Showing posts with label hypnosis Augusta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hypnosis Augusta. Show all posts
Sunday, February 18, 2018
FDA Okays First Concussion Blood Test--but Some Experts Are Wary
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week gave its first green light to a company that wants to start selling a blood test to evaluate for mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion. The agency lauded the blood test as an innovative tool for speeding diagnosis and avoiding radiation exposure from brain scans. But some head trauma experts worry the authorization was pushed through too hastily.
“The data aren't as conclusive as we would have hoped, so I was surprised by the rapid FDA approval,” says Henrik Zetterberg, a professor of neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who was not involved with the project. The Brain Trauma Indicator, developed by San Diego–based biotechnology company Banyan Biomarkers, was reviewed and authorized for commercialization in fewer than six months. It was cleared under the FDA's Breakthrough Devices Program—an approvals process that aims to fast-track the development of promising and relatively low-risk medical technologies, after reviewing available data. Banyan says the new test will soon be available in hospitals.
The Brain Trauma Indicator measures blood plasma levels of the UCH-L1, a protein scientists believe helps dispose of cellular waste in the brain, and GFAP, a structural protein found in non-neuronal cells called astrocytes. Both are released at elevated levels following a concussion or other injury that damages nerve fibers, and both can be detected within 20 minutes of a head injury (although it may take longer for doctors and patients to get the results from a lab).
Concussions are notoriously difficult to diagnose, and patients suspected of having them are typically assessed by a doctor using the Glasgow Coma Scale—a series of physical tests for determining the level of consciousness—followed by a computed tomography (CT) head scan for brain abnormalities. CT scans are expensive, however, and many patients suspected of having traumatic brain injuries do not exhibit signs of visible damage when scanned. The blood test would provide hospitals and clinicians with a relatively quick screening tool to help them decide whether a CT scan would be likely to pick up any brain injury.
The FDA authorized marketing the Brain Trauma Indicator after examining data from a clinical study of nearly 2,000 blood samples from patients with suspected concussions. From that data, the agency concluded the test can predict the absence of lesions on a CT scan with an accuracy of 99.5 percent, making it reliable enough to rule out the need for a scan in at least one third of the patients.
Yet Zetterberg, who has been identifying biomarkers associated with brain injury and other neurological disorders in his lab, questions the usefulness of UCH-L1 as a concussion biomarker, and says his own testing has found it unreliable. “It's very important to look at the timing of the sample,” he says. “UCH-L1 might work at early time points, but if a sample is collected two to three days after an injury, perhaps other markers would be better.”
Joseph Fins, a professor of medicine and medical ethics at Weill Cornell Medical Center, applauds the approval and says, “This test is an advance for triaging CT scans.” But he cautions it may not capture all minor concussions—like those that do not produce structural changes in the brain.“A negative blood test means that proteins were not released—not necessarily that there was not a mild concussion,” he says. “If it’s assumed that a patient did not have a concussion because the test is negative, and then the patient resumes the sporting activity, the effects of the next head injury can be augmented.”
“It's promising that the FDA has approved something,” Zetterberg says. “But much more research is needed,” he adds—especially comparisons of different biomarkers at different time points after injury—to develop a more reliable blood test for concussion. CT scan abnormalities, he says, are just one aspect of this type of injury.
All Hypnosis Feeds
Many Struggling Readers Have Binocular Vision Problems
A new Canadian study finds that many elementary school children who read below grade level have challenges with their eyesight — even if standard tests say their vision is 20/20.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo found that one-third of a group of children with reading difficulties tested below-normal in binocular vision. Healthy binocular vision is defined as both eyes being able to aim simultaneously at the same visual target. Problems with binocular vision may lead to eye strain, fatigue or double vision.
“A complete binocular vision assessment is not always part of the standard vision test,” said Dr. Lisa Christian, lead researcher on the project and an associate clinical professor at the School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of Waterloo. “However, binocular vision problems could be compounding a child’s academic difficulties, and should be investigated.”
The research involved a retrospective review of 121 children between the ages of six and 14 who had all been assigned an Individual Education Plan (IEP) specifically for reading. The findings show that more than three-quarters of these children had good eyesight, but when they were tested for binocular vision, more than a third of them scored below what was considered normal.
Optometrists classify binocular vision anomalies under three main categories: accommodation, vergence and oculomotor. The symptoms may sometimes appear benign or may be masked as other problems.
Children with accommodative issues have trouble focusing or have difficulty changing their focus from one distance to another. For example, our eyes have a natural focusing system, similar to a camera. When the eyes cannot switch focus correctly, the images appear blurry.
Children with vergence problems have trouble turning their eye in or out — eye movements required for reading. When reading a book up close, for example, our eyes need to be able to move inward to see the words. Children with oculomotor issues have trouble with eye tracking and may lose their place while reading.
“Kids can see words on the page, but if (for example) they have difficulty turning their eyes in to read or focusing words on a page, they may experience symptoms of eye strain, double vision or fatigue after five or 10 minutes,” Christian said. “It’s not just about visual acuity, but about how well the eyes work together when performing an activity such as reading.”
“Full eye examinations, particularly in children with vision issues, may be a tool for parents and educators to assist children who are found to have difficulty reading.”
Source: University of Waterloo
All Hypnosis Feeds
High Dopamine May Cause Psychosis Patients to Focus More on Expectations
A new study finds that schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations often hear what they expect to hear. In fact, the hallucinations may be an extreme version of a perceptual distortion quite common among healthy people.
Research has long established that people who experience hallucinations and other psychotic symptoms tend to have elevated dopamine, but the exact link between dopamine and hallucinations has remained unclear.
In the new study, researchers at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) and New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) found that elevated dopamine could be causing some patients to rely more on expectations, which could then result in hallucinations.
The findings help explain why treatments targeting the production of dopamine could help alleviate this condition.
“Our brain uses prior experiences to generate sensory expectations that help fill in the gaps when sounds or images are distorted or unclear,” said Guillermo Horga, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at CUIMC and a research psychiatrist at NYSPI.
“In individuals with schizophrenia, this process appears to be altered, leading to extreme perceptual distortions, such as hearing voices that are not there. Furthermore, while such hallucinations are often successfully treated by antipsychotic drugs that block the neurotransmitter dopamine in a brain structure known as the striatum, the reason for this has been a mystery since this neurotransmitter and brain region are not typically associated with sensory processing.”
For the study, the research team designed an experiment that induced an auditory illusion in both healthy participants and participants with schizophrenia. They observed how building up or breaking down sensory expectations can modify the strength of this illusion. They also measured dopamine release before and after administering a drug that triggers the release of dopamine.
The findings show that the schizophrenia patients tended to perceive sounds in a way that was more similar to what they had been cued to expect, even when sensory expectations were less reliable and the illusions weakened in healthy participants.
This tendency to inflexibly hear what was expected became worse after they were given a dopamine-releasing drug, became more pronounced in participants with elevated dopamine release, and more apparent in participants with a smaller dorsal anterior cingulate (a brain region previously shown to track reliability of environmental cues).
“All people have some perceptual distortions, but these results suggest that excess dopamine can exacerbate our distorted perceptions,” said Horga. “Novel therapies should aim to improve the processing of contextual information by targeting the dopamine system or downstream pathways associated with modulation of perceptual processing, which likely include the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.”
The study is published in the journal Current Biology.
Source: Columbia University Medical Center
All Hypnosis Feeds
Screening All Adults for Hepatitis C is Most Cost-Effective Way to ID Those Infected
Screening all adults for hepatitis C (HCV) is the most cost-effective way to identify more people with the disease as well as improve patients’ health and quality of life, compared to the current recommendations of screening only certain populations.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that causes liver inflammation and sometimes serious liver damage. Many people with HCV experience neuropsychiatric symptoms such as brain fog, confusion, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and fatigue. These symptoms make it difficult to carry on everyday tasks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) currently recommends HCV testing for people born between 1945 and 1965, the highest risk population in the U.S. However, recent statistics have shown a growing incidence rate of HCV among young people.
“Due in part to the opioid epidemic and the increase in injection drug use, the country has seen an increase in cases of HCV among young people,” says Benjamin Linas, M.D., co-senior author of the study and infectious disease physician at BMC and an associate professor of medicine at Boston University Medical Center. “The CDC could address this public health concern by recommending all adults receive a one-time HCV test.”
To address this gap in testing, researchers from Boston Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Stanford University created a simulation model to estimate the effectiveness of HCV testing strategies among different age groups.
They compared the effects of testing four age brackets: current testing recommendations (those born between 1945 and 1965), testing people over 40 years old, testing people over 30 years old, and testing all adults over 18 years old. All strategies included the current recommendations for targeted testing of high-risk individuals, such as people who inject drugs.
The researchers discovered that, compared to current recommendations, screening all adults over 18 for HCV would identify more than 250,000 additional people with the disease, increase cure rates from 41 percent to 61 percent, and reduce death rates for HCV-attributable diseases by more than 20 percent. Overall, screening for all adults would increase life expectancy and quality of life while remaining cost-effective.
“When we expanded testing, the results were compelling,” says Joshua Barocas, M.D., lead author on the study, an infectious disease physician at MGH and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Changing the current recommendations could have a major public health impact, improving the quality of life for young people with HCV, and reducing death rates.”
The study pulled data from national databases, clinical trials, and observational cohorts to inform their simulation models, which took into account the same demographics and HCV epidemiology of the U.S. population.
Although all of the age-based strategies lowered costs associated with managing chronic HCV and advanced liver disease, the strategy of testing all adults was most effective. Even in a simulated scenario that required twice as much testing among uninfected people to identify the same number of HCV cases, the testing-all-adults strategy remained cost-effective.
“Testing all adults would lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment for many people, which would help to prevent cirrhosis and other long-term complications,” says Joshua Salomon, Ph.D., co-senior author of the study and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Overall, when you consider both the better health outcomes and the reduced costs of managing long-term liver disease, expanded testing offers excellent value for money.”
Researchers say these findings should be considered by the CDC for future recommendations on HCV testing.
Source: Boston Medical Center
All Hypnosis Feeds
The Science of Vastly Different Teens: Introverts and Extroverts
Personality is more than just how we act around others. There are deeply ingrained elements to who we are that impact every single aspect of our lives. Nowhere is this more true than when looking at the differences between extroverts and introverts.
Due to the prominence of these characteristics shown on television or in internet memes, there tends to be a fundamental misunderstanding of what these terms mean and how they relate to people. An introvert is not necessarily shy, or someone who hates being around others. They simply need time alone after social or stressful situations, preferring to recharge their batteries in the quiet and solitude.
On the other hand, extroverts are often seen as people who are loud and outgoing, always needing to be the center of attention. In reality, they gain energy and happiness from being around others and interacting with a myriad of individuals in many situations. That is how they rev up those batteries and alone time is less beneficial.
Both sides can have characteristics of the other: introverts could enjoy time with others and extroverts could cherish their alone time. But as a whole, these two types follow by a certain brain chemistry that dictates their more likely behaviors.
You may have noticed your teen has been exhibiting more of these traits as they age. Now that their brain matter is growing, forming, and solidifying they are beginning to show the more permanent stages of who they are and will continue to be in adulthood. Where in their childhood they may have shown both extroverted and introverted signs, they could be leaning much more towards one or the other now.
Introversion, Extroversion and the Brain
The differences between these two personality types goes well beyond personality and preference. A study done in 2012 by a Harvard University researcher found that introverts have more grey matter in the portion of the brain responsible for critical thinking and decision making. This may account for why introverts are less spontaneous and tend to prefer to think things through before acting.
Extroverts tend to prefer the rush of immediate gratification and react strongly to dopamine that accompanies quick decisions. Because of this, some studies have also found that they tend to be happier as a general rule.
What does all of this mean? Not as much as you might think. People are complex creatures who can fall on a scale of introversion and extroversion. But it does show us that personality types are fundamentally linked to brain activity and development, giving us unique qualities as per how our mind processes environments, chemicals and stimulation.
Understanding Your Teenager Through Brain Science
When it comes to your teen, knowing their personality type can go a long way towards understanding them and how they interpret rewards. For the more thoughtful and cautious introvert, they are more likely to wait to act and think things through, even if it means delaying gratification. This can lead to missed opportunities as their anxiety gets the best of them.
Extroverts can be more rash because they are seeking that reward right away. They are prone to jumping in without consideration of the consequences, making them more spontaneous than their more reserved counterparts, but their constant fear of missing out can get them into trouble.
Ultimately, we can use this knowledge to help us navigate the murky waters of parenting. Knowing how our teen is more likely to react in any given situation can give us a handle on how to help them, either by reining them in or pushing them to get out of their comfort zone once in awhile.
Communication can also be improved using this insight. You may have a better idea of why it is your introverted son or daughter has been so anxious about making small decisions about classes. Or the reason that your teen decided they would sneak out of the house after curfew.
It may just all be in their heads, literally.
Resources
- Williams, A. (2016, October 07). The Difference Between Introverts And Extroverts, In 1 Simple Chart. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/2yDA1aD
- Holmes, A. J., Lee, P. H., Hollinshead, M. O., Bakst, L., Roffman, J. L., Smoller, J. W., & Buckner, R. L. (2012, December 12). Individual Differences in Amygdala-Medial Prefrontal Anatomy Link Negative Affect, Impaired Social Functioning, and Polygenic Depression Risk. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/N7DToC
- Bryner, J. (2010, December 21). Extroverts Prefer Immediate Gratification. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/2EQsysk
- Pappas, S. (2011, May 03). Why Extroverts Are the Happiest People. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/2EACjHN
- Bennington-Castro, J. (2013, September 10). The Science of What Makes an Introvert and an Extrovert. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/2yccQEB
- Sundance Canyon Academy. (n.d.). Improving Communication with Your Teen [Infographic]. Retrieved from http://ift.tt/2ExUFZT
All Hypnosis Feeds
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)