Non-invasive Detection Of Hypoglycaemia In People With Diabetes Using Brain Wave Activity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$330,447.00
Summary
Hypoglycaemia remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in people with both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes who require insulin therapy. Current treatments for nocturnal hypoglycaemia are usually ineffective. Combining brain wave recording and artificial intelligence, we will identify the changes that precipitate an episode of hypoglycaemia allowing the development of a non-invasive device to prevent or alleviate these fearful and potentially life-threatening events.
The Effect Of Stress And Hypercortisolaemia On Limbic Epileptogenesis & Affective Disorder.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,714.00
Summary
This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is ....This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is a bi-directional relationship, with the psychiatric conditions and stress also acting to aggravate the seizures and even predispose to the development of the epilepsy itself. Apart from gaining insights into causes of TLE, anxiety and depression, this framework has potential public health relevance suggesting approaches to the eventual primary and secondary prevention of both MTLE and its associated psychiatric co-morbidities, a neglected area at present. The use of an animal model allows investigation of aetiological processes that extend over the lifetime, which is exceptionally difficult to achieve in humans. Retrospective studies, such as case-control studies, although an indispensable research methods, are subject to bias and imprecision when it comes to measuring remote past exposures to stress, abuse, and deprivation. If the results of these experiments are consistent with our hypotheses, a very strong case would exist for exploring this relationship in human studies. The data would also provide a strong rationale for more aggressive detection and treatment of these psychiatric co-morbidities in TLE patients, in order to potentially modify the progression of the disorder as well as improve the quality of life of sufferers. The results of intervention studies in animal models may suggest specific mode of treatment to achieve this.Read moreRead less
Next Generation Brain-Machine Interface: Minimally-Invasive Endovascular Stent-Electrode Array For Robotic Limb Control
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,735,574.00
Summary
Persons affected by quadriplegia and hemiplegia from stroke and spinal cord injury have few treatment options. Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) reconnect brain to a prosthetic limb, bypassing damaged nervous system. Our group has developed a BMI that can be implanted minimally-invasively, inside a blood vessel within the brain. We propose to evaluate this device in animal studies, and continue on to a human clinical trial pilot study. The aim is to restore mechanical control over the physical env ....Persons affected by quadriplegia and hemiplegia from stroke and spinal cord injury have few treatment options. Brain Machine Interfaces (BMIs) reconnect brain to a prosthetic limb, bypassing damaged nervous system. Our group has developed a BMI that can be implanted minimally-invasively, inside a blood vessel within the brain. We propose to evaluate this device in animal studies, and continue on to a human clinical trial pilot study. The aim is to restore mechanical control over the physical environment for a paralysed patient.Read moreRead less
Why Does Early Life Stress Aggravate Limbic Epileptogenesis?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$540,116.00
Summary
High rates of anxiety and depression occur in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the most common form of focal epilepsy in adults. Rats that have experienced early life stress show increased anxiety, decreased seizure thresholds and accelerated epilepsy as adults. We have important leads to mechanisms. The proposed study will better understand the mechanisms connecting early life stress and psychiatric disease to adult TLE, and to test interventions that may counteract these effects.
Modifying The Trajectory Of Insidious Late Life Cognitive Decline Using Computerised Cognitive Training
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$743,152.00
Summary
Supervised, group-based computerised cognitive training (CCT) is a safe and effective intervention to maintain cognition in healthy older adults. This project will examine the extent to which CCT can attenuate or even reverse the rate of decline in older people with previously documented cognitive decline, as well as strategies to maintain CCT effects in the long term.
Developing a Unified Theory of Episodic Memory. This project aims to develop a model of episodic memory and to apply the model to both adult and child development data. Unlike current approaches, the model is expected to address multiple memory tasks including item recognition, associative recognition, source recognition and cued recall, and also aims to address reaction time data, allowing different sources of interference causing forgetting in adults to be identified. By addressing both encodi ....Developing a Unified Theory of Episodic Memory. This project aims to develop a model of episodic memory and to apply the model to both adult and child development data. Unlike current approaches, the model is expected to address multiple memory tasks including item recognition, associative recognition, source recognition and cued recall, and also aims to address reaction time data, allowing different sources of interference causing forgetting in adults to be identified. By addressing both encoding and retrieval processes, the model can assess how changes in different sources of interference modulate performance through the trajectory of early development. Hierarchical Bayesian estimation aims to enable a simultaneous account of multiple tasks and support future deployment in applied contexts.Read moreRead less
The early communicative environment prior to and following cochlear implants: impact on children's early communicative and cognitive development. This research with children with cochlear implants will examine the effect on language development of being in an oral environment or one that also includes sign language. The outcomes will provide information for parents and professionals enabling informed decision about the management of the children to promote the best possible outcomes.
The Psychology of Misinformation—Towards A Theory-driven Understanding. The project aims to develop a psychological theory of misinformation effects. Misinformation influences people’s memory, reasoning and decision-making even after corrections – it thus poses a significant challenge for science and society. Through the combination of systematic experimentation with theory-driven computational modelling, the project will strive to concurrently consider individual-level cognition and the impact ....The Psychology of Misinformation—Towards A Theory-driven Understanding. The project aims to develop a psychological theory of misinformation effects. Misinformation influences people’s memory, reasoning and decision-making even after corrections – it thus poses a significant challenge for science and society. Through the combination of systematic experimentation with theory-driven computational modelling, the project will strive to concurrently consider individual-level cognition and the impact of sociocultural context. It is anticipated that this novel integrative approach will substantially expand our understanding of misinformation effects, and that this theoretical progress will result in the formulation of specific communication strategies to reduce the impact of misinformation on society.Read moreRead less
The dog that didn't bark: a Bayesian account of reasoning from censored data. This project aims to develop and test a new computational theory of inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning involves extending knowledge from known to novel instances, and is a central component of intelligent behaviour. This project will address the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to draw inferences based on both observed and censored evidence. The project intends to test the model through an extensive program ....The dog that didn't bark: a Bayesian account of reasoning from censored data. This project aims to develop and test a new computational theory of inductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning involves extending knowledge from known to novel instances, and is a central component of intelligent behaviour. This project will address the cognitive mechanisms that allow people to draw inferences based on both observed and censored evidence. The project intends to test the model through an extensive program of experimental investigation and computational modelling. The anticipated benefits include an enhanced understanding of human inference, especially in domains such as the evaluation of forensic or financial evidence, where data censoring is common.Read moreRead less
Local Sleep In The Awake Brain: An Underlying Cause Of Neurobehavioural Deficits In Sleep Apnea?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$582,330.00
Summary
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder which significantly impacts daytime functioning leading to excessive sleepiness, and problems with attention and thinking. Currently, the causes for cognitive impairment in OSA (including attentional lapses and performance deficits) are poorly understood. In the awake state, groups of neurons can briefly go “offline” as they do in sleep. These periods of “local sleep” may explain impaired task performance in OSA.