'Hey, which chip are you running?'. People will say its the i3 or the i5. But, if I ask them 'What chip does your brain use', anybody (with the exception of my cousin brother) would be perplexed. Well, that's true but now, there is a novel medical technique available that promises human brains a little semiconductor help (no, its not the i7). Read on to find out what chip I am talking about.
Psychiatrists say that they have found a new medical technique that sends an electrical charge into your brain through the Vagus Nerve, is proving effective as a medication against severe depression. In this technique, a surgery is performed on the patient and a 0.25 inch thick disk is tucked under the skin, just under the left collarbone. This disk is then wired to the vagus nerve in the neck. This disk is battery-operated and delivers rhythmic, intermittent electrical pulses to the brain that reaches to about 6 areas in the brain crucial in controlling mood and depression.
The disk is programmed and reprogrammed using a handheld wand held close to it. This wand is connected a small portable computer. Data on each patient about the intensity and frequency of the pulse and device settings is stored in individual memory cards slotted into the computer linked to the wand. Doctors suspected its heavy potential as an effective medication for depression when epileptic patients insisted on letting it remain inside them even when it was only 40% effective against epileptic seizures. This made doctors think that the device was lightening the mood of the patients. Successive tests proved that it was actually working as an anti-depressant.
Researchers know the treatment stimulates norepinephrine and serotonin centers, now treated with pharma at a tepid success rate, and increases blood flow and neuron activity. But they candidly say they don't fully understand why it works.
Well, its side effects are that 10 seconds each minute, your voice gets more gravelly. This didn't deter people from using it. Since people don't like a pulsating grave voice during public speaking, researchers placed a switch inside it, which can be turned off by placing a magnet over it.
The battery lasts about 8 - 12 years and drawbacks include a requirement that the patient avoid physical therapy ultrasounds that can heat up the wiring and damage the nerve -- though diagnostic ultrasound works fine -- and problems getting a full body MRI.
With machines paving their way into the human body, are humans going to remain Homo sapiens in the near future ?
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| A switch on your brains?? Not exactly ! |
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| The vagus nerve stimulator power pack is implanted near the collarbone, and wired to the left side nerve -- always the left, since the right side goes directly to the heart. Illustration: Cyberonics Inc. |
The disk is programmed and reprogrammed using a handheld wand held close to it. This wand is connected a small portable computer. Data on each patient about the intensity and frequency of the pulse and device settings is stored in individual memory cards slotted into the computer linked to the wand. Doctors suspected its heavy potential as an effective medication for depression when epileptic patients insisted on letting it remain inside them even when it was only 40% effective against epileptic seizures. This made doctors think that the device was lightening the mood of the patients. Successive tests proved that it was actually working as an anti-depressant.
Researchers know the treatment stimulates norepinephrine and serotonin centers, now treated with pharma at a tepid success rate, and increases blood flow and neuron activity. But they candidly say they don't fully understand why it works.
Well, its side effects are that 10 seconds each minute, your voice gets more gravelly. This didn't deter people from using it. Since people don't like a pulsating grave voice during public speaking, researchers placed a switch inside it, which can be turned off by placing a magnet over it.
The battery lasts about 8 - 12 years and drawbacks include a requirement that the patient avoid physical therapy ultrasounds that can heat up the wiring and damage the nerve -- though diagnostic ultrasound works fine -- and problems getting a full body MRI.
With machines paving their way into the human body, are humans going to remain Homo sapiens in the near future ?
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