Newsline — Friday, August 23, 2013 9:27
Treatment Options for Multiple Sclerosis Are Expanding
Study: Anxiety State Before Pain Surgery May Influence Risk for Chronic Pain
Thursday, August 22, 2013 13:46
Research reported in the Journal of Pain reveals that a combination of anxiety and pain magnification can increase a patient’s risk of developing chronic pain. The study noted that a patient’s anxiety state is predictive of significant post-surgical pain. Click here to read the full story.
Ethics Experts: For Doctors, Separating Professional and Personal Identity Online is “Impossible”
Thursday, August 22, 2013 10:13
Social media provides a new context for the age-old debate about the maintenence of a doctor’s professional identity. Psychiatry and ethics sxperts at Johns Hopkins University have addressed guidelines recently released by the American College of Physicians and Federation of State Medical Boards, stating that to separate one’s professional and personal identity online is “operationally impossible,” thus forcing physicians into a kind of identity crisis. Click here to read the full story.
Scientists Identify Significant Risk Factors for Young-Onset Dementia
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 13:00
A study of Swedish men identifies nine risk factors for cases of dementia that presents in patients under 65 years old. Known as young-onset dementia (YOD), the condition is linked to inherited genetic mutations in families, and the discovery of additional risk factors will help scientists better understand the ailment. In a study of 488,484 Swedish men, 487 were diagnosed with YOD around age 54. Stroke, depression, father’s dementia, depression and alcohol intoxication were among significant risk factors. “These risk factors were multiplicative, most were potentially modifiable, and most could be traced to adolescence, suggesting excellent opportunities for early prevention,” the study says. Click here to read the full story.
Researchers: Checklist is No Magic Bullet in Patient Safety
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 10:23
A study conducted by two researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Leicester suggests that the use of a checklist as a patient safety measure may not be as effective in curbing “never events” as originally thought. In assessing operating room procedures in the United Kingdom and Africa, researchers discovered that many surgical teams were reluctant to use the checklist, noting that the attitudes of senior team members undermined the use of the checklist at all – checklists that are used to encourage teamwork and reduce hierarchies. “The principles underlying the surgical checklist are good ones, but only now are we waking up to the serious challenges associated with implementation. On its own, the checklist is no magic bullet,” one researcher said. Click here to read the full story.
Study: Brain’s Network of Flexible Hubs Help People Adapt
Tuesday, August 20, 2013 13:00
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis have found evidence that sections of the brain contain flexible hubs that arrange for the brain’s response to novel challenges. Likening the flexible hubs to an internet router, the study’s lead author Michael Cole, PhD, says, “Flexible hubs are brain regions that coordinate activity throughout the brain to implement tasks…[shifting] which networks they communicate with based on instructions for the task at hand and can do so even for tasks never performed before.” With additional research, there is hope that enhancement to the flexible hub could allow for reduced symptoms in mental disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Click here to read the full story.
Finding of Key Brain Development Signal May Lead to Additional Study of Neurological Conditions
Tuesday, August 20, 2013 9:31
At the Scripps Research Institute, scientists have decoded a molecular signal that aids in the development of the neocortex, the region responsible for sensory processing, consciousness, reasoning, long-term memory and other functions. The finding may contribute to research on autism, autismand other psychiatric disorders. “With studies such as this one, we’re starting to understand the normal functions of molecules whose disruption by gene mutations can cause developmental brain disorders,” one researcher said. Click here to read the full story.
Commentary: Endovascular Treatment May Be Reasonable for Certain Stroke Patients
Monday, August 19, 2013 13:00
By using nonsurgical endovascular techniques to extract the blood clot curbing blood flow to the brain, endovascular treatment is still considered a reasonable treatment options for some sufferers of acute stroke, according to a commentary in the August edition of Neurosurgery. This comes on the heels of highly publicized studies reporting that endovascular treatment doesn’t improve outcomes any better than standard care. However, recent clinical trials have found endovascular treatment to benefit those who have suffered a large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke. To read more about this topic and also about an article suggesting the supply of US neurosurgeons cannot meet demand, click here.
Newly Discovered “Grid Cell” May Serve as the Brain’s GPS
Monday, August 19, 2013 9:36
Researchers have identified a new type of brain cell that helps people maintain a sense of direction, allowing them to keep track of their relative location while in an unfamiliar place. The grid cell, as it is called, helps the brain assess navigational clues such as an individual’s distance from the starting point or the most recent point at which they made a turn. “The present finding of grid cells in the human brain, together with the earlier discovery of human hippocampal ‘place cells,’ which fire at single locations, provide compelling evidence for a common mapping and navigational system preserved across humans and lower animals,” the study’s senior author says. Click here to read the full article.
Study Links Alcoholism to Hyper-Active Dopamine Response in Brain
Friday, August 16, 2013 13:00
Individuals who are likely to develop an alcohol addiction demonstrate a distinct brain response while drinking, according to research conducted at McGill University. The findings, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, were discovered after study partipcants underwent two positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans after drinking either juice or alcohol. “We found that people vulnerable to developing alcoholism experienced an unusually large brain dopamine response when they took a drink,” a researcher revealed. “This large response might energize reward-seeking behaviors and counteract the sedative effects of alcohol. Conversely, people who experience minimal dopamine release when they drink might find the sedative effects of alcohol especially pronounced.” Click here to read the full story.