Wireless streaming of neural recordings in PD patients

Neural recordings can now be done wirelessly for long periods at home rather than using external leads for brief periods in a hospital setting to investigate and monitor brain disorders, US researchers have shown.

The NIH BRAIN Initiative team was able to use wireless technology to live stream measurements from an implantable two-way neural interface of field potentials in five individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) for up to 15 months after implantation. They were then able to use those patterns for adaptive deep brain stimulation (DBS) via an implantable device.

This technological approach may be widely applicable to brain disorders treatable by invasive neuromodulation, they said in Nature Biotechnology.

Triage test identifies normal pressure hydrocephalus

A simple triage screening test can be used in Memory Clinics to identify patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) –  one of the few potentially treatable causes of dementia.

In a study of more than 400 patients, Sydney researchers found that predictors of INPH included factors such as the presence of balance and gait disorders, especially fear of falling, difficulty standing on toes/heals, urinary disturbances and ventriculomegaly. Use of these factors as a triage index test had high sensitivity (95·2%) and specificity (91·7%), they found. Overall the test showed that 15% of patients with cognitive impairment had INPH, for whom a referral for shunt surgery could improve cognitive, balance and gait functioning, according to findings presented by Dr George Razay at the RACP 2021 Congress.

Oliver Sacks documentary released

A new documentary about the celebrated neurologist Oliver Sacks has been released covering both his work as a clinician and also how he coped in the last few months before his death from cancer in 2015. Filmed in co-operation with the subject, the documentary “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,”” by Emmy-nominated director Ric Burns features Sacks discussing his professional career as a neurologist, writer, his family background and also frank revelations about his drug use, sexuality and involvement in bodybuilding.

The film also focuses on the last eight months of Sacks’ life in New York, with contributions from his partner Dr Bill Hayes, his family, friends and colleagues.