Neurology
‘Mind’s eye’ influences visual perception
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Letting your imagination run away with you may actually influence how you see the world. New research from Vanderbilt University has found that mental imagery - what we see with the “mind’s eye” - directly impacts our visual perception.
The research was published online June 26 by the journal Current Biology in a paper titled, “The Functional Impact of Mental Imagery on Conscious Perception.”
“We found that imagery leads to a short-term memory trace that can bias future perception,” says Joel Pearson, research associate in the Vanderbilt Department of Psychology. and lead author of the study. “This is the first research to definitively show that imagining something changes vision both while you are imagining it and later on.”
A Full Life Is Still Possible with Multiple Sclerosis
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There are approximately 400,000 people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in the United States today with 200 new patients diagnosed every week.
“No one knows what causes MS,” said Phyllis Greenberger, M.S.W, president and CEO of the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington, D.C. based advocacy organization. “We do know that it is at least 2-3 times more common in women than in men.”
Greenberger addressed congressional staff members on Capitol Hill at an educational briefing sponsored by the Society and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society on June 24.
New oral drug curbs MS disease activity
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In people with multiple sclerosis, or MS, treatment with a new immune-modulating drug called laquinimod can significantly reduce disease activity seen on brain MRI scans, a multinational team reports in The Lancet medical journal.
Currently approved drugs that target the inflammation associated with MS are all given by injection, point out Dr. Giancarlo Comi, from the University Vita-Salute in Milan, Italy, and colleagues. By contrast, laquinimod can be taken more conveniently, by mouth.
In a mid-stage clinical trial involving 306 patients with relapsing-remitting MS, Comi’s team investigated the effects of two laquinimod doses—0.3 and 0.6 milligrams daily—compared to an inactive placebo.
Neurologic Complications of Heart Surgery Detailed in Comprehensive Review Article
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Possible neurologic complications of heart surgery, ranging from headaches to strokes, are detailed in a new report in the online journal MedLink Neurology.
The review article, which compiled results of previously published studies, was written by Dr. Betsy Love and Dr. Jose Biller of Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Dr. James Fleck of Indiana University School of Medicine.
In the most comprehensive and up-to-date review of its kind, researchers list possible nervous system complications of bypass surgeries, cardiac catheterizations, valve replacements, heart transplants and surgeries for congenital heart disease.
Known Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s in Whites Also Places Blacks at Risk
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A commonly recognized gene that places one at risk for Alzheimer’s disease does not discriminate between blacks and whites, according to new research led by Florida State University.
FSU Psychology Professor Natalie Sachs-Ericsson and graduate student Kathryn Sawyer have found that the gene APOE epsilon 4 allele is a risk factor for African-Americans as well as whites. Until now, it has been a mainstream belief that the gene is only a risk factor for whites.
“The results of our study have clear implications for research and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” Sachs-Ericsson said. “The APOE test might be used as one tool in identifying people who are at risk for Alzheimer’s. We now know that African- Americans and Caucasians alike need to be considered for such risk assessments.”
Memory loss linked to common sleep disorder
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For the first time, UCLA researchers have discovered that people with sleep apnea show tissue loss in brain regions that help store memory. Reported in the June 27 edition of the journal Neuroscience Letters, the findings emphasize the importance of early detection of the disorder, which afflicts an estimated 20 million Americans.
Sleep apnea occurs when a blocked airway repeatedly halts the sleeper’s breathing, resulting in loud bursts of snoring and chronic daytime fatigue. Memory loss and difficulty focusing are also common complaints. Prior studies have linked the disorder to a higher risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes.
“Our findings demonstrate that impaired breathing during sleep can lead to a serious brain injury that disrupts memory and thinking,” said principal investigator Ronald Harper, a distinguished professor of neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Smoking in midlife may impair memory
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Middle-aged adults who smoke appear to have a higher than average risk of developing memory impairments, according to a report published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“With the aging population and the projected increases in older adults with dementia, it is important to identify modifiable risk factors,” lead author Dr. Severine Sabia told Reuters Health. “Our results suggest that smoking had an adverse effect on cognitive function in midlife. However, 10 years after smoking cessation, there is little adverse effect of smoking on cognition. Thus, public health messages should target smokers at all ages.”
In fact, long-term ex-smokers were less likely to have deficits in memory, vocabulary, and verbal fluency than those who never smoked. This “could be explained by improvement in other health behaviors among those giving up smoking in midlife,” said Sabia, a researcher with the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale in Villejuif, France.
Alzheimer’s brain plaques cleared in mice
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Protein accumulations, or plaques, characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease can be eliminated from the brains of mice, researchers report, by encouraging scavenger immune cells called macrophages to do their work.
The activity of macrophages is damped down by a naturally occurring compound called TGF-beta, to stop runaway reactions, and prior research has shown that brain levels of TGF-beta are increased in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the report in the research journal Nature Medicine.
Some researchers believed that the high levels of TGF-beta were simply an attempt to quiet the inflammatory response associated with Alzheimer plaques. However, the new findings contradict that notion.
Common painkillers have anti-Alzheimer’s effect
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Pooled data from six studies suggest that all painkillers classified as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDs—including aspirin, ibuprofen and celecoxib—reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer dementia to a similar extent.
“This is an interesting finding because it seems to challenge a current theory that the NSAID group which includes ibuprofen may work better in reducing a person’s risk of Alzheimer’s,” Dr. Peter P. Zandi said in a statement.
“The NSAID group that includes ibuprofen was thought to target a certain type of plaque in the brain found in Alzheimer’s patients. But our results suggest there may be other reasons why these drugs may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s,” added Zandi, a researcher with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.
When your memories can no longer be trusted
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You went to a wedding yesterday. The service was beautiful, the food and drink flowed and there was dancing all night. But people tell you that you are in hospital, that you have been in hospital for weeks, and that you didn’t go to a wedding yesterday at all.
The experience of false memories like this following neurological damage is known as confabulation. The reasons why patients experience false memories such as these has largely remained a mystery. Now a new study conducted by Dr Martha Turner and colleagues at University College London, published in the May 2008 issue of Cortex offers some clues as to what might be going on.
The authors studied 50 patients who had damage to different parts of the brain, and found that those who confabulated all shared damage to the inferior medial prefrontal cortex, a region in the centre of the front part of the brain just behind the eyes.
Statins might cut Parkinson’s disease risk
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People who use cholesterol-lowering statin drugs may have a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a study suggests.
The study, reported in the journal Neurology, found that people who had used statins for at least five years had about one-third the risk of Parkinson’s as non-users did. However, while the findings point to an association between statins and Parkinson’s, they do not prove that the cholesterol drugs help prevent the neurological disorder.
“Although our study findings suggest the very interesting possibility that statins may protect against Parkinson’s disease,” lead investigator Dr. Angelika D. Wahner told Reuters Health, “these findings are preliminary and must be confirmed by additional, well-designed studies.”
Neural cell transplants may help those with Parkinson’s disease
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The current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol. 17:4) features a number of publications by researchers seeking new ways to treat Parkinson’s disease (PD), a neurological disease characterized by muscle rigidity, tremor and slowed physical movements related to insufficient levels of dopamine (DA) in the basal ganglia of the brain, by using primate models to examine the potential therapy role of transplanted cells.
One research team looked at the ability of human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) as a potential therapy when hNPCs were engineered to produce glial derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in the brain following hNPC transplants.
“Localized delivery is essential for aiming therapeutic molecules when treating neurodegenerative disorders,” said Maria Emborg, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “There are currently a number of clinical trials underway using direct gene therapy approaches to deliver potent trophic factors throughout the basal ganglia.”
Nerve block cuts hot flashes after breast cancer
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Blocking parts of the nervous system that regulate body temperature can reduce hot flashes and improve sleep in survivors of breast cancer, researchers reported on Thursday.
With the experimental nerve blocker therapy, the average number of hot flashes per week fell from about 80 to just 8. Very severe hot flashes were almost totally abolished and a marked drop in nighttime awakenings was also seen, according to a report in the online issue of the Lancet Oncology.
Hot flashes and sleep dysfunction are common in breast cancer survivors, particularly those who use anti-estrogen agents like tamoxifen. Conventional treatments, such as hormone therapy or herbal remedies, have proven either ineffective or have been linked to important side effects.
Mental impairment common in children with MS
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Low IQ scores and cognitive problems (problems related to thinking and reasoning) are common in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to an Italian study reported in the journal Neurology.
Approximately 5 percent of MS cases begin before age 18, note Dr. Maria Pia Amato, at the University of Florence, and her associates.
“The initial diagnosis of MS is more difficult in children than in adults,” Amato told Reuters Health. Particularly before age 10, “symptoms may resemble those of acute encephalitis,” with symptoms such as fever, alterations in mental state and level of consciousness. Breathing assistance with a mechanical respirator may be required and seizures and signs of brain involvement, which are rare in adults, may often occur in children.
Botulinum Toxin Effective in Many Neurological Disorders, Not Headache
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New guidelines developed by the American Academy of Neurology confirm that the drug botulinum toxin is safe and effective for treating cervical dystonia, a condition of involuntary head tilt or neck movement, spasticity and other forms of muscle overactivity that interfere with movement in adults and children with an upper motor neuron syndrome, and excessive sweating of the armpits and hands. Botulinum toxin may also be used in hemifacial spasm (involuntary facial contractions), blepharospasm, (involuntary eye closure), some voice disorders (adductor laryngeal dystonia), focal limb dystonias (such as writer’s cramp), essential tremor and some forms of spastic bladder disorders.
This guidelines project was chaired by David M. Simpson, MD, Professor of Neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology. To develop the guidelines, the authors reviewed and analyzed systematically all available scientific studies on the topic. The guidelines appear in the May 6, 2008, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
