BrainBlog

Tam F, Churchill NW, Strother SC, & Graham SJ. A new tablet for writing and drawing during functional MRI. Human Brain Mapping. 2010 Mar 24. Writing and drawing are understudied with fMRI, partly for lack of a device that approximates these behaviors well while supporting task feedback and quantitative behavioral logging in the confines of the magnet. Consequently, we developed a tablet based on touchscreen technology that is accurate, reliable, relatively inexpensive, and fMRI compatible. After confirming fMRI compatibility, we conducted preliminary fMRI experiments examining the neural correlates of a widely used pen-and-paper neuropsychological assessment, the trail making test. In two subjects, we found left hemisphere frontal lobe activations similar to the major results of a previous group study, and we also noted individual differences mostly in the right hemisphere. These results demonstrate the utility of the new tablet for adaptations of pen-and-paper tests and suggest p...

The annual conference of the Society for Neuroscience is ongoing in Chicago. The event contnues through the 21st. Conference website

The Genesis 2009 Conference will take place on the 10th and 11th of December at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (London). From the website: " Welcome to Genesis 2009 – “Back in focus!” The challenges of the economic downturn stimulated us to build innovative new partnerships at Genesis last year. The resultant exciting mix of business and science is something many have only dreamed of. This will be retained for 2009 with a streamlined approach for delegates to maximise the return on your investment in participating." For details, please see the conference website

Early next year: Third Annual Patient Recruitment in Clinical Trials conference, to be held 08th-09th March, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA. From the conference webpage: "Patient recruitment and retention are critical to drug development programs. Patient recruitment if not adequately planned for can extend your development timeline by a number of years. Retention of patients throughout the life of a clinical trial is essential in order have complete data sets for your analysis and subsequent filings. In order to optimize both you have to have a plan. This conference is intended to cover the topics one should consider when drafting and strategically implementing a patient recruitment and retention plan for a clinical development program." Please see conference webpage for details.

A United BioSource Corporation press release from 10th September, 2009: United BioSource Corporation (UBC) today announced the acquisition of Cognitive Drug Research, Ltd. (CDR) , the leader in computerized cognitive testing for clinical trials. The CDR System is the most widely used computerized cognitive testing system in the world: it is used in more than 1000 trials encompassing approximately 50 different disease areas, validated in over 60 languages, and cited in more than 700 publications and abstracts. Additionally, CDR maintains the industry’s largest healthy subject, patient, and drug databases of cognitive effects, providing the standard for establishing the clinical relevance of compounds. Read the full press release

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.

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

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 ===

Pratt LA, Weeks JD, & Goulding MR. Measures of cognitive functioning in the 1994-2000 Second Longitudinal Study of Aging . National Health Statistics Reports. 2008 Jul 7; (2): 1-15. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA. OBJECTIVES: This report describes in detail the measures of cognitive functioning administered in the Second Longitudinal Study of Aging (LSOA II) and proposes a three-category cognitive impairment variable for analysts' use that is derived from the individual measures. METHODS: LSOA II self-respondents completed an 11-question cognitive functioning measure based on the Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status (TICS) instrument. Proxy respondents answered nine questions drawn from the short Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE). Using cut points provided in the literature as a guide, a single three-level categorical...

Christodoulou C, Junghaenel DU, Dewalt DA, Rothrock N, & Stone AA. Cognitive interviewing in the evaluation of fatigue items: Results from the patient-reported outcomes measurement information system (PROMIS). Quality of Life Research. 2008 Oct 12. [Epub ahead of print] Department of Neurology, HSC T12-028, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-8121. OBJECTIVES: Cognitive Interviewing (CI) is a technique increasingly used to obtain respondent feedback on potential items during questionnaire development. No standard guidelines exist by which to incorporate CI feedback in deciding to retain, revise, or eliminate potential items. We used CI in developing fatigue items for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Roadmap initiative. Our aims were to describe the CI process, formally evaluate the utility of decisions made on the basis of CI, and offer suggestions for future research. METHODS: Participants were ...

Public release date: 21-Sep-2008 American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology Quality assurance programs improve clinical trials Boston – Quality assurance programs like the one at the Quality Assurance Review Center (QARC) in Worcester, Mass. , strengthen the quality of clinical trials, including cooperative groups conducting National Cancer Institute-supported clinical trials, thereby improving the standard of care in cancer patients, according to a study presented September 21, 2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 50th Annual Meeting in Boston . The Quality Assurance Program, provided by QARC at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, was founded in 1980. The program's services include site credentialing to ensure that those looking to conduct clinical trials have the expertise, equipment and tools necessary to properly participate in research trials. The Quality Assurance Program also establishes benchmarks to monitor the...