Sophia Magazine vol.3 / SUMMER 2016

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There is no known cure so far. Current treatments include: stimulation by surgically implanting small electrodes deep into the brain; resectioning of a portion of the thalamus in the brain; symptomatic treatment that prevents involuntary movement by injecting botulinum toxin into the muscle of the involved area; and a noninvasive method that controls brain activity by magnetically stimulating the cranial nerve from the outside of the skull. However, there have been reported risks associated with these treatments such as aftereffects of surgery and epileptic seizure induced by magnetic stimula-tion. Further, the number of medical specialists in this field is still limited.Under these circumstances, together with the research teams of the University of Göttingen and Hannover Univer-sity of Music, Drama and Media, Associate Professor Furuya developed a new treatment for focal dystonia in which electri-cal stimulation through the scalp to the brain and rehabili-tation are combined. The work was published in the online edition of the journal Scientific Reports and received a posi-tive response.“This treatment method is called transcranial Direct Cur-rent Stimulation (tDCS), in which brain activity is activated and inactivated by applying electrical stimulation to the brain. tDCS has been carried out since the 1960s as a technology to regulate brain activity. Today, tDCS is presenting an effect in rehabilitation after apoplexia cerebri and in the treatment of depression. However, simply suppressing abnormal brain ac-tivity with electrical stimulation alone cannot create a positive effect in the treatment of focal dystonia. What I came up with was to teach the movements of symptom-free fingers to the fingers with symptoms. In the case of this disease, as symp-toms appear only in the fingers of one hand, it is intended with this method to use the movements of normal fingers as teachers.”Specifically, rehabilitation is practiced in which the anodal electrode is applied to the scalp in the vicinity of the part called the motor cortex on the unaffected side of the brain, and the cathodal electrode to the side with symptoms. The patient is encouraged to move the fingers of both hands. In this process, information in the brain that controls the right-side move-ments and the left-side movements are transmitted from the anodal electrode to the cathodal electrode via the corpus cal-losum. “By passing electricity, the brain information of cor-rect movements can be transmitted, as water flows through a sloped tunnel from its entrance to its exit,” he explains.This treatment method is revolutionary not only because the device required for it is relatively inexpensive, costing about 1 million yen, and is easy to operate, but also because the method is free of side effects. However, the effect is tem-porary, lasting only four to seven days with the degree of effect varying among individuals. “Because of a discussion that electrical stimulation is com-parable to brain doping, electrical stimulation longer than 30 minutes per day is not allowed from an ethical point of view. A study currently being carried out by Associate Professor Furuya and his coworkers is being followed ardently, particu-larly by musicians who suffer from a specific intractable dis-ease. The name of the disease is “focal dystonia” and it causes the fingers, lips, and throat, among other parts of the body to move involuntarily. For example, in the case of a pianist, when attempting to play the piano, the fingers are involuntarily flexed inward toward the palm or the finger muscles suddenly cramp, resulting in unsatisfactory performance. This disease occurs not only in musicians. The same disease known as the Yips causes golfers to miss short putts. Writer’s cramp is an-other focal dystonia of the fingers which impedes writing. “This disease normally occurs in people who practice repet-itive and fine movements that require high levels of accuracy for many hours,” Furuya explains. “It also occurs in darts play-ers and beauticians who use scissors for a long time. The cause is attributed to a disorder of the neural circuit responsible for the control of movement. Movements of the human body are controlled by two motor control functions of the brain, a ‘Move’ command and ‘Do Not Move’ command. However, due to excessive training, an anatomical or functional abnormal-ity occurs in the brain resulting in impairment in the motor control function. The musical composer Robert Alexander Schumann is said to have given up playing the piano because of this disease. The incidence of this disease among musicians is up to 2% and it is serious enough to threaten their lives as musical performers.”Controlling Physical Movement by Stimulating the Brain with Electricity14Research

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