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Trauma changes the brain even in those without PTSD
  • A review of previous research has compared brain activity in those with PTSD who experienced trauma, those who experienced trauma but didn't develop PTSD, and those who never experienced trauma.
  • Those who had PTSD had differential activity in two brain regions.
  • Those who had experienced trauma had differential activity in several brain regions associated with emotional regulation, regardless of whether they'd developed PTSD.

A meta-analysis of studies reporting brain activity in individuals with a diagnosis of PTSD has revealed differences between the brain activity of individuals with PTSD and that of groups of both trauma-exposed (those who had experienced trauma but didn't have a diagnosis of PTSD) and trauma-naïv

Is PTSD a failure of context processing?
  • A new theory suggests a single dysfunction, in the processing of context, could underlie the multiple symptoms and characteristics of PTSD.

An interesting new theory for PTSD suggests that the root of the problem lies in context processing problems.

Two things cut concussions in youth football
  • Wearing padded helmets & using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly reduces the risk of head injury.
  • Younger players (under 14) may be more vulnerable to concussion than older ones.

A study which followed 20 members of a youth football team in New Jersey found that wearing padded helmets and using safer tackling and blocking techniques greatly cut the chance of head injuries and concussion.

Suggestions for protecting against sports concussions
  • Two studies suggest that those with stronger and thicker necks, and those with a specific gene variant linked to dyslexia, are less vulnerable to concussion.
  • One study points to the value of good nights' sleep when recovering from concussion.

Can stronger necks reduce concussion risk & severity?

Brain connectivity changes with working memory after TBI
  • A brain imaging study reveals how working memory is impaired after traumatic brain injury.

Brain imaging while 11 individuals with traumatic brain injury and 15 healthy controls performed a working memory task has revealed that those with TBI showed greater connectivity between the hemispheres in the fronto-parietal regions (involved in working memory) and less organized flow of inform

Can targeting inflammation ease chemo brain?
  • A small pilot study has confirmed that inflammation in the blood plays a role in chemobrain.

A pilot study involving 22 breast cancer patients currently receiving chemotherapy (mean age 54), has found that those with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers did significantly worse on tests for short-term visual memory.

Mental imagery training improves multiple sclerosis patients' cognition
  • Difficulties in remembering past events and imagining future ones are often experienced by those with multiple sclerosis.
  • A trial involving patients with MS has found that training in mentally visualizing imaginery scenarios can improve their ability to recall past events.
  • Deficits in event memory and imagination have also been found in older adults, so this finding might have wider application.

Training in a mental imagery technique has been found to help multiple sclerosis patients in two memory domains often affected by the disease: autobiographical memory and episodic future thinking.

Brain changes seen in veterans with PTSD after mindfulness training
  • A small study found mindfulness training had an observable effect on the brains of PTSD sufferers.

A pilot study involving 23 military veterans with PTSD found that those who received mindfulness training showed reduced PTSD symptoms, and brain changes that suggest a greater ability to shift and control attention.

Biased retellings of events yield biased memories

When we tell people about things that have happened to us, we shape the stories to our audience and our purpose. The amount of detail we give and the slant we give to it depends on our perceptions of our audience and what we think they want to hear. Does this change our memory for the event?

Gum disease may have ties to Alzheimer’s

Analysis of post-mortem with and without dementia has found lipopolysaccharide, a component of an oral bacterium (Porphyromonas gingivalis), in four out of 10 Alzheimer’s disease brain samples, but not in any of the 10 brains of people who didn’t have Alzheimer’s.

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