Language Mapping in the Operating Room: HSE Neurolinguists Assist Surgeons in Complex Brain Surgery
Researchers from the HSE Center for Language and Brain took part in brain surgery on a patient who had been seriously wounded in the SMO. A shell fragment approximately five centimetres long entered through the eye socket, penetrated the cranial cavity, and became lodged in the brain, piercing the temporal lobe responsible for language. Surgeons at the Burdenko Main Military Clinical Hospital removed the foreign object while the patient remained conscious. During the operation, neurolinguists conducted language tests to ensure that language function was preserved.
Researchers from the HSE Center for Language and Brain, Maria Protopova (Prokopyeva) and Irina Provlotskaya, worked in the operating room as part of a multidisciplinary team and administered standardised language tasks during direct cortical stimulation. During the operation, the patient was asked to name objects shown in pictures and to repeat pseudowords. These tasks help identify brain regions that are critically important for language and allow clinicians to detect in a timely manner any changes that may occur during the intervention.
Research Assistant, Center for Language and Brain
'If a patient begins to make errors while performing language tasks, this may indicate that the stimulation is affecting areas critical for language. Once these areas are identified, surgeons avoid them during subsequent stages of the operation.'
In this case, the procedure differed in that the patient remained conscious throughout the entire intervention, including the stage of opening the skull. More commonly, during such operations, the patient is kept under anaesthesia until cortical stimulation and language testing begin, after which they are placed back under anaesthesia.
Junior Research Fellow, Center for Language and Brain
'The language testing procedure was generally structured in the same way as in standard awake surgeries, such as the removal of an epileptic lesion or a mass, but in this case it was particularly important to monitor language continuously. We used object-naming tasks during cortical stimulation to identify language-related areas so that surgeons could bypass them during resection. Pseudoword repetition was used directly during the removal of the foreign body to ensure timely detection of any language impairments that might arise while manipulating tissue near the language pathways.'
The HSE Center for Language and Brain has been developing a clinical focus and actively collaborating with leading hospitals and medical centres in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, and other cities in Russia, as well as abroad. This collaboration helps introduce modern neurolinguistic methods into clinical practice, increasing the safety of neurosurgical interventions and improving the precision with which functionally significant brain areas are preserved.
Director, Center for Language and Brain
'Tests developed by the centre’s specialists for intraoperative language mapping—including object and action naming from pictures and other standardised language tasks—have been successfully used in awake surgeries for nearly 10 years. It is essential for us that these techniques function not only as research tools but also as clinical standards, effectively applied in neurosurgical practice.'
See also:
Scientists Discover Why Europium 'Misbehaves'
Europium is a rare-earth metal responsible for the pure red glow in displays and other luminescent materials. For a long time, however, it refused to emit light when surrounded by certain organic molecules known as acylpyrazolone ligands. Chemists have now uncovered the reason: in europium complexes with these ligands, a 'black window' appears—a charge-transfer state in which the energy absorbed by the ligand is dissipated as heat rather than emitted as light. Understanding this mechanism opens the way to designing more efficient red-emitting materials for displays, fluorescent thermometers, and chemical sensors. The results have been published in Dalton Transactions.
HSE Economists Reveal How the Wage Gap Emerges Among Vocational School Graduates
HSE researchers examined the careers of 600,000 graduates of Russian secondary vocational education programmes and found that at the start of their careers, the gender wage gap reaches 23%, doubling after three years. This disparity is largely due to male and female students choosing different occupations when enrolling in vocational schools. These were the findings made by Sergey Roshchin, Natalya Yemelina, and Ksenia Rozhkova from of the HSE Faculty of Economic Sciences. The article has been published in Educational Studies.
HSE Researchers Make Aldehydes Perform Dual Function
Chemists from HSE University have discovered a way to carry out a reductive addition reaction without using an external reducing agent. Instead, the required 'resource' is supplied by the aldehyde itself, one of the reaction participants. This approach helps prevent unwanted side reactions, reduces toxicity, and simplifies the production and synthesis of organic molecules, including those used in the manufacture of medicines. The study has been published in Journal of Catalysis.
HSE Scientists Explain Why Findings in Autism Research Differ
Researchers from the Cognitive Health and Intelligence Centre at HSE University conducted the first-ever systematic review of studies on the specifics of emotion-from-motion perception in autism. The review showed that differences found between autistic and non-autistic individuals are largely associated with the experimental design and the types of tasks given to study participants. The review findings have been published in Research in Autism.
Why Ice Cream Tastes Better in Hot Weather: HSE's Science Republic Takes Part in Popular Science Festival at VDNKh
In early June, the Science Republic initiative of the Centre for Student Academic Development presented popular science projects at the Science and Ice Cream Festival at VDNKh. On June 5, 13, and 14, HSE University ran an extensive programme of events, from lectures to intellectual games. The events took place at the BIOTECH Museum, Museum of Urban Economy of Moscow, and Smart City pavilions.
Tremors: Scientists Develop Method for Real-Time Tracking of Hazardous Underground Vibrations
Researchers from HSE MIEM and IPKON RAS have developed a new mathematical monitoring model that can identify the source of hazardous underground vibrations in real time. The technology could help reduce the risk of damage to buildings, roads, and other infrastructure located near quarries and mining sites. The paper has been published in Russian Mining Industry.
HSE Researchers Determine Which Internet Users Are More Likely to Fact-Check
Researchers at HSE University examined the strategies employed by Russian internet users to verify unreliable information and the factors that motivate them to do so. The study found that more than half of users who encounter potentially false information online attempt to verify it by locating the original source. The likelihood of fact-checking is influenced by several factors, including age, place of residence, social status, information literacy skills, and the use of AI. The findings have been published in Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes.
Tabular Data Anonymisation Solution for Safe Use in AI Systems Developed at HSE University
The AI and Digital Science Institute at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science has developed a tabular data anonymisation service designed to prepare corporate datasets for use in analytics and AI applications. The solution can identify personal data in structured datasets, apply consistent and reproducible anonymisation rules, and generate the artifacts required for quality control, auditing, and subsequent use of data in secure environments.
Population Lifespan Is Governed by Mathematical Laws
Researchers at HSE University and MSU have established a universal law governing the time to extinction of a population in a random environment. Their analysis of the evolution of branching processes—complex probabilistic systems—shows that, regardless of the initial population size, extinction follows strict mathematical laws. The results have been published in the Journal of Applied Probability.
Sociologists: Conservative Consumers Dominate Russian Middle Class
The Russian middle class cannot be regarded as a homogeneous and uniformly stable social group. Similar income levels often mask significant differences in financial strategies, lifestyles, and levels of economic security. This is the conclusion reached by sociologists at HSE University. The study has been published in Voprosy Ekonomiki.