BrainBlog

From the FDA on the 17th of May: FDA Approves New Treatment for Parkinson's Disease The Food and Drug Administration today approved Azilect (rasagiline), a new molecular entity, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease. The drug is a monoamine oxidase type--B (MAO-B) inhibitor that blocks the breakdown of dopamine, a chemical that sends information to the parts of the brain that control movement and coordination. "This is a welcome development for the more than 50,000 Americans who are each year diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, " said Dr. Steven Galson, Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Parkinson's is a relentless disease with limited treatment options, and each new therapy is an important addition to the physicians' treatment options." [snip] Azilect was approved for use as an initial single drug therapy in early Parkinson's disease, and as an addition to levodopa in more advanced patients.  Levodopa i...

From today's New York Times : Study Points to a Solution for Dread: Distraction By SANDRA BLAKESLEE Published: May 5, 2006 The New York Times For those who dread a colonoscopy or a root canal so much that they avoid it altogether, scientists have good news. The first study ever to look at where sensations of dread arise in the brain finds that contrary to what is widely believed, dread does not involve fear and anxiety in the moment of an unpleasant event. Instead, it derives from the attention that people devote beforehand to what they think will be extremely unpleasant. So the solution to dread, the researchers say, is self-distraction. "We sort of knew that things like self-hypnosis help relieve dread, but now we know why," said Dr. Gregory S. Berns, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory University, who led the study. The research, being published today in the journal Science , is "terrific, " said a leading expert on brain imaging, Dr. R...

DeKosky ST, Fitzpatrick A, Ives DG, Saxton J, Williamson J, Lopez OL, Burke G, Fried L, Kuller LH, Robbins J, Tracy R, Woolard N, Dunn L, Kronmal R, Nahin R, & Furberg C; for the GEMS Investigators. The Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory (GEM) study: Design and baseline data of a randomized trial of Ginkgo biloba extract in prevention of dementia. Contemp Clinical Trials. 2006 Apr 18; [Epub ahead of print]. Department of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh, 3471 Fifth Avenue, Suite 811, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. The epidemic of late life dementia, prominence of use of alternative medications and supplements, and initiation of efforts to determine how to prevent dementia have led to efforts to conduct studies aimed at prevention of dementia. The GEM (Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory) study was initially designed as a 5-year, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Ginkgo biloba, administered in a dose of 120 mg twice per day as EGb761, in the prevention of dementia (and especial...

From Weblogsky : " Farewell to Dr. Tom "

NBC's Dateline this evening covers Parkinson's Disease. Centering on the work of Michael J. Fox and his Foundation , it also includes segments with Muhammed Ali and his clinical center at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix and with several neuroscientists. - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

Nakagawasai O, Yamadera F, Sato S, Taniguchi R, Hiraga H, Arai Y, Murakami H, Mawatari K, Niijima F, Tan-No K, & Tadano T. Alterations in cognitive function in prepubertal mice with protein malnutrition: relationship to changes in choline acetyltransferase. Behavior and Brain Research. 2006 Feb 15; 167(1): 111-117. Department of Pharmacology, Tohoku Pharmaceutical University, 4-4-1 Komatsushima, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8558, Japan. We have found that protein malnutrition (PM) causes a significant impairment of memory-related behavior on the 15th and 20th day after the start of PM (5% casein) feeding in prepubertal mice but not in postpubertal mice, as measured by a passive-avoidance task. This impairment was almost completely reversed by merely switching to a standard protein (20% casein) diet on the 10th day after the start of PM. However, the reversal was not observed when the switching to a standard protein regimen was done on the 15th day of the PM diet. Interestingly, the impai...

Hodges JR, Erzinclioglu S, & Patterson K. Evolution of Cognitive Deficits and Conversion to Dementia in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Very-Long-Term Follow-Up Study. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders. 2006 Apr 4; 21(5-6): 380-391 [Epub ahead of print] MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK. Ten patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) underwent extensive neuropsychological evaluation at 12-monthly intervals for a minimum of 6 years. All 10 patients declined and 5 have now died. The onset of dementia, as defined by a fall in global cognitive function (MMSE PMID: 16601329 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

From the website of The Washington Post : FDA OKs First Attention Deficit Patch By ANDREW BRIDGES The Associated Press Thursday, April 6, 2006; 8:06 PM WASHINGTON -- The FDA on Thursday approved the first skin patch to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children. The patch called Daytrana, designed to be worn for 9 hours, contains methylphenidate, which has been shown to help children with ADHD. It is the same stimulant that is in Ritalin. The patch is made by Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Miami. [ ... Read the full report ... ] - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

risser_032806_kandel Originally uploaded by rissera . neuroscientist eric kandel (right) runs into a little platform problem as his powerbook confronted a microsoft-based projection system. dr. kandel spoke this morning at a conference in boston. his topic was on animal models of mental disorders. - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

It's not neuro, but it's an important medical advance. From tomorrow's New York Times : Dose of Tenacity Wears Down a Horrific Disease By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Published: March 26, 2006 OGI, Nigeria — Whatever secrets the turgid brown depths of the Sacred Pond of Ogi may keep, there is one they betray quite easily: why it is so infuriatingly hard to wipe even one disease off the face of the earth. Ogi is one of the last areas of Nigeria infested with Guinea worm, a plague so ancient that it is found in Egyptian mummies and is thought to be the "fiery serpent" described in the Old Testament as torturing the Israelites in the desert. For untold generations here, yardlong, spaghetti-thin worms erupted from the legs or feet — or even eye sockets — of victims, forcing their way out by exuding acid under the skin until it bubbled and burst. The searing pain drove them to plunge the blisters into the nearest pool of water, whereupon the worm would squirt out a milky cl...

From today's New York Times : Dr. James H. Schwartz, 73, Who Studied the Basis of Memory, Dies By JEREMY PEARCE Published: March 24, 2006 Dr. James H. Schwartz, a neurobiologist at Columbia whose research helped explain the biochemical basis of learning and memory, died on March 13 at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital in Manhattan. He was 73. [ ... Read the full obit ... ] - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

From The Washington Post : Use of Drug to Treat ADHD in Children Opposed Associated Press Friday, March 24, 2006; Page A11 The narcolepsy drug modafinil should not be approved as a treatment for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children until more is learned about a possible link to a serious skin disease, federal advisers said yesterday. A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted 12 to 1 against recommending modafinil as safe for children with ADHD. Earlier, the psychopharmacologic drugs panel unanimously agreed that modafinil works as a treatment for ADHD. [ ... Read the full article ... ] - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

Wilson RS, Arnold SE, Tang Y, & Bennett DA. Odor identification and decline in different cognitive domains in old age. Neuroepidemiology. 2006; 26(2): 61-67. Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Rush Institute for Healthy Aging, and Department of Neurological Sciences, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA. The authors examined the association of odor identification with rate of decline in different cognitive systems. Participants are 481 older persons from the Rush Memory and Aging Project. At baseline, the Brief Smell Identification Test was administered. At annual intervals for up to 3 years, a battery of 19 cognitive tests was administered from which previously established composite measures of 5 cognitive domains were derived. In mixed-effects models adjusted for age, sex, and education, lower odor identification score was associated with lower function at baseline in each cognitive domain. Lower score was also associated with more rapid decline in perceptua...

Today's New York Times has a feature story about polio: Rumor, Fear and Fatigue Hinder Final Push to End Polio By CELIA W. DUGGER and DONALD G. McNEIL Jr. Read the full article . - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

Harvey PD, Moriarty PJ, Kleinman L, Coyne K, Sadowsky CH, Chen M, & Mirski DF. The validation of a caregiver assessment of dementia: the Dementia Severity Scale. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders. 2005 Oct-Dec; 19(4): 186-194. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to refine and validate the Dementia Severity Scale (DSS), a newly developed assessment of dementia severity from a caregiver's perspective. The Dementia Severity Scale is designed to measure deficits in activities of daily living (ADL), behavioral disturbances, and the caregiver's perception of the patient's current cognitive abilities. METHODS: Community dwelling caregiver/patient dyads were recruited from 12 clinical sites. Patients had a primary dementia diagnosis for at least one year. In this cross-sectional study, caregivers were administered the Dementia Severity Scale, the Quality of Life-Alzheimer's Disease (QOL-AD), the Progressive Deterioration Scale (PDS), and the Neuropsychiat...

Khachaturian AS, Zandi PP, Lyketsos CG, Hayden KM, Skoog I, Norton MC, Tschanz JT, Mayer LS, Welsh-Bohmer KA, & Breitner JC. Antihypertensive Medication Use and Incident Alzheimer Disease: The Cache County Study. Archives of Neurology ; 2006 Mar 13. [Epub ahead of print] Author Affiliations: Khachaturian and Associates, Inc, Potomac, Md. BACKGROUND: Recent reports suggest that antihypertensive (AH) medications may reduce the risk of dementing illnesses. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship of AH medication use with incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) among the elderly population (aged 65 years and older) of Cache County, Utah, and to examine whether the relationship varies with different classes of AH medications. METHODS: After an initial (wave 1) multistage assessment (1995 through 1997) to identify prevalent cases of dementia, we used similar methods 3 years later (wave 2) to identify 104 incident cases of AD among the 3308 survivors. At the baseline assessment, we obtained ...

From the AP, via Yahoo! News: Largest-Ever Alzheimer's Drug Trial Begins By PAUL ELIAS, AP Biotechnology Writer Sun Mar 12, 6:58 AM ET SAN FRANCISCO - It's tragedy enough that Pat Williams' mother has Alzheimer's disease. But Williams is also terrified because her chances of inheriting the disease are much better than average. So Williams eagerly enrolled her 90-year-old mother last year in a massive, 1,600-patient, 18-month clinical trial testing an experimental drug made by the biotechnology company Myriad Genetics Inc. The drug, called Flurizan, slowed the mind-robbing disease in some of the 128 patients with mild Alzheimer's participating in a smaller test. Based on those results, the company has gambled millions of research dollars on the largest-ever Alzheimer's drug trial. It aims to win an intense, international race among several biotech companies to find the first eff...

If it's March, then it's time for Brain Awareness Week - a creation of the Dana Foundation a number of years ago. Brain Awareness Week website . If you work in neuroscience (broadly defined), do something this week to make the general public more aware of the wonders of the nervous system and the advances being made in science and medical care. Cerebro-slinkster cool! - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain

A kind thanks to Mind Hacks for their post bringing attention to this narrative article: Gray Area: Thinking With a Damaged Brain by Floyd Skloot Lost Magazine Snippet: "Poet Peter Davison has noticed the resonant irony of the phrase "an insult to the brain" and made use of it in his poem, "The Obituary Writer." Thinking about the suicide of John Berryman, the heavily-addicted poet whose long-expected death in 1972 followed years of public behavior symptomatic of brain damage, Davison writes that "his hullabaloos/of falling-down drunkenness were an insult to the brain." In this poem, toying with the meaning of the phrase, Davison suggests that Berryman's drinking may have been an insult to his brain, technically speaking, but that watching him was, for a friend, another kind of brain insult. He has grasped the fatuousness of the phrase as a medical term, its inherent judgment of contempt, and made use of it for its poetic ambiguity. "But I ...

From the AP, via the New York Times website: FDA Panel Supports MS Drug's Market Return By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 8, 2006 Filed at 11:24 a.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Food and Drug Administration panel said Wednesday the agency should allow multiple-sclerosis drug Tysabri back on the market. The drug's manufacturers, Biogen Idec Inc. and Elan Corp., pulled the drug in February 2005 after two patients developed a rare brain disorder, known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, and one died. A third patient was later discovered to have PML and also died. The 12-member panel voted unanimously to support the drug's return. The FDA usually follows its panel's advice, but isn't required to do so. The agency is expected to make a final decision by the end of the month. - Anthony H. Risser | neuroscience | neuropsychology | brain