Newsline — Thursday, August 7, 2014 13:00
Specific Gene Linked to Adult Brain Growth
Slow Gait, Cognitive Complaints Can Predict Dementia
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 13:00
A study involving nearly 27,000 older adults on five continents found that nearly one in 10 met criteria for pre-dementia based on a simple test that measures how fast people walk and whether they have cognitive complaints. People who tested positive for pre-dementia were twice as likely as others to develop dementia within 12 years. The study, recently published online in Neurology, presents a new test that diagnoses motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR). Testing for the newly described syndrome relies on measuring gait speed and asking a few simple questions about a patient’s cognitive abilities. The study reported on the prevalence of MCR among 26,802 adults without dementia or disability aged 60 years and older enrolled in 22 studies in 17 countries. A significant number of adults — 9.7 percent — met the criteria for MCR. While the syndrome was equally common in men and women, highly educated people were less likely to test positive for MCR compared with less-educated individuals. To test whether MCR predicts future dementia, the researchers focused on four of the…
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Memory Relies on Astrocytes
Wednesday, August 6, 2014 9:00
New research from the Salk Institute shows that the brain’s astrocytes may in fact control gamma oscillations. In an animal study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report a new strategy to turn down gamma oscillations by disabling astrocytes. In the process, the team showed that astrocytes, and the gamma oscillations they help shape, are critical for some forms of memory. “This is what could be called a smoking gun,” said co-author Terrence Sejnowski. “This is the first time we have been able to do a causal experiment, where we selectively block gamma oscillations and show that it has a highly specific impact on how the brain interacts with the world.” To learn more about the study, click here.
Is Depression Related to Dementia?
Tuesday, August 5, 2014 13:00
A new study, recently published in an online issue of Neurology, gives insight into the relationship between depression and dementia. The study indicates that the association of depression with dementia is independent of dementia-related brain changes. The study involved 1,764 people with an average age of 77 who had no thinking or memory problems at the start of the study. Participants were screened every year for symptoms of depression and took tests on their thinking and memory skills for an average of eight years. A total of 680 people died during the study, and autopsies were performed on 582 of them to look for brain plaques and tangles. During the study, 52 percent of the participants developed mild cognitive impairment, while 18 percent developed dementia. The researchers found no relationship between how much damage was found in the brain and the level of depression symptoms people had or in the change in depression symptoms over time. Having a higher level of depression symptoms was associated with more rapid decline in thinking and memory skills, accounting…
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Brainwaves Can Predict Audience Reaction of Television Programming
Tuesday, August 5, 2014 9:00
Media and marketing experts have long sought a reliable method of forecasting responses from the general population to future products and messages. According to a recent study published in Nature Communications, it appears that the brain responses of just a few individuals are a remarkably strong predictor. By analyzing the brainwaves of 16 individuals as they watched mainstream television content, researchers were able to accurately predict the preferences of large TV audiences, up to 90 percent in the case of Super Bowl commercials. While self-reporting can be unreliable, brain signals measured using electroencephalography (EEG) can, in principle, provide immediate physiological responses immune to self-biasing. In the study, participants watched scenes from The Walking DeadTVshow and several commercials from the 2012 and 2013 Super Bowls. EEG electrodes were placed on their heads to capture brain activity. The reliability of the recorded neural activity was then compared to audience reactions in the general population using publicly available social media data provided by the Harmony Institute and ratings from USA Todays Super Bowl Ad Meter. Brain activity among…
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Breakthrough Study Sheds Light on Best Meds for Children with Seizures
Monday, August 4, 2014 13:00
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association provides more information about which drug — lorazepam versus diazepam — is more safe and effective for children suffering from seizures. The results of the clinical trial showed that both medications are equally effective and safe. “This is an important step for all of us who frequently treat kids in the ER for [epilepsy related] seizures, since it answers the question about the best medication to use in ending the convulsions and getting these patients back to normal brain functioning,” said one of the authors of the study. Describing the brain convulsions that were targeted by the study, its authors pointed out that status epilepticus occurs when an epilepsy-related seizure lasts more than 30 minutes. These seizures (which occur in more than 10,000 U.S. pediatric epilepsy patients every year) can cause permanent brain damage or even death, if persisted. To read more about this study, click here.
Veterans with Blast Exposure TBI May Have Unrecognized Pituitary Dysfunction
Monday, August 4, 2014 9:00
Findings presented at the 2014 joint meeting of the International Society of Endocrinology and the Endocrine Society in Chicago showed how soldiers who survive traumatic brain injury (TBI) from blast exposure commonly have pituitary hormone dysfunction, which can occur even without mechanical head trauma and can interfere with long-term health and well-being. The study highlights that deficiencies in the pituitary’s growth hormone and testosterone are commonly seen after blast traumatic brain injury (bTBI), especially in patients who are overweight. “Because multiple symptoms common with blast traumatic brain injury are also seen with growth hormone and testosterone deficiencies, perhaps treating these hormone deficiencies will help improve the symptom burden and quality of life for these veterans,” said the study’s lead author. To read more about this study, click here.
Can Boosting Brain Cells Appetites Fight Disease?
Friday, August 1, 2014 13:00
New findings reported in the journal Nature Chemical Biology show how an innovative microscope technique can help researchers see what’s going on inside brain cells as they clear out protein buildup. Abnormal amounts of protein buildup are seen deep inside the brains of people with dementia and Lou Gehrig’s disease. The new discoveries offer the potential to find new medicines that boost the protein-clearing cleanup process. The researchers focused on a crucial cell-cleaning process called autophagy, where cells bundle unwanted materials up, break them down and push the waste products out. The lead author of the study says that the findings, and the success of the new microscope technique, are encouraging because it allowed scientists to see that increased autophagy was directly related to improved cell survival. To read more about this study, click here.
Medical Team Performs Auditory Brainstem Implant on Toddler
Friday, August 1, 2014 9:15
A Los Angeles team of scientists and surgeons from Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC), Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and Huntington Medical Research Institutes (HMRI) reported that sound registered in the brain of a deaf Canadian boy for the first time after doctors activated a hearing device that had been surgically implanted in his brainstem. The child is the first in the U.S. to undergo an auditory brainstem implant (ABI) surgery in an FDA approved trial. The study’s goal is to establish safety and efficacy protocols for the surgery and subsequent behavioral mapping procedures that doctors in the U.S. can later utilize once the surgery is approved. The child’s parents watched as audiologists activated the device implanted in their child’s brainstem, and saw him lift his head indicating he heard sound after tiny pulses of electric currents were delivered to the electrodes in his brain. To read more about this study, click here.
Pairing a Mechanical Device with Stroke Patients
Thursday, July 31, 2014 16:30
The repetitive facilitation exercise (RFE) is one of the most common rehabilitation tactics for stroke patients attempting to regain wrist movement. To aid rehabilitating stroke patients, a team of Georgia Tech researchers has created a functional MRI-compatible hemiparesis rehab device that creates a long latency stretch reflex at the exact time as a brain signal. Thus far, the research team has worked only with healthy individuals in their study. Study participants lie on a bed with the arm extended beneath a pneumatic actuator tendon hammer. In order to simulate the weak signal created by hemiparesis individuals to move their wrist, a transcranial magnetic stimulator (TMS) is placed on the heads of these healthy individuals at a 45-degree angle. Milliseconds after the hammer taps the wrist’s tendon, the TMS creates a weak signal in the motor cortex. The responses overlap, produce and send a strong signal back to the arm, and the wrist moves. The team has successfully varied the timing of the TMS signal and speed of the hammer to strike faster or slower, depending…
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