Mental activity as a contributing factor to brain resilience

For a long time, the medical sector had believed that the adult brain is immutable and fixed. Neurologists had assumed that the brain was a lot less flexible after a certain point, and the stubbornness of a few had done little to dispel that notion. Today, the brain is discovered to be more elastic than previously thought, and that an active brain contributes to this resilience in more ways than one. 

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Discoveries made as far back as the 1960s has pointed to the ability of the brain to repair itself. Key findings include the production of new neurons (previously thought to be restricted to those in the nose) within the hippocampus, a pivotal region of the brain associated with memory. Neuroscientists have also noted that, at times, patients have made gradual recoveries from traumatic brain injury, leading them to explore the true extents of the brain’s ability to heal itself. 

Today, two principles are now known to affect the resilience of the brain: neurogenesis, which involves the creation of new brain cells, and brain plasticity, which refers to the rearrangement of the connections between neurons. The brain is known to create new neurons and maintain the connections between them whenever it is active. Further studies have corroborated the ability for physically and mentally engaging activities to suppress the onset of mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s.

Besides this, the ability for activities to strengthen brain plasticity has opened new horizons for neuroscience. The discipline of neuroengineering, which applies brain plasticity to help resolve compromised neural connections, has found extensive use in rehabilitative medicine. By stimulating the brain, it can be coaxed to heal severed connections gradually. 

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Dr. Curtis Cripe’s work in neuroengineering is the basis of the treatment programs used by the NTL Group. Visit this website for more on Dr. Cripe’s work.

Drug Addiction And Recovery: Two Eye-Opening Facts

Any form of addiction can wreak havoc on a person’s life. Drug addiction is one of the worst addictions to have. It can bring all the aspects of a person’s life – personal, psychological, social, mental, emotional, and financial – to ruin. Here are two eye-opening facts about drug addiction.

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It can happen to anyone.
Some people believe, much to their peril, that if they consume drugs occasionally rather than frequently, they can somehow skirt addiction. They think that only weak people can become addicts, people who are unable to deal with their problems. But what they don’t consider is that dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin can get a person hooked after one usage.

It can create and worsen a number of health disorders.

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Drug addiction is a disorder. It can lead to other illnesses, particularly mental ones. There are four major mental disorders. First are anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The second kind of mental disorders that arise from drug addiction are mood disorders like depression and bipolar disorder. Then there are personality disorders. Paranoia is a common personality disorder. The last category and arguably the most serious disorder group are psychotic disorders. Schizophrenia is a terrible psychotic disorder, which can be caused by drug abuse.

NTL Group’s BrainRecoveryTM focusses on underlying cognitive brain functions allowing the individual to return to a normal productive life without encountering the same detrimental relapse cycles. It works to re-balance the brain and break relapse cycles. And overseeing this program and other NTL Group’s NeuroEngineered Services is Dr. Curtis Cripe, director of Research & Development. For more on drug addiction and recovery, follow this Twitter account.

What Everyone Should Know About Bioengineering

Bioengineering has grown over the years together with the advancement of technology. In fact, it is solving more and more real-world problems. But what exactly is it?

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The differences between bioengineering and traditional engineering lie in the concepts used. For example, traditional engineering uses physics and math to evaluate, analyze, design, and create useful inanimate tools and physical structures, while bioengineering looks into the ever-increasing information taken from molecular biology to analyze and develop more complex and useful applications of bio-organisms. Bioengineering also has the creation of biotechnology as its goal. There is a possibility of future machines that can find and repair damages in the human body, and help cure illnesses that modern medicine could not.

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Industrial bioengineering revolves around the growing or creation of new organs and tissues to replace those in a patient’s body that are too damaged to function. This would eliminate the wait for donors. Today’s industrial bioengineering applications are also creating modified organisms such as plants for farming and agriculture.

Bioengineering has other branches. An example would be biomimetics, which is the study of how various living organisms are built and how they function. The goal of this is to apply the information to traditional engineering.

There has been a bit of confusion between the terms bioengineering and biomedical engineering. The primary difference worth noting is that biomedical engineering is geared toward creation and development of medical innovations. Bioengineering uses engineering in biology, but not just for medical purposes.

Dr. Curtis Cripe is a neuroengineer with a background that includes bioengineering, among other disciplines. He is the head of the research and development department of the NTLgroup®. Learn more about what he does by following this Facebook page.

Facts On Telemedicine And Its Impact On Healthcare

Telemedicine has advanced the medical field and healthcare delivery by great leaps. People who live far away from the closest clinical healthcare provider now have ease of access to care, monitoring, and dialogue with their chosen health professionals because of telecommunication and information technology. Even people who are in critical condition and who need emergency aid can be reached through telemedicine.

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Thanks to advancements in science and technology, communication between patients and doctors has evolved. Vital information concerning a patient’s situation or medical history or a doctor’s instructions can be transmitted from one site to another clearly and expediently.

The biggest beneficiaries of telemedicine are people who live in relative isolation, or those who live in remote areas. Technological advancements enable quick and easy interaction between patients and doctors, hosting conversations in platforms simulating clinical setups. This also reduces outpatient visits, as it allows for the verification of remote prescription. Telemedicine also enables doctors to oversee drug administration. All these ultimately lower the cost of medical care.

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Telemedicine can also help delivery remediation between healthcare professionals and the patient via Internet and two-way conversations in which both can see one another and discuss problems, issues, and solutions face to face, but over long distances.

Telemedicine also significantly reduces the risk of contagion, especially between patients with highly infectious diseases and medical staff. It is also a friendly option for patients who aren’t comfortable in hospital or clinical environments.

These are just some of the advantages offered by telemedicine. However, it is still a work in progress and technology is still being developed to improve communication between healthcare providers and patients.

Dr. Curtis Cripe is a neuroengineer and the head of the Research and Development department of NTL group. Telemedicine is one of his specializations. Learn more about Dr. Cripe’s work by following this blog site.

Understanding The Complexity Of The Human Brain

It is general knowledge by now that the human brain is the most complex machine that ever existed. And even with the advancement of science and technology, there is still no way to fully comprehend how the organ works. It is poetically described as the most intricate structure in the known universe, more mysterious than the least-explored depths of the ocean.

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They say that should scientists ever completely figure out the mechanism of the brain it would perhaps be the greatest scientific achievement in human history.

A study of the physical structure of the brain has so far yielded the following information about it.

The human brain has, on average, 100 billion neurons, the nerve cells responsible for transmitting information using electrochemical signals.

These signals are communicated through connections called the synapse, and there are 1,000 to 10,000 of these in each neuron. This amounts to 125 trillion synapses in the human brain, which is 1,000 times more than the entire stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

With such complexity, it is then imperative that technological progress should also be made to ensure the optimal health of the brain. Advanced tools and programs for visualizing and analyzing cognitive brain functions are being utilized more and more to address brain-based problems.

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Neuroengineer Dr. Curtis Cripe applies his diverse background in aerospace engineering, psychology, psychophysiology, and software development and programming to lead his team in NTLgroup® on cognitive and brain repair for addiction, head injury, and developmental delays. More discussion on these fields can be accessed here.

Road To Recovery: Neuroengineering Addiction

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Addiction is not something that should be taken lightly. It has time and time again caused unfortunate consequences, even leading to the destruction of lives. A comprehensive treatment approach is an effective way of leading the patient back to recovery.

Neuroengineering has allowed medical care providers to analyze and overcome brain dysfunctions using and blending the concepts of neuroscience, engineering, biology, neurology, and psychology, as well as other disciplines.

NTLgroup®, a consortium of like-minded researchers and healthcare professionals, develops cutting-edge programs and cognitive rehabilitative techniques to help in the recovery from addiction.

Its approach to the treatment is based on the alcohol and other drugs abuse dual-process theories, which propose that addictive behavior is determined by the failure of interactions between two different brain systems – the reflective or thinking system and the reflexive or impulsive system.

The organization uses a trademarked program, BrainRecoveryTM, to help treat the disorder. The program focuses on the cognitive brain functions to improve the patient’s brain capabilities, increasing his IQ and skills in decision making, self-regulation, and impulse control.

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Coupled with therapeutic imprinting technologies that are focused on preventing relapse, the result is a complete shift in behavior, breaking the relapse cycle, and giving the patient the ability to make proper rational choices.

The research and development division of NTLgroup® is headed by Dr. Curtis Cripe. His professional and academic work, spanning several disciplines, has helped him develop an integrated cognitive rehabilitation and development training program that can be used for those with addiction or substance abuse. Read more about his field of work by visiting this website.