokes each year, the 500,000 to 750,000 who experience severe head injury, or the 10,000 people who are paralyzed after spinal cord damage (3). However, that is about to change. Researchers now think it may be possible to replace destroyed brain cells with new ones to give victims of stroke and brain injury a chance to relearn how to control their body, form new thinking processes, and regain emotions. After demolishing the long-standing myth that brain cells cannot regenerate or proliferate, scientists are developing ways to stimulate cells to do just that. Although stroke, head injury, and paralysis are three of the most devastating things that can happen to anyone, scientists have recently learned that the damage they cause is not preordained. It takes place over minutes, hours, and days, giving them a precious opportunity to develop treatments to halt much of the damage. Most of the new remedies are not yet available, but an explosion of research in the last five to ten years has convinced scientists that some of them will work (8).
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment for severe mental illness in which the brain is stimulated with a strong electrical current which induces a seizure. The seizure rearranges the brain's neurochemistry and results in an elevation of mood. This essay asks: Is ECT any safer and more effective in treating mood disorders than drug therapies? This treatment has a controversial history ever since it was first introduced in 1938. I intend to argue that electroconvulsive therapy is indeed a safe treatment of mental disorders when other treatments have failed. Due to the development of safer and less traumatic ways of administering ECT, the treatment has made a comeback, is greatly used, and proves to be effective.
Rodents mostly, but also zebrafish (Danio rerio) (Douglass et all, 2008), fruit flies (Drosophilia melanogaster) (Lima & Miesenböck, 2005), nematode worms (Caenorlhabditis elegans) (Blaxter 20100) and non-human primates (Han et al., 2011). With a research tool as powerful as optogenetics, the logical next step is producing it in humans for therapeutic effects on mental illnesses. Chow and Boyden recently published an article with discussion about the obstacles that would have to be overcome to bring optogenetics to clinical trials. The largest issue is the use of viral vectors and the subsequent immune response (Chow & Boyden, 2013). Human opsins, such as rhodopsin in the human eye, could be installed into neurons but these cells are slower than the microbial ones currently in use for optogenetics. Gene therapy is advancing everyday and it is possible that some day humans could reap the benefits of the precision actions optogenetics has to offer.
In reference to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the magnitude of ECT trials executed in the United States surpasses appendectomy, coronary bypass, or hernia repair. While the most universal submission of ECT is for psychological infirmities, the uses of ECT vary from superlative depression and schizophrenia to cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
Yeager, Ashley. "Gene Therapy with Electrical Pulses Spurs Nerve Growth." Science News. N.p., 23 Apr. 2014. Web.
These problems cause the symptoms of schizophrenia, which include hallucinations, delusions, disordered thinking, and unusual speech or behavior. No "cure" has yet been discovered, although many different methods have been tried. Even in these modern times, only one in five affected people fully recovers. (4) The most common treatment is the administration of antipsychotic drugs. Other treatments that were previously used, and are occasionally still given are electro-convulsive therapy, which runs a small amount of electric current through the brain and causes seizures, and large doses of Vitamin B. (3)
Psychiatry is a medical field that deals with the diagnoses, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. The FDA is constantly approving drugs for psychiatrists to use that are supposed to help with in their practice. For example, Michael Levin-Epstein, who wrote the article “A New Way to Deliver Psychiatric Meds: Drugs for ADHD and Major Depression Now Can Be Delivered with Skin Patches,” shows how pharmacotherapy is continually being advanced by new ideas and approaches. However, Psychiatric drugs are not always the answer. Prescriptions are not a good remedy when it comes to the overcoming of a mental illnesses, because there is not enough information regarding the effects of the drugs, pharmaceutical companies are driven by profits,
Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain characterized by an enduring predisposition to generate epileptic seizures,1 and by the neurobiological, cognitive, psychological and social consequences of this condition. An epileptic seizure is a brief disturbance of consciousness, behavior, emotion, motor function, or sensation that is due to abnormal electrical discharge in the brain.2 In partial-onset epilepsy, these bursts of electrical activity are initially focused in specific areas of the brain, but may become more generalized, with symptoms varying according to the affected areas. Epilepsy is the most common serious neurological condition in the UK.3 The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated its prevalence to be affecting approximately 5-8 per 1000 people.4 Anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) are the major therapeutic option. Over a dozens of AEDs are introduced in the last 2 decades (Table 1.1). Between 1990 and 2011, 15 new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) were approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and/or by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). These drugs are Eslicarbazepine ace...
Treatment methods include enucleation, external beam radiation, and chemo reduction. Enucleation, the most common process, is simply the removal of the eye.
Although drugs are used in an illegal aspect for the most part, there are accounts of medical research to prove the positive effects on some patients with long-term diseas...
As the scientific field of Neuroscience develops and expands, so too does the discipline of Neuroethics. This new and emerging area of study aims to discuss the ethical applications of advancements in neuroscience. Over the past few decades, technological advancements in neuroscience have risen sharply. Every day, scientist’s understanding of the human mind increases exponentially. New technologies grant researchers the ability to make cognitive enhancements, carry out brain imaging and provide the human brain with a variety of different services. Neuroethics attempts to bridge the capabilities of science, with the social and ethical climate of today’s world. New advancements in what scientists can do, such as Brain Imaging, Cognitive enhancement, pharmacological enhancement of mood, and brain machine interfaces and non-pharmacological enhancement must be carefully examined to determine their proper and ethical usage.
There are many medications now that has evidence that the drugs work efficiently and successfully however there is also evidence that depression cannot be fully cured because sometimes if the correct amount of medication is not taken the depression can come back since antidepressants does not work on everyone.