Remembering names can be a tricky task. This is evidently true when the social circle of a person gets bigger by interacting with people, or there are simply too many names in common for one to remember. One of the simplest ways to remember names is to pay close attention when a name is being introduced. It will be beneficial for one to repeat the name over and over again for a few times to lock the memory firmly in the human brain. If one forgets, simply ask for the name from that person again and repeat the steps.

There are times when verbalized repeating of names is just inadequate enough to remember. Do ask for a name card from the person or write down the name on a piece of paper three times. This method is to memorize names by visualizing pictures. It must be done as soon as possible after meeting the person.

One of the fascinating methods is to remember the names of persons by drawing a connection with the person's hobby or employment. For example, John the nurse, Mary the butcher, Joan the chef etc. It will help tremendously in reinforcing memory.

Writing down names, by far, is one of the most effective methods of remembering names, especially in a social gathering. It is an extremely successful method that does not require a lot of effort from a person. All one needs is a personal diary/notebook, pen and a name card holder. Using mnemonic devices and strategies can help in boosting memory and expanding one's mind capacity in remembering additional information.

It pays to connect names with common words that can help one to form a distinctive linkage. For example, Cherie for cherry, Bill for pills, Candace for candy etc. This will significantly enhance a person's ability to remember people's names better.

Forgetting a person's name not only embarrass but will make one cringe standing next to the person and drawing a blank look on the face. Many business plans, romantic dates and even friendships foiled because of the inability to recall names. Thus, such mistakes in a face-to -face situation can set one apart. Single syllable American names, for example, Bill, Jack, Ken, can cause confusion as these names can get blended together in the brains and easily be dismissed.

In a summary, there are tricks in remembering names. In fact, mastering just one or two tricks is already proficient enough to handle most names in one's memory capacity. The problem is that most people tend to be over immersed in themselves when names are being introduced to them. Either one is too obsessed with setting a favorable first impression or simply not paying attention at that moment. When one first hear a new name, he or she will be too emotionally or visually involved in the new person, thinking that this may help in remembering the person's name better. However, this is not true. A person's mind floats away at that crucial moment will find it extremely difficult to recall the name even seconds later. Therefore, it pays to master the tricks to safeguard one's interests.

Here is a most heard slogan given by students is “I can't concentrate as my mind diverge when I try to study." As we came to hear from frequent college students that they have lack of concentration and their minds go in other world of fantasy while studying. This lack of concentration is mostly found only during studies whereas they easily concentrate on other types of chore like: playing your piano or guitar, studying any romantic novels, or in any movie. In these types of activities we have our full concentration.

Sometimes your thoughts are scattered, and your mind is clashing from one thing to another. At that point you need to concentrate on your weak point and overcome them. Here are points to overcome your drawbacks.

• Learning mental self regulation.
• Arranging factors that you can immediately control.

Training Your Wandering Mind: Learning Mental Self-Regulation for Improved Concentration

The great skill to concentrate is a learning point. It is necessary to have enough practice whether it is about dancing, writing and typing. Do not distract these plans with medicine. For example, when you are having pain you take a medicine for relief; it acts on the body without any harm.

Concentration procedures require practice. Apparently you will notice a great change in your concentration within six to seven weeks and you surely love the way of your concentration. You should practice the following techniques as below:

• Be here now.
• The spider technique.
• Worry time.

If these plans are not working on your mind then you can choose other mental tasks of concentration, try to use them for two-three days if you find any improvement than use another valuable concentrations.

Be Here Now

This acutely simple plan is apparently the most persuasive. When you observe your thoughts wandering in off path, just say to yourself “Be here now” then blandly come back to your task. Gradually do this hundreds of times a week. Afterwards you will find a gradual decrease in divergence in some days. Be patient in your chore and keep at it, and soon you'll see some improvement in your concentration problems.

The Spider Technique

Here is another plan that sounds cleverly simple and skillful. But it is the base for concentration because it helps you to look after your concentration and not give it in drawn abilities. Here is an example which helps you to concentrate on your task: “if someone enters your room, calm your mind and do not indulge yourself with them, keep doing what you are upto.” In that way you will not lose your concentration.

Worry or Think Time

Manage your chore with some important points do not overcome your mind with lots of work which disturb your mind, and that destructive points must be keep aside.
Main points to get on are:

• Set a specific time each day for your time.
• Let the thought go, perhaps with "Be here now".
• When you become aware of a distracting thought, remind yourself that you have a special time to think about them.

Diana Sawyer, a famous TV newscaster, was asked about the secret of her success and in reply she said that the one thing that she had learnt in her life is that there is no surrogate of paying concentration.

Here are five points through which you can FOCUS on your work regardless of the place where you are sitting or working.

F=Five More Rules to Improve your Concentration

The world consists of two kinds of people one those who work under frustration and the others are those who want to work under frustration. But for the time being we will consider that you are stuck in the middle of a work and you want to give it up. At that time, think only about one thing that just 5 more whether it is 5 more pages of a novel or a book, or 5 more problems of mathematics or any other task.

In every field of life you have to get this rule of 5 more minutes whether it is a student life or an athlete or any other occupation. Athletes increase their physical stamina by crossing the point of fatigue in the same way you can amplify your mental resistance by crossing your aggravation point.

O=One Thing at a time

According to Samuel Goldwyn he only seems confused when he is thinking. It’s all because when you are performing assorted tasks at a time, you are not able to give attention to a single task and you get puzzled and are also not able to concentrate on a single thing. So it is better that you act upon a single task at a time and give it a starting and ending point too.

You must queue your tasks according to their priority and than start performing them. The most important one should be done first and then so on.

C= Defeat Procrastination

Procrastination is basically delaying your work without any reason. R.D. Clyde once said that it is amazing that we want to know that when a task will be completed while we are not working on it.

If you delay a work without any reason than it is only your laziness and you are increasing the burden of your work, as if you will not complete it how is it possible that it will be completed by its own.

So, the next time whenever you are thinking of delaying something keeps 3 questions in your mind: 1. Do I have to postpone it? 2. The next time when I will be doing it will it be easier? 3. Do I want it to be completed as soon as possible so that it is no more on my nerves?

U= Use Your Hands as Your Blinkers

We can actually do a number of things at a time liking driving a car and at the same time talking to a friend. But at the time of our study we need to completely concentrate on our text book rather than the surrounding area. So the best thing for doing this is just make the cups of your hands and place it around your eyes, by doing this you will have a tunnel look and all the other visions will be blocked and your eyes will be on the text book. This will block the other visions and you will not ponder about them.

S= See as if for the First or the Last Time

If you are sitting at a place and your mind is not present there than just simply look around the room keenly and focus on the things. After a while you will realize that you are seeing this thing for a very first time in your life.

And keenly look at your loved ones whom you always take for granted. This will Velveteen Rabbit the world around you and will come to life in your mind.

There are the famous world renowned psychics we all know of. Elizabeth Baron is one of the world’s most celebrated psychics and mediums. Abby Haydon has helped many groups of people throughout the world develop their own psychic abilities as well as perform accurate readings. Gordon Smith is a famous psychic who speaks to the dead. So you want to do the same? Perhaps you don’t care so much about speaking to the dead but just want the gift of reading auras, chakras or tarot cards for your friends and family. Maybe you want to heighten your intuitive sense so that you yourself can become a medium. It’s possible for each and every one of us to achieve that, and the power lies completely within.

First, it’s important to be clear on what psychic ability is. If you are a beginner to the psychic world, you may be unaware that psychics are not simply gypsy looking folks who sit on a cloth covered table with a crystal ball and predict the future. Psychics are not “magical or mystical” superheros. They are normal and healthy individuals who have perfected their gift, whether there were born with a heightened sense or have simply worked hard to perfect their gift. Sylvia Brown is a famous psychic who has become famous for her ability to communicate with the dead, make accurate predictions on the world’s future and is one of the most gifted contemporary psychics of this time. She and many other psychics have used their gift to help solve murders, catch runaways and contribute their good to thousands of people all over the world.

If you wanted to increase your intuitive ability(which is really just a skill of heightened senses in an individual) you would have to devote yourself to total trust and confidence. In the same way, this is a crucial step for developing a finely tuned psychic gift as well. Since we all have the ability to be clairvoyant, it is just our current state of mind that is preventing us from reaching the level of accuracy and focus we need to be psychic. Psychic ability requires depending on yourself – and yourself first and foremost – and at the same time learning to weed out those other voices in your head. Confused? If you think about all of your obligations in your daily life such as work, running errands, your relationships with a spouse, partner and children, you have a lot going on. Most likely, you experience constant noise such as self-judgments or the judgments of others; negative emotions during times of challenge and other’s opinions that can easily effect your decision making process. This must be eliminated, as psychics need a focused and clear space to receive information.

As we all have the power and gift of becoming psychic and fine tuning our psychic ability, some helpful tips to heighten our awareness, improve our receptiveness and outlined here. Use excellent judgment, be cautious before acting on any decision or feeling and always trust in yourself more than the outside world’s judgment of you. Soon, you will begin to have images, feelings or words come into your mind and find them to prove true moments or days later. For example, have you ever thought about distant relative just seconds before the phone rings, and it’s that very person? Your psychic ability can be quickly heightened when you acknowledge the ability itself. So, when the phone rings and you know who it is right before you answer the phone, acknowledge that. Consider creating a mantra for yourself and repeat it throughout the day reminding yourself of your psychic abilities and how beneficial they are working in your life.

It’s important to constantly practice the gift you have been given. Don’t just repeat your mantra every once in a while or believe in your ability to “sometimes” tell the future. Your psychic ability needs to be strengthened in the same way your muscles need to be strengthened by lifting weights. If you want to have bigger biceps, more toned legs or improve your endurance, are you going to sit on the couch eating potato chips or go the gym? No one in their right mind will believe you can improve your endurance by sitting and watching TV all day. Your psychic muscle requires constant strengthening in the same way those biceps of yours too. Practice, practice, practice and you will be able to create the type of clairvoyant life you dream of. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t quite “measure” your progress. Improving your psychic powers can’t be determined in the same way other things can, like making your first cherry pie from scratch or acing that math test. This is when it’s most useful to practice trust and self-confidence. Only you know where you started, what you’ve accomplished and how far you need to go to make your dreams come true, right? Stay focused on that and allow yourself the time to improve.

A strong psychic ability requires the opportunity to strengthen your focus, determination and concentration. This can easily be done by some exercises to aid you in your psychic powers. After practicing these exercises on a weekly basis, you should have no trouble seeing and feeling the difference in your life to be clairvoyant! This first exercise involves using your “inner eye” and requires a partner to help you. Stand face to face with someone else and close your eyes. Use your inner eye to scan them up and down. Taking your time, realize what you feel about them. What do their clothes look like? What kind of images, words or numbers come up as you look them up and down and where? Afterwards, open your eyes and describe what you felt. Have the other person describe your accuracy.
You can also practice predictions and improve your ability to foretell the future. Stand or sit comfortably, with your feet firmly planted on the ground and write down three predictions for the next few days. As you go through those days, notice what you have perceived to be right and wrong. You will notice that over time, your predictions to become truer and more relevant.

WASHINGTON (AP) —

Researchers have uncovered a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer's disease.

The brains of people with the memory-robbing form of dementia are cluttered with a plaque made up of beta-amyloid, a sticky protein. But there long has been a question whether this is a cause of the disease or a side effect. Also involved are tangles of a protein called tau; some scientists suspect this is the cause.

Now, researchers have caused Alzheimer's symptoms in rats by injecting them with one particular form of beta-amyloid. Injections with other forms of beta-amyloid did not cause illness, which may explain why some people have beta-amyloid plaque in their brains but do not show disease symptoms.

The findings by a team led by Dr. Ganesh M. Shankar and Dr. Dennis J. Selkoe of Harvard Medical School were reported in Sunday's online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

The researchers used extracts from the brains of people who donated their bodies to medicine.

Forms of soluble beta-amyloid containing different numbers of molecules, as well as insoluble cores of the brain plaque, were injected into the brains of mice. There was no detectable effect from the insoluble plaque or the soluble one-molecule or three-molecule forms, the researchers found.

But the two-molecule form of soluble beta-amyloid produced characteristics of Alzheimer's in the rats, they reported.

Those rats had impaired memory function, especially for newly learned behaviors. When the mouse brains were inspected, the density brain cells was reduced by 47% with the beta-amyloid seeming to affect synapses, the connections between cells that are essential for communication between them.

The research, for the first time, showed the effect of a particular type of beta-amyloid in the brain, said Dr. Marcelle Morrison-Bogorad, director of the division of neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the research.

It was surprising that only one of the three types had an effect, she said in a telephone interview.

Morrison-Bogorad said the findings may help explain the discovery of plaque in the brains of people who do not develop dementia. For some time, doctors have wondered why they find some brains in autopsy that are heavily coated with beta-amyloid, but the person did not have Alzheimer's.

The answer may lie in the two types of beta-amyloid that did not cause symptoms.

Now, the question is why one has the damaging effect and not others.

"A lot of work needs to be done," Morrison-Bogorad said. "Nature keeps sending us down paths that look straight at the beginning, but there are a lot of curves before we get to the end."

Dr. Richard J. Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, said that "while more research is needed to replicate and extend these findings, this study has put yet one more piece into place in the puzzle that is Alzheimer's."

In addition to the Institute on Aging, the research was funded by Science Foundation Ireland, Wellcome Trust, the McKnight and Ellison foundations and the Lefler Small Grant Fund.

___________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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A Shocking Harvard Study Proved That Almost All Children Are Born With Extraordinary Levels of Multiple Intelligences, But Only 2% Retain Their Talents Into Adulthood

How Convinced Are You That Your Child Is Not One of The 98% of Children Missing Out On His Extraordinary Potential?

I want to tell you a story, a true story of two children who grew up to be happy and successful in life. One is a photographer, the other a musician.

They are very much alike, these men. They are both living their dreams. Both are enjoying life to the fullest. And they are both receiving recognition for their wonderful creative expressions.

But there was a difference. One man took 80 years to achieve his dream. The other took just 20 years.

What Made The Difference?

Have you ever wondered, as have I, what makes some people able to achieve the success of their dreams and find their life purpose at such a young age? Have you always wanted to know how they did it, not so much for yourself, but even more for your children to have the life of opportunities you never had?

Well, let me tell you that it isn't always talent, opportunity or hard work that makes the difference. Nor is it that one person harbors dreams and the other doesn't.

The difference lies in the personl growing years and the freedom he was given to retain and maximize his natural talents, intelligence and intuition. Without this nurtured freedom, a child would otherwise be confined, only to spend a lifetime searching and struggling to regain that magic.

Trust me, I know

I am that 80+ year old man, and the 20-year-old musician is my grandson. Only at the age of of 78 did I start photography, and at the age of 80 my work was recognized by the International Photography Hall of Fame.

It was a great achievement at my age yet at the same time, I saw my grandson, Shawn, living his musician dreams at an age when I was still naive in my direction. In just his early twenties, Shawn was already composing, singing and performing songs with his band, earning an Inland Empire Music Awards nomination for Best Indie Rock Group and Best Live Act, all while completing his college degree.

What was Shawn secret to utilizing his full potential, living his dreams and finding his life purpose at such an early age? How did he accomplish this feat four times faster than I did?

My 50 Year Journey To Reawaken My Inner Magic

Many people are surprised to know I only started photography at the age of 78. Many are even more surprised that I also started writing and painting at this age.

It was something I never had the talent for (or at least that's what I thought)... but with my mastery of mind power techniques, I found a way to tap into and reawaken an inner magic that unleashed a creative expression I never thought I had it in me.

It was a long journey, but my experience enabled me to develop specific techniques and mental conditioning exercises. Once I saw for myself this true power of the mind, it became my mission to help others tap into the latent power of their mind and unleash their true inner magic.

The Right Intervention at the Right Time

Today at over 80 years old, I prefer to stay home, but I've been able to unleash my teachings to the entire world through the Internet. I now have a membership list of over 70,000 from my site called The American Monk, and through this I've reached out and transformed the lives of more people than I ever imagined possible with my teachings.

Today, looking back upon my experience, I noticed one prominent pattern. All the adults whom I've helped throughout my travels over the past 50 years were all natural geniuses that lost it somewhere, and they turned to me to help them regain the inner magic of their mind.

They too knew that they were more capable than what life currently holds for them. They too held the belief that the mind is the most powerful tool one can master. And just like me, they too were looking for the key to unlock their talents and excel in life.

But one day it dawned upon me what I should have realized a long time ago.

If the adults I was helping hadn't lost their genius in the first place, would they be needing my help as adults to reawaken that inner magic?

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

Wouldn't it then make more sense for an earlier interventional to reach out to people when they are younger to reach out to children?

It's all about the RIGHT intervention at the RIGHT time, isn't it?

Upon realizing this, I shifted my efforts to focus on children. I started to do some research. And I came across a shocking study.

Shocking Harvard Study Shows That Between Age 4 and Age 20, 98% Will Lose Their Capabilities for Genius That They Were Naturally Born With

I came across a Harvard study led by Howard Gardner, the professor that revolutionized our understanding of intelligence by being the first to define intelligence into seven different dimensions.

Leading a research group at Harvard called Project Zero, Howard Gardner made another discovery that shook the ground of psychology.

They proved that almost every child is born with genius! But after the age of 20, only a mere 2% retain their talents. 98% LOSE THEIR POTENTIAL.

I call this sad phenomena the Genius Dip.

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

What is going on? Why does this Genius Dip happen?

SOMETHING happens during upbringing that causes 98% of children to have these abilities ERASED from their mind.

It can't be genetic. Not when almost every child is born a genius. So if nature is not the answer, the only logical conclusion left is nurture.

But what? I asked myself the same question and after some investigation and research, the results both shocked and disappointed me.

Now please don't get me wrong. I don't want to sound like I'm against education, because I'm not. In fact, two of my daughters are school teachers and I'm proud of the work they do. Education is essential and important.

But there are shortcomings of the mass education system that you have to know otherwise you too will be lulled into thinking that mass cookie-cutter school systems are enough to develop your child into a successful well-balanced adult.

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

The Shortcomings of the Education System

Yes, while it is essential for your child to be in school, your children are going to need more than that in the world to come. They are going to need more than historical facts, geographic locations, mathematical ability, musical skills and the likes.

Those things are important BUT they will also need to know how to understand the world how to communicate and interconnect with others how to visualize goals and attract success. And in the bigger picture, how to tap into intuition, fulfill their life purpose and leave behind a mark in their world.

But all of that… they don't learn in school.

You can't blame the system though. It's unfortunately an inevitable shortcoming of any mass system. The old-fashioned cookie cutter method of mass education destroys any chance of meeting each individual child's needs of creative nurturing.

The Genius Dip: Why Children Are Losing their Genius Potential and What You Can Do to Help Your Child

Are you one of those people that see genius as an equal? Do you still believe that a person is either born with intelligence, or they're not? Do you still believe in the old-fashioned myth that intelligence is inherited?

Could you be one of the parents unknowingly holding back your own child's genius because you are stuck with this old-programming belief that genius is only exclusive to the a few?

Because you truly care about the most important asset of out future of our CHILDREN I'm going to share with you the most crucial discoveries that I've made in my 50 years of collected knowledge of the minds power and potential.

Here's what I'm going to share with you in my report:

• How to unleash the hidden abilities of the mind at ANY age
• The Harvard study discovery that will forever change how you see the minds potential
• The ugly truth about Americans No Child Left Behind campaign and how it is the worst disaster any government ever inflicted upon children
• The crucial elements you must understand to IMMEDIATELY save your child's genius capability from the shocking factors the education system refuses to acknowledge
• Learn the One-Two-Three punch combo that is the sure-fire way to reawakening genius
• How to give your child boosted self esteem and confidence to achieve success in all walks of their present and future life

Click Here To Get Your Free Copy of The Genius Dip Report >>

Hear it personally from the legendary Major Ed Dames.

Here is an opportunity to hear Ed Dames pour his heart out as he shares his life, his experiences and his adventures.

Pick his brains and discover what this man -the face of Remote Viewing --REALLY has to say.

If you like to get your information from 'the source'...

...today is your lucky day!

Click HERE

to get FREE access to

Major Ed Dame's exclusive interview.

Inside, Ed Dames reveals...

• The REAL reason the U.S. government ended the controversial Remote Viewing Research Project, and what members of congress were afraid of
• “The Cold War beneath the Cold War” — Insights that Major Ed Dames and his team gained when spying upon the Soviets during the Cold War, and what the Soviet psychic team knew about them
• How anyone can learn remote viewing and use it to do absolutely anything – including diagnosing medical conditions that no physician can detect and solving “cold case” crimes
• How remote viewing can be used to make money by accurately pinpointing the location of gold and predict the movement of stock markets
• The impending global pandemic that is dawning quickly upon humanity that you MUST know about and prepare for
• And SO much more...

It's as good as asking him face to face. Get yours now.

“You Asked the Question So Be Prepared For The Answer… How Much Are You Willing to Open Your Mind?”

~ Ed Dames

Sit down, relax, take a deep breath or two, and listen to the stories that will change your life forever...

Get Your Exclusive Interview Here NOW...

Enjoy!

PS. You can also visit the Learn Remote Viewing Blog by clicking here.

Scientists discover way to reverse loss of memory

Scientists performing experimental brain surgery on a man aged 50 have stumbled across a mechanism that could unlock how memory works.

The accidental breakthrough came during an experiment originally intended to suppress the obese man's appetite, using the increasingly successful technique of deep-brain stimulation. Electrodes were pushed into the man's brain and stimulated with an electric current. Instead of losing appetite, the patient instead had an intense experience of déjà vu. He recalled, in intricate detail, a scene from 30 years earlier. More tests showed his ability to learn was dramatically improved when the current was switched on and his brain stimulated.

Scientists are now applying the technique in the first trial of the treatment in patients with Alzheimer's disease. If successful, it could offer hope to sufferers from the degenerative condition, which affects 450,000 people in Britain alone, by providing a "pacemaker" for the brain.

Three patients have been treated and initial results are promising, according to Andres Lozano, a professor of neurosurgery at the Toronto Western Hospital, Ontario, who is leading the research.

Professor Lozano said: "This is the first time that anyone has had electrodes implanted in the brain which have been shown to improve memory. We are driving the activity of the brain by increasing its sensitivity – turning up the volume of the memory circuits. Any event that involves the memory circuits is more likely to be stored and retained."

The discovery had caught him and his team "completely by surprise", Professor Lozano said. They had been operating on the man, who weighed 190kg (30st), to treat his obesity by locating the point in his brain that controls appetite. All other attempts to curb his eating had failed and brain surgery was the last resort.

The treatment for obesity was unsuccessful. But, while the researchers were identifying potential appetite suppressant points in the hypothalamus, the part of the brain associated with hunger, the man suddenly began to say that memory was flooding back.

"He reported the experience of being in a park with friends from when he was around 20 years old and, as the intensity of stimulation increased, the details became more vivid. He recognised his girlfriend [from the time] ... The scene was in colour. People were wearing identifiable clothes and were talking, but he could not decipher what they were saying," the researchers write in Annals of Neurology, published today.

The man, who has not been identified, was also tested on his ability to learn lists of paired objects. After three weeks of continuous hypothalamic stimulation, his performance on two learning tests was significantly improved. He was also much more likely to remember a list of unrelated paired objects with the electrodes turned on than when turned off.

Speaking to The Independent yesterday, Professor Lozano said: "His performance improved dramatically. As we turned the current up, we first drove his memory circuits and improved his learning. As we increased the intensity of the current, we got spontaneous memories of discrete events. At a certain intensity, he would slash to the scene [in the park]. When the intensity was increased further, he got more detail but, when the current was turned off, it rapidly decayed."

The discovery surprised the scientists as the hypothalamus has not usually been identified as a seat of memory. The contacts that most readily produced the memories were located close to a structure called the fornix, an arched bundle of fibres that carries signals within the limbic system, which is involved in memory and emotions and is situated next to the hypothalamus.

Professor Lozano is a world authority on deep-brain stimulation who has undertaken 400 operations on Parkinson's disease sufferers and is developing the technique as a treatment for depression, for which he has performed 28 operations. He said the discovery of its role in stimulating memory had wide implications.

"It gives us insight into which brain structures are involved in memory. It gives us a means of intervening in the way we have already done in Parkinson's and for mood disorders such as depression, and it may have therapeutic benefit in people with memory problems," he said.

The researchers are testing the approach in six Alzheimer's patients in a Phase 1 safety study. Three have so far had electrodes surgically implanted. The electrodes are attached via a cable that runs below the skull and down the neck to a battery pack stitched under the skin of the chest. The "pacemaker" delivers a constant low-level current that stimulates the brain but cannot be perceived by the patient.

Professor Lozano said: "It is the same device as is used for Parkinson's disease. We have placed the electrodes in exactly the same area of the hypothalamus because we want to see if we can reproduce the findings in the earlier experiment. We believe the memory circuits we are stimulating are close by, physically touching the hypothalamus.

"It is a very effective treatment for the motor problems associated with Parkinson's disease and it has been used on 40,000 people. We are in the early stages of using it with Alzheimer's patients and we don't know if it will work. We want to assess if we can reach the memory circuits and drive improvement. It is a novel approach to dealing with this problem."

British researchers welcomed the discovery. Andrea Malizia, a senior lecturer in psychopharmacology at the University of Bristol who is studying deep-brain stimulation as a treatment for depression, said: "If they had said let's stick an electrode in the hypothalamus to modify Alzheimer's disease, I would have said 'Why start there?' But, if they have had a serendipitous finding, then that is as good. Serendipitous findings are how a lot of discoveries in science have been made."

Ayesha Khan, a scientific liaison officer at the Alzheimer's Disease Society, said: "This is very cutting-edge research. It is exciting, but the initial result is in one person. It will need much further investigation."

How deep-brain stimulation works

Deep -brain stimulation has been used for more than a decade to treat a range of conditions including depression, chronic pain, Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders.

It has been so successful in treating Parkinson's that 40,000 patients worldwide now have electrodes implanted in their brains driven by pacemakers stitched into their chests.

As the devices become smaller, requiring less risky surgery, and the target areas of the brain requiring stimulation are more precisely identified, demand for the treatment is expected to leap. Although it is expensive, the potential savings in care and treatment costs are immense. It does not lead to dependence on drugs and is reversible.

The electrodes are implanted under local anaesthesia while the patient is awake. Before the operation, the neurosurgeon performs an MRI scan and establishes the target location for the electrodes. He then carries out a craniotomy – lifting a section of the skull – and inserts the electrodes and leads. By stimulating the electrodes and checking the patient's response, the surgeon can check that they are positioned in the right place.

Different areas of the brain are targeted for different conditions. For Parkinson's disease, they are placed in the subthalamic nucleus; for depression, in area 25 of the cingulate cortex.

Deep-brain stimulation was developed in France and first licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in the US in 1997 as a treatment for tremor. In the UK, the surgery is performed at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, in Bristol, in Oxford and at a handful of other centres.

The name of the procedure is in some ways a misnomer as it often involves inhibiting electrical activity in an area of the brain rather than stimulating it. The technique is as much about restoring balance between competing brain areas which leads to the tremor characteristic of some types of Parkinson's disease.

(Source)

Scientific Researchers are finding - and seeking to replicate - areas of brain stimulation common across all spiritual and faith-based experiences.

Is communion with your God or Spirit merely a figment of your imagination? Or does it make sense that spiritual experiences stimulate specific areas of the brain? This is the question researchers are trying to answer as they study devout worshippers of different faiths, measuring their brain activity as they meditate, pray, or recall powerful experiences.

While interpretation could go either way towards proving or disproving the existence of a higher power, it is logical that a Buddhist in meditation has an active right prefrontal cortex (responsible for attention and planning), given the meditative requirements of intensely focusing on one thought or object. And on the same coin, who'd argue the merits of nuns experiencing an activated caudate nucleus, common when experiencing feelings of love - coinciding with reported feelings of "unconditional love" while in prayer.

So, is science or faith the real player here?

Maybe it's both:

Moreover, no matter what neural correlates scientists may find, the results cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. Although atheists might argue that finding spirituality in the brain implies that religion is nothing more than divine delusion, the nuns were thrilled by their brain scans for precisely the opposite reason: they seemed to provide confirmation of God’s interactions with them.

Either way, mastering the replication techniques described here could provide vast benefits for the general public, like improving immune systems, decreased depression, or just a more happy, healthy person. Faith and Science... maybe they CAN get along.

Scientific American::Searching for God in the Brain

The Top Productivity Blogs Collected by Social Rankings!

An incredible new website, Productivity Zen, identifies the top 15 productivity stories and blogs of the day by monitoring the buzz of the productivity blog community.

The developers of the site use a software called SocialRank to monitor each of the best productivity sites and determine the day's hottest articles and bloggers in the field.

According to the SocialRank team:

This is done by analyzing how sites and users link, connect, and discuss each other's content. Add a touch of math and what we have is a powerful filter into the hottest stories of the day.

Now you can find better productivity stories, learn more, and get updated... much faster and easier than before.

So far great sites like Zen Habits, Life Optimizer, Matt Idea, and Lifehack have been showing up on the top rankings for the site. But also some new faces that I urge all your productivity junkies to go check out!

It's so nice to be able to find stuff from within the longtail without having to deal with the complications of technorati and the sheer bias some some social networking sites.

Want to know more about these great sites? Visit the links below:

SocialRank
Productivity Zen