Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Q: Dr. Todd Mainprize leaned over and peered through his wire-rim glasses at a computer screen showing the brain scan of his brain cancer patient, Bonny Hall, who lay in a magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) in the adjacent room. 
  
 “This has gone exactly the way we hoped,” the neurosurgeon said, crossing his arms. 
  
 He smiled and nodded. His experimental procedure had been a success. 
  
 Here in the S-wing of Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital, Mainprize and his research team accomplished on Thursday what no one in the world has ever done before: Using focused ultrasound waves, they have opened the human blood-brain barrier, paving the way for future treatment of an array of currently impossible or hard-to cure-illnesses – from brain cancer to certain forms of depression, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. 
  
 The blood-brain barrier is an extremely selective filter that Mainprize likens to cling film, which coats the blood vessels in the brain, preventing harmful substances in the bloodstream from passing through. Though its function is to protect the brain, this barrier has limited doctors’ ability to treat diseases, such as tumours, using drugs like chemotherapy to target specific areas of the brain. 
  
 By successfully opening the blood-brain barrier, “that will allow us to use many, many more medications in the brain than we can currently use,” said Dr. Kullervo Hynynen, director of physical sciences at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, who developed the technology used in the experimental procedure. 
  
 Hynynen said about 98 per cent of molecules that could potentially be used for brain treatments cannot currently be used because they cannot get through the blood-brain barrier. This includes antibodies, which in animal studies have been shown to remove brain plaques involved in Alzheimer’s disease, or stem cells, which could be used to treat stroke patients. Thus, he says, the ability to penetrate the blood-brain barrier will “revolutionize” brain medicine. 
  
 Previous methods of circumventing this cling film-like coating have been inconsistent and difficult to control, or invasive, such as inserting microcatheters through the skull to inject drugs directly into the brain. But by using focused ultrasound, the Toronto researchers have demonstrated a way of breaching the blood-brain barrier that is non-invasive, selective (or contained within a specific area), reversible and, the researchers believe, safe. 
  
 Here’s how it works: Medication is first introduced into a patient’s bloodstream – in this case, a chemotherapy drug called liposomal doxorubicin. Next, microbubbles, or tiny air bubbles, which are typically used as a contrast medium to enhance visibility in ultrasound imaging, are intravenously delivered into the bloodstream. Using MRI to locate their target area, doctors then send focused ultrasound waves, causing the microbubbles in the brain’s capillaries to expand and contract. This expansion and contraction creates little tears in the cling film-like layer of endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier, allowing the drug molecules to pass through into the brain to the targeted areas. 
  
 The microbubbles themselves do not cross the barrier and disappear within minutes, passing through the lungs. Meanwhile, the tiny tears in the blood-brain barrier close up again between an estimated eight to 12 hours. 
  
 The appearance of bright spots, the size of pinkie fingerprints, on the MRI images of Bonny Hall’s brain allowed Mainprize to immediately see that he had accomplished what he set out to do. 
  
 “This white spot and this white spot is where we opened the blood-brain barrier,” he said, pointing to the computer screen. 
  
 In the days previous, Hall, 56, of Tiny, Ont., was anxious yet eager to be the first patient to undergo the procedure. 
  
 “I think that someone has to go first,” Hall said, noting she empathized with the first patient to be treated with penicillin. “I kind of feel that way.” 
  
 Hall discovered her brain tumour eight years ago, though doctors at the time found it was benign. About five months ago, however, they found it had become cancerous and had grown to about five centimetres by three centimetres – about the size of a miniature candy bar – on the right side of her head, just above her ear. 
  
 Although the tumour caused no pain, Hall experienced what she described as “little blips,” or small 10– to 20-second seizures during which she would feel “spaced out.” 
  
 On the morning of the procedure, as the chemotherapy drug dripped into her arm, Hall said she was looking forward to getting her life back to normal. 
  
 “Seeing people here really suffer,” she said of the other patients at the hospital’s cancer centre, “I really do hope this will work for them some day.” 
  
 The following morning, after determining it possible to open the blood-brain barrier, Mainprize performed traditional surgery to remove Hall’s tumour. He carefully cut open a hand-sized flap of skin and muscle and removed part of her skull, extracting a white mass of tissue. The tumour will be analyzed over the next week to determine how much of the chemotherapy effectively passed through the blood-brain barrier. 
  
 The next step for the research team will be to repeat the focused ultrasound procedure on nine additional patients to show it can be replicated safely. 
  
 The possibilities for future research, Mainprize said, are enormous. “With ... this technique, you can selectively open almost anywhere in the brain and deliver whatever you want,” he said. “Essentially, whatever you can think of is a potential study that may help in the future.” 
  
 Report Typo/Error ||||| Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption The blood-brain barrier protects the brain against toxins 
  
 For the first time, doctors have breached the human brain's protective layer to deliver cancer-fighting drugs. 
  
 The Canadian team used tiny gas-filled bubbles, injected into the bloodstream of a patient, to punch temporary holes in the blood-brain barrier. 
  
 A beam of focused ultrasound waves applied to the skull made the bubbles vibrate and push their way through, along with chemotherapy drugs. 
  
 Six to 10 more patients will undergo the same procedure as part of a trial. 
  
 Experts said the experimental technique used at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre was exciting because it meant doctors might be able to give cancer patients potent drugs that otherwise would not work. 
  
 The same non-invasive method could also be used for other brain diseases, such as dementia and Parkinson's. 
  
 But many more safety studies are needed, they say. Animal trials have produced some results, but it is not yet clear whether the treatment would work or have side-effects. 
  
 Blood-brain barrier 
  
 The blood-brain barrier keeps pathogens and toxins away from the central nervous system. But this tightly packed layer of cells, which separates the brain from its blood vessels, can be a hindrance if you want to deliver drugs into the brain. 
  
 The Sunnybrook team temporarily ripped holes in the barrier to allow chemotherapy a safe passage through. 
  
 For eight years, Bonny Hall managed her brain tumour with medication - but earlier this year, she was told the cancer was growing. 
  
 Her tumour needed more aggressive, targeted therapy. 
  
 Image copyright Focused Ultrasound Foundation Image caption Bonny Hall will be closely monitored for side effects 
  
 Her doctors asked the 56-year-old if she wanted to be the first in the world to try out a treatment that could deliver chemotherapy drugs via the blood-brain barrier. 
  
 She was given an intravenous infusion of chemotherapy followed by a small dose of the micro-bubbles that would punch a way through once they reached the target area of the brain and the ultrasound beam was switched on. 
  
 Brain scans suggest the treatment went to plan, and the researchers will soon examine a small part Ms Hall's tumour (removed surgically the day after the therapy) to confirm how much of the chemotherapy penetrated. 
  
 Image copyright focused ultrasound foundation Image caption Dr Todd Mainprize shows where the blood-brain barrier opened 
  
 She says she is both nervous and excited "if I can help in any way". 
  
 "It's going to also look after things like epilepsy, Alzheimer's, a lot of other diseases," she says. "This isn't just about a brain tumour. 
  
 "I just want to be a normal mum, a normal grandma, just a normal housewife, a normal wife. That's all I really want to be." 
  
 All of the participants who will take part in the trial are among those already scheduled for traditional surgery to remove parts of their tumour. 
  
 Lead researcher and neurosurgeon Dr Todd Mainprize said: "The results are preliminary at this point because we don't have the levels of chemotherapy - but based on the gadolinium MRI scan, we were clearly able to open up the blood-brain barrier non-invasively, reversibly and it appears quite safely. 
  
 "We are always concerned about possible downsides to any treatment and this is why this phase-one trial is undergoing. 
  
 "We are looking at the safety profile." 
  
 Prof Gail ter Haar, an expert in ultrasound technology at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said: "This is an exciting clinical step. 
  
 "Opening the blood-brain barrier using focused ultrasound beams has been a goal of researchers for about a decade, with the Toronto group being at its forefront, and it is exciting to see this reaching the clinic at last. 
  
 "The use of ultrasound for enhancing the local delivery of drugs to a number of different targets in the body is being investigated by a number of centres around the world, including the UK, and shows particular promise in the field of cancer chemotherapy." 
  
 Egle Solito, a senior lecturer at Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry, said it was important not to raise hopes too soon. 
  
 "We need lots more research. The blood-brain barrier is a sealed system that protects the brain and when you open it, even temporarily, there are risks." ||||| Revolutionary 
  
 The blood-brain barrier is a natural defense, keeping us safe from bacterial infections—but it prevents some brain treatments. Now a Canadian team has found a way to break through. 
  
 For the first time doctors have broken through the blood-brain barrier in order to treat a brain disease non-invasively. Neurosurgeon Todd Mainprize of the Hurvitz Brain Sciences Program at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, with the support of other neuroscientists, pioneered the revolutionary new method. 
  
 The blood-brain barrier is a natural defense mechanism that prevents germs and some chemicals already present in the bloodstream from reaching the brain. While the barrier normally serves to keep us safe from bacterial infections, it presents a particular difficulty for treatment of many brain diseases, as many drugs administered into a patient’s blood are incapable of reaching the patient’s brain. 
  
 Gliomas are a type of brain tumor that are difficult to treat surgically due to their tendency to branch out. While portions of gliomas can be removed, it’s virtually impossible to remove one in its entirety. Doctors seeking to treat the remaining portions of a glioma with chemotherapy are under extremely strict limitations, as the majority of chemotherapy drugs cannot cross the blood-brain barrier. 
  
 So how was this “breakthrough” achieved? It all comes down to a phenomenon called “sonication,” wherein sound frequencies too high for humans to hear (or “ultrasounds“) are used to fragment cells. Usually sonication is performed on samples of cells in the lab. In the body, ultrasounds are typically inert, which makes them useful for imaging a fetus in the womb. 
  
 The secret is how ultrasounds interact with air bubbles. When in the presence of ultrasounds, air bubbles rapidly compress and expand, vibrating in a way that loosens junctions between cells. 
  
 In this new procedure, a chemotherapy drug is introduced to a patient’s blood without any apparent means to reach a brain tumor. Then, microscopic bubbles smaller than red blood cells that can pass seamlessly through the circulatory system are produced in a patient’s bloodstream. Finally, pulses of ultrasound targeted on blood vessels in the brain interact with the microscopic bubbles to cause small openings in the blood-brain barrier. This allows the chemotherapy drugs to reach the tumor through the barrier’s targeted openings. 
  
 In a press release on Sunnybrook’s website, Dr. Mainprize said, “We are encouraged that we were able to temporarily open this barrier in a patient to deliver chemotherapy directly to the brain tumor.” 
  
 To make sure the drugs had reached the tumor, less than 24 hours after the procedure doctors removed portions of the tumor and surrounding tissues to test the differences in chemo concentration between regions that did and did not receive treatment. These invasive steps are necessary while the while the procedure is tested for feasibility, safety, and preliminary efficacy, but if the technique makes it out of clinical trials, they will no longer be necessary. Still, because of the invasive nature of demonstrating the procedure works, the trials are limited to participants already scheduled for traditional neurosurgery. |||||
A:
Inside your head, there's something called the blood-brain barrier—a natural defense system that keeps germs in your bloodstream from entering your brain. While it's great when it comes to preventing bacterial infections, the barrier makes treating some brain diseases impossible, since it prevents drugs from reaching the infected area. But that could soon change. Canadian scientists have penetrated the barrier for the first time in order to treat a branching brain tumor, known as a glioma, which is incredibly difficult to remove surgically in its entirety, reports the Daily Beast. First, a team at Toronto's Sunnybrook hospital inserted a chemotherapy drug into 56-year-old patient Bonny Hall's blood. Then, they used pulses of ultrasound—frequencies too high to be heard by the human ear—to manipulate microscopic air bubbles delivered into the bloodstream. When the bubbles in the brain were hit with pulses of ultrasound, they vibrated, creating small openings in the blood-brain barrier, allowing the drug to reach the tumor, per the BBC. Researchers say the procedure is both non-invasive and reversible since the barrier openings close within hours, while the air bubbles disappear quickly through the lungs, reports the Globe and Mail. After 24 hours, doctors removed portions of Hall's tumor and confirmed it had been hit with the drugs, though they'll now study the tumor more closely. A doctor notes the procedure—which will be tested in nine other patients scheduled for traditional neurosurgery—could "revolutionize" brain medicine, including treatments for other diseases, like Alzheimer's. "I really do hope this will work for them some day," Hall said before the operation. (Elsewhere, scientists have answered an old question about brain size.)