Study of brain activity demonstrates how neurons control muscle movement in paralyzed ALS patients

A team of researchers from Stanford University (CA, USA) have built on previous animal studies to report how individual neurons control muscle movement in human patients suffering from paralysis as a result of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The findings – published recently in eLife – could assist in the development of improved brain-controlled prosthetic devices. The two individuals diagnosed with ALS who participated in the study were a 51-year-old female who had retained some movement in her wrists and fingers, and a 54-year-old man who had retained slight movement in one of his index fingers. The study builds on previous...