Neuroscience is a popular and rapidly emerging scientific branch, which deals with the structure or function of the nervous system and brain. Numerous studies in this field shed light on how we feel, think, remember, and even on how we program our lives. Some studies explain even such magical and sophisticated things as love and commitment. Below we want to share the key findings in this domain. 

Love activates the reward system

The reward system is a part of the brain that releases dopamine. This specific neurotransmitter is associated with pleasure and reward. Every time we experience a pleasurable event the reward system is activated. There have been studies that showed how the brains of lovers work when they see their partners. Indeed, the dopamine release made people feel happiness and even euphoria. Brain scans showed that love activates the same areas in our brain as food and strong drugs, like cocaine and opioids, do.

Unfortunately, the reward system also plays against us when we decide to break up. After the end of a relationship, the brain which was already used to rewarding chemicals feels a significant drop in them. This leads to feelings of sadness, anxiety, and withdrawal. There is no partner to stimulate the reward system anymore and we feel emotional pain and longing.

Love relies on the attachment system

The attachment system is part of the brain that is in charge of creating powerful emotional connections between individuals. Thanks to this system, we are able to feel closeness, intimacy, safety, and comfort with other people. 

The attachment system consists of several brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the anterior cingulate cortex. Together they regulate how we react emotionally to other people’s words and feelings. The attachment system defines how we build all types of close relationships, from the bonds with our parents and friends to connections with love partners. As for romantic relationships, the attachment system allows us to build long-term relationships. The levels of satisfaction, conflicts, and stress are way better in couples whose attachment systems work well. 

Love changes the brain structure

Research has shown that long-term, committed relationships bring changes to our brain structure. A long-term relationship (about 25 years) leads to the appearance of more gray matter in the anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and dorsal striatum regions of the brain (compared to single people). The regions affected are responsible for empathy, emotion regulation, and reward processing. In addition, the parts involved in decision-making, empathy, social behavior, and social cognition are also growing in long-term relationships. This means that people get more used to understanding social cues if they manage to maintain a durable relationship.

Love reduces stress and improves health

Some research has shown that people engaged in a happy marriage in general have lower levels of cortisol than singles. Even such simple gestures as holding hands with your lover can reduce stress levels. As a result, you can benefit from stronger immunity and better cognition and reduce the risks of diabetes and obesity.  

Love relies on mirror neurons

Mirror neurons are brain cells that fire both when we perform an action and observe someone doing it. Mirror neurons have a significant role in empathy, social learning, and different social behaviors. These cells are also responsible for the ability to feel connected to another person. Just observing our love partner when he or she experiences some emotion makes us feel the same level of joy, sadness, or anger. This way, we can connect on a deeper level with time. These cells also let us mirror our partner, showing the same behaviors and gestures and this way building trust. While these areas still require a lot of research, there is already enough evidence that mirror brain cells play a crucial role in the ability to create and keep close emotional bonds with other people.

While neuroscience has recently made a lot of advancements in understanding love, there are still many unknown areas to explore. How do you think love is a purely biological phenomenon or is it destined and more metaphysical?

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With augmented reality technology, the real-time image displayed on the screen is combined with the data obtained by fluoroscopy. The possibility of using this technique in endoscopic surgery has been widely discussed. However, despite the potential of this field, it is still very underdeveloped. One of the factors is the lack of integrated systems that do not need to be supplemented and modified in order to be able to work with augmented images.

The software and technical equipment of the Philips system are designed, among other things, to solve this problem as well. The complex is equipped with an X-ray unit and high-resolution optical cameras, and the image displayed on the screen is already undergoing all the necessary processing. Philips devices using augmented reality technology passed the first preclinical tests at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and at the Medical Center of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. According to the findings, published in the journal Spine, the accuracy of the surgeries performed increased by more than 20%.

The developed unit has been highly praised by surgeons. “The new technology gives surgeons the ability to obtain high-quality 3D images of the patient’s spine during surgery and helps plan the optimal course of the intervention. Doctors can place the transpedicular screws more accurately… It is also possible to assess the result of the intervention in 3D directly in the operating room,” commented Dr. Skulason of Landtspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik.

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In recent years, however, a new method of analysis, liquid biopsy, based on the analysis of nucleic acids in the blood to detect tumor cells or tumor DNA in the blood, has made a furor in medicine. However, it is worth noting that in terms of pathology, the term “liquid biopsy” is inaccurate because it refers exclusively to a molecular analytic method and not to a biopsy in the pathological sense. The method is based on the fact that tumor cells also release genetic information into the blood, which can be examined for changes that occur in the blood only in very small quantities. Therefore, their detection has only become possible due to the development of new methods for highly sensitive nucleic acid detection, such as “digital drop PCR” or “next/next generation sequencing” (NGS). In addition to peripheral blood, namely plasma, urine, stool, pleural or cerebrospinal fluid can be used as liquid biopsy material.

The liquid biopsy method is used in oncology for purposes such as screening, early cancer diagnosis or assessment of metastatic risks. An important area of use of liquid biopsy is also the identification of target structures for therapy, mechanisms of resistance, and tumor monitoring in general.

Tumor monitoring by liquid biopsy is particularly interesting because it allows both the detection of potentially developing recurrent tumors at a very early stage and the deciphering of their possible altered molecular profile. Thus, if resistance mutations occur during first-line therapy, patient survival could theoretically be significantly increased by switching the targeted therapy.

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In addition, complications occur with the classic pacemaker, including infection of the implanted area, displacement of the device, tissue damage, bleeding, and thrombosis. Over the past 5 years, several models have been created to make the device as comfortable and effective for patients as possible.

• In 2015, Israeli scientists proposed using a light-sensitive protein to control rhythm. Using a virus, they injected the algal protein ChR2, which responds to blue light, into the heart cells of experimental rats. It opens ion channels in the membrane in response to the pulse. The experiment showed that the flashes of light can be used to tune the heart rate. However, in order to use ChR2 with the human heart, the problem of light penetration through body tissues must be solved.
• In 2017, researchers from Israel and Canada developed a biological pacemaker using cells that are functionally similar to natural cells that stimulate heart function. They grew them from embryonic stem cells. During the experiment, the transplanted pacemaker cells restored heart rhythm in six out of seven rats.
• In 2019, American engineers developed a generator capable of generating electricity through the contractions of the heart muscle. The current in this case is transmitted to a nearby pacemaker. The developers believe that in the future such a device will make it possible to create a fully autonomous pacemaker that does not require battery replacement.

Statistics and Practice of Pacemaker Use

At least 3 million people around the world live with pacemakers, and about 600,000 devices are implanted in patients each year. In Great Britain alone, 32,902 devices were implanted in 2018-2019 to keep the heart working steadily. Many movie stars, athletes, and politicians live with pacemakers. Cardiomyopathies, bradycardia, heart block, and heart failure can be reasons for the device.

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Neuroprosthetics or neural prosthetics is a field of biomedical engineering and neurobiology concerned with the development of neural prostheses and their operation. The system was first used to replace sensory and motor functions. And scientists are exploring different options for delivering signals to the nervous system.

Prosthetics researchers are now trying to provide a prosthesis that will feel objects just as well as a real hand, perhaps even better. After all, such a prosthesis can lift objects weighing up to 20 kg!

After a limb is amputated, the motor nerves that controlled it remain in the body. The remaining nerves can be surgically transferred to a small section of a large muscle (this is called reinnervation). For example, to the large pectoral muscle, if we are talking about an amputated arm. As a result, the person thinks that he or she should move the finger. The brain sends a signal to the part of the pectoral muscle to which the nerve that used to go to the fingers is attached. The signal is picked up by electrodes that send the pulse through wires to a processor inside the robotic arm. This is where electromyography helps. This technology records the difference in electrical potentials that occur when a muscle works. It picks up the movement of the reinnervated part of the pectoral muscle, and the signal is then transmitted to the desired part of the prosthesis, and that part moves.

Targeted sensory reinnervation is carried out in the same way. It is needed so that the person can feel touch, heat or pressure with the prosthesis. The procedure is reversed. The surgeon reattaches the remaining sensory nerve to the skin area on the chest. And the sensors on the prosthesis transmit a signal from touch to this very skin area. And the person experiences tactile sensations.

Neuroprosthetics is a global topic for the future. Technology is becoming a reality thanks to the hard work of scientists. Perhaps in the future scientists will develop cognitive implants, making us smarter and stronger… Will we become a cyber society…?

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The field of brain implants is staggering in its scope. The main goal of most research is to create a bio-device that can stimulate certain areas of the brain. With the help of such influence it is realistic to restore vision and hearing after a stroke or head trauma, to alleviate the manifestations of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. The technology can also restore motor abilities in paralyzed patients.

In addition, some companies and research groups suggest the possibility of using neurochips to create neurocomputer interfaces. That is, such systems form a two-way or one-way direct connection between the computer and the brain to exchange information. At the same time, experiments on animals are regularly carried out; they are used both for the preliminary stage of tests before introduction to humans, and for measurements of brain activity for purely scientific purposes.

Brain implant systems are usually a direct chip, a battery for power, and a computer for control and imaging. The chip sends, blocks or records (and records and stimulates simultaneously) the electrical impulses of either an individual neuron or entire groups in specific parts of the brain. Until recently, the use of brain implants was limited or considered impossible due to the computational power of the computer and insufficient development of neurophysiology.

The power of thought

Before organizing full-fledged clinical trials in humans, scientists test developments and drugs on animals. In the case of brain implants, experiments on other biological species may be dictated not only by the need to comply with established rules, but also by the observation of brain activity of a particular species.

For example, back in 2006 the Medical College of Georgia conducted an experiment to study the process of functional adaptation of the brain in the process of learning sensory distinction. Monkeys’ brains were stimulated with electrodes and tried to teach them the connection between sound changes and rewards.

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