BrainBlog

One of the number of media reports about today's Amyvid news: Lilly fails to persuade Medicare to pay for Alzheimer's imaging drug September 30, 2013 By Tracy Staton FiercePharma Read article [snippet] "The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has handed down its final decision on Eli Lilly's Alzheimer's imaging agent Amyvid. The final answer, after appeals from Lilly and patient groups? No. Medicare won't pay for Amyvid-aided brain scans, not outside of clinical trials." [snippet]

Watch his TED talk here .

From The Washington Post : David H. Hubel, Nobel Prize-winning neuroscientist, dies at 87 23 September 2013 Read the article Here is a link to his Nobel Prize lecture: link

At Coursera, Dr. Nancy Hodgson and Dr. Laura N. Gitlin , who is Director of the Center for Innovative Care in Aging at Johns Hopkins University, will offer her MOOC this autumn. Here is a story on the MOOC from The New York Times "The New Old Age" blog: "Online Lessons in Dementia Management"

The author speaks about her new book "The Geography of Memory: A Pilgrimage Through Alzheimer's" The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC 06 September 2013 Listen to the interview

The Brain, within its Groove Runs evenly--and true-- But let a Splinter swerve-- 'Twere easier for You-- To put a Current back-- When Floods have slit the Hills-- And scooped a Turnpike for Themselves-- And trodden out the Mills-- -Emily Dickinson In the world of MOOCs, few courses have had the creativity and success as the course about "Modern and Contemporary American Poetry" by Dr. Al Filreis of the University of Pennsylvania and Director of its wonderful Kelly Writers House. Few courses, in real life or online, have such a dedicated teacher as Al. The course, part of Al's regular teaching at UPenn in its English Department, was first presented in MOOC form this time last year at Coursera. The ten-week course is back, having opened over the weekend to over 30,000 students, myself included (second timer). Week after week, this likely remains the largest single collection of dedicated students reading and discussing the same poets and poems at any one ...

Peter Huttenlocher, Explorer of the Brain, Dies at 82 By WILLIAM YARDLEY The New York Times August 26, 2013 Read here

Information about The ADAMS study: click here for homepage

Visit the website of the Pacific Northwest Udall Center (PANUC) . This is the location for today's Neuropsychology Abstract of the Day.

Cholerton BA, Zabetian CP, Quinn JF, Chung KA, Peterson A, Espay AJ, Revilla FJ, Devoto J, Watson GS, Hu SC, Edwards KL, Montine TJ, & Leverenz JB. (2013). Pacific northwest udall center of excellence clinical consortium: study design and baseline cohort characteristics. Journal of Parkinsons Disease, 3(2), 205-214. doi: 10.3233/JPD-130189. Geriatric Research, Education, & Clinical Center, Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA, USA Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA. Background: The substantial proportion of individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) who have or are expected to develop concomitant cognitive impairment emphasizes the need for large, well-characterized participant cohorts to serve as a basis for research into the causes, manifestations, and potential treatments of cognitive decline in those with PD. Objective: To establish a multi-site clinical core tha...

A Multidimensional Approach to Apathy after Traumatic Brain Injury. Neuropsycholology Review 2013 Aug 7; Arnould A, Rochat L, Azouvi P, & Van der Linden M Abstract Apathy is commonly described following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and is associated with serious consequences, notably for patients' participation in rehabilitation, family life and later social reintegration. There is strong evidence in the literature of the multidimensional nature of apathy (behavioural, cognitive and emotional), but the processes underlying each dimension are still unclear. The purpose of this article is first, to provide a critical review of the current definitions and instruments used to measure apathy in neurological and psychiatric disorders, and second, to review the prevalence, characteristics, neuroanatomical correlates, relationships with other neurobehavioural disorders and mechanisms of apathy in the TBI population. In this context, we propose a new multidimensional framework that...

Oversight of Clinical Investigations — A Risk-Based Approach to Monitoring (Guidance for Industry) FDA August 2013 Read the document here

Andrew Marr, after the stroke: 'I'm going to be sweeter all round' The TV presenter suffered a severe stroke after a strenuous workout in January. On the eve of his return to our screens he talks of his fight back to health Robert McCrum The Observer Saturday 3 August 2013 Read the article

From the Scientific American website: The Era of Memory Engineering Has Arrived How neuroscientists can call up and change a memory By Jason Castro Tuesday, July 30, 2013 Read the posting

From The Atlantic: Cities : How Memory Alters Our Perception of Place by EMILY BADGER Aug 01, 2013 Read the article

Graduate Admissions in Clinical Neuropsychology: The Importance of Undergraduate Training. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 2013 Jul 23; Karazsia BT, Stavnezer AJ, Reeves JW Abstract Discussions of and recommendations for the training of clinical neuropsychologists exist at the doctoral, internship, and post-doctoral level. With few exceptions, the literature on undergraduate preparations in clinical neuropsychology is sparse and lacks empirical evidence. In the present study, graduate-level faculty and current trainees completed surveys about graduate school preparations. Faculty expectations of minimum and ideal undergraduate training were highest for research methods, statistics, and assessment. Preferences for "goodness of fit" also emerged as important admissions factors. These results offer evidence for desirable undergraduate preparations for advanced study in clinical neuropsychology. Although undergraduate training in psychology is intentionally broad, resul...

The July edition of "Neuropod" includes a discussion of risk factors in Alzheimer's disease. Access the podcast here

From the NIH: NIH launches neurological drug development projects Wednesday, July 31, 2013, 8 a.m. EDT Read the press release

The cover of this week's Science : About the research study represented by the cover: here

Lost in the Forest Ian Hacking London Review of Books 08 August 2013 Read the article