Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have developed a path-breaking system named 'Unique Brain Network Identification Number' to encode the intricate brain networks of healthy humans and patients with Parkinson's disease.
The study reportedly involved the analysis of structural brain MRI scans of 180 PD patients and 70 healthy individuals from the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), India.
The study, which received funding from the Ministry of Education, has been released in the academic journal Brain Sciences.
According to officials, the researchers adopted a network perspective, representing different brain regions as nodes and establishing network connection values based on regional grey matter volume.
Further, the significance of each link was captured by assigning weights to the connection values of every node through a series of algorithmic steps.
According to them, they noted that the numerical representation obtained (UBNIN) was unique for each brain network of individuals and could also be used for other brain imaging techniques.
This innovative research holds immense potential in the realm of brain printing and emerges as a promising biomarker with a numerical value for tracking mental illness progression over time, they said.
Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder that affects the nervous system and the parts of the body controlled by the nerves. The first symptom may be a barely noticeable tremor in just one hand. Tremors are common, but the disorder may also cause stiffness or slowing of movement. Nerve cell damage in the brain causes dopamine levels to drop, leading to the symptoms of Parkinson's.
