BrainBlog

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

The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 Meet Your Brain Homepage Guardian article about the lectures: Read full article here

Balkanizing the primate orbitofrontal cortex: distinct subregions for comparing and contrasting values Annals of the New York Academy of Science. 2011 Dec; 1239(1): 1-13 Rudebeck PH, Murray EA Abstract The primate orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is often treated as a single entity, but architectonic and connectional neuroanatomy indicate that it has distinguishable parts. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to dissociate the functions of its subregions. Here we review findings from recent neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies that do so. The lateral OFC seems to be important for learning, representing, and updating specific object-reward associations. The medial OFC seems to be important for value comparisons and choosing among objects on that basis. Rather than viewing this dissociation of function in terms of learning versus choosing, however, we suggest that it reflects the distinction between contrasts and comparisons: differences versus similarities. Making use of high...

A TEDtalk by University of Cambridge neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert: TEDtalk From the webpage: "Neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert starts from a surprising premise: the brain evolved, not to think or feel, but to control movement. In this entertaining, data-rich talk he gives us a glimpse into how the brain creates the grace and agility of human motion."

ALLEN INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN SCIENCE 2011 Annual Symposium: Open Questions in Neuroscience October 4-5, 2011 Seattle, WA "The second annual symposium, Open Questions in Neuroscience , offers a thought-provoking program that addresses key areas of neuroscience and looks to the future of the field. Bringing together a diverse group of leading scientists, the meeting will feature a mixture of talks and discussion to inspire innovative thinking and engage participants in exploring compelling avenues for advancing brain research." - from the webpage Visit the conference webpage

Taking a look this week at new texts in introductory neuroscience & neuropsychology and at new books about the brain written for a general audience. It is always a fun activity to see what's out there, and the selections just get better and better each year! What are your favs of 2011?

Untangling the brain by Nature Video 09 March 2011 Watch the YouTube video

Brain Awareness Week is coming up quickly. Here is the Dana Foundation's website for the event: Brain Awareness Week . From the website: "Brain Awareness Week (BAW) is the global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Every March BAW unites the efforts of organizations worldwide in a week-long celebration of the brain. "During BAW campaign partners organize activities to educate and excite people of all ages about the brain and brain research. Events are limited only by the organizers’ imaginations. Examples include open days at neuroscience laboratories; museum exhibitions about the brain; lectures on brain-related topics; displays at malls, libraries, and community centers; and classroom workshops." If you know something about the brain, then teach something to someone who does not. It's simple and easy! Enjoy!

Britain is bottom of Euro league table at diagnosing Alzheimer's Britons with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease take twice as long to be diagnosed as sufferers living in other European countries, research has found. By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent The Telegraph 9:00PM GMT 26 Feb 2011 Read the article

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

Enjoy a brainy evening tonight on BBC4! Broken Brains

A very readable piece from Gina Kolata of the New York Times: Doubt on Tactic in Alzheimer’s Battle By GINA KOLATA The New York Times Published: August 18, 2010 "The failure of a promising Alzheimer’s drug highlights the gap between diagnosis and treatment." Read the full article

Available for viewing and downloading from the NIH: It Takes Tau to Tangle : Plaques, Tangles and Neurodegenerative Disease by Karen Duff 23 June 2010 link

An NIH news release: NIH-Supported Study Looks for Earliest Changes in the Brain That May Lead to Alzheimer's Disease 02 June 2010 Read the news release

From The Guardian : Maps of the mind: The Lion's Face How do you write an opera about dementia? Poet Glyn Maxwell on the moving journey that produced The Lion's Face Glyn Maxwell guardian.co.uk Tuesday 25 May 2010 21.46 BST "Three years earlier, I had been asked by the composer Elena Langer to write a libretto for an opera about Alzheimer's. My first thoughts about the disease were mostly wrong. Knowing nothing about the subject, I did what poets do: I tried out some verse-forms – villanelles, pantoums, ghazals. I was falling into the trap of substituting the patterned oddities of poetry for the dire incoherences of dementia, looking for lyricism by default. "The more I learned, the better the poems became. The Institute of Psychiatry in south London's Denmark Hill opened its doors to Elena and me. We talked to scientists and researchers, saw x-rays and brain scans. We met care-givers, psychologists, music and drama therapists. We saw good care homes where we...

A reminder that tomorrow (Monday) you can watch the conference online. Information, including the programme, can be found at http://consensus.nih.gov/2010/alz.htm . If you tweet, the hashtag for the conference is #NIHAlz

From the NIH: NIH State-of-the-Science Conference: Preventing Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline - Day 1 View event: You will be able to view the event at http://videocast.nih.gov when the event is live. Air date: Monday, April 26, 2010, 8:30:00 AM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local [snip] Description: For many older adults, cognitive health and performance remain stable, with only a gradual and slight decline in short-term memory and reaction times. Others, however, progress into a more serious state of cognitive impairment or into various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. In addition to investigating the causes and potential treatments for Alzheimer’s and other dementias, researchers are focused on finding ways to prevent cognitive decline. Many preventive measures for cognitive decline and for preventing Alzheimer’s have been suggested, but their value in delaying the onset and/or reducing the severity of decline or disease is unclear. B...

A news release from the NIH: Targeting the Blood-Brain Barrier May Delay Progression of Alzheimer's Disease 12 April 2010 Researchers may be one step closer to slowing the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease. An animal study supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, shows that by targeting the blood-brain barrier, researchers are able to slow the accumulation of a protein associated with the progression of the illness. The blood-brain barrier separates the brain from circulating blood, and it protects the brain by removing toxic metabolites and proteins formed in the brain and preventing entry of toxic chemicals from the blood. "This study may provide the experimental basis for new strategies that can be used to treat Alzheimer’s patients," said David S. Miller, Ph.D., chief of the Laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology at NIEHS and an author on the paper that appears in the May...

From the BPS Research Digest blog: BPS Research Digest: Is this the first ever direct evidence for human mirror neurons? The blog entry includes a link to the paper's abstract.

Chen Y, Li YS, Wang ZY, Xu Q, Shi GW, & Lin Y. [The efficacy of donepezil for post-stroke aphasia: a pilot case control study.] Zhonghua Nei Ke Za Zhi. 2010 Feb, 49(2), 115-118. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of donepezil for post-stroke aphasia. METHODS: Sixty patients with acute post-stroke aphasia were divided into treatment group and a control group. All patients had been treated for secondary prevention according to the guideline. The treatment group received donepezil hydrochloride (5 mg/d) for 12 weeks. The efficacy of treatment was measured by comparing the changes of scores of Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) between baseline and 12 weeks later. RESULTS: Compared with the baseline, the changes of scores of all items of WAB and Aphasia Quotient (AQ) in both group after 12 weeks follow-up were great, however, the change of AQ was significantly greater in donepezil group (34.14 +/- 17.70)than that in control group (20.69 +/- 17.26)(P = 0.004). The patients in donepezil gr...