From Topological Analyses to Functional Modeling: The Case of Hippocampus

Topological data analyses are widely used for describing and conceptualizing large volumes of neurobiological data, e.g., for quantifying spiking outputs of large neuronal ensembles and thus understanding the functions of the corresponding networks. Below we discuss an approach in which convergent topological analyses produce insights into how information may be processed in mammalian hippocampus—a brain part that plays a key role in learning and memory. The resulting functional model provides a unifying framework for integrating spiking data at different timescales and following the course of spatial learning at different levels of spatiotemporal granularity. This approach allows accounting for contributions from various physiological phenomena into spatial cognition—the neuronal spiking statistics, the effects of spiking synchronization by different brain waves, the roles played by synaptic efficacies and so forth. In particular, it is possible to demonstrate that networks with plastic and transient synaptic architectures can encode stable cognitive maps, revealing the characteristic timescales of memory processing.

Brain Surgery to Treat Seizures

Seizures can happen when the electricity in the brain is not working properly. Seizures can cause people to shake and lose awareness, which can be very scary and prevent people from living normal lives. When medications do not work to take away the seizures, sometimes brain surgery can be done to treat them. This procedure starts when doctors take a special picture of the brain to see the area causing the seizures. Then they make an opening in the patient’s head to fix the problem in the brain. Part of the brain can be removed, or a special device that stimulates the brain with electricity can be implanted. It is important for everyone who has seizures or who knows someone with seizures to be aware of the option of surgery, because sometimes surgery can be a cure for the seizures.

Prof. V.M.Bekhterev. Pathways of the spinal cord and brain. Guide to the study of internal connections of the brain. Part II. Fibers of the cerebellum, fibers of the cerebral hemispheres and a general overview of the conducting systems. Second edition, completely revised and significantly enlarged. With 255 figures in the textѣ. S.-Petersburg, 1898. Ts. 3 r. 50 k

Having released the second part of The Pathways of the Brain, the venerable author has enriched Russian medical literature with a new major work on the anatomy of the central nervous system. In its present form, "The pathways of the spinal cord and the brain" are a complete guide containing a complete study of the internal connections of the brain.