Upcoming Event: INS in Snowsy Boston (2-5 February 2011)

The Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) occurs this week. Here is the program overview: click here.

VS Ramachandran

From The Observer

VS Ramachandran: The Marco Polo of neuroscience
Among his contemporaries he's a pioneer who, by using real mirrors and looking at mirror neurons, is changing the way we think about thinking
Andrew Anthony
The Observer
Sunday, 30 January 2011

Read the article

In The Wide World: Houston, Texas

The website of Houston's TIRR rehabilitation center, lately in the news:

The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research

From the homepage:

"TIRR treats people with a range of disabilities from complex conditions like brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, multiple trauma and amputation, to rehabilitation for conditions including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, post-polio syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus."

Here is a sample newsletter: Summer 2010

Olfaction

From The Independent:

The smelling test: The genetics of olfaction
Why are some people more sensitive to odours than others? And why do no two people experience a scent in the same way? The answer lies in our genes, explains Laura Spinney
24 January 2011

read the article

American Football and "The Concussion Crisis"

From The New Yorker:

Does Football Have a Future?
The N.F.L. and the concussion crisis
by Ben McGrath
The New Yorker
31 January 2011

Read the full piece

Student Resource: ClinicalTrials.gov

If you are just learning your way around disorders of the brain and the central nervous system, topics that likely would be of interest to you are how these conditions are treated and what current research is being performed to seek out new treatments.

For pharmaceutical research, you can determine the current clinical-trials environment with a resource like ClinicalTrials.gov.

The best way to use this resource is to learn about the Advanced Search option. Begin by playing with different methods of using the advanced search, such as by medical condition or age group. Look for broad results but then use several different parameters to focus in on very specific results.

It, alongside other great resources such as PubMed, can be part of your approach to keeping up to date in those areas of neuropsychology that are of interest to you.

FDA: PCNS Drugs Advisory Committee Results for Avid's Amyvid Alzheimer's Amyloid Neuroimaging Agent

A fuller report from The New York Times:

F.D.A. Sees Promise in Alzheimer’s Imaging Drug
By GINA KOLATA
The New York Times
Published: January 20, 2011

"A committee voted that the agency should approve the first test that can show the characteristic plaques of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of a living person."

Read the full article

FDA: PCNS Drugs Advisory Committee Results for Avid's Amyvid Alzheimer's Amyloid Neuroimaging Agent

From The New York Times:

F.D.A. Sees Promise in Alzheimer’s Imaging Drug
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 20, 2011
Filed at 5:40 p.m. EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal panel of medical experts said Thursday a first-of-a-kind imaging chemical designed to help screen for Alzheimer's disease could be useful pending additional study and training for physicians.

The Food and Drug Administration panel of advisers voted 16-0 in favor of approval for Eli Lilly's Amyvid on the condition that the company demonstrates the images can be consistently interpreted by physicians who have received training in reading the scans.

Without those requirements the panel voted 13-3 against approval for the injection in an earlier vote. The FDA is not required to follow the panel's advice, though it often does.

Read the full report

MEDIA: "Broken Brains" Tonight on BBC 4

Enjoy a brainy evening tonight on BBC4!
Broken Brains

"Deconstructing Henry"

A website from UCSD Brain Observatory:

Deconstructing Henry

Upcoming: Alzheimer's: FDA Advisory Committee Meeting (20-21 January 2011)

From the FDA (.pdfs of briefing material is available at the link below):

January 20-21, 2011: Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting Announcement

Read the full announcement

Agenda

"On January 20, 2011, the committee will discuss new drug application (NDA) 202-008, florbetapir F 18 injection, sponsored by Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc., proposed for use in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of β-amyloid (beta-amyloid) aggregates in the brain to help rule out Alzheimer's disease.

"On January 21, 2011, the committee will discuss NDA 201-277, gadobutrol injection, sponsored by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, proposed for use in diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in adults and children (2 years of age and older) to detect and visualize areas with disrupted blood brain barrier (BBB) and/or abnormal vascularity (abnormal blood supply and circulation) of the central nervous system. The BBB is an area consisting of specialized cells that restrict passage of certain molecules from the bloodstream into the brain."

Also, as background, from clinicaltrials.gov:
Phase III study of florbetapir F 18

Alzheimer's Products

FromThe New York Times:

Tests Show Promise for Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s
By GINA KOLATA
The New York Times
Published: January 18, 2011

"Researchers report major advances on two vexing questions about Alzheimer’s: How do you know if someone who is demented has it? And how can you screen the general population for risk?"

Read the full article.

The report includes discussion about this week's forthcoming FDA Advisory Committee discussion about Avid Radiopharmaceuticals product.

R. Sargent Shriver Dies

From The New York Times:

R. Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Leader, Dies at 95
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
The New York Times
Published: January 18, 2011

R. Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Leader, Dies at 95

Audio: Oliver Sacks at Free Library of Philadelphia (Nov 2010)

Free Library of Philadelphia's podcast of Oliver Sacks' Nov 2010 presentation:

Click http://libwww.freelibrary.org/podcast/media/20101110-olivers.mp3

Upcoming Event: British Psychological Society (4-6 May 2011, Glasgow)

The Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society (BPS) takes place in early May in Glasgow.

The conference website can be found at: bps.org.uk/ac2011/.

The conference's Twitter voice is: @BPSConference

According to the website, the conference's themes this year are:

Development, Learning and Education
Psychology, the Law and Justice
Psychologists and Neuroscience

"Care Innovations"- A New Joint GE-Intel Project

An Intel press release on the 3rd of January:

Read press release

According the the press release, "Care Innovations will develop technologies that support healthy, independent living at home and in senior housing communities."

Upcoming Event: International Neuropsychological Society (2-5 February 2011, Boston)

The 39th Annual Meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society takes place in early February in Boston.

Here is the conference website with basic information about the event: click here

Highlights include the following keynotes, as well as a robust continuing-education program:

Presidential Address: Stephen Rao, PhD Strategies for Preclinical Detection and Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease

Herbert Birch Lecture: Valerie Reyna, PhD The Neurodevelopment of Memory and Decision Making: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory Approach

I am looking forward, as well, to Suzanne Corkin, PhD's Invited Lecture, Lasting Traces: How H.M. Shaped the Science of Memory

Upcoming Event: mHealth Conference (30-31 March 2011, Chicago)

The 3rd mHealth Networking Conference will take place in late March in Chicago. According to its webpage, it will "...focus on new clinicians' tools, pharma opportunities, and mHealth developments..."

Visit the conference homepage: here.

Welcome to 2011!

BrainBlog wishes all of its visitors and regular readers a wonderful year for 2011 ...as well as hoping for another extraordinary year of neuroscience!