BrainBlog

From the Neurohacks blog: Neurohacks column at BBC Future 27 February 2012 Read the blog posting

From the BBC : Understanding the brain on dance 27 February 2012 Last updated at 23:29 ET [snip] "How does the brain perceive and interpret beautiful movement? "This is one of the key questions being asked by scientists at Bangor University who have enlisted the help of a professional dancer in their quest to better understand how our brains process movement and how we learn by observation. "Dr Emily Cross' research focuses on the relatively new field of science called neuroaesthetics which looks at how the brain perceives artistic endeavours." [snip] Read the full article

The 24th Cambridge Neuroscience Seminar: Translational Neuroscience For full information, click here .

The February edition of Neuropod presented by Kerri Smith is up and is a great listen today. Listen to or download the edition and enjoy features about the connectome , thoughts on just how many neurons are present in the average human brain, and "The Good, the Bad, and the Monkey." Just where did that number of 100 billion come from? One number is sure: it is the 50th episode of this popular podcast. Congrats! Enjoy! Homepage and link to podcast

The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast for this week examines consciousness. " On 7 March at the Royal Institution in London, Science Weekly presenter Alok Jha will host a debate entitled Consciousness: The Hard Problem? "To discuss this slippery subject ahead of the debate Alok brought the three leading researchers and thinkers who will be participating into the Science Weekly studio: Professor Anil Seth, co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science at Sussex University; Professor Chris Frith, professor emeritus at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at University College London; and Dr Barry Smith, director of the Institute of Philosophy at the School of Advanced Study at Birkbeck, University of London." Read the full article and listen to the podcast

Ulric Neisser Is Dead at 83; Reshaped Study of the Mind By DOUGLAS MARTIN The New York Times Published: February 25, 2012 "Mr. Neisser helped lead a postwar revolution in the study of the human mind by advancing the understanding of mental processes like perception and memory." Read the full obituary

The Charlie Rose show is airing episodes from Series 2 of its "Brain Series." Series 2 is a series of episodes that deal with brain disorders. Home page

Effects of Practice on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV Across 3- and 6-Month Intervals Clinical Neuropsychologist. 2012 Feb 21; Estevis E, Basso MR, Combs D Abstract A total of 54 participants (age M = 20.9; education M = 14.9; initial Full Scale IQ M = 111.6) were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV ) at baseline and again either 3 or 6 months later. Scores on the Full Scale IQ, Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Reasoning, Processing Speed, and General Ability Indices improved approximately 7, 5, 4, 5, 9, and 6 points, respectively, and increases were similar regardless of whether the re-examination occurred over 3- or 6-month intervals. Reliable change indices (RCI) were computed using the simple difference and bivariate regression methods, providing estimated base rates of change across time. The regression method provided more accurate estimates of reliable change than did the simple difference between baseline and fol...

From Business Wire : neuGRID, the European Online Diagnosis Tool for Alzheimer’s, Goes Global with outGRID and the ITU 20 February 2012 "neuGRID, a cloud-computing infrastructure funded by the European Commission that stores and analyses a vast database of 3D brain scans, is now expanding globally to help find treatments for Alzheimer’s. This ground-breaking initiative will help develop a global online system to centralise and boost Alzheimer’s research initiatives." Read full article

Impaired Cognitive Function and Hippocampal Neurogenesis Following Cancer Chemotherapy Clin Cancer Res . 2012 Feb 14; Christie LA, Acharya MM, Parihar VK, Nguyen A, Martirosian V, Limoli CL Abstract PURPOSE: A substantial proportion of breast cancer survivors report significant, long-lasting impairments in cognitive function, often referred to as "chemobrain." Advances in detection and treatment mean that many more patients are surviving long-term following diagnosis of invasive breast cancer. Thus, it is important to define the types, extent and persistence of cognitive impairments following treatment with cytotoxic cancer drugs. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We examined the effects of chronic treatment with two agents commonly used in breast cancer patients, cyclophosphamide and doxorubicin (Adriamycin). Athymic nude rats were given 50mg/kg cyclophosphamide, 2mg/kg doxorubicin or saline injections once per week for 4 weeks. A novel place recognition task and contextual and cued fear...

Intraneuronally Injected Amyloid Beta Inhibits Long-Term Potentiation In Rat Hippocampal Slices J Neurophysiol. 2012 Feb 15; Nomura I, Takechi H, Kato N Abstract Extracellular accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). It has been reported that extracellular perfusion of Aβ inhibits long-term potentiation (LTP), which is strongly related to memory in animal models. However, it has recently been proposed that intracellular Aβ may be the first pathological change to occur in AD. Here, we have investigated the effect on LTP of intracellular injection of Aβ (Aβ(1-40), Aβ(1-42)) into hippocampal pyramidal cells using patch clamp technique. We found that injection of 1 nM Aβ(1-42) completely blocked LTP and extracellular perfusion of a p38 MAPK inhibitor or a metabotropic glutamate receptor blocker reversed these blocking effects on LTP. Furthermore, we have examined the effects of different concentrations of Aβ(1-40) and Aβ(1-42) on LTP and showed that...

A good read from the Dana Foundation Blog : Social Media as Science Facilitator Dana Foundation Blog 17 February 2012 Social media creates a new culture surrounding science. Read the blog post

Congratulations to Dr. Kerry Hamsher for Distinguished Career Award from International Neuropsychological Society (INS)! Ceremony takes place tomorrow evening, during the first day of this year's Annual Meeting. #INS12

From today's New York Times : What’s New? Exuberance for Novelty Has Benefits By JOHN TIERNEY Published: February 13, 2012 "Novelty-seeking, a personality trait long associated with trouble, turns out to be one of the crucial predictors of emotional and physical well-being." Read the full article

Discussions about Targretin (bexarotene): From The Wall Street Journal : Alzheimer's Families Clamor for Drug By Shirley S. Wang 11 February 2012 Read the article From the In The Pipeline blog: Bexarotene for Alzheimer's 13 February 2012 Read the blog posting

From The Guardian's website, with a podcast to follow: Memory and amnesia in the movies by Mo Castandi Neurophilosophy 13 February 2012 Read the full article

From the NIH: Members of new Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee announced 13 February 2012 [snip] "The committee will work to identify critical gaps in basic and clinical research on the symptoms, causes, and treatment of pain and will recommend federal research programs in these areas. The focus will be to coordinate pain research activities across the federal government with the goals of stimulating pain research collaboration, fully leveraging the government resources dedicated to supporting pain research, and providing an important avenue for public involvement. The committee will explore public-private partnerships to broaden collaborative, cross-cutting research and consider best practices in disseminating information about pain to public and professional audiences." [snip] Read the full press release

Visualizing long-term memory formation in two neurons of the Drosophila brain Science. 2012 Feb 10;335(6069):678-85 Chen CC, Wu JK, Lin HW, Pai TP, Fu TF, Wu CL, Tully T, Chiang AS Abstract Long-term memory (LTM) depends on the synthesis of new proteins. Using a temperature-sensitive ribosome-inactivating toxin to acutely inhibit protein synthesis, we screened individual neurons making new proteins after olfactory associative conditioning in Drosophila. Surprisingly, LTM was impaired after inhibiting protein synthesis in two dorsal-anterior-lateral (DAL) neurons but not in the mushroom body (MB), which is considered the adult learning and memory center. Using a photoconvertible fluorescent protein KAEDE to report de novo protein synthesis, we have directly visualized cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element-binding protein (CREB)-dependent transcriptional activation of calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II and period genes in the DAL neurons after spaced but not...

The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale: initial validity and internal consistency findings from three multisite studies with adolescents and adults. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;168(12):1266-77. Posner K, Brown GK, Stanley B, Brent DA, Yershova KV, Oquendo MA, Currier GW, Melvin GA, Greenhill L, Shen S, Mann JJ. Abstract Research on suicide prevention and interventions requires a standard method for assessing both suicidal ideation and behavior to identify those at risk and to track treatment response. The Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) was designed to quantify the severity of suicidal ideation and behavior. The authors examined the psychometric properties of the scale. The C-SSRS's validity relative to other measures of suicidal ideation and behavior and the internal consistency of its intensity of ideation subscale were analyzed in three multisite studies: a treatment study of adolescent suicide attempters (N=124); a medication efficacy trial wit...

A curious website task: eyewire.org

New nursing guidelines have been announced for dealing with Acute Confusional States by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). New AACN Practice Alert Outlines Protocols to Assess and Manage Delirium in Critically Ill Patients Feb. 10, 2012, 8:30 a.m. EST PR NewsWire press release More information available at the AACN website: Here .

Nobel winner joins Lou Ruvo Center By Paul Harasim Las Vegas Review-Journal Feb. 3, 2012 | 6:42 p.m. [snip] "Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Stanley Prusiner, who discovered a revolutionary new class of proteins that cause devastating brain diseases in both animals and humans, has become chairman of the scientific advisory board of the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health." [snip] Read the full article

A randomized controlled trial of a cognitive rehabilitation intervention for persons with multiple sclerosis Clin Rehabil . 2012 Feb 2; Stuifbergen AK, Becker H, Perez F, Morison J, Kullberg V, Todd A Abstract Objective: To explore the feasibility and effects of a computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation intervention - Memory, Attention, and Problem Solving Skills for Persons with Multiple Sclerosis (MAPSS-MS) - for persons with multiple sclerosis on cognitive performance, memory strategy use, self-efficacy for control of symptoms and neuropsychological competence in activities of daily living (ADL).Design: A randomized controlled single-blinded trial with treatment and wait list control groups.Setting: Southwestern United States.Subjects: Convenience sample of 61 persons (34 treatment, 27 wait list control) with multiple sclerosis (mean age 47.9 years, SD 8.8).Intervention: The eight-week MAPSS-MS intervention program included two components: (a) eight weekly group sessions focused ...