BrainBlog

A report from BusinessWeek from 27 August 2009: Drug, Biotech Research Spending Hangs Tough Overall U.S. corporate R&D spending is down 4% since the end of 2007, but some companies have chosen to buck the trend By Emily Thornton and Frederick Jespersen [snip] Corporate America's research spending shrank 4% overall, or $1.9 billion, from the fourth quarter of 2007 through the second quarter of this year, according to data compiled by Capital IQ on 961 U.S. companies. But many health-care companies have boosted their research outlays. BusinessWeek sought out 25 companies that most aggressively increased their research budgets during the first six months of 2009. Thirteen members of the group, which collectively boosted its spending by $2 billion, were pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Only eight were high-tech outfits, such as Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). [snip] Read the full article

From today's Guardian : Major drug trial highlights a new approach in stroke prevention The success of Pradaxa in a 44-country trial indicates a possible end to the use of the rat poison warfarin as a primary treatment to prevent stroke Press Association guardian.co.uk Sunday 30 August 2009 23.27 BST Read the full article Boehringer Ingelheim's (BI) corporate website information about their clinical trial programmes: click here

Pharmafocus reported earlier in the week about a plan by Pfizer to roll out some social networking options for patients considering clinical-trial participation: Pfizer to develop online community to find new trials patients Monday , August 24, 2009 Read the report . The report indicates that Pfizer has teamed with Private Access in this product. I know I have been involved in co-hosting online communities for Alzheimer's disease and in oncology and such online communities can be very exciting for patients, caregivers, and scientists.

Tara Calishain and her diverse service specialty called Research Buzz provides a link to a new Google Custom Search Engine specific to hospital websites in the U.S., 2800 of them at current count. For specifics, please see her website/blog entry: click here

From The Guardian's ScienceBlog , 27 August 2009: Is quantum mechanics messing with your memory? For all we know we may live in a world in which windows un-break and cold cups of coffee spontaneously heat up, we just don't remember. The explanation is quantum entanglement. Read the piece here

2nd Conference on Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) From the conference website: "Dear Colleague, "It is a great pleasure for us to invite you to attend the 2nd conference Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD), which will take place in Las Vegas on October 29-30, 2009. "This conference is co-organized by the Montpellier and Toulouse European Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium (EADC) Centers and the Cleveland Clinic : Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. "The aims of the meeting are to bring together the current leaders in clinical trials in Alzheimer’s Disease to discuss new results, drugs in development, and future methodological issues (disease modifying, outcomes, biomarkers, health economics)." Full details available at the conference website: http://www.ctad.fr/01-presentation/presentation.asp

Center for Bioethics Fall Seminar Series Time: 12:15 to 1:30 pm Location: 1-451 Moos Tower, University of Minnesota campus (unless noted otherwise) Minneapolis, MN ITV to University of Minnesota, Duluth, Room 160 Life Science November 13 “Family Stories: Decision Making in Advanced Dementia” Presented by Barbara Elliott, PhD Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Medical School, Duluth; Director, Clinical Research, Department of Family Medicine; Adjunct Professor, Department of Behavioral Sciences, University of Minnesota, Duluth Seminars are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. For more information email visit www.bioethics.umn.edu

An upcoming presentation at the Newcastle University Institute of Neuroscience: IoN Seminar: The evolution of brain systems for vocal learning Erich Jarvis (Duke University) Venue: Room 218, Henry Wellcome Building Date: 7th September 2009 Time: 13:00 - 14:00 The title "The evolution of brain systems for vocal learning" is a provisional title, to be confirmed. Host: Tom Smulders

Hojat, Mohammadreza; Vergare, Michael J.; Maxwell, Kaye; Brainard, George; Herrine, Steven K.; Isenberg, Gerald A.; Veloski, Jon; Gonnella, Joseph S. The Devil is in the Third Year: A Longitudinal Study of Erosion of Empathy in Medical School Academic Medicine , September 2009 - Volume 84 - Issue 9 - pp 1182-1191. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181b17e55 The full text of this research paper is available at: Click here This issue of Academic Medicine includes additional commentary and research papers on the topic of empathy, available as courtesy full-text downloads.

From The Guardian : First person: My condition means people always assume I'm drunk Jayne Wallace The Guardian Thursday 27 August 2009 Read the article

The New York Times : Edward Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies The Independent : Legacy of the only Kennedy brother to grow old The White House : Statement by the President The Office of the Vice President : Statement by the Vice President (includes YouTube link.) (Photo: The White House)

The September 2009 issue of Wired has a nifty little article on the impact of placebo effects on pharmaceutical clinical trials and pharma company decision making: "Real. Fake. Both Can Cure Depression." by Steve Silberman. === Addendum on 28th August: As you will see from the comments, this piece is available on Wired magazine's website. You can access it here ===

Neuropsychologist Stephen Rao is in the news, with a recent publication in the journal Neurology looking at fMRI of individuals who had frisk factors for Alzheimer's disease and normal contols as they identify famous faces. Here is a report from Time magazine's website: What Britney Spears Can Reveal About Alzheimer's By ALICE PARK Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009 Read article

Available at BMC Neurology Proceedings of the 2009 Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration Conference Proceedings from Drug Discovery for Neurodegeneration Conference Washington, DC, USA. 2–3 February 2009 Edited by Diana W Shineman and Howard M Fillit BMC Neurology Contents of Volume 9 Suppl 1 Click here for open access to contents of this issue

From The Guardian : 'Dramatic' breakthrough in MS research Scientists find a substance called galanin is resistant to a multiple sclerosis-like disease in both mice and human brain tissue The Guardian 24 August 2009 Read the article About a research finding from a neuroscience team at the University of Bristol.

An article written by Carl Zimmer for the September issue of Discover magazine: read the article The Dark Matter of the Human Brain Meet the forgotten 90 percent of your brain: glial cells, which outnumber your neurons ten to one. And no one really knows what they do. === Neuropsychology and neuroscience students" One of Carl's books, Soul Made Flesh , is an excellent story about Thomas Willis and his times. Must-read history about neuropsychology, alongside that of the later times of Broca, Wernicke, and Hughlings Jackson.

Cleveland Clinic considering telemedicine services for ICUs, home health care MedCity News August 20, 2009 by Chris Seper Read the article

From a press release by the FDA: Sabril Approved by FDA to Treat Spasms in Infants and Epileptic Seizures Sabril (vigabatrin) Oral Solution has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat infantile spasms in children ages 1 month to 2 years. Sabril is the first drug in the United States approved to treat the disorder, characterized by a severe type of seizure that usually appears in the first year of life, typically between ages 4 months and 8 months. The disorder can be debilitating because of the frequency of difficult-to-control daily seizures. Sabril (vigabatrin) Tablets have been approved for adult use in combination with other medications to treat complex partial seizures that have not responded adequately to previous drug therapies. “Seizures can cause impaired nervous system function and reduced quality of life,” said Russell Katz, M.D., director of the Division of Neurology Products at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Infantile spasms i...

From The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog : AUGUST 17, 2009, 11:12 AM ET Novartis’s Big Plans for Multiple Sclerosis By Jeanne Whalen [snippet] The FDA gave Novartis the green light today to start selling a copy of Betaseron, the multiple sclerosis drug long sold by Bayer. Why would Novartis want to sell somebody else’s years-old drug? Largely to gain experience in the MS marketplace as Novartis plots a future launch of the MS drug FTY720. “It’s a way to build a strong commercial organization and a strong medical organization ahead of FTY,” Novartis pharmaceuticals chief Joe Jimemez told the Health Blog recently. [snippet] Read the full blog entry ========== Note: Here is a reference to FTY720: Horga A, & Montalban X. (2008). FTY720 (fingolimod) for relapsing multiple sclerosis. Expert Rev Neurother., 8(5) 699-714. Clinical Neuroinmunology Unit, Multiple Sclerosis Center of Catalonia (CEM-Cat), Vall d'Hebron University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain. FTY720 (fingolimod) ...

From The New York Times : Brain Is a Co-Conspirator in a Vicious Stress Loop By NATALIE ANGIER Published: August 18, 2009 "Chronic stress changes the brain, but relaxation can change it back." Read the full article

Settling in in my coffeehouse for a reading of an interesting new publication by Dr. Brian Brooks and his colleagues on the topic of "Minimizing Misdiagnosis: Psychometric Criteria for Possible or Probable Memory Impairment." The authors seek to develop new psychometric criteria for identification of memory problems in older individuals. This has both clinical and research implications; my primary interest at this time is the accuracy of such identification for including or excluding individuals in clinical trials that test potential drug treatments for Alzheimer's and related dementias.

From The New York Times : And You Thought a Prescription Was Private By MILT FREUDENHEIM Published: August 9, 2009 "Prescriptions and the information on them are bought and sold in a murky marketplace, often without the patients’ knowledge or permission." Read the article

From the Brainstrust.org.uk website: link here Lizzie Hudson to appear on the 4th plinth for brainstrust! "Fantastic news just in that Lizzie Hudson from Ipswich has won the chance to appear on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square for an hour. Better still, she's devoting her time on the plinth to braintrust and our battle against brain cancer. Lizzie's appearance is part of sculptor Anthony Gormley's 'One & Other' project, wherein he is asking the people of the UK to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square in London, a space normally reserved for statues of Kings and Generals. Gormley's idea is that successful applicants then become an image of themselves, and a representation of the whole of humanity. Every hour, 24 hours a day, for 100 days without a break, a different person will make the Plinth their own, including lucky Lizzie! Lizzie, 26, states "I wanted to do something useful with my time, and so have decided to raise money for t...

From the website of the Parkinson's Disease Society: PDS fundraiser to stand on the Fourth Plinth in London Tim Andrews, from Milford in Surrey, is taking part in the Antony Gormley project 'One & Other' on Saturday 15 August 2009, taking his place on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square, London from 6pm to 7pm. Tim is taking part in the project as part of a new found determination to live life to the full since he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2005, at the age of 54. Despite being afraid of heights, Tim intends to stand on the Fourth Plinth for the full hour. Tim will play tracks from the new album, The Liberty of Norton Folgate by one of his favourite bands, Madness, who have given their permission for it to be played. Tim has chosen the album because the lyrics recount various stories about the city of his birth, London, which he adores. Tim hopes that many will come along, show their support and perhaps dance with him. Tim says: "Being d...

From the FDA: FDA Approves Saphris to Treat Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Saphris tablets (asenapine) to treat adults with schizophrenia, a chronic, severe and disabling brain disorder, and to treat bipolar I disorder in adults, a serious psychiatric disorder that causes shifts in a person's mood, energy, and ability to function. “Mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be devastating to patients and families, requiring lifelong treatment and therapy,” said Thomas Laughren, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Effective medicines can help people with mental illness live more independent lives.” Read the full FDA press release S-P corporate press release

On Saturday, the 15th, from 1100 to 1200 hrs, plinther Laura Hickman of the One&Other art project in Trafalgar Square will be promoting Chiari Malformation awareness. The Chiari Center Foundation Chiari Malformation information page here and here [credits: Photo courtesy Laura Hickman}

From a National Institutes of Health (NIH) press release: Imitation Promotes Social Bonding in Primates Capuchin Monkeys Predisposed Toward Individuals Who Imitate Them Imitation, the old saying goes, is the sincerest form of flattery. It also appears to be an ancient interpersonal mechanism that promotes social bonding and, presumably, sets the stage for relative strangers to coalesce into groups of friends, according to a study by a team of scientists at the National Institutes of Health and two Italian research institutions. The study authors found that capuchin monkeys preferred the company of researchers who imitated them to that of researchers who did not imitate them. The monkeys not only spent more time with their imitators, but also preferred to engage in a simple task with them even when provided with the option of performing the same task with a non-imitator. Read the full press release

C-SPAN-3 is currently airing an earlier session by the subcommittee on aging on the topic of Alzheimer's Disease. All C-SPAN channels can be streamed online. Information about the program can be found here .

I have a fun task to complete later today: Recommend to a client five new neuroscience books that have been published in 2009 to be purchased to "freshen up" their company library shelves.

The blog Brain Ethics posted a blog entry last month with links to several YouTube videos of historical figures in neuroscience and psychology: Read Brain Ethics post here

Morrow S, Weinstock-Guttman B, Munschauer F, Hojnacki D, & Benedict R. (2009). Subjective fatigue is not associated with cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis: cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. Multiple Sclerosis, 15(8), :998-1005. School of Medicine, The Jacobs Neurological Institute, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA. Background Studies in multiple sclerosis (MS) report conflicting conclusions regarding fatigue and cognition, which may partly be due to the use of small sample sizes and frequent reliance on a cross-sectional approach. Objective The ability to distinguish between these two disabling symptoms is necessary in order to properly assess and treat MS patients. Methods In a retrospective analysis, we assessed the correlation between fatigue and neuropsychological (NP) testing using a cross-sectional (n = 465) and longitudinal approach (n = 69). Cognition was measured using a comprehensive battery called the Minimal Assessment o...

Yet another case from the UK: Woman dies of meningitis after swine flu diagnosis • Woman prescribed Tamiflu and paracetamol dies in hospital • Son urges doctors to heed symptoms of other illnesses Karen McVeigh guardian.co.uk Wednesday 12 August 2009 17.02 BST A man whose mother died of meningitis days after being misdiagnosed with swine flu has called on doctors to pay more heed to other illnesses when treating patients. Jasvir Kaur Gill, 48, a mother of three from Leicester, began suffering from a sore throat and vomiting during the evening of Saturday 1 August. She was told to take Tamiflu after a telephone diagnosis, but 12 hours later she suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital. She died without regaining consciousness, four days later. An inquest, which opened today, heard how her death was caused by meningococcal septicaemia, or blood poisoning caused by meningitis. After the hearing, her son Sukhvinder Gill, 25, said: "We said to the doctors in the hospital, ever...

Bangirana P, Giordani B, John CC, Page C, Opoka RO, & Boivin MJ (2009). Immediate Neuropsychological and Behavioral Benefits of Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation in Ugandan Pediatric Cerebral Malaria Survivors. Journal of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics. Aug 7. OBJECTIVE:: Our earlier studies on Ugandan children surviving cerebral malaria showed cognitive deficits mainly in attention and memory. We now present the first study in sub-Saharan Africa to investigate the feasibility and potential benefits of computerized cognitive rehabilitation training on neuropsychological and behavioral functioning of children surviving cerebral malaria. METHODS:: A randomized trial in which 65 children admitted 45 months earlier with cerebral malaria were recruited at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. For 8 weeks, 32 of the children received weekly training sessions using Captain's Log cognitive training software and the other 33 were assigned to a nontreatment condition. Pre- and...

From a National Institutes of Health (NIH) press release : Statement of Duane Alexander, M.D., Director Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development National Institutes of Health On the Contributions of Eunice Kennedy Shriver in Advancing Research in Child Health, Human Development, and Intellectual Disability The entire world owes a debt to Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her foresight in calling for an institute at the National Institutes of Health to study the myriad aspects of human development, both as it unfolds without problems and when medical and environmental factors prevent it from doing so. In 1961, Mrs. Shriver persuaded her brother, then-President Kennedy, to include in his first health message to Congress the proposal for an NIH institute focusing on child health and human development research. After the bill that would establish the new institute was introduced, Mrs. Shriver testified in support of that bill and worked to persuade members ...

Following up on a posting earlier this week: From a General Electrics press release 11 August 2009 FDA ADVISORY COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS DaTSCAN™ (Ioflupane I 123 Injection) PRINCETON, NJ--GE Healthcare announced today that the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted to recommend DaTSCAN (Ioflupane I 123 Injection) to the FDA. The panel determined DaTSCAN has a favorable risk to benefit profile, voting 11 to two with one abstention. The proposed indication for DaTSCAN is for the visualization of the dopamine transporter (DaT) distribution within the striata by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging in patients presenting with symptoms or signs suggestive of dopaminergic neurodegeneration. In May 2009, the FDA accepted the New Drug Application and granted DaTSCAN priority review, a designation identified for areas of unmet medical need. If approved, DaTSCAN will be the first radiopharmaceut...

Batting Helmet is Safer, but Players Hate the Look By DAVID WALDSTEIN The New York Times Published: August 13, 2009 "Some major league players don’t want to sacrifice comfort and style for the added protection of Rawlings’ new helmet." Read article [Note: The helmet is called the Rawlings S100 and the company's website has promotional material about it's features.}

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Bethesda, MD http://www.nichd.nih.gov/ The Rose F. Kennedy University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Bronx, NY http://www.aecom.yu.edu/cerc/kennedy.htm

Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88; member of Kennedy clan, founder of Special Olympics By Bryan Marquard Boston Globe Staff / August 11, 2009 "Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who planted the seeds for the Special Olympics when she launched Camp Shriver on the lawn of her Maryland home, and then with force of will and the clout of her family name spread her vision of lifting the developmentally disabled "into the sunlight of useful living," died this morning at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis." Read full article

The Wall Street Journal's HealthBlog discusses this radiopharmaceutical and the FDA meeting to be held tomorrow about it [ read post here ]

Bauer PM, Hanson JL, Pierson RK, Davidson RJ, & Pollak SD. (2009). Cerebellar Volume and Cognitive Functioning in Children Who Experienced Early Deprivation . Biological Psychiatry . 2009 Aug 4. [Epub ahead of print] University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin. BACKGROUND: The cerebellum is a brain region recognized primarily in the coordination of movement and related accessory motor functions. In addition, emerging evidence implicates the cerebellum in cognitive processes and suggests that this brain region might be subject to experience-dependent changes in structure. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the role of early environmental deprivation in the maturation of the cerebellum and aspects of cognitive development. METHODS: Structural magnetic resonance imaging volumes of 12 cerebellar sub-regions from 31 previously neglected and 30 typically developing children were compared with subjects' corresponding neuropsychological test scores. RESULTS: Negl...

An interesting feature article from the front page of yesterday's New York Times : After Injury, Fighting to Regain a Sense of Self By BENEDICT CAREY The New York Times Published: August 9, 2009 "Scientists are investigating delusions caused by brain trauma for clues to one of the most confounding problems in brain science: identity." Read the full article

From The Guardian : Girl, two, dies after swine flu misdiagnosis Child with possible meningitis was 'failed by system' say parents Jo Adetunji guardian.co.uk Saturday 8 August 2009 01.08 BST [snippet] The parents of a two-year-old girl thought to have died from meningitis after they were told she was suffering from swine flu said yesterday that she had been "failed by the system". Georgia Keeling, from Norwich, died after being rushed to hospital on Tuesday. Her parents, Paul Sewell, 21, and Tasha Keeling, 22, said they contacted health services, including NHS Direct, the swine flu helpline and the emergency services, five times after their daughter first developed a temperature on Saturday. The couple said that by Tuesday she had also developed a rash, bruising and had been sick, but their concerns that she might have meningitis were ignored. They said that on two occasions they were told Georgia did not need to be admitted to hospital and after one 999 call, a param...

Dr. Ed Vogel of the University of Oregon on Distraction and The Brain , a short YouTube video:

A very interesting paper about classical conditioning. Enjoy. If you are a student, you might also see this referred to as Pavlovian conditioning ... Makoto Mizunami, Sae Unoki, Yasuhiro Mori, Daisuke Hirashima, Ai Hatano, & Yukihisa Matsumoto. (2009). Roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in appetitive and aversive memory recall in an insect. BMC Biology, 7:46 [doi:10.1186/1741-7007-7-46] Published: 4 August 2009 Abstract, with link to full BioMedCentral paper Abstract (provisional) Background In insect classical conditioning, octopamine (the invertebrate counterpart of noradrenaline) or dopamine has been suggested to mediate reinforcing properties of appetitive or aversive unconditioned stimulus, respectively. However, the roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in memory recall have remained unclear. Results We studied the roles of octopaminergic and dopaminergic neurons in appetitive and aversive memory recall in olfactory and visual conditioning in cric...

BASIC: Brain and Spinal Injury Centre visit website With a shout out to Andy_G, who is on the plinth in Trafalgar Square right now wearing a BASIC shirt and is a part of the One & Other art event. From the website: "BASIC is a specialist resource for people and their families in crisis followinga traumatic brain injury or neurological diagnosis. This includes people recovering from severe head injury, brain haemorrhage, brain tumour and otherbrain-related conditions such as stroke and brain cancer."

BBC Radio 4 Rewriting the Psychiatrists' Bible Matthew Hill 04 August 2009 Listen to the report (40 mins.) about the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as decisions are being reached about its forthcoming revision. Visit the show's webpage Online availability ends on the 11th of August.

Mark Rosenzweig, pioneer in brain plasticity, learning and hearing, has died at 86 UCBerkeley News By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations | 03 August 2009 Read the full report BERKELEY — Mark R. Rosenzweig, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, whose early studies paved the way for today's recognition of the brain's ability to grow and repair itself, died July 20 at his home in Berkeley from kidney failure. He was 86. A prolific researcher, writer and French-speaking internationalist, Rosenzweig collaborated with some of the greatest minds in neuropsychology at Harvard University, UC Berkeley and the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. At UC Berkeley, Rosenzweig collaborated with biochemist Ed Bennett, psychologist David Krech and neuroanatomist Marian Diamond on studies that provided early evidence of brain plasticity - the now-well established notion that neural pathways change throughout our lives as we grow and learn. In additio...

Mattsson N, Zetterberg H, Hansson O, Andreasen N, Parnetti L, Jonsson M, Herukka SK, van der Flier WM, Blankenstein MA, Ewers M, Rich K, Kaiser E, Verbeek M, Tsolaki M, Mulugeta E, Rosén E, Aarsland D, Visser PJ, Schröder J, Marcusson J, de Leon M, Hampel H, Scheltens P, Pirttilä T, Wallin A, Jönhagen ME, Minthon L, Winblad B, & Blennow K. (2009). CSF biomarkers and incipient Alzheimer disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment. JAMA, 302(4), 385-393. Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Neurochemistry and Psychiatry, The Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden. CONTEXT: Small single-center studies have shown that cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers may be useful to identify incipient Alzheimer disease (AD) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but large-scale multicenter studies have not been conducted. OBJECTIVE: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of CSF beta-amyloid(1-42) (Abeta42), total tau protein (T-tau), a...

The assistive-limb robot is back in the news this week: Japanese 'robot suit' to help disabled The Telegraph (UK) By Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor Published: 3:48PM BST 03 Aug 2009 Read the full article === Corporate website: Cyberdyne

Lisa Eramo has written a piece for HealthLeaders Media about ICD-10 implementation issues and timelines. The article is available online: Providers May Need Four Years to Implement ICD-10 . [snippet] "Industry experts have repeatedly said that ICD-10 implementation must begin immediately in order for hospitals, health plans, and vendors to meet the October 1, 2013 compliance deadline. But now there is detailed evidence to prove it." [snippet]

Lu PH, Edland SD, Teng E, Tingus K, Petersen RC, Cummings JL & Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study Group. (2009) Donepezil delays progression to AD in MCI subjects with depressive symptoms. Neurology, 72(24): , 2115-2121. Departments of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the presence of depression predicts higher rate of progression to Alzheimer disease (AD) in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and whether donepezil treatment beneficially affect this relationship. METHODS: The study sample was composed of 756 participants with aMCI from the 3-year, double-blind, placebo-controlled Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study drug trial of donepezil and vitamin E. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depressive symptoms at baseline and participants were followed either to the end of study or to the primary endpoint of progression to probable or possible AD. RESULTS: Cox pr...

Edinburgh Neuroscience : "The mission of Edinburgh Neuroscience is to integrate basic and clinical research in order to drive the fundamental genetic, cellular, organ, systems and computational neuroscience underpinning pathogenesis into mechanistic understanding, future diagnostics and therapeutics of important diseases of the nervous system. We serve the interests of all members of the neuroscience community, encompassing and supported by the Research Centres and Institutes of the University of Edinburgh and its affiliates. Edinburgh Neuroscience is hosted by the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at The University of Edinburgh and currently consists of approximately 470 staff, 160 PhD students and 40 MSc students, working in 137 research laboratories." - from the website

I was pointed to this event in my own town by a post at The Law and Neuroscience Blog : Read their post here . Apparently the Boot Camp is an introduction to the neurosciences for non-neuroscientists, held at the University of Pennsylvania. What an excellent thing! Enjoy the event and enjoy our fair city!

Here is a webpage from the University of Florida ( click here ) that will be of interest to neuropsychologists, if only because it includes some cool photographs (as a profession, neuropsychology seems to be on the slim side when it comes to available photographs of persons and places). Enjoy graduate school and early-career pictures and stories of some fine neuropsychologists! And, as an added treat, some additional photographs ( click here ) of a fine neuropsychologist and his friends and colleagues, posted online by one of them.