I just read a very interesting article in Newsweek: Executive Functions: The School Skill That May Matter More Than IQ. A few quotes:

- “But recent advances in psychology and brain science are now suggesting that a child’s ability to inhibit distracting thoughts and stay focused may be a fundamental cognitive skill, one that plays a big part in academic success from preschool on. Indeed, this and closely related skills may be more important than traditional IQ in predicting a child’s school performance.”

- “EF (executive functions) comprises not only effortful control and cognitive focus but also working memory and mental flexibility—the ability to adjust to change, to think outside the box.”

- “When the teacher holds up a circle they clap, with a triangle they hop, and so forth. The kids are taught to talk themselves through the mental exercise: “OK, now clap.” “Twirl now.” This has been shown to flex and enhance the brain’s ability to switch gears, to suppress one piece of information and sub in a new one. It takes discipline; it’s the elementary school equivalent of saying “I really need stop thinking about next week’s vacation and focus on this report.”

The main points: executive functions are crucial for success in life, AND they can be trained. I couldn’t agree more with the article in that cognitive training should be part of the education curriculum and receive more research dollars to determine exactly how to best do so.

I read another very interesting article on Alzheimer’s Disease. Which may look like a completely different topic than the one above…but please bear with me. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the August 19, 2007 edition of medicine 2.0.

Medicine 2.0? Yes, some pioneers are already making good use of Web 2.0 tools to improve Medicine in a new, collaborative way. This blog carnival seems to me to be, in itself, living proof.

Let’s see.

You may wonder, what exactly is “Medicine 2.0″? well, Constructive Medicine takes a stab at it, showing how it may be much older than we thought.

You want an example? see a blogger (Bertalan) chronicle an amazing medical simulation in Second Life.  

Some bloggers provide great overview posts:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Reading Medical Blogs (Vitum Medicinus) provides a fantastic resource covering everything you need to know about medical blogs and blogs in general, including why to subscribe to RSS feeds (for How, keep reading).
• Nursing and Web 2.0 (Universal Health) is a thoughtful post on the gap between nursing research and practice…and how blogging and 2.0 can help.
• Essay on the effect of Web 2.0 on the future of medical practice and education (Medical Journal of Australia), that provides a great overview of medicine 2.0, defining and listing blogs, wikis, podcasts and more.
• Social science as infectious disease (Mining Drug Space) is an essay on how blogs are contributing to knowledge creation and exchange, and includes the writer’s reflections on blogging.

…while others are already addressing some of the important points raised:

• There is a need for Read the rest of this entry »