Monkey brain-power activates paralysed muscles
p2pnet news view | Cool:- A clinical experiment which had monkeys playing computer games suggests human beings might one day be able to reclaim control of paralysed muscles.
“Using a computer device hooked up to cells in the brains of monkeys, researchers at the University of Washington found the primates, whose arms were temporarily paralyzed, were able to move their immobilized muscles well enough to play a computer game,” says the Voice of America (VOA).
With obvious implications for humans, the monkeys were able to get their brains to re-activate their muscles and, “We found remarkably that nearly every neuron that we tested in the brain could be used to control this type of stimulation,” it has Chet Moritz (right), who led the team, saying.
“We also found that monkeys could learn very rapidly to control newly isolated neurons in order to stimulate their muscles,” he said.
And the researchers say two-thirds of the neurons they tested produced movement.
The device, “acted as a workaround, routing control signals from the brain around the injury by artificial connections,” says the CBC, adding:
“The monkeys quickly learned to use the brain cell activity to control their wrist muscles and were able to continue playing the computer game. The researchers found it was even possible to use brain cells not normally involved in the wrist movement, a finding they say ‘considerably expands the source of control signals for brain-machine interfaces.’
“More complex movements would require monitoring multiple brain cells, the researchers said.”
But, “There’s a long ways to go, and there’s no way to say with confidence that it will work,” Moritz warns.
Says an abstract in Nature, where a report on the discovery by Moritz, Steve I. Perlmutter and Eberhard E. Fetz, appears:
“A potential treatment for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury is to route control signals from the brain around the injury by artificial connections. Such signals could then control electrical stimulation of muscles, thereby restoring volitional movement to paralysed limbs. In previously separate experiments, activity of motor cortex neurons related to actual or imagined movements has been used to control computer cursors and robotic arms, and paralysed muscles have been activated by functional electrical stimulation11. Here we show that Macaca nemestrina monkeys can directly control stimulation of muscles using the activity of neurons in the motor cortex, thereby restoring goal-directed movements to a transiently paralysed arm. Moreover, neurons could control functional stimulation equally well regardless of any previous association to movement, a finding that considerably expands the source of control signals for brain-machine interfaces. Monkeys learned to use these artificial connections from cortical cells to muscles to generate bidirectional wrist torques, and controlled multiple neuronmuscle pairs simultaneously. Such direct transforms from cortical activity to muscle stimulation could be implemented by autonomous electronic circuitry, creating a relatively natural neuroprosthesis. These results are the first demonstration that direct artificial connections between cortical cells and muscles can compensate for interrupted physiological pathways and restore volitional control of movement to paralysed limbs.”
[If you're wondering that this pic ^has to do with the matter at hand, read my comment post below. Jon]
Voice of America – Scientists Offer Hope to People With Spinal Cord Injuries, October 16, 2008
CBC – Brain signals revive paralyzed muscles in monkeys, October 15, 2008
Nature – Direct control of paralysed muscles by cortical neurons, October 15, 2008
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October 18th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
So Moritz and his team took perfectly good monkeys, terrorized them, put them in massive and extreme pain and did experiments on them while they don’t relate to humans at all in physiology. That’s right, monkey’s physiology is different than ours. Humans have over 4000 genetic defects that monkeys and most earth animals don’t.
How about we take Moritz and his team and we experiment on them to see if it’s the same affects? Idiots … all of them!
October 18th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
agreed.
October 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
You both dont understand! imagine not living to full capacity looking for hope in life. its for the better. get over yourselves.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
@freeman
When was playing computer games considered torture?
@the thread
I wonder if a monkey will ever become the highest ranked video game player in a tournament against humans (Quake 2 Champion, etc…)?
October 19th, 2008 at 7:44 am
re: Arse
Did you miss part of …
“Using a computer device hooked up to cells in the brains of monkeys, researchers at the University of Washington found the primates, whose arms were temporarily paralyzed, were able to move their immobilized muscles well enough to play a computer game,â says the Voice of America (VOA).”
… or just conveniently ignored it?
Do YOU realize that one needs to cut open the skull of get at brain, manipulate sensors into position and attach them in stable position in order to do experiments, or something similar? To boot, then root round brain to cause paralysis in order to get at certain areas?
Anytime you’re game we are ready to practice on you
re: Reader’s Write – October 18th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
hmm … maybe YOU don’t seem to understand: i have some nifty similar experiments, are YOU willing to be my subject? how about lending me your kid/s for them?
Will you make a great auto directional controller for my DIY satellite dish? I wonder how long you will last in Canadian winter at -40 C and 100 km winds.
Also keep in mind you have said this online and its recorded for everyone to read for a long time
October 19th, 2008 at 11:41 am
@freeman
Ah, your post makes perfect sense now. “Do YOU realize that one needs to cut open the skull of get at brain”… sadly, I didn’t realize that, or at least completely forgot that they do that.
Not a fan of animal cruelty… They should’ve used John McCain, George Bush, or one of Dick Cheney’s other lackeys instead.
Granted, Dick Cheney and all of his lackeys have over 4000 genetic defects that humans don’t.
October 19th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Way back in the dark reaches of time, I wrote a series of articles on surgical procedures and thereâs one article I remember in particular.
Some children are born with a condition which means their hips dislocate very easily. A Canadian orthopaedic surgeon developed a technique whereby this condition could be fixed. Under it, the kids were back on their feet within six weeks instead of six months, whichâd been the time frame up until then.
Doctors working on the technique initially used rabbits to perfect it and I can tell you the rabbits were thoroughly anesthesised via little masks almost identical to the ones used in human patients, throughout the procedure, and received the very best of care before, during and after.
Iâd be very surprised if it was any different for the monkeys in this case.
Should we use animals to develop procedures designed to help human beings? Thatâs a hard question.
Meanwhile, we exist in a world in which supposedly civilised societies allow people starve and spend their days and nights on streets beneath massive, multi-million dollar temples devoted to the acquisition of money, if theyâre lucky, and alongside gutters running with every kind of filth imaginable, if theyâre not.
And we donât utter a word.
The pic above is of a toddler in Suddan.
âKevin Carter, the South African photographer whose image of a starving Sudanese toddler stalked by a vulture won him a Pulitzer Prize this year, was found dead on Wednesday night, apparently a suicide, police said yesterday,â says the article accompanying the photograph – http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm
Cheers!
October 19th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
We also kill animals just for fun and then stuff them so we can remember it.
October 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
It is easy enough to complain about animal cruelty. Much harder to actually do something about it. Come up with a viable alternative equal to or better than using a live “guinea pig” and I’m sure researchers would be more than happy to use it. I also find it funny how animal rights activists get all worked up over certain mammals, but don’t seem to bat an eye at other lifeforms such as insects, amphibians, plant life and so on. Believe me when I say I’m an animal lover and, sharing my fair share of painful medical maladies, I hate suffering as much as the next person. The sad fact of the matter is that the universe was designed to be as chaotic, unfair and cruel as possible. We are all imperfect beings living in an imperfect universe. It is all about the survival of the fittest. Even so, eventually everything dies. No exceptions. You and everybody you’ve ever met during your life will some day be dead (and sooner than you think). The trick then becomes how to live as rich and full a life as possible when life is so short. When it is our children whom we love so dearly that have become afflicted with some life altering ailment, making the choice between their well being and that of some animal isn’t all that hard to make. There simply are no correct answers when it comes to issues such as these. All we can do is hope, guided by the principal that by doing important research involving animals that one is indeed serving the greater good. People need to look at all of the diseases already eradicated to date in order to see just how important this type of research can be and realize that without it, one day there could quite possibly be no future for human civilization. The movie Children of Men comes to mind. While it may be fictitious, the actual message may not be as far off the mark as we believe. As the old saying goes, you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
October 19th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
@Debbie: Good point. Personally I hate the whole idea of hunting for sport. It’s an outdated concept for a civilized society, much like cock fighting and bull baiting. The only exception is when it is for food and there are still many societies out there that rely heavily on it because they have no other recourse. I live in an area will hunting of both types is still pretty big. The thing is, even if hunting stopped there would still be the practice of mass consumption of livestock (cattle, chicken, pork, etc). Like I said in my previous comment, we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect universe. While unlikely to happen in our lifetime, everyone may someday be vegetarian (especially if the fates give us no choice) but even so, this still requires the consumption of a living breathing entity. Plants are living creatures too. Sadly, the nature of the reality we live in seems specifically designed to be cruel and unfair, geared towards the survival of the fittest. There is just no getting around that fact.
October 19th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Ah, I’m glad you’ve opened this up to show the real problems and situation.
If you look into any history book of any tribe you’ll find that originally man lived for 1,000’s of yrs, maybe much longer. Where the problem started is these needing slaves for entertainment / work and hence genetically creating such men/women. These “genetically engineered humans” are now us. This is why we have over 4000 genetic defects. This is main reason why USA went into Iraq and stole [specifically] the tablets which reference it all, the other reasons are to gain sacred knowledge of the past which they need for many reasons. Go check any history of any tribe before you jump on my case. Even the bible, as you do do check the older stories where the bible was copied from.
Among other animals that were genetically engineered are: chickens, pigs, cattle, horses, donkeys, cheetahs, cats, lions, elephants and multitude of domesticated animals.
As we rebelled against this wrongful system we were hunted, slaughtered and experimented on even more to get the perfect slave. Eventually wars have subsided those “creationists” and we are left with their remnants as part of the ruling class today.
Any 33rd deg Freemason can tell you this and what their hidden [occult] knowledge is. The same goes for Vatican and all ruling classes world wide. What their basic plan is is to use us, the regular people, as cattle for their elite experiments and their future survival. You can plainly see it with all four major religions controlling the whole population of earth. These same elite think they can keep using and abusing the population any which way they wish. Hence the experiments on humans, animals, birds, nature and universe. They are the ones who started all the wars, hunger, fear, genetic food, pesticides, drugs, monetary system [money], abusive businesses, taking over countries via bad business practices and the rest.
If you check the genetic records of the whole ruling class on earth you will find they belong to the same family. If you check further you will find they have been close to wiped out many times in history for same kind of abuses. What’s more interesting is that there’s a ruling class behind them, a one that’s very secret and practices utmost satanic rituals. This is what the 33rd deg Freemason won’t tell you. Don’t take my word or it, check it out yourselves. You will also find that anyone less than 30th degree is just a patsy or soldier of the elite and doesn’t know the real power behind everything.
The Vatican is another perfect example. Now this cult society is even worse than Freemasons. The general population thinks they are worshiping a true God while Vatican is laughing their asses off at what they are really doing. They are run by the Medici family in the background. Medici’s are the worst satanists in Europe. Medici is where the world “medicine” comes from. You’ll be glad to know the Vatican started Islam. Check with any former priest that worked in the Vatican, like Alberto Rivera and many others.
The list of people who expose them is very long and includes names such as Kennedy, Gandhi, Bhutto, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, John Lenon, William Cooper … people even from their own ranks. Did you also catch the fact that they have all been assassinated?
You look anywhere on Earth and at any time and you will find the elite behind hunger, famine, torture, experiments, wars, terrorism etc. etc.
Here is only one of 1,000’s of examples of what the elite do and have been doing all through history: http://www.colombiajournal.org/colombia73.htm
Now do we put up with it or are we going to stop them in their tracks, and make sure they never do it again? This is the real question of our time.
You will also find that ancient records hold all the cures for all diseases of past, present and future.
In China and other parts of Orient a person goes to a doctor for their wellbeing and pays for it. If a person gets sick it’s the doctors fault and he/she has to make sure person gets well, this means doctor also pays for it. Any treatment required! If person dies or ends up crippled it’s the doctors life at stake, literally. The I Ching holds all the cures for that part of the world, also holds ancient knowledge of many other areas of study. Now you know why China protects it’s culture and knowledge from western influences.
Native Indians held all the cures and knowledge for North and South America till Europeans wiped most of them and knowledge out. Drug companies and medical system in North America = nothing but drug dealers and butchers. Since the knowledge of Natives was wiped they must get it from somewhere. Who better than rest of the world, local people and animals they are free to experiment on?
Starting to get it yet?
October 19th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Hi Freeman:
Iâve deleted this comment because although I fully appreciate you posted it with good intentions, p2pnet really isnât the correct venue. Iâm sure, though, youâll find plenty of other places where itâll be welcomed. If you need a copy, please let me know – p2pnet @ shaw dot ca.
Cheers!