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Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences
School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia
ISSN: 1394-195X
Vol. 19, No. 1, 2012, pp. 1-3
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Bioline Code: mj12001
Full paper language: English
Document type: Editorial
Document available free of charge
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Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2012, pp. 1-3
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Coping with Brain Disorders using Neurotechnology
Valdes-Sosa, Pedro A
Abstract
Brain disorders account for more than 34% of the global burden of disease, crippling nations
by decreasing their “mental capital”—with greater effect in developing countries. Early detection is
the key to their management, but establishing such programmes seems nearly impossible due to the
high prevalence of the dysfunctions as compared with the high cost of neuroimaging devices. Thus,
at first sight, the research of the Decade of the Brain and the international Human Brain Mapping
Project might seem to be condemned to benefit only a small elite. Cuba has shown that is not so by
using neurotechnology for the last 3 decades to implement stratified active screening programmes
for brain disorders at the population level. This experience has shown that, by the transformation of
health indicators, an appropriate use of technology can be integrated with attention to the population
at the primary levels of both health care and education. An essential component of neurotechnology
is neuroinformatics, which—like its counterpart bioinformatics—combines databases, analysis
tools, and theoretical models to craft tools for early disease diagnosis and management. Much work
remains to be done and will depend critically on south–south cooperation to solve problems for
countries with similar situations.
Keywords
brain disorders, international cooperation, medical informatics, neuroimaging, neurosciences, technology
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© Copyright 2012 - Malaysian Journal of Medical Science Alternative site location: http://www.medic.usm.my/publication/mjms/
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