Mehr als ein halbes Jahrzehnt ist vergangen, seit wir den ersten Vielight Neuro auf den Markt gebracht haben, und es ist an der Zeit, die Gründe für sein Design zu überprüfen und zu bekräftigen. Als Pioniere der transkraniell-intranasalen Hirnphotobiomodulationstechnologie gibt es mehrere wichtige Gründe, warum unser neuestes Modell, das Vielight Neuro 3, in der Lage ist, auch in absehbarer Zukunft die höchste Wirksamkeit in Verbindung mit einem benutzerfreundlichen Design zu einem erschwinglichen Preis zu bieten.

• Der intranasale Vorteil
• Die Wahl: Vielight Neuro Headset oder wiederverwendete Helme?
• Ausrichtung auf das Standardmodusnetz
• Die Theorie hinter den Pulsraten
• Validierung durch Forschung

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Der intranasale Vorteil

“Warum die Nase?” – Diesen Satz haben wir schon viel zu oft gehört.

Wir haben die Nase wegen ihrer Lage und Struktur ausgewählt. Die Nase ist ein Einfallstor für die 810nm-Lichtenergie im nahen Infrarot (NIR), um den ventralen Bereich (Unterseite) des Gehirns zu erreichen, der sonst unzugänglich wäre. Die Regionen des Gehirns, die sich auf der Unterseite des Gehirns befinden, spielen eine wichtige Rolle bei emotionalen Reaktionen, Entscheidungsfindung und Selbstkontrolle. Darüber hinaus ist der nasale (olfaktorische) Bereich direkt mit der Gedächtnisverarbeitung (Hippocampus, entorhinaler Kortex) und der Emotionssteuerung (Amygdala) verbunden und ermöglicht den Zugang zu anderen Bereichen des Gehirns (Thalamus).

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Die Wahl: Vielight Neuro Headset oder wiederverwendete Helme?

Es mag verlockend sein, einen Fahrradhelm, einen Hut oder einen Eimer zu nehmen, ihn mit LEDs zu bestücken und ihn ein “Photobiomodulationsgerät für das Gehirn” zu nennen.
Aber haben Sie schon einmal darüber nachgedacht, ob sie wirksam sind?

Nach einem Jahrzehnt Erfahrung als eines der ersten Unternehmen im Bereich der Photobiomodulation des Gehirns haben wir gelernt, dass eine effektive Photobiomodulation des Gehirns nicht so einfach ist. Vor allem, wenn wir ein Gerät anbieten wollen, das auf sichere Weise ein Maximum an Licht in das Gehirn leitet.

Als forschungsorientiertes Unternehmen haben wir festgestellt, dass bei der Maximierung der Wirksamkeit der Photobiomodulation des Gehirns mehrere Schlüsselfaktoren ins Spiel kommen.

     1. Übertragung von NIR-Lichtenergie

NIR-Lichtenergie ist eine Form der elektromagnetischen Strahlung, die aus Teilchen wie Photonen besteht, die wellenartige Eigenschaften haben.

In der Natur kann Lichtenergie die Zellphysiologie eines Organismus beeinflussen, aber wie bringen wir sie richtig an?

Mehrere Eigenschaften der Lichtenergie beeinflussen die Übertragung von NIR-Energie auf das Gehirn.

• Die Lichtenergie wird bei der Ausbreitung über Entfernungen schwächer, weil die inverse square law of light.  
• Lichtenergie wird vom Haar absorbiert.

Angesichts dieser beiden Faktoren sind Helme/Hüte usw. nicht ideal für die Photobiomodulation des Gehirns. Zusätzlich zu dem Energieverlust, der entsteht, wenn das Licht aus dem Helm/der Mütze/dem Hut usw. austritt, werden die Haare zu einer Hemmschwelle, da sie das Restlicht absorbieren, da die schwebenden LEDs keinen Kontakt mit der Haut haben.

Zweitens ist die Positionierung der LEDs für die Wirksamkeit entscheidend. Die LEDs müssen in den Bereichen des Gehirns positioniert werden, die am stärksten betroffen sind. Die Qualität der ausgewählten Stellen in Verbindung mit Leistung und Frequenz ist wichtiger als die bloße Anzahl der wahllos platzierten LEDs, die zu weit von der Kopfhaut entfernt sind.

Schlimmer noch, sie erzeugen und speichern unbrauchbare/unregulierte Wärme und beeinträchtigen den Komfort und die Tragbarkeit, da sie an Steckdosen angeschlossen werden müssen.

Und schließlich fehlt es den “Einheitsgrößen”-Designs an der Anpassungsfähigkeit an unterschiedliche Kopfgrößen. Igitt!

Geben Sie den Neuro

Figure 1. Penetration of NIR energy into a human cadaver using the Vielight Neuro.

Das Vielight Neuro ist für eine maximale Übertragung der Lichtenergie ausgelegt.

Das Headset der Neuro hat einen angeborenen Designvorteil, da die LED-Module der Neuro so konzipiert wurden, dass sie den Kontakt mit der Kopfhaut maximieren. Die mikrochip-gesteuerten LED-Module kontrollieren auch die Wärmeleistung,

Außerdem ist das Neuro-Headset so konzipiert, dass es sich an verschiedene Kopfgrößen und -formen anpassen lässt. Komfort und Effektivität für Ihr wichtigstes Organ – Ihr Gehirn.

     2. LED-Technologie

Ein berühmter Küchenchef sagte einmal: “Es ist ganz einfach: Gute Zutaten ergeben ein gutes Essen. Eine weitere wichtige Zutat (oder ein Faktor) bei der Photobiomodulation des Gehirns ist die Art der verwendeten LED-Technologie. Das Vielight Neuro verwendet mikrochip-geregelte LED-Dioden, die die gewünschte Leistung bei vernachlässigbarer Wärme erzeugen. Dadurch können die LEDs in direktem Kontakt mit der Kopfhautoberfläche stehen, um die Energieübertragung und -durchdringung zu maximieren.

Andererseits ist die Verwendung zahlreicher minderwertiger LEDs kein “Rezept für eine Katastrophe”, sondern für einen Misserfolg, da sie das Fehlen einer Wärmeregulierungstechnologie häufig durch eine geringere Leistungsdichte kompensieren. Bei Vielight kann unsere proprietäre LED-Technologie so viel Energie wie nötig innerhalb sicherer und effizienter Grenzen extrahieren.

     3. Sind mehr LEDs besser?

Nicht unbedingt – erstens müssen die LEDs genügend Energie mit der richtigen Wellenlänge erzeugen, um den Schädel zu durchdringen. Es ist wenig sinnvoll, eine hohe Gesamtleistung zu erzeugen, wenn nichts davon das Gehirn erreicht.

Als Verbraucher sollten Sie sich immer über den Unterschied zwischen Leistungsdichte (mW/cm2) und Gesamtleistung (mW) im Klaren sein. Die Leistungsdichte ist wichtig, nicht die Gesamtleistungsabgabe. Leistungsdichte und Wellenlänge (810 nm) sind die beiden wichtigsten Faktoren, die bestimmen, ob Photonen den Schädel durchdringen und das Gehirn erreichen. Die Gesamtausgangsleistung kann eine irreführende Angabe sein, da sie leicht durch die Verwendung vieler LEDs mit geringer Leistung und schlechter Qualität erreicht werden kann.

Das Sprichwort “Qualität vor Quantität” trifft hier zu!

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Ausrichtung auf das Standardmodusnetz

There are approximately 86 billion neurons in the human brain. That’s a lot of neurons. For reference, there are approximately 200-400 billon stars in our galaxy.  Neurons are highly interconnected – our brain stimulation optimization theory is to pick the most important regions that show the highest interconnectivity. Hence, our research team chose the default mode network (DMN) as the primary target for the Vielight Neuro. Here’s why.

The Vielight Neuro targets the Default Mode Network.

• Why the Default Mode Network?

The general health of the brain is often associated with the health of the default mode network (DMN), often considered the template network of the brain. It is a large-scale brain network primarily composed of the lateral parietal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus and the entorhinal cortex. The DMN is prominent when the brain is in its quiet state of repose.^[1] Several brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease has been associated with dysfunctional DMN.^[2]

In a nutshell, the Default Mode Network (DMN) has been linked to the general health of the brain and is involved in various domains of cognitive and social processing. Do you know of a better target for brain photobiomodulation? If so, let us know.

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The Theory behind Pulse Rates

We have found that the pulse rate matters in brain PBM. The brain responds to pulse rate stimulation in specific ways. When we stimulate a healthy brain in gamma (40 Hz), we can elevate the amplitude of gamma and other fast waves in alpha and beta in the brain while reducing those of the slow delta and theta ^[3]. Independent researchers have found success in the use of the Vielight Neuro Gamma for dementia ^[4] , Parkinson’s Disease ^[5] ; and the Vielight Alpha (10 Hz) in traumatic brain injury ^[6] . However, please note that our devices are still general wellness device and not medical devices. We don’t claim efficacy for any indication and can only point towards research already published with our devices. (https://www.vielight.com/de//research)

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Validation via Research

At Vielight, research is in our DNA. We understand the need to validate the engineering theory behind our devices with scientific data. A simple idea like placing LEDs on your head can turn surprisingly complex when taking different parameters into account, like the pulse rate, wavelength and power density to maximize efficacy.

With that in mind, we’ve invested heavily in research and clinical trials over the years. In fact, Vielight devices have the most published research in the field of brain photobiomodulation to date.

For a full list of published research that used our devices: Link

We’re grateful to all the research institutions we’ve collaborated with over the years and look forward to a bright future of discoveries together.

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References

1. Sormaz, Mladen; Murphy, Charlotte; Wang, Hao-Ting; Hymers, Mark; Karapanagiotidis, Theodoros; Poerio, Giulia; Margulies, Daniel S.; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Smallwood, Jonathan (2018). “Default mode network can support the level of detail in experience during active task states”
2. Buckner, R. L.; Andrews-Hanna, J. R.; Schacter, D. L. (2008). “The Brain’s Default Network: Anatomy, Function, and Relevance to Disease”. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
3. Zomorrodi, R., Loheswaran, G., Pushparaj, A., & Lim, L. (2019). Pulsed Near Infrared Transcranial and Intranasal Photobiomodulation Significantly Modulates Neural Oscillations: a pilot exploratory study. Scientific Reports, 9.
4. Chao LL. Effects of Home Photobiomodulation Treatments on Cognitive and Behavioral Function, Cerebral Perfusion, and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Patients with Dementia: A Pilot Trial. Photobiomodul Photomed Laser Surg. 2019 Mar;37(3):133-141. doi: 10.1089/photob.2018.4555.
5. Liebert A, Bicknell B, Laakso EL, Heller G, Jalilitabaei P, Tilley S, Mitrofanis J, Kiat H. Improvements in clinical signs of Parkinson’s disease using photobiomodulation: a prospective proof-of-concept study. BMC Neurol. 2021 Jul 2;21(1):256. Doi: 10.1186/s12883-021-02248-y.
6. Chao LL, Barlow C, Karimpoor M, Lim L. Changes in Brain Function and Structure After Self-Administered Home Photobiomodulation Treatment in a Concussion Case. Front Neurol. 2020;11:952. Published 2020 Sep 8. doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00952

The post Understanding the Vielight Neuro 3 first appeared on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

The post Understanding the Vielight Neuro 3 appeared first on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

In our attempt to help many interested in the subject of photobiomodulation therapy and the science behind it, we asked two well-respected scientists and researchers to join us. They kindly agreed to participate in a photobiomodulation therapy discussion and even dived into its applications, including transcranial photbiomodulation. They offered their unique takes on this interesting and promising subject matter. To facilitate this discussion, we came up with three very straight-forward questions for them to answer.

Questions:

1: What is photobiomodulation in general, and what is transcranial photobiomodulation specifically?

2: Based on your research work, what do you view as the most promising areas for photobiomodulation applications?

3: Why have you chosen those areas of research, and what could be the potential benefits of photobiomodulation in those areas?

It was our intention to cover the subject of photobiomodulation more holistically and to offer a deeper and wider perspective on it. At the same time we asked our subject matter experts to keep their answers to a more popular format, as much as possible. Thus, the three questions helped us to engage our guests into an intriguing photbiomodulation therapy discussion.

Guests

Our guests for this blog post are Prof. Michael Hamblin, Ph.D and Prof. Jay Sanguinetti, Ph.D. Prof. Hamblin is a retired Principal Investigator at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Associate Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Affiliated Faculty of Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology. Prof. Sanguinetti is Research Assistant Professor and Head of the NICE lab (Non-Invasive Cognitive Enhancement) at the University of New Mexico. Both guests are talented and prolific researchers with impressive resumes and significant accomplishments.

Perhaps, the generational gap is the major difference between these two men of science. Prof. Hamblin has recently retired after a long and prolific career in science, research and teaching. However, he carries on with his research and continues to add more scientific papers to the body of those numerous which he has already published. On the other hand, Prof. Sangunetti belongs to a younger generation. The body of his research work is growing and gaining momentum and attention. Earlier this year, he gave a presentation at the TEDx Talks.

Now that our guests are introduced, let us get to an exciting photobiomodulation therapy discussion and their thoughts on the subject of what photobiomodualtion is, does and could do in the future.

Michael Hamblin 

Michael Hamblin gets the first go at this. In his answers to our three question, Dr. Hamblin offered the following thoughts and insights based on his long and prolific career as a researcher and scientist.

Brief photobiomodulation history and definition

Photobiomodulation is the broad term applied to the therapeutic use of light at wavelengths and power levels that do not cause any damage to the tissue. In actual fact, the therapeutic benefits of light have been recognized for over one hundred years. In the early 1900s after the invention of the electric light bulb, electric light baths became popular to treat a wide range of diseases. Next came heliotherapy or the therapeutic use of sunlight, and clinics were constructed in mountainous areas to expose people to the sun. In the 1960s with the invention of the laser, low-level laser therapy (LLLT) became the next method to apply light to the body. Since the recent availability of LED devices, these have now become the method of choice to apply photobiomodulation. This shift happened due to the LED’s low cost, safety, and suitability for home use.

Due to the optical properties of tissue, red and near-infrared wavelengths are considered to be optimum for penetration into tissue. Nevertheless, blue, green and yellow light are still being investigated. Scientists are actively investigating the mechanisms of action of photobiomodulation at molecular, cellular, and tissue levels and new discoveries are still being made.

Transcranial Photobiomodulation

Transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) describes the application of light to the head for a diverse range of brain disorders. LEDs are often employed to shine light onto the forehead, where there is no hair. Others use lasers because, they claim, they penetrate better through the scalp and skull. One of the hottest areas of debate is to what extent the light needs to penetrate into the actual brain tissue to be effective and to what extent there is a systemic effect based on light absorption by intervening tissues, or, indeed, by the whole body.

Benefits and application of transcranial photobiomodulation

Photobiomdulation for the brain is the most promising area because it could be beneficial for such a wide range of disorders.

Traumatic Brain Damage

The first group is traumatic brain damage. This can be caused by head injuries, strokes, or brain deprivation of oxygen after a heart attack or perinatal difficulties.

Degenerative Brain Disorders

The second group is degenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s diseases, various forms of dementia, different viral infections, toxicity from chemotherapy or heavy metals.

Psychiatric Disorders

The third group is psychiatric disorders such as major depression, anxiety, insomnia, autism, and addiction.

Cognitive Enhancement

The fourth group is cognitive enhancement for aging individuals and even young healthy persons.

Benefits of Photobiomodulation

The potential benefits of photobiomodulation (PBM) are many and various. PBM has been shown to increase cerebral blood flow and oxygenation, which are decreased in nearly all brain disorders. Moreover, brain mitochondria are stimulated increasing the vital energy source for cells called adenosine triphosphate or ATP. PBM decreases inflammation.

Neuroinflammation is involved in the majority of brain diseases together with oxidative stress, which is also reduced by PBM. PBM increases the formation of new brain cells by stimulating neural stem cells. Furthermore, it can also stimulate the formation of new connections between existing brain cells. Finally, photobiomodulation can help to clear plaques formed from aggregated protein within the brain such as beta amyloid in Alzheimer’s.

Jay Sanguinetti joins us for his take on the subject of photobiomodulation. This is Prof. Sanguinetti’s second appearence on our blog. Originally we interviewed him in March. We called the blog post with our discussion “Jay Sanguinetti’s Research in tPBM, Non-invasive Treatment Modalities and Meditation“. You can read that blog post following this link.

Jay Sanguinetti 

What is photobiomodulation: photophysical and photochemical events

Over the past 40 years, researchers have shown that light in the visible or near infrared spectrum stimulates, regenerates, or heals physiological systems. Non-thermal and non-ionizing light elicits photophysical and photochemical events on biological tissues that have been relatively well-defined. This phenomenon, termed photobiomodulation, has led to therapeutic interventions in many domains. For example, photobiomodulation therapy reduces inflammation, pain perception, and enhances wound healing. Of course, if cells in the body respond positively to light, then cells in the brain may also be influenced by photobiomodulation.

In the past decade, researchers have begun showing that light can penetrate the skull to positively impact brain function. This method is called transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM), and it has exciting possibilities. Thus, tPBM can be used as both a tool to study brain function, as well as a therapeutic intervention for brain diseases.

Photobiomodulation Applications: direction and promise

There are so many interesting directions for photobiomodulation. The therapeutic effects on the body are widespread. One interesting area is sports medicine. Light therapy enhances muscle repair and many athletes are beginning to see benefits of using light to help with recovery. You can image the athlete of the future with a light device at their home to assist in recovery from injury. However, my main interest in photobiomodulation is in brain health. We are facing an epidemic with the aging baby-boomer population. Between now and 2050, there will be almost 30 million “boomers” with Alzheimer’s disease, and we currently have no reliable treatments.

Several interesting studies are suggesting that photobiomodulation may be a potential intervention for this devastating disease. The idea is that near-infrared light (NIR) can stimulate some of the natural healing and regenerating processes in neurons. Furthermore, the same applies to the neuron support cells. Hence, the NIR helps the brain clean out the beta-amyloid plaques, reduces inflammation and helps the brain fight the disease.  This is truly exciting, and I hope to launch my own study with photobiomodulation and Alzheimer’s Disease soon.

Benefits of Photobiomodulation for Mindfulness

Our research focuses on using neurotechnology to enhance mindfulness training. Mindfulness has many health and cognitive benefits. Thus, we hope to find a way to accelerate the acquisition of mindfulness skills, so those health benefits can scale. Furthermore, mindfulness is a powerful intervention for many neurological and psychiatric disorders. For example, mindfulness is a potential intervention for addiction. We are currently working on a paradigm to combine photobiomodulation with mindfulness in order to help patients learn the mindfulness skills quicker. We already know that photobiomodulation can enhance working-memory, and we can learn from previous experiments. If photobiomodulation can help patients learn mindfulness skills quicker with a wearable photobiomodulation technology, then we have the potential to reduce suffering on a large scale. This is truly exciting.

Photobiomodulation is a safe, effective, and relatively inexpensive technology. Many of the diseases of the brain are hard to treat, because the brain is such a complex system. It is also difficult to directly modulate brain function. Photobiomodulation offers a potentially powerful technology to restore brain function and to selectively modulation brain activity. Almost all neurological and psychiatric disorders of the brain involve inflammation. Photobiomodulation may reduce brain inflammation, which means that it could be beneficial for many brain disorders. Importantly, the intervention, using photbiomodulation, can be done at home, which means that the technology could scale easily. This is truly exciting since many of the brain interventions must be applied in a doctor’s office under supervision, which is cost prohibitive for many patients.

In Conclusion

We thought that it would be very fitting to end this blog post with a very brief video clip of an interview with another scientists, Dr. Jeffrey Knight, PhD. In this short video Dr. Knight, a clinical neuropsychologist, speaks about photobiomodulation, its effects and about how to assess the benefits of transcranial photobimodulation. Take a look.

The post Photobiomodulation Therapy Discussion: Opinions from Leading Photobiomodulation Researchers first appeared on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

The post Photobiomodulation Therapy Discussion: Opinions from Leading Photobiomodulation Researchers appeared first on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

This is a study that should be of great significance to the world of brain stimulation and photobiomodulation (PBM) research. We showed for the first time that inducing pulsed near infrared (NIR) light to the brain has real impact in modulating brain oscillations.
Lew Lim, Ph.D., CEO, Vilight Inc.

On April 19, 2019, a paper reporting the effect of the Neuro Gamma on brain oscillations was published by the high-impact Nature Scientific Reports. The double-blind controlled study entitled “Pulsed Near Infrared Transcranial and Intranasal Photobiomodulation Significantly Modulates Neural Oscillations: a pilot exploratory study”, described significant changes in brain waves and connectivity following single PBM sessions of only 20 minutes. The investigators were Reza Zomorrodi of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Genane Loheswaran and Lew Lim of Vielight Inc., and Abhi Pushparaj of Ironstone Product Development, all based in Toronto, Canada. Using near infrared light emitting diodes (LED), pulsing

Vielight Neuro Gamma in use during the study

at 40 Hz and focusing on the default mode network, the study presented a novel discovery in brain response. The study demonstrates that the power spectrum in the high frequency brain waves of alpha, beta and gamma was significantly increased, whereas the low frequency spectrum of delta and theta was decreased. There was also greater global inhibition and higher connectivity in the high frequency bands.

Scientists’ View

According to Dr. Lew Lim, CEO of Vielight, “This is a study that should be of great significance to the world of brain stimulation and photobiomodulation (PBM) research. We showed for the first time that inducing pulsed near infrared (NIR) light to the brain has real impact in modulating brain oscillations, the kinds that are highly desirable for improving brain functions. You could not achieve this level of effect without negative side effects using electrical and magnetic brain stimulation methods.”

Dr. Lim added, “The most important question that this study answers is whether PBM has any effect on the brain. This study shows clearly that not only does it have an effect, but also it induces response that is quite consistent. Furthermore, it dispels the often-held notion that high-powered lasers are desirable for significant response. There is a lot in the physiology in a living human that enables good response with the right PBM parameters. This makes PBM an effective and versatile modality.”

Lead investigator, Dr. Reza Zomorrodi says: “It was a pleasant surprise that a home-use device directing a safe level of light to the brain can produce this level of modulation within 20 minutes. It was important that the modulations were consistently achieved without any negative side effects. The modulations appear to be frequency dependent, producing outcomes that are desirable for potentially addressing a number of conditions. This study unveils the exciting potential of PBM as a potent, non-invasive brain stimulation modality.”
Dr. Lim further added, “We should now move forward to push the understanding of PBM further so that we can meaningfully improve people’s lives, especially in the areas where other treatments have failed”.

Dr. Lew Lim to Present at the 2019 Sharp Brains Virtual Summit

The 2019 SharpBrains Virtual Summit (May 7–9th, 2019) will feature over forty of the world’s top experts, innovators and investors working to improve brain health for all in light of growing neuroscience and digital tech. The Summit will take place online and attendees can attend all sessions via their computers. Dr. Lim will update the attendees on new developments in brain photobiomodulation and exciting prospects for the future of PBM. Frequent collaborator, Dr. Reza Zomorrodi, will be presenting his views on the brain research landscape at the conference.

Dr. Alison Smith Joins Vielight

Alison Smith, Ph.D., will be joining Vielight as the Manager for Performance Science and Research. She has years of experience in neuroscience, including EEG research. Dr. Smith was also an adjunct professor of anatomy and physiology at the University of Waterloo. She completed a degree in Kinesiology and Athletic Therapy. Furthermore, she is a skilled medical writer and a regular meditator. Dr. Smith will be involved in Vielight initiatives in sports injuries, sports performance, cognitive performance and advanced meditation science.

Vielight to Exhibit at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting

The meeting, to be held on May 18-22 2019, is the largest gathering of psychiatry-related professionals held annually. Over 13,000 anticipated attendees from around the globe will be attending this event. Most of the attendees are physicians from psychiatric and other mental health disciplines, social workers and nurses. The meeting features hundreds of educational sessions and presentations on the latest research, including more than 400 scientific sessions.

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the Vielight technology which helps the brain. The Vielight personal PBM wearable devices will be available at the Vielight booth #1823.

Additionally, they will be able to discuss the various initiatives the company is undertaking to support psychiatry.

The post Breakthrough Revelation in Brain Patterns with Vielight Neuro Gamma first appeared on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

The post Breakthrough Revelation in Brain Patterns with Vielight Neuro Gamma appeared first on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

Neuroimaging modalities like fMRI have begun to uncover the brain areas that are dysfunctional in disorders like depression. Non-invasive neuromodulation technologies like transcranial photobiomodulation allow us to target those brain areas for new treatments. tPBM is such an easy and cost-effective form of neuromodulation that the technology could be scaled rather quickly.

In late March 2019, we reached out to Prof. Jay Sanguinetti Ph.D. Prof. Sanguinetti’s research focuses on neurocognitive applications for clinical non-invasive treatment and neuroenhancement. Despite his full schedule, he agreed to answer a few questions and elaborate more on his groundbreaking work.

In his answers, Prof. Sanguinetti highlights the opportunities that photobiomodulation (PBM) and, specifically, transcranial photobimodulation (tPBM) present to modern neuroscientists. You will sense considerable potential, hope and pride for his field of research and his work in Sanguinetti’s words. Perhaps, these feelings come through because this researcher’s journey can lead to significant discoveries and advancement of non-invasive treatment modalities. Furthermore, applications for such potential discoveries can be numerous, as you will find out from the interview below.

Non-Invasive Transcranial Photobiomodulation

Q: It looks like your primary interest lies with research in neurocognitive applications. What attracts you to this field, and why do you think it is worth pursuing?

A: My interests are in two broad categories, clinical treatment, and neuroenhancement. Neuroimaging modalities like fMRI have begun to uncover the brain areas that are dysfunctional in disorders like depression. Non-invasive neuromodulation technologies like transcranial photobiomodulation allow us to target those brain areas for new treatments. This is exciting because it gives us a level of specificity that phrenological interventions cannot. I’m also interested in using non-invasive neuromodulation for neuroenhancement. For example, imagine that you could use a simple and safe device that allowed you to learn the piano or how to meditate twice as fast without any side effects. I think that would be worth-while to create something like that!

Importance of Research in Non-invasive Treatment Modalities

Meditators are wearing the Vielight Neuro devices

Q: In one of the descriptions of your interests, you prominently note the factor of non-invasive applications. Why non-invasiveness is so relevant and critical to your research? Why is it so important?

A: Non-invasive neuromodulation means affecting brain activity with a wearable device. That’s in contrast to invasive Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) where a neurosurgeon inserts an electrode directly into the brain. DBS works beautifully for disorders like Parkinson ’s disease and there is some evidence it works for depression and OCD.  Although DBS is highly efficacious, it has a major drawback: It requires brain surgery! So, the major advantage of non-invasive technologies is that they may allow us to gain the power of DBS to treat neurological and psychiatric disease, but without going through the trouble of brain surgery.

Q: You study various forms of non-invasive transcranial brain stimulation. How prominent is transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) with near infrared light (NIR) is in your work? What could you tell us about your research in the field of tPBM? What are the relevant applications for tPBM that you research supports?

A: I am new to the transcranial photobiomodulation (tPBM) field. I became interested in how various forms of energy – mechanical energy, electromagnetism, light – influence neural activity, and I came across the fascinating field of tPBM. We have now completed a series of experiments using PBM to enhance learning in a healthy population of undergraduate students. Our goal is to use tPBM for neuroenhancement during learning tasks. We predict that tPBM could be used during the acquisition of new skills, to learn new information, or to perform better on tasks that require focused attention.

We chose the Neuro Gamma device because it flickers the light at 40 Hz. Brain oscillations between 25 and 100 Hz are known as gamma oscillations and are related to higher-level cognitive functions like attention. They are proposed to be the neural correlate of consciousness. Currently, it is not known whether the flicker rate of tPBM can directly influence neural oscillations, but there are some promising pilot results that suggest that they might.  Therefore, we selected the Neuro Gamma in an attempt to enhance cognitive performance on a learning task.  If the experiment is successful, then the enhancement could be due to enhancement of cellular function (the basic mechanism of tPBM), due to the influence of neural oscillations, or both.

Q: These days you are conducting a very interesting study involving the military. In this study, you are employing Vielight devices to test their effect on your subjects. What can you tell us today, considering that the study is still ongoing?

A: The overall goal was to enhance learning on a threat-detection task. Participants received tPBM during the learning phase of the task with the hope of enhancing their ability to focus on the task or to learn from the stimulus cues.  Our participants are undergraduate subject at the University of New Mexico, but the project funding comes from the Department of Defense. This is a basic experiment to ask whether tPBM can enhance cognitive performance.  Our results are encouraging so far, but we have not submitted our research for publication so I am unable to divulge too much at this point

We are using a task that Dr. Vince Clark has previously used with another form of non-invasive neuromodulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Dr. Clark has previously shown that just 20 minutes of tDCS doubles the learning rate on the threat-detection task. This result has been replicated in his lab and others. Thus, we have a nice baseline and experimental paradigm to compare our tPBM results with.  One nice thing about using this paradigm is that we know how big the effect size is with tDCS. This fact will allow us to directly compare the size of our effect with tPBM.

Researching Effects of Transcranial Photobiomodulation on Meditation

Q: I understand that you are also looking into researching the effect of transcranial PBM on meditation. Can you describe your experience? What are you looking for? What do you think is the future of tPBM in meditation, and improvement on a person’s well-being in general? The latter is the subject to validation studies, of course.

A: Yes, this is a new area and we are actively planning several experiments.  So far, we have used tPBM in pilot experiments, so I am unable to say much.  Given that caveat, we have had several advanced meditators report positive effects with tPBM. The meditators claim that the device helps them to enter a focused, calm, or detached meditation state that is consistent with their practice. Based on these self-reports, we are designing experiments to validate these claims empirically.  If tPBM can help meditators benefit quicker from their practice, there will be many practical applications.

Meditation has many positive benefits, and scientific research supports them, including interventions for neurological and psychiatric disease.  However, it often takes immense effort and practice to reap the benefits of meditation. Thus, tPBM may help meditators experience the benefits of meditation quicker. This factor would lead to positive effects for the regular meditator as well as for the clinical populations.

One interesting thing is that several papers have shown that meditators enhance their gamma brain oscillations (that I discussed above) while they are meditating. In fact, the more someone meditates, the bigger the gamma effect becomes. This may be due to the way meditation enhances the control of attention, or how it generally alters consciousness. Both of which are related to gamma oscillations.

The Neuro Gamma should enhance mindful awareness

Since gamma oscillations are related to meditation and mindfulness, we predict that the Neuro Gamma should enhance mindful awareness. However, gamma oscillations occur in the range of about 25 Hz to 100 Hz or more. Thus, we asked Vielight for a tPBM device that would give us control over the flicker rate. We acquired such a device from Vielight and are currently testing frequencies from 1 Hz to 120 Hz on meditators.  So far, as you may expect, meditators like frequencies above 40 Hz, especially the higher frequencies. This is an exciting area of research, and we hope to validate the self-report claims soon.

Q: What are you next near-term and medium-term plans and hopes for your research in general and PBM research specifically?

A: If the research supports the use of tPBM for clinical applications and neuroenhancement, then I plan to make this a large part of my research agenda. tPBM is such an easy and cost-effective form of neuromodulation that the technology could be scaled rather quickly.  For example, imagine that tPBM could help meditators learn meditation skills quicker. We could use this could as a clinical intervention. We could create a package and give it out to clinics rather easily, which could help reduce suffering on a large scale. However, first things first, – we must do the science to know how effective tPBM combined with meditation is.

The post Jay Sanguinetti’s Research in tPBM, Non-invasive Treatment Modalities and Meditation first appeared on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.

The post Jay Sanguinetti’s Research in tPBM, Non-invasive Treatment Modalities and Meditation appeared first on Vielight Inc - Deutsch.