Scientists Make Functional Diagnostics of the Brain More Accessible and Safe

15:56, August 17, 2018

The Russian Foundation for Basic Research supported a promising scientific project

Scientists of Ural Federal University in collaboration with colleagues from Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod propose a diagnosis based on the study of changes in the human electromagnetic and acoustic fields. The study is interdisciplinary and is designed for three years. The Russian Foundation for Basic Research supported the project «Creation of a technique and radio electronic equipment for finding the 3D distribution and dynamics of radio brightness and acoustic brightness temperature in the depth of the human body, pulse, respiration and psychophysiological state».

Despite the fact that researchers have been studying the brain for more than a hundred years, there is still no understanding of how psychoemotional states of a person are formed. To solve this problem, we study the nervous system on simple organisms, but this approach allows us to study individual fragments of the functional activity of biological objects. Further advancement is impossible without the creation of technologies that will help understand the mechanisms of cognitive functions of the brain, such as perception, emotion, decision-making and ultimately consciousness.

In total, 10 researchers participate in the project, six of which are employees of the Institute of Radioelectronics and Information Technology of Ural Federal University.

According to project manager Vladimir Kublanov, the urgency of the problem of analyzing and assessing a person's psychophysiological condition as a factor that determines his behavior and capabilities is determined by the rapid spread of cognitive disorders among the population of developed countries. Existing methods for assessing the psychophysiological state are formed on the basis of clinical observations and are essentially subjective, and known instrumental methods in this task analyze changes in the physical characteristics of video images or biomedical signals formed on the human skin. To investigate the deep processes in human organs and tissues, it is possible to apply meters of its own physical fields, including microwave radiometers and passive acoustic thermometers.

'The purpose of this project is to develop a theoretical framework and implement new technical, methodological and software-algorithmic solutions for objectifying the assessment of a person's psycho-physiological state by recording and analyzing his own radio and acoustic emissions. A scientific and technical reserve will be created that will allow the development of microwave radiometers and acoustic thermometers and methods for an objective assessment of the changes in a person's psycho-physiological state by combining the processing of data on the radio- and acoustic- radiation,’ said Vladimir Kublanov. 

This year the task of scientists is the creation of technical means for experimental studies, modeling of the studied processes and development of methods for solving inverse problems for restoring the 3D distribution of radio brightness and acoustic brightness temperature in the depth of the human body. Vladimir Kublanov emphasizes that existing systems that solve this problem are not sufficiently informative, accessible or safe.