Newsletter about Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme No. 10 Lessons from the Swiss on Comprehensive Brain Activity Research Development The Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme Scientists from the psychiatric hospital at funds five areas: the University of Bern in Switzerland shared their knowledge on Improving perinatal and neonatal electroencephalographic (EEG) research healthcare with the scientists of Vilnius University 27 hospitals Faculty of Natural Sciences. It is believed that their knowledge will help the research Introduction of energy efficient method to be applied more widely in technologies in to hospitals, including the modernisation of heating, Lithuania. water-supply, ventilation and air Electroencephalography is a research conditioning systems 24 hospitals method that measures brainwaves by detecting electrical oscillations, using these Fundamental research development 11 scientific projects signals to determine the brain‘s activity and 9 Institutional partnership projects and state of consciousness. This is a non-invasive a Scholarship fund method for evaluating a person‘s neural activity. Supporting the activities of Lithuanian NGOs by strengthening community “As nervous system function test measures Griškova-Bulanova, Associate Professor of implementation of electrical neuroimaging organisations and their cooperation the Department of Neurobiology and in Lithuania, which is a part of the with local authorities improve, more and more ways to directly 97 subprojects and non-invasively test human neural Biophysics of Vilnius University Faculty of Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation Programme functions are discovered. The Natural Sciences, who is also the Research and Development, provided project leader. opportunities for cooperation and research. Modernisation of the judicial system electroencephalogram is known for its 1 project The seven-month-long project received excellent resolution, and it is relatively The implementation of the state-dependent funding of EUR 61,065. inexpensive and accessible,” explained Inga information processing, i.e. the One more project objective is to increase students, and future neurologists the qualification of scientists using EEG at participated in two open training sessions the Lithuanian academic and medical organised. They heard theoretical lectures institutions. Four long-term internships were on the technical aspects, applications and held as part of the project: a junior research problems of EEG and had the researcher working with both healthy opportunity to participate in intensive people and those suffering from practical activities. psychological disorders, a scientist During the implementation of the project researching hormonal effects and emotions, the Lithuanian scientists network of contacts a clinical practitioner from the Republican expanded. The most important Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, and a scientist achievement, however, was the analysis of analysing the mathematical aspects of this the subtleties of the EEG method and the method. According to the project leader, the opportunity to use it comprehensively. It is aim is having a team in Lithuania that anticipated that the project will encourage a understands all of the applications of wider inter-disciplinary application of this method. electrical neural oscillation imaging (for Associate professors, laboratory chiefs, example, in biology, medicine, psychology neurologists, biophysicists, medical and other fields). biologists, athletic medicine and psychology The purpose of the project was to encourage During the project the Lithuanian scientists PhD students, medical and neurobiology the use of electroencephalography – a did not just work with the scientists from the non-invasive neural activity test method – in hospital at the University of Bern. They also scientific and clinical research in Lithuania‘s worked with a group of scientists from the academic and medical institutions. According University of Geneva who use EEG in an to the project managers, numerous effort to identify the source of epilepsy and Lithuanian scientific, academic and medical achieve some of the best results in the world institutions installed EEG laboratories and in this field. “During the project we worked acquired high-quality equipment, but this with two leaders in their fields. So far, we are equipment and these methods are still not the only ones in Lithuania applying these used to their full potential due to the lack of methods in research,” said Griškova- specialists who know how to use the Bulanova emphasising what made the equipment and the data that it provides. project group extraordinary. Cerebral Imaging Research Development Provides Hope for Patients Suffering from Neurological and Oncological Illnesses activity can be observed and tested could understand and appropriately use non-invasively. The primary advantage is the complex mathematical analytical that the person remains conscious during algorithms and interpret the data the test. We can communicate with them received. This is where Swiss scientists and and give them tasks while observing how funds from the Lithuanian-Swiss their brain reacts,” explained Rukšėnas. Cooperation Programme came to our aid,” the project‘s manager explained. Lithuanian scientists used to share ideas and discuss opportunities for cerebral During the implementation of the project, imaging skill development in Lithuania which had received more than EUR with the Cancer Institute, but they seemed 200,000, an international team of scientists to be difficult to achieve. One of the main visited Swiss universities‘ scientific cerebral problems was the very expensive research laboratories to analyse cerebral radiological diagnostic equipment needed magnetic resonance tomography and for the tests. This problem was solved with neuropsychological tests and learn new the help of a private company headed by a cerebral analysis methods. graduate of the VU Faculty of Natural “Not only do we have the necessary Sciences. equipment, we also have a strong and The opportunity to non-invasively performed research related to various Once they acquired the necessary motivated team, so we can‘t stop now,” observe how our brains work and the cerebral conditions and their influence on equipment, the researchers encountered said Rukšėnas when asked about plans for processes taking place within them is patients‘ health and linguistic specifics at new challenges – the problem of analysing the future and the project‘s continuation. the universities of Fribourg and Lausanne. and interpreting the data collected. “We not a luxury but a necessity. This must be achieved using not just According to Dean of the VU Faculty of had to develop specialists ourselves who technology, but also scientists and Natural Sciences Prof. Osvaldas Rukšėnas, researchers capable of fully taking who was also responsible for the project advantage of the opportunities and that brought together Lithuanian and competencies presented by the Swiss scientists, cerebral imaging is the latest methods. display and modelling of brain activity to The National Cancer Institute‘s consortium, help more effectively monitor and treat together with Vilnius University (VU), Alzheimer‘s disease, Parkinson‘s disease, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, the depression, and even some oncological Lithuanian University of Health Sciences illnesses. and universities in Switzerland, “This is one of the most modern methods implemented the Cerebral Imaging related to techniques based on the Scientific and Clinical Skill Development in principles of functional magnetic Lithuania project, in which five specialists resonance imaging (fMRI). Using this, brain Painful Past Experiences Give Volunteers Strength (child welfare services, the police now that they‘ve received training, station, the labour office, the nobody else can help us or replace us. prosecutor‘s office, etc.). There are only Day or night, they‘re always ready. three other full-time workers at the They‘re all different with their own centre besides Paulauskė, so they rely experiences, but they have a common on volunteers for help. According to her, goal. Even their ages are different. There though volunteering at the family crisis are 15-16-year-old volunteers who have centre and the constant fight against experience working on youth help domestic violence isn‘t the easiest hotlines, and as time goes by they are occupation, they still find people who maturing and looking to solve more want to help. serious problems, which is why they come to us. We also have older “It‘s a complicated, sensitive field that volunteer women,” Paulauskė said, requires knowledge, psychological describing the centre‘s volunteers. preparation and a certain state of mind. The majority of our volunteers were The project received EUR 36,600 from once victims of violence who had the Lithuanian-Swiss Cooperation received help in the past, and now Programme. In addition to the volunteer those people want to help others and training, the project also helped the share their experiences. However, every centre with new office equipment – volunteer‘s past is different, so their laptop and desktop computers, a understanding of what it means to help projector, etc. and the way they solve situations can More and more people in Lithuania Others, Find Yourself, Organisational “With a strong and motivated team like differ. This training helps renew their are devoting their time and skills to Power project. In this project, 30 of the this,