Neurology Center

A paper just out reports on the changing patterns of treatment for depression in the USA, over the period from 1998 to 2007.The headline news is that it increased: the overall rate of people treated for some form of "depression" went from 2.37% to 2.88% per year. That's an increase of 21%, which is not trivial, but it's much less than the increase in the previous decade: it was just 0.73% in 1987.But...

A bombshell has just gone off in the continuing debate over XMRV, the virus that may or may not cause chronic fatigue syndrome. Actually, 4 bombshells. A set of papers out today in Retrovirology (1,2,3,4) claim that many previous studies claiming to have found the virus haven't actually been detecting XMRV at all.Here's the rub. XMRV is a retrovirus, a class of bugs that includes HIV. Retroviruses...

Remember the 90s, when No Fear stuff was cool, and when people still said "cool"?Well, a new paper has brought No Fear back, by reporting on a woman who has no fear - due to brain damage. The article, The Human Amygdala and the Induction and Experience of Fear, is brought to you by a list of neuroscientists including big names such as Antonio Damasio (of Phineas Gage fame).The basic story is nice...

MRI scanners have revolutionized medicine and provided neuroscientists with some incredible tools for exploring the brain.But that doesn't mean they're fun to use. They can be annoying, unpredictable beings, and you never know whether they're going to bless you with nice results or curse you with cancelled scans and noisy data.So for the benefit of everyone who has to work with MRI, here is a devotional...

What's the difference between walking down the street yesterday, and walking down the street tomorrow?It's nothing to do with the walking, or the street: that's the same. When seems to be something external to the what, how, and where of the situation. But this creates a problem for neuroscientists.We think we know how the fact that the brain could store the concept of "walking down the street" (or...

"Wikileaks is great. It lets people leak stuff.""Hang on, so you're saying that no-one could leak stuff before? They invented it?""Well, no, but they brought leaking to the masses. Sure, people could post documents to the press before, but now anyone in the world can access the leaks!""Great, but isn't that just the internet that did that? If it weren't for Wikileaks, people could just upload their...

What's the best way to overcome depression? Antidepressant drugs, or Buddhist meditation?A new trial has examined this question: Segal et al. The short answer is that 8 weeks of mindfulness mediation training was just as good as prolonged antidepressant treatment over 18 months. But like all clinical trials, there are some catches.Right mindfulness, sammā-sati, is the 7th step on the Buddha's Nobel...

Note: This book quotes me approvingly, so this is not quite a disinterested review.Cordelia Fine's Delusions of Gender is an engaging, entertaining and powerfully argued reply to the many authors - who range from the scientifically respectable to the less so - who've recently claimed to have shown biological sex differences in brain, mind and behaviour.Fine makes a strong case that the sex differences...

Last week I was at a discussion about New Media, and someone mentioned that they'd been put off from writing content online because of a comment on one of their articles accusing them of being "stupid".I found this surprising - not the comment, but that anyone would take it so personally. It's the internet. You will get called names. Everyone does. It doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you.I...

A new study has provided the strongest evidence yet that the rate of autism in children rises with the father's age: Advancing paternal age and risk of autism. But questions remain.The association between old fathers and autism has been known for many years, and the most popular explanation has been genetic: sperm from older men are more likely to have accumulated DNA damage, which might lead to autism.As...

Can fMRI scans be used to detect deception?It would be nice, although a little scary, if they could. And there have been several reports of succesful trials under laboratory conditions. However, a new paper in Neuroimage reveals an easy way of tricking the technology: Lying In The Scanner.The authors used a variant of the "guilty knowledge test" which was originally developed for use with EEG. Essentially,...

Some ideas seem so nice, so inoffensive and so harmless, that it seems a shame to criticize them.Take the idea that exercise is a useful treatment for depression. It's got something for everyone.For doctors, it's attractive because it means they can recommend exercise - which is free, quick, and easy, at least for them - instead of spending the time and money on drugs or therapy. Governments like...

Pont St. Esprit is a small town in southern France. In 1951 it became famous as the site of one of the most mysterious medical outbreaks of modern times.As Dr's Gabbai, Lisbonne and Pourquier wrote to the British Medical Journal, 15 days after the "incident":The first symptoms appeared after a latent period of 6 to 48 hours. In this first phase, the symptoms were generalized, and consisted in a depressive...

"Is that a 7 Tesla magnet in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?"German neuroscientists Metzger et al report on the results of a study using the latest, ultra-high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging to measure brain activity in response to sexually arousing stimuli.Most fMRI studies are done using MRI scanners with a field strength of either 1.5 Tesla or, most commonly nowadays, 3.0 Tesla....

Yes, England has finally won something. After a poor showing in the 2010 World Cup, the Eurovision Song Contest, and the global economic crisis, we're officially #1 in neuroscience. Which clearly is the most important measure of a nation's success.According to data collated by ScienceWatch.com and released recently, each English neuroscience paper from the past 10 years has been cited, on average,...

How do you know whether a scientific idea is a good one or not?The only sure way is to study it in detail and know all the technical ins and outs. But good ideas and bad ideas behave differently over time, and this can provide clues as to which ones are solid; useful if you're a non-expert trying to evaluate a field, or a junior researcher looking for a career.Today's ideas are the basis for tomorrow's...

A group of Italian psychiatrists claim to explain How Neuroscience and Behavioral Genetics Improve Psychiatric Assessment: Report on a Violent Murder Case.The paper presents the horrific case of a 24 year old woman from Switzerland who smothered her newborn son to death immediately after giving birth in her boyfriend's apartment. After her arrest, she claimed to have no memory of the event. She had...