BrainBlog

In tomorrow's New York Times Sunday Magazine : Total Recall By GARY MARCUS Published: April 13, 2008 "How much would you pay to have a small memory chip implanted in your brain if that chip would double the capacity of your short-term memory? Or guarantee that you would never again forget a face or a name?" [... Read the full article ...]

The AAN conference takes place this week. Look for some interesting reports of dementia pharmaceutical clinical trials. Visit the conference website: [ Link ].

Kranick SM, & Duda JE. Olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. Neurosignals. 2008; 16(1): 35-40. Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Prior to the onset of the cardinal motor features of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), other manifestations of neurodegeneration such as olfactory dysfunction are often apparent. Characterizing these potential biomarkers of preclinical PD is particularly important in identifying individuals who will go on to develop disabling symptoms, and thus be good candidates for new neuroprotective strategies. As shown by the Braak neuropathologic staging of PD, the olfactory system is among the first neuronal populations to display Lewy body pathology. Clinically, loss of smell can be easily tested in the office using several validated techniques and is often helpful to the physician in distinguishing idiopathic PD from other forms of parkinsonism. Recent findings have indicated that a...

Pagonabarraga J, Kulisevsky J, Llebaria G, García-Sánchez C, Pascual-Sedano B, & Gironell A. Parkinson's disease-cognitive rating scale: A new cognitive scale specific for Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders. 2008 Mar 31 [Epub ahead of print]. Movement Disorders Unit, Neurology Department, Sant Pau Hospital, Autonomous University of Barcelona, and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Spain. Cognitive defects associated with cortical pathology may be a marker of dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD). There is a need to improve the diagnostic criteria of PD dementia (PDD) and to clarify the cognitive impairment patterns associated with PD. Current neuropsychological batteries designed for PD are focused on fronto-subcortical deficits but are not sensitive for cortical dysfunction. We developed a new scale, the Parkinson's Disease-Cognitive Rating Scale (PD-CRS), that was designed to cover the full spectrum of...

Wittenberg D, Possin KL, Rascovsky K, Rankin KP, Miller BL, & Kramer JH. The Early Neuropsychological and Behavioral Characteristics of Frontotemporal Dementia. Neuropsychological Review. 2008 Feb 29 [Epub ahead of print] Memory and Aging Center, University of California—San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, CA, USA. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) represent a constellation of disorders that may be overlooked or misdiagnosed, despite being fairly common presenile neurodegenerative diseases. Although the cognitive disorder can be difficult to document, particularly early in the dementia course, neuropsychological evaluation can assist in the diagnosis. Neuropsychologists are in an excellent position to draw from related disciplines like personality theory and social psychology to better assess the types of changes that characterize the prodromal and early phases of the disease. This review summarizes the current state of the field in the diagnosis of FTLD and disc...

Bondi MW, Jak AJ, Delano-Wood L, Jacobson MW, Delis DC, & Salmon DP. Neuropsychological Contributions to the Early Identification of Alzheimer's Disease. Neuropsychological Review. 2008 Mar 18. A wealth of evidence demonstrates that a prodromal period of Alzheimer's disease (AD) exists for some years prior to the appearance of significant cognitive and functional declines required for the clinical diagnosis. This prodromal period of decline is characterized by a number of different neuropsychological and brain changes, and reliable identification of individuals prior to the development of significant clinical symptoms remains a top priority of research. In this review we provide an overview of those neuropsychological changes. In particular, we examine specific domains of cognition that appear to be negatively affected during the prodromal period of AD, and we review newer analytic strategies designed to examine cognitive asymmetries or discrepancies between higher-order ...

From today's New York Times : A Daring Treatment, a Little Girl’s Survival By DENISE GRADY Published: March 18, 2008 Melanie Joy McDaniel is a study subject but also a reminder of how medical research can change lives. [ ... Read the full article ... ]

Karas G, Sluimer J, Goekoop R, van der Flier W, Rombouts S, Vrenken H, Scheltens P, Fox N, & Barkhof F. Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: Structural MR Imaging Findings Predictive of Conversion to Alzheimer Disease. American Journal of Neuroradiology. 2008 Feb 22 [Epub ahead of print]. Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Image Analysis Center, Alzheimer Center, and Department of Clinical Neurology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Dementia Research Group, Department of Clinical Neurology, Institute of Neurology, London, UK; Department of Physics and Medical Technology, Alzheimer Center, VU University Medical Center and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, the Netherlands; Department of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, the Netherlands; and Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered by many to be a prodromal phase of Alzheime...

From this week's New Yorker : Numbers Guy Are our brains wired for math? by Jim Holt March 3, 2008 [ ... Read the full article ... ]

From Sunday's New York Times : Daring to Think Differently About Schizophrenia By ALEX BERENSON Published: February 24, 2008 "A new drug aimed at treating schizophrenia turns its focus away from dopamine and instead on the effects of glutamate, another powerful neurotransmitter." [ ... Read the article ... ]

Hill SK, Sweeney JA, Hamer RM, Keefe RS, Perkins DO, Gu H, McEvoy JP, & Lieberman JA. Efficiency of the CATIE and BACS neuropsychological batteries in assessing cognitive effects of antipsychotic treatments in schizophrenia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. 2008 Mar; 14(2): 209-221. Center for Cognitive Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois. Efficient and reliable assessments of cognitive treatment effects are essential for the comparative evaluation of procognitive effects of pharmacologic therapies. Yet, no studies have addressed the sensitivity and efficiency with which neurocognitive batteries evaluate cognitive abilities before and after treatment. Participants were primarily first episode schizophrenia patients who completed baseline (n = 367) and 12-week (n = 219) assessments with the BACS (Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia) and CATIE (Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effe...

A press release rom the NIH: Genetic Tags Reveal Secrets of Memories’ Staying Power in Mice A better understanding of how memory works is emerging from a newfound ability to link a learning experience in a mouse to consequent changes in the inner workings of its neurons. Researchers, supported in part by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), have developed a way to pinpoint the specific cellular components that sustain a specific memory in genetically-engineered mice. "Remarkably, this research demonstrates a way to untangle precisely which cells and connections are activated by a particular memory," said NIMH Director Thomas Insel, M.D. "We are actually learning the molecular basis of learning and memory." For a memory to last long-term, the neural connections holding it need to be strengthened by incorporating new proteins triggered by the learning. Yet, it's been a mystery how these new proteins — born deep inside...

2008 Center for Bioethics Seminar Series “Ethics and Public Health Emergencies: How Should We Prepare for Pandemic Flu?” Friday, February 8, 2008 12:15–1:30 pm, 3-100 Mayo, University of Minnesota Campus Presented by Debra DeBruin, PhD Director of Education and Assistant Professor, Center for Bioethics; Department of Medicine University of Minnesota Medical School Dr. DeBruin has served as a health policy fellow for the United States Senate, and worked as a consultant to the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine and the National Bioethics Advisory Commission. She has also been a member of a number of working groups relevant to public health, including the Minnesota Privacy and Security Project Solutions Workgroup, the Minnesota Privacy and Security Project Legal Workgroup, the Minnesota Center for Healthcare Ethics’ Pandemic Influenza Ethics Work Group, and the State of Minnesota Department of Administration’s Work Group on Genetic Information. Currently, she is leading...

36th Annual International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Meeting February 6, 2008 to February 9, 2008 Waikoloa, Hawaii, USA Hilton Waikoloa Village Meeting webpage

Baldo JV, Klostermann EC, & Dronkers NF. It's either a cook or a baker: Patients with conduction aphasia get the gist but lose the trace. Brain and Language . 2008 Feb 1 [Epub ahead of print] VA Northern California Health Care System, Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, 150 Muir Road (126s), Martinez, CA 94553, USA. Patients with conduction aphasia have been characterized as having a short-term memory deficit that leads to relative difficulty on span and repetition tasks. It has also been observed that these same patients often get the gist of what is said to them, even if they are unable to repeat the information verbatim. To study this phenomenon experimentally, patients with conduction aphasia and left hemisphere-injured controls were tested on a repetition recognition task that required them to listen to a sentence and immediately point to one of three sentences that matched it. On some trials, the distractor sentences contained substituted words that were semantica...

From today's New York Times : A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota By DENISE GRADY Published: February 5, 2008 [snip] By then, November 2007, other cases had begun to turn up. Ultimately, there were 12 — 6 men and 6 women, ranging in age from 21 to 51. Doctors and the plant owner, realizing they had an outbreak on their hands, had already called in the Minnesota Department of Health, which, in turn, sought help from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though the outbreak seemed small, the investigation took on urgency because the disease was serious, and health officials worried that it might indicate a new risk to other workers in meatpacking. “It is important to characterize this because it appears to be a new syndrome, and we don’t truly know how many people may be affected throughout the U.S. or even the world,” said Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, a veterinarian from the disease centers. In early November, Dr. Aaron DeVries, a health department epidemiologist, vi...

From the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) on 31 January 2008: Investigation of Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy Among Swine Slaughterhouse Workers --- Minnesota, 2007---2008 [snip] "This report summarizes an ongoing investigation of PIN, a syndrome that appears to be associated with swine slaughterhouse workers who process pig heads. Several clinical and laboratory features of this illness and the distinctive epidemiology associated with patients appear unique. Pigs slaughtered at plant A have passed inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service, and the investigation has not identified any foodborne risk to the general population. "The investigation in Minnesota indicates that PIN appears associated with having worked at the head table, where a compressed-air device was used to extract pig brains. In the process of blowing compressed air into the pig skull, brain material might have been splattered or even aeros...

Unverzagt FW, Sujuan Gao , Lane KA, Callahan C, Ogunniyi A, Baiyewu O, Gureje O, Hall KS, & Hendrie HC. Mild cognitive dysfunction: An epidemiological perspective with an emphasis on African Americans. Geriatrics Psychiatry & Neurology. 2007 Dec; 20(4): 215-226. Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA. This review begins with a historical accounting of the evolution of the concept of mild cognitive dysfunction, including nomenclature and criteria from Kral to Petersen. A critical analysis of the main elements relating to assessment and diagnosis of mild cognitive dysfunction is provided. Methodological limitations in design, measurement, and characterization, especially as they relate to older African Americans, are identified. Data from a 15-year longitudinal study of community-dwelling African Americans in Indianapolis, Indiana, indicate a 23% prevalence of all-cause mild cognitive dysfunction, with approximately 25% pr...

In continued postings here about Away From Her , I note that Julie Christie and Sarah Polley have just been nominated in Academy Award categories Best Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively. The screenplay was adapted from a short story written by Alice Munro.

Fleisher AS, Sun S, Taylor C, Ward CP, Gamst AC, Petersen RC, Jack CR, Aisen PS, & Thal LJ. Volumetric MRI vs clinical predictors of Alzheimer disease in mild cognitive impairment. Neurology. 2008 Jan 15; 70(3): 191-199. OBJECTIVE: To compare volumetric MRI of whole brain and medial temporal lobe structures to clinical measures for predicting progression from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: Baseline MRI scans from 129 subjects with amnestic MCI were obtained from participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study group's randomized, placebo-controlled clinical drug trial of donepezil, vitamin E, or placebo. Measures of whole brain, ventricular, hippocampal, and entorhinal cortex volumes were acquired. Participants were followed with clinical and cognitive evaluations until formal criteria for AD were met, or completion of 36 months of follow-up. Logistic regression modeling was done to assess the predictive value of all ...