Nozomi Mizushima

Severely affected ALS patients have broad and high expectations for brain-machine interfaces

Abstract Brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) may provide new communication channels and motor function to individuals with severe neurodegenerative diseases, but little is known about their interests in such devices. We investigated the interests of severely affected ALS patients in BMIs, and examined factors that might influence these interests. We conducted an anonymous, mail-back questionnaire survey of severely disabled ALS patients diagnosed using the revised El Escorial criteria. Thirty-seven patients responded to the questionnaire. Twenty-nine (78.4%) had undergone tracheostomy positive pressure ventilation. More than 80% of the patients were interested in communication support. Thirty-three (89.2%) felt stressed during communication. Among those using assistive communication devices (17 patients), 15 (88.2%) were not satisfied with them. More than 50% of the patients expressed an interest in BMIs. Their expectations of BMIs ranged widely from emergency alarm to postural change. The frequent use of personal computers tended to be correlated with an interest in invasive BMIs (p = 0.07). In conclusion, this was the first questionnaire survey demonstrating that severely affected ALS patients have broad and high expectations for BMIs. Communication was the most desired support from BMIs for such patients. We need to meet their widely ranging expectations of BMIs.

A report that Fukushima residents are concerned about radiation from Land, Food and Radon

The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster occurred on 11 March 2011, which caused the leakage of radioactive materials into the environment. In this study, we report public concerns about radiation in Fukushima and Tokyo almost one year after the nuclear disaster. We examined the public concerns by analyzing the data from 1022 participants, 555 in Fukushima and 467 in Tokyo. They were asked whether they were concerned about radiation from some of six different types of sources, which could be answered in a binary way, ‘yes’ or ‘no’. We found not only similarities, but also significant differences in the degrees of concerns between Fukushima residents and Tokyo ones. Fukushima residents more concerned about radiation from land, food and radon in larger rate than that of Tokyo ones, while Tokyo residents were concerned about radiation from medical care. Residents in neither location were concerned about radiation from space. Our results suggested that careful risk communication should be undertaken, adaptively organized depending on location and other factors, e.g. comprehension about radiation, presence of the experience of evacuation, and also age and gender of the people.

Brain boom as “NETA-science”: Implication for public communication of neuroscience

The number of Japanese papers that include the word ‘NO-KAGAKU’ (‘brain science’ in English) suddenly increased between 1996 and 1997, compared to the number of English papers that included the word ‘neuroscience’. This suggests that the trend of using the word ‘NO-KAGAKU’ among the Japanese scientist community was rather independent of that observed in the international academic community. We noticed the relationship between ‘NO-KAGAKU’ and the science and technology policies of the Japanese government before 1997. During that time the Japanese academic community and the government emphasised on the need to develop a centre of excellence for neuroscience, and finally in 1997, the Brain Science Institute (BSI) was founded in RIKEN, a comprehensive research institute of natural science in Japan. We hypothesized that science policies played an important role in the rapid growth of ‘NO-KAGAKU’ in Japan, and then studied the process of the foundation of RIKEN BSI in order to identify how researchers and government officials formulated and executed science policies. We focused on the ideas of ‘comprehensiveness’ and ‘interdisciplinarity’ of ‘NO-KAGAKU’. This concept of ‘idea’ is one of the recent analytical tools in policy science, which means that the scientific-knowledgebased beliefs held by individuals are used to explain political outcomes. We believe that neurophysiologists, cognitive scientists and computer scientists together proposed the idea of ‘NO-KAGAKU’ in order to receive more research resources on the basis of the progress of each discipline, and that officials of the former Science and Technology Agency promoted this idea.

Neuroethics at the Benchside: a preliminary report of research ethics consultation in BMI studies

Only a few softwares are available for neuron tracing and 3D reconstruction based on serial sections, but the costs is rather expensive. We developed a new inexpensive Windows®-based tracing system “NeuroShape”. The conventional bright-field microscope, video camera and digital linear scale are used. A personal computer is linked to the camera and the scale via USB interfaces. Microscopic view is overlaid on a video image captured. Users then trace the neuronal structures specifying XY coordinates by mouse operation and Z coordinate by microscope focusing. Shrinkage correction is also available. The virtual reality modeling language (VRML) is used to obtain 3D view. Final 3D views are shown interactively. We could build the system with few expense and stress the usefulness for exploring the 3D structure of neurons.

Neuroethics of sex differences: a perspective from analyses of popular neuroscience in Japan

Only a few softwares are available for neuron tracing and 3D reconstruction based on serial sections, but the costs is rather expensive. We developed a new inexpensive Windows®-based tracing system “NeuroShape”. The conventional bright-field microscope, video camera and digital linear scale are used. A personal computer is linked to the camera and the scale via USB interfaces. Microscopic view is overlaid on a video image captured. Users then trace the neuronal structures specifying XY coordinates by mouse operation and Z coordinate by microscope focusing. Shrinkage correction is also available. The virtual reality modeling language (VRML) is used to obtain 3D view. Final 3D views are shown interactively. We could build the system with few expense and stress the usefulness for exploring the 3D structure of neurons.