BrainBlog

This post, and all others on BrainBlog, are written by Anthony Risser for his blog BrainBlog. The appearance of this entry, and others, on different websites, framed under different websites, or not at the BrainBlog URL do not have my permission. All rights retained. Michael C. Corballis The Recursive Mind: The Origins of Human Language, Thought, and Civilization Princeton: Princeton University Press (2011) ISBN 978-0-691-14547-1 This is the first time I have read any of the several philosophical books that Michael Corballis has written. I am more familiar with his scientific publications, some of which are core “must reads” for any budding neuropsychological researcher. In “The Recursive Mind,” he outlines his approach to placing the relationship between language and thought. This is an issue that has compelled thinking in neurophilosophy for many decades and remains hotly debated and discussed. In this new book, he explores the landscape of this relationship in a manner...

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?

Summer School in Applied Psychometrics From the website: Date: Monday, 12 September to Friday, 16 September Location: Peterhouse College, Cambridge Time: All Day Event "Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a popular and rapidly evolving area of psychometric research that builds on a long-standing methodology of self-report questionnaires. Today the assessment, analysis and interpretation of these questionnaires and of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) rely upon a variety of modern psychometric methods that might be beyond the typical methodological/statistical training that researcher of related disciplines receive. This Summer School will cover the fundamentals of psychometric test theory as applied to HRQoL and PROs, with particular emphasis on latent trait/ Item Response Theory (IRT) models and methods, and will include practical sessions and data from real-world applications trials and cohort studies. The Summer School is supported by the ESRC RDI (Researcher D...

This week's podcast includes The Guardian's new neuroscience blogger, Mo Costandi. Listen to the podcast

Award-winning U of W prof dies BY DYLAN KRISTY THE WINDSOR STAR AUGUST 12, 2011 6:55 AM Click here for full article and photograph With a long string of letters following his name, Byron Rourke could have settled down anywhere in the world. "He was born, raised, had a wonderful life in Windsor and eventually died there and he wouldn't have had it any other way," said Phil Rourke, Rourke's oldest son. "He had lots of opportunities to move elsewhere and every time he thought about it he said 'no, I'm going to make it here.'" A retired University of Windsor professor of psychology and the recipient of numerous prestigious academic awards, Rourke died Wednesday at the age of 72. Growing up in Windsor, Rourke attended Assumption high school before receiving his honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Windsor. He the received a master's degree and PhD at Fordham University in New York before returning home to live a...

ECNP Summit on the future of CNS drug research in Europe 2011: Report prepared for ECNP by David Nutt and Guy Goodwin European Neuropsychopharmacology (2011) 21, 495–499. Read the document

J&J Will Seek FDA Approval by 2013 for Alzheimer’s Drug Bloomberg News By Alex Nussbaum May 26, 2011 10:38 AM CT Read the news article

Looking forward to reading this new book this week. You can't judge a book by its cover, but this book's cover is both very pretty and likely evocative of what could be inside!

From the Agency for Heatlhcare Research and Quality: Clinician Guide: Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury 13 April 2011 Read the guide

Available for streaming and as a podcast, from WNYC: "Diane Ackerman's One Hundred Names for Love" Listen 22 April 2011 WNYC Leonard Lopate Show "Diane Ackerman talks about her husband, Paul West’s, stroke and long recovery. He was afflicted with aphasia—loss of language—and Diane, frustrated with traditional therapies, relied on her scientific understanding of language and the brain to guide Paul back to the world of words. Her book One Hundred Names for Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing is an account of stroke, aphasia, and recovery, as well a love story."

Guidelines Allow Earlier Definition of Alzheimer’s By PAM BELLUCK The New York Times Published: April 19, 2011 "The definition of the disease will be recast for the first time in 27 years, with a division into three stages, including a new early phase." Read the full article

From MedPage Today : FDA Puts Early Alzheimer's Test on Hold By Peggy Peck, Executive Editor MedPage Today Published: March 18, 2011 [snip] "The FDA will not approve the novel contrast agent, florbetapir -- widely touted as a breakthrough for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease -- until manufacturer Eli Lilly puts a training program in place, the company announced." [snip] Read the article .

FierceBiotechResearch has an article which presents a very brief overview of the current Alzheimer's disease drug pipeline: It is available at the link below: Making sense of the Alzheimer's drug pipeline FierceBiotechResearch March 15, 2011 — 7:53am ET By Howard Lovy Read the full article If this area is new to you, the article will give you the names of some candidates that you can learn about as part of your introduction. There are many other overview articles and public resources available to you concerning clinical-trials research. You might wish, for example, to cross reference the names cited here with the ClinicalTrials.gov database. If you are a Brain Awareness Week visitor, you can visit the Alzheimer's Association or other national organizations in your country to learn more about Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

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

From The New York Times : On the Left Hand, There Are No Easy Answers By PERRI KLASS, M.D. The New York Times Published: March 6, 2011 "The riddle of why about 10 percent of people are born with the left-dominant variety of this essentially human asymmetry remains." Read the article

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

Investors ready to craft new biotechs out of Pfizer's discards February 9, 2011 — 8:47am ET By John Carroll FierceBiotech Read the article

From The Guardian : Cuts disastrous for brain science research, academics warn At least 30 neuroscience units to go under cuts proposed by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Ian Sample guardian.co.uk Thursday 10 February 2011 21.14 GMT [snip] "The closure of drug company research facilities and "draconian" funding cuts will have a disastrous impact on brain science in Britain, senior academics have warned. "At least 30 neuroscience research groups are expected to fold under cuts proposed by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), adding to jobs already lost after big pharmaceutical companies shut research programmes or moved them abroad." [snip] Read the full article