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First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

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Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#41
post #38
post #3

Very cool. My daughter has a brain shunt due to complications of spina bifida and so we’re thinking of cerebrospinal fluid on a regular basis. As a layman I guess there’s a particular cerebrospinal fluid pressure you want, and that being too high or too low causes issues? Apparently the shunt just drains into her belly so I also found that interesting. Too high and she’ll have terrible headaches and an “alien” head (…

what exactly do you mean by alien head? not offended, just curious

I believe they mean enlarging of the fontanelle as is typical in those with hydrocephalus.

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#42
post #19

What is the ideal sleeping position to maximize brain wash? Is it back, side, slightly inclined? Fluids theory would surely dictate how we can better align our body to encourage this. Intuition says our neck torsion must be instrumental to a good flow.

I assume you would want to rotate.

I will sleep in a washing machine from now on

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#44
post #38
post #3

Very cool. My daughter has a brain shunt due to complications of spina bifida and so we’re thinking of cerebrospinal fluid on a regular basis. As a layman I guess there’s a particular cerebrospinal fluid pressure you want, and that being too high or too low causes issues? Apparently the shunt just drains into her belly so I also found that interesting. Too high and she’ll have terrible headaches and an “alien” head (…

what exactly do you mean by alien head? not offended, just curious

You can google "hydrocephalus", though I should warn the images can be a bit disturbing

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#45
post #7

Re falling asleep during MRI - I was a subject in a study where for about an hour you had to lie in a machine and repeatedly indicate which of two pictures depicted a larger object. They said subjects falling asleep was a big problem! I find sleeping very difficult and even I was feeling extremely drowsy after 45 mins of lying down and establishing "elephants are bigger than mice. Houses are bigger than shoes. Trees…

I have to get an MRI roughly once a year to monitor a benign cyst and ensure it doesn't start to grow. My first experiences with MRI were okay. Certainly not pleasant but not an issue. I can't even imagine actually falling asleep inside an MRI though.

Last year I actually went the other direction. I was switched to a somewhat older MRI machine in a different building, apparently somehow "due to COVID." I thought the tunnel in the usual MRI machine was tight but this older model was even smaller. Also, due to COVID they insisted that I have on an N95 mask inside the machine, underneath the 'Magneto-like' helmet used to hold head position. I was able to complete the lengthy session but these changes were enough to trigger what I assume was some claustrophobia and it was not fun. It required maximum mental effort just to make it to the end.

I just got the call from my doc to schedule this year's scan and apparently the same requirements are still in place although they are "hoping things get back to normal soon." I mentioned how challenging last year's scan was and he suggested we just defer it until Summer. I felt conflicted about this as I really don't want to be postponing diagnostics but damn, last year was pretty awful, so I went for the reschedule.

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#46
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't know what effect this has. Why do you want to maximise it?

Only if they didn't read the article, which explains "Earlier studies have suggested that CSF flow and slow wave activity both help flush toxic, memory-impairing proteins from the brain." and more.

Studies may have suggested something, does not mean they have proven that same thing. Also, "toxic memory impairing proteins" is some kind of hand-wavy journalistic clickbait and not actual science.

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was this research conducted prior to 2005? I find the whole xor result to be pretty irrelevant, which I think is representative of the field writ large. > Is anyone aware of modern work expanding on that front? I am curious about this as well, as well as the general state of biological inspiration in the field. My impression was that biological analogy had largely been pretty much completely moved away from, except a…

Yes, 2004 but now I'm curious why you ask. ?

just because 90s-early 00s is the time period where I perceive this style of research to have been at its peak, so I was curious if my assumptions were correct

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#48

This is curious. During my research into neutral networks we depended on a neuroscience result that found waves of trophic factor (i.e. the stuff used to build up neurons [i.e. learn]) travel in cascading waves from the core of the brain to the periphery. By adding a sense of location and a learning term contingent on the factor we saw learning (xor) prohibited by Minsky's result (not really prohibited because we cha…

What was Minsky's result?

Re: First images of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain during sleep (2019)

#49
post #19

What is the ideal sleeping position to maximize brain wash? Is it back, side, slightly inclined? Fluids theory would surely dictate how we can better align our body to encourage this. Intuition says our neck torsion must be instrumental to a good flow.

Wake up in the middle of the night, shake your head violently and turn to the other side. That probably will do it.
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