BrainBlog

Wherein the author finds that the fish gets it right and is pleased with the homage to Patient H.M.: Sallie Baxendale. Memories aren't made of this: Amnesia at the movies . British Medical Journal  2004; 329: 1480-1483 (18 December). [doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1480] Full text: Article [HTML] Article [.pdf] Now, where is that ad for the Lacuna Clinic? (grin) After all, Eternal Sunshine is BrainBlog's movie of the year!

With New Sleeping Pill, New Acceptability? By ANDREW POLLACK The New York Times 17 December 2004 Is it a wake-up call for the sleeping pill market? With Wednesday's approval of Sepracor's new drug, Lunesta, a taboo in the use of sleeping pills has been broken. Lunesta is the first sleeping pill whose label will not recommend it be taken for only 7 to 10 days. [ ... Read the full article ... ] (free registration required)

This week's Journal of the American Medical Association includes a clinical review about current knowledge of dementia in the presence of both probable Alzheimer disease and cerebrovascular disease, including neuropsychological and behavioral information, as well as a discussion of potential medications. Mixed Dementia: Emerging Concepts and Therapeutic Implications Kenneth M. Langa, MD, PhD; Norman L. Foster, MD; Eric B. Larson, MD, MPH JAMA.  2004; 292: 2901-2908. Context  The prevalence of mixed dementia, defined as the coexistence of Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD), is likely to increase as the population ages. Objectives  To provide an overview of the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and interaction of AD and VaD in mixed dementia, and to provide a systematic literature review of the current evidence for the pharmacologic therapy of mixed dementia. Data Sources, Study Selection, and Data Extraction  The Cochrane Database of Systematic Review...

From a University of Iowa press release : Brain Region Identified That Controls Collecting Behavior [snip] By studying patients who developed abnormal hoarding behavior following brain injury, neurology researchers in the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A Carver College of Medicine have identified an area in the prefrontal cortex that appears to control collecting behavior. The findings suggest that damage to the right mesial prefrontal cortex causes abnormal hoarding behavior by releasing the primitive hoarding urge from its normal restraints. The study was published online in the Nov. 17 Advance Access issue of the journal Brain. [snip] The UI team studied 86 people with focal brain lesions - very specific areas of brain damage – to see if damage to particular brain regions could account for abnormal collecting behavior. Other than the lesions, the patients' brains functioned normally and these patients performed normally on tests of intelligence, reasoning an...

This week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (09 December 2004) includes two research papers and one editorial comment on topics concerning Parkinson disease: Levodopa and the Progression of Parkinson's Disease by The Parkinson Study Group. Abstract Rivastigmine for Dementia Associated with Parkinson's Disease by M. Emre and colleagues. Abstract Parkinson's Disease Dementia — A First Step? , an editorial comment by D. Z. Press. Extract

Mulhern RK, Khan RB, Kaplan S, Helton S, Christensen R, Bonner M, Brown R, Xiong X, Wu S, Gururangan S, Reddick WE. Short-term efficacy of methylphenidate: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial among survivors of childhood cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2004 Dec 1; 22(23): 4743-51. Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Hematology/Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105-2794, USA. PURPOSE: Children surviving acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and malignant brain tumors (BTs) have a higher incidence of attention and learning problems in school than do their healthy peers. The present study tests the hypothesis that the psychostimulant methylphenidate (MPH) improves cognitive and social functioning among these patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We report on 83 long-term survivors of ALL and BT identified as having attentional deficits on behavioral testing and parent or teacher report, and problems with academic achievemen...

This evening, the NBC Nightly News ran a feature report entitled "Mind Over Matter," concerning self-control over EEG components to "move" a computer cursor. The research program is the Wadsworth Center Brain-Computer Interface Project in Albany, New York. The report included an interview with the Project's Dr. Jonathan Wolpaw. Information about Dr Wolpaw and the project can be found on this webpage.

Yesterday's Sunday magazine in the Boston Globe included a decent feature article about advances in the neurosciences: Brain Power By Pamela Ferdinand The Boston Globe 05 December 2004 [ ... Read the article ... ]

Risk of Strokes Halts Sickle Cell Study By Daniel Yee Associated Press The Washington Post Monday, December 6, 2004; Page A02 ATLANTA, Dec. 5 -- A study aimed at determining whether some children with sickle cell anemia could be weaned off blood transfusion therapy has been halted because two young patients who stopped getting the procedure suffered strokes and others developed a high chance of strokes. The National Institutes of Health decided to issue a clinical alert recommending that doctors continue with blood transfusions to reduce the risk of stroke among young sickle cell patients, even though the treatment has its own risk. The study, called Stop II, was funded by the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and involved 23 U.S. medical centers and two in Canada. [ ... Read the full article ... ] (free registration required.)

There has been a lot of web searching for information about Tysabri (natalizumab) [formerly Antegren] in the wake of the FDA approval last month for use in multiple sclerosis. A lot of searching has been by patients and concerned family members, clinicians and students, and those interested in the business applications. I posted a couple of entries about the drug approval that are found in the November archives. I've been looking for a business commentary to note and found one earlier today: In the business-world end of this, here is an interesting commentary from the 24th of November by a writer for TheStreet.com : What Price Tysabri? By Adam Feuerstein Senior Writer, TheStreet.com 11/24/2004 8:00 AM EST Read the opinion article

From tomorrow's New York Times Sunday Magazine: In Search of Lost Time By CATHRYN JAKOBSON RAMIN The New York Times Published: December 5, 2004 A few months ago, as I trudged down the stairs of my office building, deep in my thoughts, I noticed a dark-haired woman waving to me from the window of her car. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her. Like quite a few others, she had slipped out of my mental Rolodex. In my brain, the synaptic traces that connected us had frayed. Yet again, I had misplaced an entire human being. [ ... Read the full article ... ]

jill/txt describes her experience visiting this art display about a woman with Alzheimer disease. Read her blog entry here. The Julia 1926 website can be found here.

Sarno MT, Postman WA, Cho YS, Norman RG. Evolution of phonemic word fluency performance in post-stroke aphasia. Journal of Communication Disorders. 2005 Mar-Apr; 38(2): 83-107. Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine, New York University, 400 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016, USA. In this longitudinal study, quantitative and qualitative changes in responses of people with aphasia were examined on a phonemic fluency task. Eighteen patients were tested at 3-month intervals on the letters F-A-S while they received comprehensive, intensive treatment from 3 to 12 months post-stroke. They returned for a follow-up evaluation at an average of 10 months post-intervention. Mean group scores improved significantly from beginning to end of treatment, but declined post-intervention. Patients produced a significantly greater number and proportion of modifiers (adjectives and adverbs) between the beginning and end of treatment, with no decline afterwards, implying that t...

A Brown University press release describes a study published in this week's issue of Science: Antipsychotic Drugs Stop Fatal Viral Infection In Brain Cells PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Generic antipsychotic drugs can protect brain cells from a virus that causes a fatal nervous system disorder, according to research conducted at Brown University and Case Western Reserve University. The disorder, called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML, affects hundreds of Americans with suppressed immune systems, including kidney transplant recipients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and an estimated 4 percent of people with AIDS. PML is caused by the JC virus, which destroys the cells that produce the fatty sheath that covers nerve cells. This causes dementia, vision loss, movement and speech impairment, paralysis and coma. The disorder is fast moving and fatal; Many patients die within four months after onset. PML is also on the rise. Due to the AIDS pandemic, inciden...

As reported in the Boston Globe : Skull fragment shows 400-year-old surgery in Va., researchers say The Boston Globe By Sonja Barisic, Associated Press December 2, 2004 NORFOLK, Va. -- A skull fragment found in a nearly 400-year-old trash pit at Jamestown contains evidence of the earliest known surgery and possible autopsy in the English Colonies in America, researchers say. Circular cut marks indicate someone attempted to drill two holes in the skull to relieve pressure on the brain, the researchers said. The patient, a European man, died and apparently underwent an autopsy. Archeologists found the 4-inch-by-4-inch fragment this summer while digging in a bulwark trench on the site of James Fort. Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, was founded in 1607 as a business venture. The skull piece was discarded with trash, such as pottery shards, from no later than about 1610, said Bly Straube, senior curator of the Association for the Pres...

One of neuropsychology's and behavioral neuroscience's favorite historical case studies, Phineas Gage, is featured in this week's (02 December 2004) New England Journal of Medicine's "Images in Clinical Medicine" section, with two free-access .mpg videos by Peter Ratiu, M.D. and Ion-Florin Talos, M.D in their report, The Tale of Phineas Gage, Digitally Remastered .

The cover story for the 06 December 2004 issue of Newsweek deals with developments in cognitive neuroscience and with drugs that may improve or enhance memory functioning: The Quest for Memory Drugs By Mary Carmichael Newsweek Dec. 6 issue - To say that Aplysia Californicus is one of nature's least glamorous beasts would be too kind. A hermaphroditic marine snail with mottled purple skin, it keeps to itself, responding to disturbances by emitting a murky fluid that stains the water around it. Its "brain," if you can call it that, is stunningly simple, with only a few thousand oversize neurons. It is not, in short, a likely candidate for glory in the animal kingdom. But a few years from now, much of the baby-boom generation may be greatly indebted to this unprepossessing little creature. Aplysia may look homely, but to scientists hoping to develop memory-enhancing medicine, it is a thing of beauty. [ ... Read the full article ... ]