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Tero Toivanen

Selective aphasia in a brain damaged bilingual patient : Neurophilosophy - 0 views

scienceblogs.com/...damageed_bilungual_patient.php

brain bilingual Arabic Hebrew CT scan frontal lobe parietal lobe crationomy hemorrhage

shared by Tero Toivanen on 11 Jul 09 - Cached
  • A unique case study published in the open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions sheds some light on this matter. The study, by Raphiq Ibrahim, a neurologist at the University of Haifa, describes a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew speaker who incurred brain damage following a viral infection. Consequently, the patient experienced severe deficits in Hebrew but not in Arabic. The findings support the view that specific components of a first and second language are represented by different substrates in the brain.
  • A native Arabic speaker, he learned Hebrew at an early age (4th grade) and later used it competently both professionally and academically.
  • A CT scan showed that he had suffered a massive hemorrhage in the left temporal lobe, which was compressing the tissue on both sides of the central sulcus, the prominent gfissure which separates the frontal and parietal lobes.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • A craniotomy was performed to relieve the pressure, and afterwards another scan showed moderate hemorrhage and herpes encephalitis in the left temporal lobe, and another hemorrhage beneath the outer membrane (the dura) lying over the right frontal lobe.
  • During his 2 month stay there, he developed epileptic seizures which originated in the left temporal lobe, and amnestic aphasia (an inability to name objects or to recognize their written or spoken names). 
  • After the rehabilitation period, a series of linguistic tests was administered to determine the extent of his speech deficits. M.H. exhibited deficits in both languages, but the most severe deficits were seen only in Hebrew. In this language he had a severe difficulty in recalling words and names, so that his speech was non-fluent and interrupted by frequent pauses. He had difficulty understanding others' spoken Hebrew, and also had great difficulty reading and writing Hebrew. In Arabic, his native language, all of these abilities were affected only mildy.
  • The results support a neurolinguistic model in which the brain of bilinguals contains a semantic system (which represents word meanings) which is common to both languages and which is connected to independent lexical systems (which encode the vocabulary of each language). The findings further suggest that the second language (in this case, Hebrew) is represented by an independent subsystem which does not represent the first language (Arabic) and is more succeptible to brain damage.
  • Tero Toivanen on 11 Jul 09
     
    A unique case study published in the open access journal Behavioral and Brain Functions sheds some light on this matter. The study, by Raphiq Ibrahim, a neurologist at the University of Haifa, describes a bilingual Arabic-Hebrew speaker who incurred brain damage following a viral infection. Consequently, the patient experienced severe deficits in Hebrew but not in Arabic. The findings support the view that specific components of a first and second language are represented by different substrates in the brain.
Tero Toivanen

AK's Rambling Thoughts: Nerve Cells and Glial Cells: Redefining the Foundation of Intel... - 0 views

artksthoughts.blogspot.com/...nd-glial-cells-redefining.html

brain Glial Cells neuron action potential axon synapse network microglia macroglia astrocytes oligodendrocytes ependymal cells radial glia

shared by Tero Toivanen on 25 Jun 09 - Cached
  • Glia are generally divided into two broad classes, microglia and macroglia. Microglia are part of the immune system, specialized macrophages, and probably don't participate in information handling. Macroglia are present in both the peripheral and central nervous systems, in different types.
  • Traditionally, there were four types of glia in the CNS: astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, ependymal cells, and radial glia. Of these, the one type that's most important to the developing revolution in our ideas are those cells called astrocytes.2 It turns out that there are at least two types of cell (at least) subsumed under this name.24, 25, 31, 32 One, which retains the name of astrocyte, takes up neurotransmitters released by neurons (and glial cells), aids in osmoregulation,10 controls circulation in the brain,1, 31 and generally appears to provide support for the neurons and other types of glia.
  • Although both NG2-glia and astrocytes extend processes to nodes of Ranvier in white matter ([refs]) and synapses in grey matter, their geometric relationship to these neuronal elements is different. Thus, although astrocytes and NG2-glia bear a superficial resemblance, they are distinguished by their different process arborizations. This will reflect fundamental differences in the way these two glial cell populations interact with other elements in the neural network.
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  • Both types of glia are closely integrated with the nervous system, receiving information from action potentials via synapses22 (which, only a few years ago were thought to be limited to neurons), and returning control of neuron activity through release of neurotransmitters and other modulators. Both, then, demonstrate the potential for considerable intelligent activity, contributing to the overall intelligence of the brain.
  • Astrocytes probably (IMO) are limited, or mostly so, to maintaining the supplies of energy and necessary metabolites. They receive action potentials,3, 6 which allows them to closely and quickly monitor general activity and increase circulation in response, even before the neurons and NG2-glia have reduced their supply of ATP.21 They appear to be linked in a network among themselves,2, 5 allowing them to communicate their needs without interfering with the higher-level calculations of the brain.
  • NG2-glia appear to have several functions, but one of the most exciting things about them is that they seem to be able to fire action potentials.33 Their cell membranes, like those of the dendrites of neurons, have all the necessary channels and receptors to perform real-time electrical calculations in the same way as neural dendrites. They have also demonstrated the ability to learn through long term potentiation.
  • Dividing NG2-glia also retain the ability to fire action potentials, as well as receiving synaptic inputs from neurons.23 Presumably, they continue to perform their full function, including retaining any elements of long term potentiation or depression contained in their synapses.
  • Oligodendrocytes are responsible for the insulation of the axons, wrapping around approximately 1 mm of each of up to 50 axons within their reach, and forming the myelin sheath.
  • Although the precise type of neuron formed by maturing cells hasn't been determined, the very fact that cells of this type can change into neurons is very important. We actually don't know whether the cells that do this maturation are the same as those that perform neuron-like activities, there appear to be two separate types of NG2-glia, spiking and non-spiking.26 It may very well be that the "spiking" type have actually differentiated, while the "non-spiking" type may be doing the maturing. Of course, very few differentiated cell types remain capable of division, as even the "spiking" type do.
  • What's important about both dendrites and NG2-glia isn't so much their ability to propagate action potentials, as that their entire cell membranes are capable of "intelligent" manipulation of the voltage across it.
  • While there are many ion channels involved in controlling the voltage across the cell membrane, the only type we really need to worry about for action potentials is voltage-gated sodium channels. These are channels that sometimes allow sodium ions to pass through the cell membrane, which they will do because the concentration of sodium ions outside the cell is very much higher than inside. When and how much they open depends, among other things, on the voltage across the membrane.
  • A normal neuron will have a voltage of around -60 to -80mV (millivolts), in a direction that tends to push the sodium ions (which are positive) into the cell (the same direction as the concentration is pushing). When the voltage falls to around -55mV, the primary type of gate will open for a millisecond or so, after which it will close and rest for several milliseconds. It won't be able to open again until the voltage is somewhere between -55 and around -10mV. Meanwhile, the sodium current has caused the voltage to swing past zero to around +20mV.
  • When one part of the cell membrane is "depolarized" in this fashion, the voltage near it is also depressed. Thus, if the voltage is at zero at one point, it might be at -20mV 10 microns (μm) away, and -40mV 20μm away, and -60mV 30μm, and so on. Notice that somewhere between 20μm and 30μm, it has passed the threshold for the ion channels, which means that they are open, allowing a current that drives the voltage further down. This will produce a wave of voltage drop along the membrane, which is what the action potential is.
  • After the action potential has passed, and the gates have closed (see above), the voltage is recovered by diffusion of ions towards and away from the membrane, the opening of other gates (primarily potassium), and a set of pumps that push the ions back to their resting state. These pumps are mostly powered by the sodium gradient, except for the sodium/potassium pump that maintains it, which is powered by ATP.
  • the vast majority of calculation that goes into human intelligence takes place at the level of the network of dendrites and NG2-glia, with the whole system of axons, dendrites, and action potentials only carrying a tiny subset of the total information over long distances. This is especially important considering that the human brain has a much higher proportion of glial matter than our relatives.
  • This, in turn, suggests that our overall approach to understanding the brain has been far too axon centric, there needs to be a shift to a more membrane-centric approach to understanding how the brain creates intelligence.
  • Tero Toivanen on 25 Jun 09
     
    Our traditional idea of how the brain works is based on the neuron: it fires action potentials, which travel along the axon and, when the reach the synapses, the receiving neuron performs a calculation that results in the decision when (or whether) to fire its own action potential. Thus, the brain, from a thinking point of view, is viewed as a network of neurons each performing its own calculation. This view, which I'm going to call the axon-centric view, is simplistic in many ways, and two recent papers add to it, pointing up the ways in which the glial cells of the brain participate in ongoing calculation as well as performing their more traditional support functions.
Tero Toivanen

Brain Map - 1 views

www.neuroskills.com/brain.shtml

brain injury concussion rehabilitation research pharmacology support multi-media products

shared by Tero Toivanen on 13 Jul 09 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 13 Jul 09
     
    A traumatic brain injury resource guide with over 1,500 pages of material on brain injury, concussion, rehabilitation, long-term assisted living, research, pharmocology, support, multi-media products, and much more.
Tero Toivanen

Understanding alcohol's damaging effects on the brain - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...-06-alcohol-effects-brain.html

understanding alcohol effects brain damaging research alcoholism pharmacological neurons

shared by Tero Toivanen on 18 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 18 Jun 11
     
    "In particular, evidence is emerging that supports characteristic, discrete alcohol binding sites on protein targets."
David McGavock

Wired for Success - 0 views

www.bannerhealth.com/..._Wired+for+Success.htm

shared by David McGavock on 01 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • David McGavock on 01 Jan 13
     
    "The New Directions Institute's Wired for Success® program is a four-hour workshop for parents, caregivers and interested community members. This workshop is fun-filled, with hands-on experiences that show caregivers how critical their role can be in stimulating a child's development. Participants will explore brain development based on S.T.E.P.S.®, the NDI curriculum concentrating on Security, Touch, Eyes (vision), Play and Sound modules. Participants learn how to encourage a child's learning through parent-child interactions in these areas. "
Tero Toivanen

Lab Notes : The Brains of Early Birds and Night Owls - 0 views

blog.newsweek.com/...arly-birds-and-night-owls.aspx

brain sleep Early Birds Night Owls Science University of Liege Belgium

shared by Tero Toivanen on 21 Jun 09 - Cached
  • There was no real difference between the early birds and the night owls in their performance on the morning test. But the evening test was a different story: night owls were less sleepy and had faster reaction times than early birds.
  • So even though both groups were sleeping and waking according to their preferred schedule, night owls generally outlasted early birds in how long they could stay awake and mentally alert before becoming mentally fatigued. The fMRI supported the behavioral results: 10.5 hours after waking up, the early birds had lower activity in brain regions linked to attention and the circadian master clock, compared to night owls.
  • Tero Toivanen on 21 Jun 09
     
    A new study, in the journal Science, reports some intriguing differences between the brain-activity patterns of the two types that underlie the behavioral differences.
Tero Toivanen

Eide Neurolearning Blog: Why Boys Need Alternatives with Reading and Writing - 0 views

eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/...alternatives-with-reading.html

neurolearning Reading and Writing brain

shared by Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09 - Cached
  • If you give girls and boys language tasks, most girls will process the information in the same way (in a specialized language area)
  • help them with word storage and retrieval
  • But for boys, sensitivity to the modality of how words are presented means that an extra steps need to be taken to match words that are picked up by listening and words that are read on the printed page. No wonder dyslexia is much more common in boys - the separate system means that the sight and sound of words are learned as distinct processes.
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  • As a result, verbal competence may be strong in one domain (oral speech for instance), but be weak in another (reading).
  • because boys require two areas and a matching of visual-auditory inputs, impairment in one system may cause the whole language coordination process to fail.
  • The visual-auditory gap may also be why some boys may need to read word-for-word outloud or to themselves (i.e. not silently read) in order to fully comprehend or remember the story.
  • Some careful consideration needs to made of instructional implications for boys given some of these new discoveries. Learning by listening and learning by reading are not synonymous; route-congruent factors(listening - oral presentation, reading - written response) may need to be considered when a learning gap or frank underachievement is seen, and an insistence on the availability of auditory-visual supports (reading along with books-on-tape, detailed handouts for lecture courses) should be a requirement of every classroom.
  • Tero Toivanen on 23 May 09
     
    Boys require two areas and a matching of visual-auditory inputs, impairment in one system may cause the whole language coordination process to fail.
Tero Toivanen

First Evidence That Musical Training Affects Brain Development In Young Children - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...060920093024.htm

music brain development young children brain development memory IQ Suzuki method MEG

shared by Tero Toivanen on 21 Jun 09 - Cached
  • The findings, published today (20 September 2006) in the online edition of the journal Brain [1], show that not only do the brains of musically-trained children respond to music in a different way to those of the untrained children, but also that the training improves their memory as well. After one year the musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ.
  • Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.
  • While previous studies have shown that older children given music lessons had greater improvements in IQ scores than children given drama lessons, this is the first study to identify these effects in brain-based measurements in young children.
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  • The researchers chose children being trained by the Suzuki method for several reasons: it ensured the children were all trained in the same way, were not selected for training according to their initial musical talent and had similar support from their families. In addition, because there was no early training in reading music, the Suzuki method provided the researchers with a good model of how training in auditory, sensory and motor activities induces changes in the cortex of the brain.
  • Analysis of the MEG responses showed that across all children, larger responses were seen to the violin tones than to the white noise, indicating that more cortical resources were put to processing meaningful sounds. In addition, the time that it took for the brain to respond to the sounds (the latency of certain MEG components) decreased over the year. This means that as children matured, the electrical conduction between neurons in their brains worked faster.
  • Of most interest, the Suzuki children showed a greater change over the year in response to violin tones in an MEG component (N250m) related to attention and sound discrimination than did the children not taking music lessons.
  • Analysis of the music tasks showed greater improvement over the year in melody, harmony and rhythm processing in the children studying music compared to those not studying music. General memory capacity also improved more in the children studying music than in those not studying music.
  • The finding of very rapid maturation of the N250m component to violin sounds in children taking music lessons fits with their large improvement on the memory test. It suggests that musical training is having an effect on how the brain gets wired for general cognitive functioning related to memory and attention.
  • It is clear that music is good for children's cognitive development and that music should be part of the pre-school and primary school curriculum.
  • Tero Toivanen on 21 Jun 09
     
    Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.
Tero Toivanen

Low Pessimism Protects Against Stroke: The Health and Social Support (HeSSup) Prospecti... - 2 views

stroke.ahajournals.org/...187

pessimism optimism stroke brain research

shared by Tero Toivanen on 07 Jan 10 - Cached
  • Tero Toivanen on 07 Jan 10
     
    It's good for your life and health to be optimist.
  • Ruth Howard on 11 Jan 10
     
    It' s a slightly different perspective that I' m enjoying at this time but I appreciate it may only be true for some-I' ve just begun to understand what "faith" means tho I' m not religious-still! (I feel some empathy now as to why people are) I feel much more inclined to just sit still and connect inside with the Source of me-any meditation or spiritual practice can lead me there or creativity,music too,nature! But to deliberately connect to the part of us all that is connected and knows/is All. From that place I' ve understood that theres noone to be, nowhere to go, nothing to do as we are all there already as we are all IT! So of course daily I forget this but this insight has gifted me much more optimism as I can assume that whatever I really ask for/intend/desire is already in the big melting pot that we can Life/God. That is ' faith' Ive realised now- to ask and know intimately that it' s already a given and to STOP Worrying and completely ignore the naysayers etc. It' s really trusting that I' m connected to it all and I am not separate. I' m beginning to observe quite distinctly the thoughts that separate me from what I want/intend. Particularly in relation to my fellow beings! But then I turn to the place that is connected and I feel so good! and just thinking of the situation from that place and holding that good feeling in relation and giving it over (the problem) really helps! I know several spiritual teachers have said "give it over to me". I' m starting to understand it really is that simple. Trying hard and worrying just create such muck and mire! This may be part of the surrender letting go and letting God that others speak of also? I reckon it would be interesting to see where how people get there faith/trust in life that creates the underlying optimism. What gives that to them? I remember as a child I had it naturally I often got what I asked for and intended and there was an abundance of flow and optimism. No resistance. Fear and doubt come later
Tero Toivanen

Use It or Lose It: The Principles of Brain Plasticity - 3 views

articles.mercola.com/...brain-plasticity.aspx

brain plasticity research learning neurons memory Use It or Lose It Brain Gym nutrition

shared by Tero Toivanen on 09 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • You probably haven't realizd it, but as you acquire an ability – for example, the ability to read – you have actually created a system in the brain that does not exist, that's not in place, in the non-reader. It [the ability; the brain system that controls the ability] actually evolves in you as it has been acquired through experience or learning.
  • "There are some very useful exercises at www.BrainHQ.com that are free, and using them can give a person a better understanding of how exercising your brain can drive it in a rejuvenating direction. Using exercises at BrainHQ, most people, of any age, can drive sharp improvements in brain speed and accuracy, and thereby rewire the brain so that it again represents information in detail," he says.
  • Children operating in the 10th to 20th percentile of academic performance are commonly able to improve their scores to the middle or average level with 20-30 hours of intensive computer-based training. "That's a big difference for the child," he says. "It carries most children who are near the bottom of the class, on the average, to be somewhere in the middle or above average in the class. And that gives struggling children a chance to really succeed and in many cases excel in school."
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  • Careful controlled studies in seniors have also been reported in scientific journals. After 40 hours of computer-based training, the average improvement in cognitive performance across the board was 14 years. On average, if you were 70 years old when you underwent the training after 40 hours of brain training, your cognitive abilities operated like that of a 56-year old. Equally strong or even greater effects were seen in 40 to 50 year olds using the program. Individuals who worked on the BrainHQ exercises at home did just as well as those who completed training in a clinic or research center.
  • Ideally, it would be wise to invest at least 20 minutes a day. But no more than five to seven minutes is to be spent on a specific task. When you spend longer amounts of time on a task, the benefits weaken. According to Dr. Merzenich, the primary benefits occur in the first five or six minutes of the task.
  • Find ways to engage yourself in new learning
  • "When it matters to you, you are going to drive changes in your brain," he explains. "That's something always to keep in mind. If what you're doing seems senseless, meaningless, if it does not matter to you, then you're gaining less from it."
  • Get 15-30 minutes of physical exercise each day,
  • Spend about five minutes every day working on the refinement of a specific, small domain of your physical body.
  • You can typically improve yourself to the highest practical or possible level in anywhere between five to a dozen brief sessions of seven or eight minutes each. Again, having a sense of purpose is crucial.
  • Stay socially engaged.
  • Practice "mindfulness,"
  • Foods have an immense impact on your brain, and eating whole foods as described in my nutrition plan will best support your mental and physical health.
  • The medical literature is also showing that coconut oil can be of particular benefit for brain health, and anecdotal evidence suggests it could be very beneficial in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
  • Optimize your vitamin D levels
  • Take a high-quality animal-based omega-3 fat.
  • Avoid processed foods and sugars, especially fructose
  • Avoid grains
  • Avoid artificial sweeteners
  • Avoid soy
  • Men who ate tofu at least twice weekly had more cognitive impairment, compared with those who rarely or never ate the soybean curd, and their cognitive test results were about equivalent to what they would have been if they were five years older than their current age.
  • Tero Toivanen on 09 Dec 12
     
    "It was once thought that any brain function lost was irretrievable. Today, research into what's referred to as "brain plasticity" has proven that this is not the case. On the contrary, your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life in response to mental activity."
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