Good article today in the NYT on “chemo brain” – some typical short-term and long-term cognitive consequences of chemotherapy.

The Fog That Follows Chemotherapy (New York Times)

One quote is critical – for chemo brain and also for a variety of clinical conditions that present associated cognitive impairments:

“Controlling for brain function before cancer treatment begins can help determine cause and effect. In one study, cancer patients took a battery of neuropsychological tests before starting chemotherapy, three weeks after completing treatment, and again one year later. Although a third of the patients had signs of cognitive impairment before therapy began, the number jumped to 61 percent after treatment, and half remained impaired a year later.”

As we have discussed before, I believe that inexpensive computerized cognitive assessments will start to become widely available in only a few years, to help set up individualized cognitive baselines and inform clinical diagnoses and treatments. For more, you can read Computerized Cognitive Assessments: opportunities and concerns

In April 2008, Baycrest, a leading research institute focused on aging and brain function, received $10-million from the Ontario Government to create a groundbreaking Centre for Brain Fitness. Its stated goal was to “develop and commercialize a range of products designed to improve the brain health of aging Ontarians and others around the world”.

“Our government is proud to support Baycrest and its invaluable work, which is already leading to the discovery of important new tools and approaches to treating brain diseases associated with aging,” said Minister of Research and Innovation, John Wilkinson.

We have Baycrest’s CEO with us today, to explore why Ontario and Baycrest chose to become pioneers in this area, and discuss some of the main opportunities, and challenges. Dr. William E. Reichman is President and CEO of Baycrest. Dr. Reichman, an internationally-known expert in geriatric mental health and dementia, is also Professor of Psychiatry on the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.

Alvaro Fernandez: Bill, thank you for your time. Let me start by asking, given that you just spoke at the recent Consumer Electronic Show, what do you make of the growing brain fitness field?

Bill Reichman: it looks like a classic example of a very promising but still early stage field – a lot of opportunity and enthusiasm, but also a lot of product claims that are not backed by solid research. Think about the physical fitness analogy: even today, after decades of progress, you still see people buying research-based products such as treadmills but also all types of random machines they see on TV and have not been subject to any validation. Similarly, consumers today do not know what to make of growing brain fitness claims. As another speaker pointed out, for the industry to fulfill its promise, it will need to be careful with research and claims, not to end up like the nutraceuticals category.

By the way, let me recognize that the work you are doing with SharpBrains reports and your website is very important to offer quality information.

Thank you. Let’s step back for a moment. Taking a, say, 10 years view, what is the main opportunity that technology-based brain fitness can offer to society?

First of all, let me say that I think we have an opportunity to make major progress in Brain Health in the XXI century, similar to what happened with Cardiovascular Health in the XX, and technology will play a crucial role.

Given the rapid advances we are witnessing today in the research and technology arenas, I feel confident in saying that in less than 10 years we will have both valid and reliable assessments of cognitive functions, that will be used both by Read the rest of this entry »

Concussion effect ’spans decades’ (BBC)

- “People concussed in their youth show subtle signs of mental and physical problems even more than 30 years later, say Canadian researchers.”

- “Dr Louis de Beaumont, who led the study, said: “This study shows that the effects of sports concussions in early adulthood persist beyond 30 years post-concussion, and that it can cause cognitive and motor function alterations as the athletes age.”

- “Athletes should be better informed about the cumulative and persistent effects of sports concussion on mental and physical processes so they know about the risk associated with returning to their sport.”

The study in question:

De Beaumont L, Theoret H, Mongeon D at al. Brain function decline in healthy retired athletes who sustained their last sports concussion in early adulthood. Brain 2009, Advanced online publication January 27

Given the importance of this topic, which we covered in our 2008 Market Research, we are happy to read about new resources like a new book titled Sports Neuropsychology: Assessment and Management of Traumatic Brain Injury

From a recent book review by Gary S. Solomon, Ph.D.:

- “The past 15 years has yielded an explosion of information on Read the rest of this entry »

Spectacular article by Dr. Denise Park in this month’s Cerebrum:

Working Later in Life May Facilitate Neural Health

- “Carmi Schooler at the National Institutes of Health, using a technique that allowed him to assess causal relationships, found that adults who performed intellectually challenging jobs across their life span showed more cognitive flexibility in late adulthood than those who performed less demanding jobs.”
- “Perhaps the most compelling evidence regarding the impact of novel experiences on brain volume and function comes from a study at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. Adults with a mean age of 59 spent three months learning to juggle three balls. Although only about half the participants were able to achieve competence in this complex skill, those who succeeded had increased volume in a mediotemporal area of the visual cortex as well as the nucleus accumbens and the hippocampus, suggesting that sustained novel experience can increase the sizes of neural structures. Notably, the changes in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus were Read the rest of this entry »

If you could, you would. You can, but prefer not to know it?

More than any other organ, your brain is up to you. You are what you think, not just what you eat. Here’s some food for thought:

Design your Mind

Setting cognitive and behavioral goals raises challenging and worthy questions: What do you want from your brain? Will you know it when you achieve it?

To attain the brain of our choosing, we must understand our selves and current abilities. Introspection and curiosity are helpful if they trigger and sustain the effort to enrich the mind. However, objective information which leads to informed assessment of brain function is often lacking.

Mind your Brain

Honesty. Openness. Self-awareness.

Irrefutable virtues, but in practice most people fall short. Few regularly appraise their brain skills; even so, the ability to accurately judge one’s own mental performance is not guaranteed. I believe the first step to minding the brain is shedding hang-ups while offering and soliciting frank feedback from family and close confidants. In the clinical setting, routine cognitive screening and “mental check ups” are not currently practiced, in part due to time constraints and limited utility of traditional paper-and-pencil tests. From a public health perspective, the U.S. Preventative Task Force reviewed Read the rest of this entry »

A beautiful initiative, featured in the New York Times today:
Coming Full Circle:

- “In a typical Montessori classroom, teachers use category-sorting exercises to help young students see patterns and connections. But the participants in this group were mostly in their 80s and on the other side of the cognitive development curve. They are residents at an assisted-living facility for people with dementia called Hearthstone at the Esplanade, which has six other homes in New York State and Massachusetts. Since July the residents have participated in a full-time program of Montessori-based activities designed for people with memory deficiencies.”

- “A common misconception about people with dementia, Dr. Camp said, is that they no longer learn. But they do: residents learn to find their dining room table, for example, well after the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. And because they no longer have the higher brain function they had as adults, he reasoned, they are well suited to Montessori.”

Full article: Coming Full Circle.

Related posts:

- Alzheimer’s Risk and Prevention: the Cognitive Reserve

- Your comments on cognitive training, Posit Science, Alzheimer’s Australia, gerontology, games

James Zull is a professor of Biology. He is also Director Emeritus of the University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. These roles most assuredly coalesced in his 2002 book, The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching the Practice of Teaching by Exploring the Biology of Learning.

This is a book for both teachers and parents (because parents are also teachers!) Written with the earnestness of first-person experience and reflection, and a lifetime of expertise in biology, Zull makes a well-rounded case for his ideas. He offers those ideas for your perusal, providing much supporting evidence, but he doesn’t try to ram them into your psyche. Rather, he practices what he preaches by engaging you with stories, informing you with fact, and encouraging your thinking by the way he posits his ideas.

I have read a number of books that translate current brain research into practice while providing practical suggestions for teachers to implement. This is the first book I have read that provides a biological, and clearly rational, overview of learning and the brain. Zull provokes you into thinking Read the rest of this entry »

A round-up of interested news during the month:

1) Training Young Brains to Behave (New York Times)

2) Head Games (OpEd in New York Times)

3) Will Gerontology recognize the Brain? (American Society on Aging event)

4) Brain function gets a boost from walking (Los Angeles Times)

5) An idea whose time has (finally) come (McKnight’s Long Term Care News)

6) Train your brain (Financial Times Germany)

7) Toman auge ejercicios que adiestran la mente (Milenio, Mexico)

Trois nouvelles études IDATE : Serious Games (Publi-News, France)

Links and commentary below.  Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of recent studies have reinforced the lifelong potential for brain plasticity (the ability of the brain to rewire itself through experience) and the importance of physical exercise for cognitive vitality. One study focused on 1) adults over 50 with mild cognitive impairment, the other one on 2) stroke survivors.

1)  Memory problems: Adults 50-years-old and over with mild cognitive impairment (an advanced form of memory problems, but pre-dementia) were asked to exercise for three 50-minute sessions per week for 24 weeks (a total of 60 hours). Results: there were small, but measurable, cognitive benefits even 18 months after Read the rest of this entry »

Try eating food with one chop stick. 

It is possible, for certain types of food. But probably not the best approach.

Let’s now talk brain health.

Dr. Larry McCleary is a former acting Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Denver Children’s Hospital, and author of the The Brain Trust Program (Perigee Trade, 2007). He agreed to help us answer an important, yet often neglected, question: Given That We Are Our Brains, How do We Nourish Them?

Alvaro: Dr. McCleary, Why did a former neurosurgeon such as yourself develop an interest in brain health public education?

Dr. McCleary: For two reasons … I am a Boomer and am trying to maximize my own brain health. Also, there is much exciting research documenting how we can be proactive in this regard. This information needs to be disseminated and I would like to help in this process.

And what is the single most important brain-related idea or concept that you would like every person in the planet to fully understand?

The most important take home message about brain health is that we now know that no matter what your brain status or age, there is much you can do to significantly improve brain function and slow brain aging. Based on emerging information, what is especially nice is the fact that unlike many things in life our brain health is largely under own control.

What are the most important elements to nourish our brains as we age?

I approach this question much like an athlete prepares for competition. They utilize a holistic approach. Read the rest of this entry »