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Concert violinist plays his instrument during BRAIN SURGERY to help doctors locate the exact spot
A concert violinist diagnosed with a tremor was able to help surgeons locate the exact spot in his brain to place an implant by playing his instrument during the operation.
Roger Frisch, a concert master with the Minnesota Orchestra, was diagnosed in 2009 with essential tremors, a condition that occurs when sections of the brain that control movement start sending abnormal signals.
Frisch’s condition was so mild that in many other line of work he might have been able to ignore it, but as a concert violinist it threatened his career.
Roger Frisch, a concert master with the Minnesota Orchestra, was diagnosed in 2009 with essential tremors, a condition that occurs when sections of the brain that control movement start sending abnormal signals.
It took doctors a couple of years to determine Frisch's diagnosis and then or him to agree to the still experimental Deep Brain Stimulation procedure surgery.
The surgery involved a tiny electrode being implanted into his brain, which doctors assured Frisch would enable him to control the condition at the flick of a switch.
In order for the electrode to work, it had to be implanted in exactly the right position, reports EverydayHealth.
Because surgeons can operate on the brain without the patient feeling pain, it enables them to see in real time if and how the tremor is responding as they place the electrode.
Frisch's tremor was so mild that in many other lines of work he might have been able to ignore it, but as a concert violinist it threatened his career
Frisch now carries a device which allows him to turn his tremor off and on with the push of a button that controls the stimulator
Frisch’s tremor was so mild, however, that his surgeon was worried he would not be able to tell whether the electrode had been properly placed.
Doctors then came up with the ingenious idea of using Frisch's violin bow to help determine where his tremor was.
An accelerometer was place on the end of Frisch’s bow which translated his tremor into a graph on a computer screen that surgeons could watch. So while surgeons fitted the electrodes, he played his violin.
Frisch underwent the operation in the Spring and since then he has resumed his position as Associate Concertmaster with the Minnesota Orchestra.
He now carries a small device which allows him to turn his tremor off and on with the push of a button that controls the stimulator.
Three weeks after brain surgery he was able to play in a full-length sextet performance and a week after that he was performing again with the orchestra.
He told String Visions that the tremor is now 'nonexistent.'
Video: Violinists plays on during brain surgery
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2721342/Concert-violinist-diagnosed-tremor-plays-career-saving-brain-operation-help-surgeons-locate-exact-spot-fit-implant.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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