We are excited to invite you to the first virtual, global SharpBrains Summit (January 18-20th, 2010). The SharpBrains Summit will feature a “dream team” of over 25 speakers who are leaders in industry and research from 7 countries, to discuss emerging research, tools and best practices for cognitive health and performance. This inaugural event will expose health and insurance providers, developers, innovators at Fortune 500 companies, investors and researchers, to the opportunities, partnerships, trends, and standards of the rapidly evolving cognitive fitness field.

Register Today

Learn more and register Here today, at discounted early-bird rates, to receive these benefits:

• Learn: Full access to all Conference live sessions, and Downloadable Recordings and Handouts
• See: latest technologies and products during Expo Day
• Connect and Discuss: become a member of the SharpBrains Network for Brain Fitness Innovation (members-only LinkedIn Group) through the end of 2010, access online chats during the summit, meet other registrants in your city
• Understand the Big Picture: access 10 Research Executive Briefs prepared by leading scientists

On top of those early-bird discounts, we offer an additional 15% discount for SharpBrains readers who want Regular Admission. Discount code: sharp2010. You can register Here.

Agenda/ Speakers

Monday, January 18th, 2010:

(Preliminary schedule, US Pacific Time)

8-9.15am. Cognition & Neuroplasticity: The New Healthcare Frontier

• Alvaro Fernandez, SharpBrains
• David Whitehouse, OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions
• William Reichman, Baycrest
• P Murali Doraiswamy, Duke University

9.30-11am. Tools for Safer Driving: The Opportunity with Teenagers and Adults

• Steven Aldrich, Posit Science
• Shlomo Breznitz, CogniFit
• Jerri Edwards, University of South Florida
• Peter Christianson, Young Drivers of Canada

Noon-1.30pm. Baby Boomers and Beyond: Maintaining Cognitive Vitality

• Kunal Sarkar, Lumos Labs
• Elizabeth Zelinski, USC Davis School of Gerontology Read the rest of this entry »

We are now finalizing agenda and contacting sponsors and partners. Details will be ready, and registration open, by the end of October. In the meantime, please Save the Date if you are interested in participating: January 18-20th 2010 (Pacific Time).

• Conference: January 18-19th. A series of 30-minute sessions (20-minute presentation, 10-minute Q&A), to discuss Market and Research Insights,  together with online discussions and, in some cities, social gatherings of participants.
• Expo Day: January 20th. Product demos by Sponsors.

Confirmed speakers and themes:

Monday, January 18th, 2010:

Cognition and Neuroplasticity: The New Healthcare Frontier

• Alvaro Fernandez, CEO, SharpBrains
• David Whitehouse, Chief Medical Officer, OptumHealth Behavioral Solutions
• William Reichman, President, Baycrest
• P Murali Doraiswamy, Biological Psychiatry Division Head, Duke University

Tools for Safer Driving: Teenagers and Older Adults

• Steven Aldrich, CEO, Posit Science
• Peter Christianson, President of Young Drivers of Canada
• Jerri Edwards, Assoc. Professor University of South Florida

Clinical Applications: Researching, Identifying, Treating Cognitive Deficits

• Keith Wesnes, Practice Leader, United BioSource Corporation
• Jonas Jendi, CEO, Cogmed
• Michel Noir, President, Scientific Brain Training
• Elkhonon Goldberg, Chief Scientific Advisor, SharpBrains

Read the rest of this entry »

Given the growing media coverage mentioning the terms Cognitive Reserve and Brain Reserve, you may be asking yourself, “What exactly is my Cognitive (or Brain) Reserve?”

The cognitive reserve hypothesis, tested in multiple studies, states that individuals with more cognitive reserve can experience more Alzheimer’s disease pathology in the brain (more plaques and tangles) without developing Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.

How does that work? Scientists are not sure but two possibilities are considered.
1. One is that more cognitive reserve means more brain reserve, that is more neurons and connections (synapses) between neurons. Individuals with more synapses would then have more synapses to lose before the critical threshold for Alzheimer’s Disease is reached.
2. Another possibility is that more cognitive reserve means more compensatory processes. The brain of individuals with more cognitive reserve would use more alternative networks to compensate for the damages caused by the pathology in previously used networks.

In a newly published study, Roe and colleagues from Washington University in St. Louis, used the number of years of education as a measure of cognitive reserve. Why years of education? Because previous studies have shown that people who have more education also exhibit a greater resistance to Alzheimer’s symptoms, even while pathological changes are occurring in the brain (see Bennett el al., 2003 or Roe, Xiong, et al., 2008).

Roe and her colleagues studied 198 individuals whose mean age was 67. Out of these 198 individuals, 161 were nondemented and 37 were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

All the participants in the study took a Read the rest of this entry »

We offered some Brain Fitness Predictions in our Market Report , including…

“7. Doctors and pharmacists will help patients navigate through the overwhelming range of available products and interpret the results of cognitive assessments. This will require significant professional development efforts, given that most doctors today were trained under a very different understanding of the brain than the one we have today.”

The American Medical News, a weekly newspaper for physicians published by the American Medical Association, just published an excellent article along those lines:

Steps to a nimble mind: Physical and mental exercise help keep the brain fit
– Neuroscience is uncovering techniques to prevent cognitive decline.

A few quotes:

- It’s an example that highlights a wave of new thinking about the importance of brain fitness.

- Until recently, conventional wisdom held that our brains were intractable, hard-wired computers. What we were born with was all we got. Age wore down memory and the ability to understand, and few interventions could reverse this process. But increasingly, evidence suggests that physical and mental exercise can alter specific brain regions, making radical improvements in cognitive function.

- With nearly 72 million Americans turning 65 over the next two decades, physicians need the tools to handle growing patient concerns about how to best maintain brain health. Armed with this new brand of science, frontline physicians will be better equipped to address the needs of aging baby boomers, already in the throes of the brain fitness revolution.

- “Encourage them to exercise the brain in novel and complex ways,” he says.

Full article: here

One of the physicians quoted in the article is Gary J. Kennedy, MD, Director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in NYC and a professor in the Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

To put the AMA article in better perspective for SharpBrains readers, we asked Dr. Kennedy a few follow-up questions. Below you have his questions.

Alvaro Fernandez (AF): Can you summarize how cognitive functions tend to evolve as we age?

Gary Kennedy (GK): As we age cognitive functions that rely on Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of recent research findings are making the media rounds, bringing much needed attention to the high Alzheimer’s rates among Latinos and to preventive approaches based on the Cognitive Reserve – such as, what jobs we choose:

More Alzheimer’s risk for Hispanics, studies find (International Herald Tribune):

- Studies suggest that many Hispanics may have more risk factors for developing dementia than other groups, and a significant number appear to be getting Alzheimer’s earlier. And surveys indicate that Latinos, less likely to see doctors because of financial and language barriers, more often mistake dementia symptoms for normal aging, delaying diagnosis.

- “This is the tip of the iceberg of a huge public health challenge,” said Yanira Cruz, president of the National Hispanic Council on Aging. “We really need to Read the rest of this entry »

Brain-fitness plan can improve memory (Sydney Morning Herald), reports on the recent endorsement of Posit Science’s programs (Posit Science Program Classic, focused on auditory processing training, and Posit Science Cortex^™ with InSight^™, on visual processing). Quotes: Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting market news:

Dakim’s [m]Power Adopted by 150 Senior Living Communities … (Business Wire)

- “Dakim Inc. announced today that its [m]Power® Cognitive Fitness System has now been adopted by more than 150 senior living communities”

- “Users include Sunrise Senior Living, Front Porch Communities, Diakon Lutheran Services, Ecumen, Eskaton, Benchmark Assisted Living, and Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging. Several neurologists and a local Alzheimer’s Association chapter office have also purchased the system.”

- “Other products are static. You buy a CD, put it Read the rest of this entry »

Good article in the Washington Post today: 

Is It Really Smart to Teach Old Brains New Tricks?

The reporter presents a good overview of what is happening, but framed around a highly artificial choice for consumers: either you a) do physical exercise, or b) take part in social interactions, or c) engage in mental exercise.

What about switching off those TVs and having time for all a, b, c, and more? Research does not support a “general solution” to cognitive health but a multi-pronged one, featuring a good nutrition, stress management, and both physical and mental exercise. Each individual presents different contexts and priorities: for example, Read the rest of this entry »

We are working on improving several sections of our website, especially our Resources section. It will look much better in a few days. Our first step has been to re-organize our Neuroscience Interview Series, and below you have how it looks today.

Cognitive training (the basis for what we call “brain fitness” these days) has a wide array of applications. The most recent one, which is capturing public’s imagination, monopolizing media coverage, and creating certain confusion, is Healthy Brain Aging. We are fortunate to have Dr. Joshua Steinerman, one of our new Expert Contributors, offer today his great voice to this conversation. Enjoy!

- Alvaro
—————————

Minding the Aging Brain

– By Joshua R. Steinerman, M.D.

Scientists, philosophers, artists, and experts from all fields of human endeavor lament: it ain’t easy getting older. It? Do they refer to frailty and disability? To bodily disease? To life at its essence?

It’s all in your head

The mind is not set in stone, but it is encased by bone. It’s really all about the brain, the hyphen in the mind-body conundrum. That squishy gray neuronal jungle is the interface between internal life and environmental sensations and stimulation. As expected, the brain shows signs of aging just as a wrinkled brow, a stooped posture, or an arthritic finger might. The most common brain changes observed in aging and in age-associated neuropsychiatric disease include:

Read the rest of this entry »