BrainBlog

From HealthGrades : Download a copy of the report

Kashdan TB, & Rottenberg J. Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical Psychology Review. 2010 Mar 12. Traditionally, positive emotions and thoughts, strengths, and the satisfaction of basic psychological needs for belonging, competence, and autonomy have been seen as the cornerstones of psychological health. Without disputing their importance, these foci fail to capture many of the fluctuating, conflicting forces that are readily apparent when people navigate the environment and social world. In this paper, we review literature to offer evidence for the prominence of psychological flexibility in understanding psychological health. Thus far, the importance of psychological flexibility has been obscured by the isolation and disconnection of research conducted on this topic. Psychological flexibility spans a wide range of human abilities to: recognize and adapt to various situational demands; shift mindsets or behavioral repertoires when these strategies ...

The Novel Tech Ethics research team at Dalhousie University, where today's Neuropsychology Abstract of the Day originated: Novel Tech Ethics website From the homepage: "The Novel Tech Ethics research team led by Françoise Baylis and based at Dalhousie University, focuses on novel technologies that promise transformation. These technologies challenge us to explore the social, political, and cultural understandings of the self, and to reexamine our ethical obligations to others, including those with whom we will not co-exist. "Currently, the Novel Tech Ethics research team has a particular focus on neural, genetic, and reproductive technologies. Grant-funded projects in these areas address the concerns of the individual, the community and the species. Academic exchanges, public discussion and debate contribute to our understanding of these issues and also help to inform public policy." Among other features at the website, podcasts of presentations for their 2009 conf...

Outram SM. The use of methylphenidate among students: The future of enhancement? Journal of Medical Ethics. 2010 Apr, 36(4), 198-202. Novel Tech Ethics, Dalhousie University, 1234 LeMarchant Street, Halifax NS B3H 3P7, Canada. During the past few years considerable debate has arisen within academic journals with respect to the use of smart drugs or cognitive enhancement pharmaceuticals. The following paper seeks to examine the foundations of this cognitive enhancement debate using the example of methylphenidate use among college students. The argument taken is that much of the enhancement debate rests upon inflated assumptions about the ability of such drugs to enhance and over-estimations of either the size of the current market for such drugs or the rise in popularity as drugs for enhancing cognitive abilities. This article provides an overview of the empirical evidence that methylphenidate has the ability to significantly improve cognitive abilities in healthy individuals, and exa...

Last week, the Pew Internet & American Life Project released a report about individuals with chronic diseases and their use of the Internet to obtain and share information. The report is available at the link below: Pew Report on Chronic Disease and the Internet From the summary: "The deck is stacked against people living with chronic disease. They are disproportionately offline. They often have complicated health issues, not easily solved by the addition of even the best, most reliable, medical advice. "And yet, those who are online have a trump card. They have each other. This survey finds that having a chronic disease increases the probability that an internet user will share what they know and learn from their peers. They unearth nuggets of information. They blog. They participate in online discussions. And they just keep going. "

Study Evaluating Rebif, Copaxone, and Tysabri for Active Multiple Sclerosis (SURPASS): ClinicalTrials.gov Description === Corporate press release ===

Tam F, Churchill NW, Strother SC, & Graham SJ. A new tablet for writing and drawing during functional MRI. Human Brain Mapping. 2010 Mar 24. Writing and drawing are understudied with fMRI, partly for lack of a device that approximates these behaviors well while supporting task feedback and quantitative behavioral logging in the confines of the magnet. Consequently, we developed a tablet based on touchscreen technology that is accurate, reliable, relatively inexpensive, and fMRI compatible. After confirming fMRI compatibility, we conducted preliminary fMRI experiments examining the neural correlates of a widely used pen-and-paper neuropsychological assessment, the trail making test. In two subjects, we found left hemisphere frontal lobe activations similar to the major results of a previous group study, and we also noted individual differences mostly in the right hemisphere. These results demonstrate the utility of the new tablet for adaptations of pen-and-paper tests and suggest p...

From today's Observer : Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution Oxford neurobiologist Colin Blakemore tells Robin McKie why he thinks a mutation in the human brain 200,000 years ago suddenly made us a super-intelligent species Robin McKie 28 March 2010 The Observer Read the article

Bueti D, Bahrami B, Walsh V, & Rees G. Encoding of temporal probabilities in the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience. 2010 Mar 24, 30(12), 4343-4352. Anticipating the timing of future events is a necessary precursor to preparing actions and allocating resources to sensory processing. This requires elapsed time to be represented in the brain and used to predict the temporal probability of upcoming events. While neuropsychological, imaging, magnetic stimulation studies, and single-unit recordings implicate the role of higher parietal and motor-related areas in temporal estimation, the role of earlier, purely sensory structures remains more controversial. Here we demonstrate that the temporal probability of expected visual events is encoded not by a single area but by a wide network that importantly includes neuronal populations at the very earliest cortical stages of visual processing. Moreover, we show that activity in those areas changes dynamically in a manner that closely acco...

From The Dana Foundation Blog : Battle of the Brains

Several days ago, the CDC released a report entitled, "Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths, 2002-2006" - available as a .pdf (and .doc) download. Download the report

C-SPAN Video Library: Carl Zimmer's "Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain" : Watch the Talk From 23 February 2004, "Carl Zimmer talked about his book, Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World, published by The Free Press. The book examined the way the brain has been perceived throughout history."

Santoro A, Siviero P, Minicuci N, Bellavista E, Mishto M, Olivieri F, Marchegiani F, Chiamenti AM, Benussi L, Ghidoni R, Nacmias B, Bagnoli S, Ginestroni A, Scarpino O, Feraco E, Gianni W, Cruciani G, Paganelli R, Di Iorio A, Scognamiglio M, Grimaldi LM, Gabelli C, Sorbi S, Binetti G, Crepaldi G, & Franceschi C. Effects of donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine in 938 italian patients with Alzheimer's disease: A prospective, observational study. CNS Drugs. 2010 Feb 1; 24(2): 163-176. doi: 10.2165/11310960-000000000-00000. Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, Via S. Giacomo 12, Bologna, Italy. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) have been used to improve cognitive status and disability in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, while the efficacy of AChEIs (i.e. how they act in randomized controlled trials) in this setting is widely accepted, their effectiveness (i.e. how they behave in the real world) remains controv...

An interesting post at MindHacks about their presentation for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Scientific Research in Learning and Education: Lords, Ladies, and Video Games The posting also provides a link to the presentation's PowerPoint file. Enjoy!

Here is the website for the "Beauty and the Brain" exhibit discussed in the previous posting: Walters Art Museum

A good read from The Dana Foundation Blog : Gazing with New Eyes Enjoy!

Visit The Dana Foundation's website: Brain Awareness Week

Doody RS, Pavlik V, Massman P, Rountree S, Darby E, & Chan W. Predicting progression of Alzheimer's disease . Alzheimers Res Ther. 2010 Feb 23; 2(1):2. [Epub ahead of print] Alzheimer's Disease and Memory Disorders Center, Baylor College of Medicine, 6501 Fannin Street, NB302, Houston, TX 77030, USA. ABSTRACT: INTRODUCTION: Clinicians need to predict prognosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and researchers need models of progression to develop biomarkers and clinical trials designs. We tested a calculated initial progression rate to see whether it predicted performance on cognition, function and behavior over time, and to see whether it predicted survival. METHODS: We used standardized approaches to assess baseline characteristics and to estimate disease duration, and calculated the initial (pre-progression) rate in 597 AD patients followed for up to 15 years. We designated slow, intermediate and rapidly progressing groups. Using mixed effects regression analysis, we e...

Elfgren C, Gustafson L, Vestberg S, & Passant U. Subjective memory complaints, neuropsychological performance and psychiatric variables in memory clinic attendees: A 3-year follow-up study. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2010 Mar 6. [Epub ahead of print] Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, Clinical Sciences, Lund University Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden. The aims were to evaluate the cognitive performance and clinical diagnosis in patients ( PMID: 20211500 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

From King's College London: Innovative Partnership for Pain Research 10 Mar 2010, PR 48/10 "King’s has partnered with Pfizer to create an open innovation laboratory for pain research. As part of the partnership, a small team of Pfizer scientists will be based at the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases to conduct research in pain biology." read the full article

From the King's College London website: Seminar: The computer as the third actor in the clinical consultation 17 Mar 2010, 12:45-13:45, 6th Floor Seminar Room, Capital House, Guy's Campus Speaker: Dr Simon de Lusignan Speaker institution: St George's University of London Full information

Today's recommended read deals with an important neuropsychological assessment issue in the domain of aging and the potential to identify the presence of cognitive problems that might (emphasis on "might" - such findings in a screen are not definitive) be part of the onset of a dementing disease process. The issue has implications, as well, for applications in CNS clinical trials. Scharre DW, Chang SI, Murden RA, Lamb J, Beversdorf DQ, Kataki M, Nagaraja HN, & Bornstein RA. Self-administered Gerocognitive Examination (SAGE): A Brief Cognitive Assessment Instrument for Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Early Dementia. Alzheimer Disease and Associate Disorders. 2010 January/March; 24(1), 64-71. OBJECTIVES: To develop a self-administered cognitive assessment instrument to facilitate the screening of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early dementia and determine its association with gold standard clinical assessments including neuropsychologic evaluation. METHODS: A...

The British Psychological Society's Research Digest blog has an interesting posting today about how we respond socially to reminders about infectious disease: Reminder of disease primes the body and mind to repel other people

Today's recommended reading addresses proposed efficacy measures for use in clinical trials related to traumatic brain injury (TBI): Bagiella E, Novack TA, Ansel B, Diaz-Arrastia R, Dikmen S, Hart T, & Temkin N. Measuring Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Trials: Recommendations From the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. 2010. BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves several aspects of a patient's condition, including physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, social, and functional changes. Therefore, a clinical trial with individuals with TBI should consider outcome measures that reflect their global status. METHODS: We present the work of the National Institute of Child Health and Development-sponsored Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network Outcome Measures subcommittee and its choice of outcome measures for a phase III clinical trial of patients with complicated mild to severe TBI. RESULTS: ...

Today's recommended reading deals with a very important issue in neuropsychological assessment: Loring DW, & Bauer RM. Testing the limits: cautions and concerns regarding the new Wechsler IQ and Memory scales. Neurology , 2010, 74(8), 685-690. Department of Neurology, Emory University, 101 Woodruff Circle, Suite 6000, Atlanta, GA, USA. 30322 The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) are 2 of the most common psychological tests used in clinical care and research in neurology. Newly revised versions of both instruments (WAIS-IV and WMS-IV) have recently been published and are increasingly being adopted by the neuropsychology community. There have been significant changes in the structure and content of both scales, leading to the potential for inaccurate patient classification if algorithms developed using their predecessors are employed. There are presently insufficient clinical data in neurologic populations to insure their appropriate ap...

A Little Black Box to Jog Failing Memory By YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE The New York Times Published: March 8, 2010 "Researchers have tested the Sensecam , which contains a digital camera and an accelerometer, as an aid to people with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders." Read the full article

Old Enemy Might Help to Prevent Alzheimer’s By GINA KOLATA The New York Times Published: March 8, 2010 "Harvard researchers are taking a new look at beta amyloid, which was thought to be a chief villain in Alzheimer’s whose function was that of a waste product in the brain." Read the full article

The Norwegian Neuropsychological Society/Norsk Nevropsykologisk Forening: Website From the homepage: "The Norwegian Neuropsychological Society (NNS) was formed in 1996 and professor Hallgrim Kløve was elected as NNA’s first chair. The aims of the Association are to promote neuropsychology in Norway, stimulate exchange of national and international communication among neuropsychologists, and stimulate development in neuropsychology as well as to provide information both internally and toward the public. "The NNS is an interest organisation that has its member base in the Norwegian Psychological Association. The regulations of the NNS comply with the regulations of the Norwegian Psychological Association. From 2007 we have formally been approved as an associated interest group with the Norwegian Psychological Association." Now, you can follow them on Twitter, too.

Available from BBC Radio 4 : In Our Time: The Infant Brain : Listen Here . Description, from the BBC source link: Melvyn Bragg and guests Usha Goswami , Annette Karmiloff-Smith and Denis Mareschal discuss what new research reveals about the infant brain. For obvious reasons, what happens in the minds of very young, pre-verbal children is elusive. But over the last century, the psychology of early childhood has become a major subject of study. Some scientists and researchers have argued that children develop skills only gradually, others that many of our mental attributes are innate. Sigmund Freud concluded that infants didn't differentiate themselves from their environment. The pioneering Swiss child psychologist Jean Piaget thought babies' perception of the world began as a 'blooming, buzzing confusion' of colour, light and sound, before they developed a more sophisticated worldview, first through the senses and later through symbol. More recent scholars such as the le...

From The New York Times : Hopes for Alzheimer’s Drug Are Dashed By ANDREW POLLACK Published: March 4, 2010 "The drug, called Dimebon, failed in its first late-stage clinical trial, dealing a blow to patients with Alzheimer’s and the companies developing the treatment, Medivation and Pfizer." Read the full article

A press release from earlier today by Pfizer: Pfizer And Medivation Announce Results From Two Phase 3 Studies In Dimebon (latrepirdine) Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Development Program [snip] "About the CONNECTION Study "CONNECTION is a Phase 3, multi-national, double-blind, placebo-controlled safety and efficacy trial involving 598 patients with mild-to-moderate AD at 63 sites in North America, Europe, and South America. Patients had a mean age of 74.4 years and a mean score of 17.7 on the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) upon entry into the study. More than 40 percent of the patients enrolled were in the United States. In the study, patients were randomized to one of three treatment groups, receiving dimebon 20 mg three times a day (TID), dimebon 5 mg TID, or placebo TID for six months. The 5 mg arm was included in the study to help define the effective dose range for dimebon treatment. "No statistically significant improvements for the 20 mg TID group relative to ...

A program from the University of Pennsylvania: Take Your Brain to Lunch "Everything from education to warfare comes down to the workings of the human mind, and now the mind itself is being understood in terms of the brain. Come hear about the different ways that Penn Arts and Sciences faculty are studying this amazing three-pound organ and the insights it is offering on diverse human problems. "Martha Farah, Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Psychology and Director of Penn's new Center for Neuroscience & Society, will lead conversations with Penn faculty members about the brain. So take your brain to lunch and enjoy some food for thought! All lectures are from 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided." For dates and topics, please see the UPenn webpage for the program

Today's recommended article to read; abstract from PubMed : Bergmans BA & De Strooper B. gamma-secretases: From cell biology to therapeutic strategies. Lancet Neurology . 2010 Feb; 9(2 ): 215-226. Department of Molecular and Developmental Genetics, VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Human Genetics , Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Presenilins form the catalytic part of the gamma-secretases , protein complexes that are responsible for the intramembranous cleavage of transmembrane proteins. The presenilins are involved in several biological functions, but are best known for their role in the generation of the beta-amyloid (Abeta) peptide in Alzheimer's disease and are therefore thought to be important drug targets for this disorder. Mutations in the presenilin genes cause early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease, but mutation carriers have substantial phenotypic heterogeneity. Recent evidence implicating presenilin mutations in non-Alzheimer's dementia...