Posts by Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD
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Single-Neuron Recordings Show How the Brain Plans Speech
Using single-neuron recordings, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have discovered how the brain forms words before an individual speaks. Such recordings might be useful for developing synthetic speech prostheses or augmenting other approaches that benefit patients with neurological disorders.
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Cortical Network Engagement Differs During Different States of Un/consciousness in Humans
Rina Zelmann, PhD, Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD, and colleagues observed distinct brain responses during unconsciousness compared to the awake state, with the prefrontal cortex particularly affected by general anesthesia. The results have direct therapeutic implications for clinical applications of deep brain stimulation.
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Intracranial Stereo-EEG Resolves Discordant Clinical vs. Neuroimaging Findings in Patient With Tonic–Clonic Seizures
Irfan S. Sheikh, MD, Mark Richardson, MD, PhD, Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD, and colleagues present an instructive case in which intracranial stereo-EEG resolved discordance between clinical, MRI, and scalp EEG findings, allowing diagnosis of focal cortical dysplasia type 2b and resection that led to seizure freedom.
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Interim Safety Profile From the Feasibility Study of the BrainGate Neural Interface System
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers report that BrainGate, a brain–computer interface for people with paralysis, was not associated with any serious adverse event requiring device explantation, resulting in death or resulting in permanently increased disability during the one-year post-implantation period.
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Basic Rules Identified for Therapeutic Intracranial Stimulation of the Human Brain
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have found evidence it may be possible to establish how brain stimulation should be given—where and with what amplitude, duration and frequency—to produce specific therapeutic results for individual patients with a wide variety of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Novel Approach to Mental Illness? Brain Implant Detects, Improves Deficits in Cognitive Control
Neuroscience researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have created a closed-loop system that can sense a cognitive control deficit in real time and respond immediately with targeted electric stimulation to restore normal neural activity.
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Adaptation of Neuropixels Probe Permits High-Resolution Neural Recording in Humans
Massachusetts General Hospital researchers modified a high-resolution neural recording system and developed innovative techniques for applying it to human research. Their advances lay the foundation for better understanding of neurologic diseases, brain cancer and how to enhance neurorestorative technologies.
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Direct Electrical Stimulation Networks Reflects Structural and Functional Connectivity in the Human Brain
Neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital have demonstrated that measuring different types of connectivity in the brain can have entirely different implications for the interpretation of brain function as well as for understanding connectivity relative to clinical diagnoses.
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Microscale Electrophysiological Markers May Help in the Development Antiseizure Therapies
Jimmy C. Yang, MD, and Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD, of the Department of Neurology, and colleagues made microelectrode recordings during neurosurgeries and identified cortex microdomains that seem to contribute to the seizure network—an important step toward understanding how to develop better treatments for epilepsy.
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Case Report: Responsive Neurostimulation for Treatment of Super-Refractory Status Epilepticus
Physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital have demonstrated the novel, effective use of responsive neurostimulation for treating status epilepticus in a patient who did not respond to antiepileptic drugs, immunomodulatory therapy, ketogenic diet or transcranial magnetic stimulation.
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Microscale Cortical Activity Recorded for the First Time
Using novel ultra-high-density microelectrodes, Angelique C. Paulk, PhD, and Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, and colleagues have recorded for the first time a set of neural events on the surface of the human cortex that are intermediate between single-neuron activity and slower oscillatory events.
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Mass General Center Advances Technology for Neurorecovery
The Massachusets General Hospital Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery works with industry to bring novel neurorehabilitation devices to market.
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First Direct Evidence Detected of Learning-related Memory Replay in Human Brains
In the motor cortex of two men who had a brain–computer interface implanted, neural spiking patterns corresponding to a previously learned motor sequence were replayed during rest.
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Evidence That Human Brains Replay Our Waking Experiences While We Sleep
For the first time, researchers have direct evidence of learning-related replay in the human brain during sleep. A recent study using implanted multi-electrode arrays in two participants found identical neural firing patterns during game-play awake periods and sleep periods.
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Intracranial Recordings Reveal Human Alpha Rhythm Propagation and Generation
Using rare intracranial recordings in epilepsy patients, Massachusetts General Hospital researchers have produced the first direct evidence of how alpha rhythm is generated.
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The Caudate Is a Promising Neuromodulation Target for Disorders of Learning and Memory
Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have demonstrated for the first time that stimulation of the caudate improves human learning.
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Increased Electrical Compartmentalization Observed in Human Cortical Neurons
Current knowledge of synaptic integration has been based almost entirely on animal studies. Now, researchers have shown that human neurons are longer than those in rats and have distinct integrative properties.
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Why Mass General Neurologists Are Animated About Big Data
Neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital are using big data and machine learning to make better and more informed decisions on patient care.
Biography
Sydney S. Cash, MD, PhD, received his MD and PhD degrees from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, completed his Neurology residency and was a Chief Resident at Mass General and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Dr. Cash is on the Neurology staff at Mass General, and is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Cash is a specialist in epilepsy with research expertise in cortical microphysiology, including research with the investigating the mechanisms of diseases such as epilepsy and ways of interfacing with the brain for improving the lives of people with seizures, paralysis and other neurological difficulties.
Neuroscience Care at Mass General
Through a combination of unmatched expertise, creativity and compassion, Mass General Neuroscience relentlessly advances the fields of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Psychiatry to unleash our patients’ potential.