BrainBlog

Brain development of very preterm and very low-birthweight children in childhood and adolescence: A meta-analysis Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 2012 Jan 28; de Kieviet JF, Zoetebier L, van Elburg RM, Vermeulen RJ, Oosterlaan J Abstract Aim  The aim of this article was to clarify the impact and consequences of very preterm birth (born PMID: 22283622 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

I begin work this week drafting the structure of a multi-hour continuing-education (CE) program that I will be teaching several months from now on the topic of memory functioning for clinicians and clinical researchers. I will be presenting an overview to current clinical and research findings about normal memory, memory problems in certain clinical conditions, the neurodegenerative diseases, and an overview to efforts to assess the effectiveness of trying to enhance memory and trying to prevent or slow memory decline. If you were to attend a program like this, what would you like to hear about?

Odor identification deficits identify Parkinson's disease patients with poor cognitive performance Movement Disorders. 2011 Sep;26(11):2045-50 Damholdt MF, Borghammer P, Larsen L, Ostergaard K Abstract Olfactory dysfunction is a prodromal and prevalent nonmotor symptom of Parkinson's disease. Unlike olfactory dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease, it is believed to be unrelated to cognitive impairment. However, recent research has implicated cholinergic denervation in Parkinson's disease hyposmia and linked it to verbal memory. This research hypothesized that severe odor identification deficits may identify patients with Parkinson's disease at risk for cognitive impairment. The current study tested this hypothesis by comparing 24 functionally anosmic, nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease and 39 nonanosmic, nondemented patients with Parkinson's disease with 29 healthy control participants on composite scores of memory, processing speed, executive functi...

A quick overview sheet presented by the Wellcome Trust Blog : pdf sheet

From The Independent : Switzerland's 'Dementiaville' designed to mirror the past Plan to build 1950s-style village for Alzheimer's sufferers divides geriatric-care experts TONY PATERSON TUESDAY 24 JANUARY 2012 [snip] "Its detractors may end up dubbing it "Dementiaville", but Switzerland is brushing aside a debate raging among geriatric-care experts with plans to build a mock-1950s village catering exclusively for elderly sufferers of Alzheimer's and other debilitating mental illnesses." [snip] Read the full article

From The New Yorker : RE-START by John Seabrook 30 January 2012 issue Read the full piece

From the Dana Foundation Blog: Gearing Up for Brain Awareness Week 20 January 2012 [snip] "Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is less than two months away (March 12–18) and here at the Dana Foundation we are excited...Remember, the Dana Foundation and the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (DABI) are here to help. If you register your organization with DABI and become a BAW partner at www.dana.org/brainweek/ , you’ll get access to free BAW materials. Each year hundreds of BAW partners from Texas to Morocco register events with DABI and receive fun and valuable materials and resources for free." [snip] Read the full blog entry Hashtag it at #BrainWeek

From the FDA: FDA permits marketing of first test for risk of rare brain infection in some people treated with Tysabri For Immediate Release: January 20, 2012 [snip] "Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed marketing of the first test to help determine the risk for a rare brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in people using the drug Tysabri (natalizumab) to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) or Crohn’s disease (CD). "The Stratify JCV Antibody ELISA test, when used with other clinical data from the patient, can help health care providers determine the risk for developing PML in MS and CD patients." [snip] Read the full press release

This blog post from the New York Times discusses "The 36-hour Day": The Caregivers’ Bookshelf: An Alzheimer’s Classic The New Old Age Blog The New York Times by Paula Span January 20, 2012, 2:27 PM Read the full blog entry

Exergaming and older adult cognition a cluster randomized clinical trial Am J Prev Med. 2012 Feb;42(2):109-19 Anderson-Hanley C, Arciero PJ, Brickman AM, Nimon JP, Okuma N, Westen SC, Merz ME, Pence BD, Woods JA, Kramer AF, Zimmerman EA Abstract BACKGROUND: Dementia cases may reach 100 million by 2050. Interventions are sought to curb or prevent cognitive decline. Exercise yields cognitive benefits, but few older adults exercise. Virtual reality-enhanced exercise or "exergames" may elicit greater participation. PURPOSE: To test the following hypotheses: (1) stationary cycling with virtual reality tours ("cybercycle") will enhance executive function and clinical status more than traditional exercise; (2) exercise effort will explain improvement; and (3) brain-derived neurotrophic growth factor (BDNF) will increase. DESIGN: Multi-site cluster randomized clinical trial (RCT) of the impact of 3 months of cybercycling versus traditional exercise, on cognitive function i...

Errorless learning in cognitive rehabilitation: A critical review Neuropsychological Rehabilatation. 2012 Jan 16; Middleton EL, Schwartz MF Abstract Cognitive rehabilitation research is increasingly exploring errorless learning interventions, which prioritise the avoidance of errors during treatment. The errorless learning approach was originally developed for patients with severe anterograde amnesia, who were deemed to be at particular risk for error learning. Errorless learning has since been investigated in other memory-impaired populations (e.g., Alzheimer's disease) and acquired aphasia. In typical errorless training, target information is presented to the participant for study or immediate reproduction, a method that prevents participants from attempting to retrieve target information from long-term memory (i.e., retrieval practice). However, assuring error elimination by preventing difficult (and error-permitting) retrieval practice is a potential major drawback of the error...

This looks like a great contribution. I am looking forward to reading it. Age group and sex differences in performance on a computerized neurocognitive battery in children age 8-21 Neuropsychology. 2012 Jan 16; Gur RC, Richard J, Calkins ME, Chiavacci R, Hansen JA, Bilker WB, Loughead J, Connolly JJ, Qiu H, Mentch FD, Abou-Sleiman PM, Hakonarson H, Gur RE Abstract Objective: Examine age group effects and sex differences by applying a comprehensive computerized battery of identical behavioral measures linked to brain systems in youths that were already genotyped. Such information is needed to incorporate behavioral data as neuropsychological "biomarkers" in large-scale genomic studies. Method: We developed and applied a brief computerized neurocognitive battery that provides measures of performance accuracy and response time for executive-control, episodic memory, complex cognition, social cognition, and sensorimotor speed domains. We tested a population-based sample of 3,500...

From the CBC : Concussion prevention effort features mobile app Four sports organizations partner with government on new education programs CBC News Posted: Jan 19, 2012 11:27 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 19, 2012 3:19 PM ET [snip] Four sports organizations will receive $1.5 million in federal funding for new education programs designed to reduce concussions and other brain injuries in children and youth who play team sports. The Public Health Agency of Canada's "Active and Safe" program is supporting a joint project of ThinkFirst Canada, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the Coaching Association of Canada, and Hockey Canada to help coachers, trainers, parents, and athletes recognize and prevent serious brain injuries. In announcing the funding in Ottawa Thursday, Minister of State for Amateur Sport Bal Gosal noted that an estimated 90 per cent of severe brain injuries were preventable if parents, coaches and the kids themselves knew more about the risks. "We can...

N-backer: An auditory n-back task with automatic scoring of spoken responses Behav Res Methods. 2011 Sep;43(3):888-96 Monk AF, Jackson D, Nielsen D, Jefferies E, Olivier P Abstract The n-back task is commonly used to load working memory (WM) in dual-task and neuroimaging experiments. However, it typically involves visual presentation and buttonpress responses, making it unsuitable for combination with primary tasks that involve vision and action, such as sequential object use and other tasks of daily living. The N-backer software presented here will automatically present and score auditory-verbal n-back sequences utilising the standard speech synthesis and recognition facilities that come with Microsoft Windows. Data are presented from an experiment in which 12 student participants carried out three tasks from the Naturalistic Action Test (NAT) while their attention was divided between the primary task and a continuous auditory-verbal 2-back secondary task. The participants' 2-bac...

A press release from the NIH : NIH announces funding for new learning disabilities research centers Centers in Boulder, Houston, Tallahassee, and Seattle 17 January 2012 "Funding for four centers to conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents has been provided by the National Institutes of Health." Read the full press release

From the Guardian : NHS warned of 'neurology timebomb' Call for 'neurology tsar' as growing numbers are diagnosed with Parkinson's, motor neurone disease and multiple sclerosis The Guardian Tuesday 17 January 2012 Read full article

A special features section of the Guardian and the Observer : Homepage

Thank you Dana Foundation Blog for posting about this series at the Rubin Museum of Art, the homepage for which follows: Brainwave 2012 From the homepage: "Now in its fifth year, Brainwave brings people from diverse walks of life together to engage with neuroscientists in one-on-one conversations in order to better understand the workings of our minds. Starting February 2012 we will focus on how memory is processed in the brain." The Rubin is located in Chelsea (NYC). Information about the schedule and the museum are available on the homepage.

Landmark sequencing and route knowledge: An fMRI study Cortex. 2011 Dec 16; Nemmi F, Piras F, Péran P, Incoccia C, Sabatini U, Guariglia C Abstract INTRODUCTION: The ability to navigate in a familiar environment mainly relies on route knowledge, that is, a mental representation of relevant locations along a way, sequenced according to a navigational goal. Despite the clear ecological validity of this issue, route navigation and route knowledge have been scarcely investigated and little is known about the neural and cognitive bases of this navigational strategy. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we tested the validity of the predictions based on the main cognitive models of spatial knowledge acquisition about route-based navigation. METHODS: An order judgment task was used with two conditions (route and activity). Subjects were required to detect potential mismatches between a current sensory input and expectations deriving from route and activity knowledge. RESULTS: A...

From the Mind Hacks blog: A Relationship Through Brain Injury

The Guardian/Observer Memory Week Read the article "The free 'Making the Most of your Memory' 24-page booklets, are available with the Guardian this Saturday 14 January and the Observer on Sunday 15 January."

An open-access free download of the research paper upon which today's news in based: Archana Singh-Manoux, Mika Kivimaki, M Maria Glymour, Alexis Elbaz, Claudine Berr, Klaus P Ebmeier, Jane E Ferrie, & Aline Dugravot (2012). Timing of onset of cognitive decline: results from Whitehall II prospective cohort study. British Medical Journal . Article

A report from the BBC : Brain function can start declining 'as early as age 45' BBC 5 January 2012 Last updated at 20:08 ET [snip] "The brain's ability to function can start to deteriorate as early as 45, suggests a study in the British Medical Journal. "University College London researchers found a 3.6% decline in mental reasoning in women and men aged 45-49. "They assessed the memory, vocabulary and comprehension skills of 7,000 men and women aged 45 to 70 over 10 years." [snip] Read the full article Related report from the CBC : Brain may start decline at age 45 Cognitive function may begin deteriorating earlier than previously believed CBC News Posted: Jan 5, 2012 6:45 PM ET Last Updated: Jan 6, 2012 7:14 AM ET [snip] "Memory, reasoning and comprehension skills can start to decline at age 45, research published Thursday suggests. "The findings go against previous research that had found cognitive decline starts after age 60 — and highlight ...

Rehabilitation targeted at everyday communication: can we change the talk of people with aphasia and their significant others within conversation? Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilation . 2012 Jan;93(1 Suppl):S70-6 Wilkinson R, Wielaert S Abstract OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether aphasia therapy can change the talk of speakers with aphasia and/or their significant others within conversation. DESIGN: Small number of intervention studies targeting conversations involving speakers with aphasia are reviewed. All are single case studies. SETTING: Key assessment in the studies was an audio or video recording of 1 or more conversations between the dyad, usually made in the home setting. Intervention in these studies took place in the participants' home or another setting, such as a therapy room. PARTICIPANTS: In all of the studies reviewed, the participants consisted of a person with aphasia (PWA) and a significant other, usually the PWA's spouse. INTERVENTIONS: In all studie...

Cambridge University figures in New Year Honours list The Cambridge Student Online 31 December 2011 [snip] "A CBE is awarded to another medical man, Professor Trevor Robbins, "for services to Medical Research". Professor Robbins is Head of the Department of Experimental Psychology, and Director of Cambridge University's Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute. His research interests focus on the brain systems relevant to neurological disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease. Professor Robbins is a Fellow of Downing College, and of the Royal Society." [snip] Read full article