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Dennis OConnor

Kundalini Yoga for Post-Treatment Lyme Disease: A Preliminary Randomized Study - PubMed - 0 views

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    "Abstract This study examined the adherence to and the potential benefit of Kundalini yoga (KY) for post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS). Participants were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of a KY small-group intervention or a waitlist control (WLC). Adherence was measured as attendance at KY group sessions. Primary outcomes assessed pain, pain interference, fatigue, and global health. Secondary outcomes assessed multisystem symptom burden, mood, sleep, physical and social functioning, cognition, and mindfulness. Linear mixed models were used to test changes in outcomes over time as a function of group assignment; intercepts for participants were modeled as random effects. Although the target sample size was 40 participants, the study concluded with 29 participants due to recruitment challenges. No KY participants dropped out of the study, and participants attended 75% of group sessions on average, but WLC retention was poor (57%). Regarding primary outcomes, there was no significant interaction between group and time. Regarding secondary outcomes, there was a significant interaction between group and time for multisystem symptom burden (p < 0.05) and cognition (p < 0.01); KY participants reported improved multisystem symptom burden and cognition over the course of the study compared to WLC participants. To enhance recruitment and retention, future trials may consider expanding geographic access and including supportive procedures for WLC participants. This preliminary study supports the need for a larger study to determine if KY reduces multisystem symptom burden and enhances cognition among people with PTLDS."
Dennis OConnor

At the Cusp of Solving Cognitive Aging? - Mike Merzenich - Medium - 0 views

  • Bookmark story
  • the ACTIVE Study.
  • hree different theories
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  • memory
  • reasoning
  • speed of processing
  • ACTIVE tracked people for 10 years
  • 74 to 84
  • who would have expected faster cognitive processing speed 10 years later
  • The big question was do those gains transfer to real-world activities.And, the answer is: they do.
  • At the end of 10 years
  • about three years more protection against decline
  • speed training
  • ● 38% less risk of onset of depressive symptoms● 30% less risk of deepening of depressive symptoms● 68% stronger feeling of confidence and control● 48% less risk of at-fault car crashes
  • I (Mike Merzenich) have spent decades studying brain plasticity — the brain’s ability to change (at any age), chemically, structurally and functionally.
  • What changes in the brain as it gets older?
  • basic science question
  • every single thing we measured in the aging brain changed (and none for the better).
  • The top row
  • we built a brain-training program designed to make a rat’s brain faster and more accurate.
  • to improve auditory precision and speed.
  • It turns out that this kind of brain training — continuously and progressively challenging the speed and accuracy of brain processing — improves every aspect of brain health we could measure.
  • we could build, test, refine and validate a training program to improve all the major systems of the brain.
  • plasticity-based training
  • cognition (eg, speed, attention, memory, executive function)
  • quality of life (eg, mood, confidence, self-rated health)
  • dementia?
Dennis OConnor

Brain Health In The Time of the Coronavirus - BrainHQ from Posit Science - 1 views

    • Dennis OConnor
       
      I've done 163 days of BrainHQ Training. I have experienced significant improvement in all categories of training: Attention, Brain Speed, Memory, People Skills, Intelligence, Navigation. Basic training schedule is every other day for 30 minutes.
  • If staying at home can contribute to a decline in our physical health—which we can address with an exercise program—what does staying at home and socially isolating do to our cognitive health?
  • our favorite topic at Posit Science: brain plasticity, the science of how the brain rewires itself through learning and experience.
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  • brain plasticity is a two-way street. In the same way that the brain can build itself through positive brain plasticity, the brain can “unbuild” itself through negative brain plasticity.
  • while we are staying at home and avoiding social contact, we’re depriving our brains of the cognitive stimulation and new learning that naturally come through our everyday lives and interactions with friends, co-workers, and even random strangers.
  • get your quarantine cognitive exercise program started:
  • New learning
  • Cognitive engagement
  • BrainHQ
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    I found Posit Science and BrainHQ thanks to a suggestion from Dr. Kurisu. He recommended Norman Doige's books, The Brain That Changes Itself; Personal Triumphs from the Frontiers of Brain Science and The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity. One of the case studies is about Dr. Michael Merzenich, a research who was vilified by the medical establishment for investigating neuroplasticity. Great story. Merzenich is a founder of PositScience and BrainHQ.
Dennis OConnor

randomized clinical trial of plasticity-based cognitive training in mild traumatic brai... - 1 views

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    "The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a self-administered computerized plasticity-based cognitive training programmes in primarily military/veteran participants with a history of mTBI and cognitive impairment. "
Dennis OConnor

N1: wellness by experiment - Down App to experiment - 0 views

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    N1: wellness by experiment 17+ Back your wellness with data INGH Available on iOS only You can use this app to join a clinical trial on cognition. Comparing 2 treatments using caffeine (50-400 mg) and caffeine (50-400 mg) in combination with L-theanine (250 mg) : L-theanine is a naturally occurring amino acid most commonly found in green tea. I've downloaded the app will join the study. Interesting screen by screen informed consent process. Will report what I discover at an upcoming Apollo Meeting.
Dennis OConnor

Our Founders' Story | Scientific Learning - 0 views

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    "The story of Scientific Learning begins with four research scientists: Michael Merzenich, William Jenkins, Paula Tallal, and Steven Miller. When the work of these four scientists intersected, their collaboration proved that the underlying cognitive processes that influence speech and language problems could be identified-and permanently improved. These findings led to the development of the Fast ForWord program, a groundbreaking computer-based reading intervention. The scientists then founded Scientific Learning to bring their program out of the lab and into the lives of struggling readers."
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    Keywords: neuroscience reading
Dennis OConnor

The Synchronicity of Memory - NIH Director's Blog - 1 views

  • You see those same four neurons, their activity logged individually. Cooler colors—indigo to turquoise—indicate background or low neuronal activity; warmer colors—yellow to red—indicate high neuronal activity.
  • neuronal burst synchronization and hippocampus-dependent memory formation
  • broad implications, from improving memory to reconditioning the mental associations that underlie post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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  • Chen and colleagues used deep-brain imaging technology to shed new light on some old-fashioned classical conditioning: Pavlovian training
  • track the same four neurons over the course of the day—and watch as memory creation, in the form of neuronal synchronization,
  • during recall experiments
  • the big question: how does this translate into an actual memory in other living creatures?
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    "You may think that you're looking at a telescopic heat-map of a distant planet, with clickable thumbnail images to the right featuring its unique topography. In fact, what you're looking at is a small region of the brain that's measured in micrometers and stands out as a fascinating frontier of discovery into the very origins of thought and cognition."
Dennis OConnor

The neuroscience of placebo effects: connecting context, learning and health - 0 views

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    "Abstract Placebo effects are beneficial effects that are attributable to the brain-mind responses to the context in which a treatment is delivered rather than to the specific actions of the drug. They are mediated by diverse processes - including learning, expectations and social cognition - and can influence various clinical and physiological outcomes related to health. Emerging neuroscience evidence implicates multiple brain systems and neurochemical mediators, including opioids and dopamine. We present an empirical review of the brain systems that are involved in placebo effects, focusing on placebo analgesia, and a conceptual framework linking these findings to the mind-brain processes that mediate them. This framework suggests that the neuropsychological processes that mediate placebo effects may be crucial for a wide array of therapeutic approaches, including many drugs."
Dennis OConnor

Study: Brain Exercises Provide Breakthrough Treatment for Geriatric Depression - BrainH... - 0 views

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    "SAN FRANCISCO - For the first time in a randomized controlled trial, brain exercises were shown effective in addressing depression in treatment-resistant older patients, who had previously used anti-depressive drug therapy without success. The exercises were shown to improve not only mood, but also the often-unaddressed cognitive deficits associated with geriatric depression. The study used neuroplasticity-based exercises from BrainHQ, the brain training app from Posit Science, plus two new exercises designed for the study."
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    While the term 'geriatric depression' tastes like ashes, I was pleased to see this research. I've been working with BrainHQ for some time and I can feel the neuroplastic growth.
Dennis OConnor

Don't "Flatten the Curve," stop it! - Joscha Bach - Medium - 1 views

  • What all these diagrams have in common:
  • They have no numbers on the axes.
  • They don’t give you an idea how many cases it takes to overwhelm the medical system, and over how many days the epidemic will play out.
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  • They suggest that currently, the medical system can deal with a large fraction (like maybe 2/3, 1/2 or 1/3) of the cases, but if we implement some mitigation measures, we can get the infections per day down to a level we can deal with.
  • They mean to tell you that we can get away without severe lockdowns as we are currently observing them in China and Italy.
  • nstead, we let the infection burn through the entire population, until we have herd immunity (at 40% to 70%), and just space out the infections over a longer timespan.
  • The Curve Is a Lie
  • suggestions are dangerously wrong, and if implemented, will lead to incredible suffering and hardship.
  • Let’s try to understand this by putting some numbers on the axes.
  • California has only 1.8.
  • The US has about 924,100 hospital beds (2.8 per 1000 people)
  • Germany have 8
  • South Korea has 12
  • Based on Chinese data, we can estimate that about 20% of COVID-19 cases are severe and require hospitalization
  • many severe cases will survive if they can be adequately provided for at home
  • by some estimates can be stretched to about a 100,000, and of which about 30,000 may be available
  • mportant is the number of ICU beds
  • oxygen, IVs and isolation
  • About 6% of all cases need a ventilator
  • if hospitals put all existing ventilators to use, we have 160,000 of them
  • CDC has a strategic stockpile of 8900 ventilators
  • number of ventilators as a proximate limit on the medical resources, it means we can take care of up to 170,000 critically ill patients at the same time.
  • Without containment, the virus becomes endemic
  • Let’s assume that 55% of the US population (the middle ground) get infected between March and December, and we are looking at 180 million people.
  • the point of my argument is not that we are doomed, or that 6% of our population has to die, but that we must understand that containment is unavoidable, and should not be postponed, because later containment is going to be less effective and more expensive, and leads to additional deaths.
  • About 20% will develop a severe case and need medical support to survive.
  • Severe cases tend to take about 3–6 weeks to recover
  • 6% may need intubation and/or ventilation
  • Once a person is on the ventilator, it often takes about 4 weeks for them to get out of intensive care again.
  • The “flattening the curve” idea suggests that if we wash our hands and stay at home while being sick aggressively enough, we won’t have to stop the virus from becoming endemic and infecting 40% to 70% of all people, but we can slow the spread of the infection so much that out medical system can deal with the case load. This is how our normally distributed curve looks like when it contains 10.8 million patients, of which no more than 170,000 are ill at the same time:
  • Dampening the infection rate of COVID-19 to a level that is compatible with our medical system means that we would have to spread the epidemic over more than a decade!
  • confident that we will have found effective treatments until the
  • reducing the infectivity of the new corona virus to a manageable level is simply not going to be possible by mitigation, it will require containment.
  • My back-of-the-envelope calculation is not a proper simulation, or a good model of what’s going on either. Don’t cite it as such!
  • Of the 180 million, 80% will be regarded as “mild” cases.
  • Containment works
  • China has demonstrated to us that containment works
  • lockdown of Wuhan did not lead to starvation or riots
  • made it possible to focus more medical resources on the region that needed it most
  • implemented effective containment measures as soon as the first cases emerged.
  • South Korea was tracking its first 30 cases very well, until patient 31 infected over 1000 others on a church congregation.
  • For some reason, Western countries refused to learn the lesson.
  • The US, UK and Germany are not yet at this point: they try to “flatten the curve” by implementing ineffective or half hearted measures that are only meant to slow down the spread of the disease
  • instead of containing it.
  • some countries will stomp out the virus and others will no
  • few months from now
  • almost all travel from red zones into green zones will come to a hal
  • world will turn into red zones and green zones
  • Flattening the curve is not an option for the United States, for the UK or Germany. Don’t tell your friends to flatten the curve. Let’s start containment and stop the curve.
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    "Flattening the curve is not an option for the United States, for the UK or Germany. Don't tell your friends to flatten the curve. Let's start containment and stop the curve." Strong article with data visualizations from a Phd working out of MIT/Harvard.
Dennis OConnor

World Class Science - BrainHQ from Posit Science - 0 views

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    Research background on BrainHQ. Includes section specifically for researchers interested in Brain Training and Neuroplasticity.
Dennis OConnor

Why Crypto needs a Doctor and Medicine needs Blockchain Technology - It's not... - 0 views

  • This journey took me through Pain Medicine and cognitive neuroscience, phenomenological investigation, and behavioral economics, finally leading me to systems thinking and my interest in blockchain distributed ledger technologies.
  • Healthcare is a multi-stakeholder, mal-aigned, friction-full, opaque, heavily-regulated, lacking-of-trust, data-rich environment that does lend itself to a spectrum of blockchain-based platforms.
  • that the opposite of health is not disease but rather ISOLATION. That as we get sicker, our world contracts, gets smaller and smaller until one morning we wake up take a Xanax, an Oxycontin, drink a Chardonnay (or beer if you prefer) and overdose.
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  • how blockchain technology can change behaviors, encourage sustainable practices and reign in the disproportionate power incumbents have on predatory practices.
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    By Alex Cahana 1. Why isn't there a doctor in the house? First reason: MD's hate HIT (health information technology) 2. Most MD's have no idea what Blockchain does, let alone what it IS
Dennis OConnor

Memory enhancement in healthy older adults using a brain plasticity-based training prog... - 1 views

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    Henry W. Mahncke*†, Bonnie B. Connor*, Jed Appelman*, Omar N. Ahsanuddin*, Joseph L. Hardy*, Richard A. Wood*,Nicholas M. Joyce*, Tania Boniske*, Sharona M. Atkins*, and Michael M. Merzenich*†‡*Posit Science Corporation, 225 Bush Street, San Francisco, CA 94104; and‡Keck Center for Integrative Neurosciences, University of California, 513 ParnassusAvenue, Box 0472, Room HSE-836, San Francisco, CA 94143Contributed by Michael M. Merzenich, June 27, 2006
Dennis OConnor

The Quantification of Placebo Effects Within a General Model of Health Care Outcomes - 1 views

  • It is proposed that the integration of a scientific model of placebo effects within a general model of health care outcomes could finally end the placebo debate and help to integrate these powerful effects into the health care system.
  • Positive expectancy is recognized as a central component of placebo phenomena by all placebo theorists
  • The proposed model emphasizes that the search for a placebo personality factor must be combined with the measurement of situational expectancy.
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  • an individual who has negative expectations regarding treatment effectiveness would likely produce a stronger than average “nocebo” effec
  • placebo-prone personality
  • Absorption
  • receptivity to sensory experiences and a propensity for sustained, focused attention.
  • Absorption has a genetic basis and is higher in women compared to men
  • Absorption can go in either a positive or negative direction, depending on the situation,
  • Subjects were randomly
  • outcome measures
  • based on three scales
  • includes scales measuring fatigue, pain, and spasticity
  • Judgment that the placebo was the active device resulted in a positive score with a magnitude of the confidence rating.
  • if judgment was that the placebo was the placebo device, the confidence rating of the placebo was a negative score, with the magnitude of the rating.
  • scored in the upper quintile on improved quality of life, as measured by the 3 QLI (an average of three symptom scales measuring pain, fatigue, and spasticity) after receiving treatment with a sham device.
  • placebo responders
  • Placebo responders scored higher on Absorptio
  • Placebo responders gave higher confidence ratings that the placebo was the active device
  • This study provides support for a two-factor model of placebo responding.
  • importance of positive expectancy
  • both cognitive and emotional factors mediate these effects
  • Positive beliefs or confidence in the treatment coupled with a desire to feel better activate processes that result in positive outcomes.
  • positive expectancy is an essential factor
  • disease-specific pathways that are activated by positive expectancies have helped to transform this “soft” psychologic factor into a “hard” physiologic factor with physically measurable effects.
  • While the shift from negative to positive affect may be the hallmark of placebo responding, negative affect alone is not sufficient and can play a role in people who worsen as well (nocebo effects).
  • Numerous research studies have reliably shown that Absorption is modestly (yet very consistently) correlated with hypnotizability.
  • Hypnotizability is often associated with “suggestibility,” with perhaps the sense of a weak-willed character or unbridled fantasy-proneness, the “unreality factor” that has plagued placebo theory for decades.
  • enlightening to view these individual differences as a natural endowment in self-regulation skills: a potential innate strength rather than a simple weakness with a natural ability for self-directed healing in response to health challenges.
  • Decades of research have reliably demonstrated that individuals scoring high in Absorption can skillfully modulate an impressive array of physiologic processes in laboratory settings.
  • The literature suggests that the mind–body control of high Absorption scorers is similar to the self-regulation skills that many are seeking to develop with meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and qigong.
  • The regular practice of mind–body control and the cultivation of positive attitudes may enhance regulation at higher levels, improving the regularity of circadian and other rhythms,
  • points to the role of both expectation and conditioning, with conditioning playing a greater role in certain pathways such as immune modulation.
  • somatic vulnerability of high Absorption individuals who suffer from negative biases in perception.
  • nocebo phenomena described by these researchers are important for our model as they directly illustrate the power of a negative interaction of the two factors.
  • Many physicians admit to prescribing placebos to contribute to patient wellness, even though this “dark secret” is not condoned and is considered to be ethically questionable.
  • High Absorption individuals may benefit from encouragement to utilize their innate self-regulation skills toward maximum therapeutic effect.
  • ersons with average Absorption scores can be encouraged to become more skilled at self-regulation through mind–body therapies
  • The model does not specifically address the many factors that contribute to confidence in the treatment, such as cost, pill color, pill size, or confidence-enhancing paraphernalia.
  • The role of provider and patient interaction are also not specifically addressed.
  • he model also does not directly address the role of stress reduction
  • The strength of placebo responding in domains such as pain and depression clearly indicate the importance of the shift from a negative to a positive state.
  • the unresolved issue of why some people respond to placebos whereas others do not
  • asic two-factor model can be further tested with the basic measurement tools of expectancy and Absorption,
  • Conclusions
  • the recognition that positive expectancy and expert self-regulation skills significantly contribute to health outcomes can help to integrate these powerful effects into the health care system
  • The “positive psychology” movement is shifting attention to the power of positive expectation
  • undermining nature of negative expectancy and pessimistic language, especially in vulnerable populations such as those with pain and depression
  • Practitioners of the art of health care have always recognized the importance of motivated and empowered patients and the power of a kind word and a ray of hope.
  • This is the time to quantify these factors, integrating art and science, and finally solving (and forgiving Descartes for) the mind–body problem.
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    "The topic of placebo effects is distinguished by decades of keen scientific interest1-4 coupled with a general skepticism regarding the ultimate significance of these phenomena. The importance of psychologic factors in mediating these effects may contribute to the attitude that placebo effects are not as substantial as a therapeutic effect produced by a drug. Complementary and alternative therapies have sometimes been dismissed as "mere placebos." However, recent studies have provided compelling evidence that placebo effects are physiologically measurable with condition-specific pathways.5"
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    Dr. Jake Fleming recently suggested these potent keywords: quantifiable placebo The keywords led to this article. I find it affirming and empowering.
Dennis OConnor

Mendi.io - Brain Training Tracker + Gamification - 0 views

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    See your brain activity visualized in Mendi's training game. You control the game using only your brain, making brain training tangible and visible. "Make the ball rise and earn points. These are both signs you're increasing your brain activity and strengthening your neural pathways. The goal? Better brain performance and mental wellbeing."
Dennis OConnor

$44 Million NIH Grant to See if Dementia Can Be Prevented - BrainHQ from Posit Science - 0 views

  • The computerized brain training used in the prior study and the new study is found exclusively in the BrainHQ app, made by Posit Science,
  • The ACTIVE study provided the possible beginnings of an answer in 2017. Those results grabbed headlines worldwide, since it was the first large randomized controlled trial to show an intervention (of any kind) could be effective in reducing dementia risk and incidence.&nbsp;
  • Some eighteen studies have been published on the impact of using BrainHQ among people with MCI or similar pre-dementia conditions
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  • Dr. Mahncke observed. “Billions have been spent in the thus far unsuccessful search for drugs to prevent MCI and dementia, and so it’s great to see a serious commitment to evaluating the plasticity-based training that has delivered so many promising results in recent studies.
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