Developed a remote monitoring device for brain activity at all times.

According to a paper on the University of California’s San Francisco campus, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, it has created a device that can record human brain activity wirelessly throughout the day. The use of this device will allow a deeper understanding of the human brain function. It is also said that if the device was installed in Parkinson’s disease patients, the treatment contents could be adjusted according to the movement of the brain. It’s a remarkable development, but there are also voices expressing anxiety about privacy in that brain activity can be constantly monitored.

One of the treatments for various brain diseases, DBS for deep brain stimulation, like a pacemaker, continuously sends electrical impulses to electrodes installed in the brain from a device placed in the patient’s chest. Electrical stimulation allows devices outside the body to ignore the brain’s misbehavior caused by disease and improve some of the symptoms. Deep brain stimulation is already known to help relieve Parkinson’s and other motor and seizure disorders.

DBS is still an effective treatment for many people, but research is ongoing to further improve its effectiveness. Now, it requires several hospitalizations to fine-tune the intensity and timing of brain stimulation. Moreover, the data to be used is limited to the shortest measurable time when going to the hospital. Therefore, the research team developed a method to adjust the stimuli to the brain if necessary according to the patient’s real-time brain activity record.

The included electrodes stream data to a small device mounted on the patient, and the data is wirelessly sent to the tablet and uploaded to the cloud. According to the paper, the new technology can record brain activity over long periods of time without the patient going to the hospital. All you need is a wireless internet connection environment.

In this study, five people with Parkinson’s disease were recruited and brain stimulation was given using an external device and a high-frequency communication device. The in vitro device normally relays brain activity to the tablet via Bluetooth, and the data is uploaded to the cloud and ready to be monitored. Cloud servers are compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), a federal law mandating the protection of patient privacy stored online. In addition, taking the data into account, brain stimulation for the patient was adjusted as needed.

The research team reveals that it is the first device to continuously and directly wirelessly record signals across the brain over a long period of time. In other words, people can now record brain activity for long periods of time during their daily activities.

This research is an important step, but the ethical issues that can arise from brain monitoring at home are already recognized by the research team that developed the technology. Brain activity by separating a device that can be worn freely when performing activities that the patient can say they are concerned about and do not reach the point where the specific behavior can be recognized in the brain activity record, but that it could be of concern to the patient. He added that it doesn’t matter if it is stopped.

There are many concerns, but progress in this study could help identify changes in brain activity that may be a precursor to motor impairment. This may lead to more granular customization of the treatment, resulting in a higher treatment effect. Even without this, if at least home monitoring is available, the results measured in the hospital can be verified without increasing the patient burden. Looking bigger can deepen your understanding of the whole brain. Related information can be found here.