516 posts · 446,731 views
I am a physician interested in clinical neuroscience research. I will use this blog to post more detailed analysis of recent studies in addition to my @WRY999 Twitter scientific reading log. I will also post some of my wildlife/sports photography. Aim to educate and amuse. Not selling anything.
William Yates, M.D.
516 posts
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- January 10, 2013
- 12:15 PM
- 619 views
Proximity to Parent Reduces Anxious Youth Stress Response
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Functional magnetic resonance imaging provides a powerful tool for understanding anxiety in children as well as adults.This technique does not use any form of radiation and presents minimal risk for research participants. We are beginning to better understand important mechanisms of childhood anxiety.An innovative study of neural stress markers in children examined an important variable in childhood anxiety. When children are studied in an fMRI scanner, they may or may not have a par........ Read more »
Conner OL, Siegle GJ, McFarland AM, Silk JS, Ladouceur CD, Dahl RE, Coan JA, & Ryan ND. (2012) Mom-It Helps When You're Right Here! Attenuation of Neural Stress Markers in Anxious Youths Whose Caregivers Are Present during fMRI. PloS one, 7(12). PMID: 23236383
- January 9, 2013
- 12:25 PM
- 617 views
Early Brain Inflammation in Lupus (SLE)
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
I previously reviewed a brain research imaging study of patients with systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE). This study found evidence of disruption of brain connectivity markers even before any clinical brain symptoms.SLE is a multi-organ disease known to produce significant neuropsychiatric symptoms. These symptoms do not affect all patients with SLE as the brain effects are highly variable in this disorder. Studying patients with early SLE without brain-related symptoms provide........ Read more »
Ramage, A., Fox, P., Brey, R., Narayana, S., Cykowski, M., Naqibuddin, M., Sampedro, M., Holliday, S., Franklin, C., Wallace, D.... (2011) Neuroimaging evidence of white matter inflammation in newly diagnosed systemic lupus erythematosus. Arthritis , 63(10), 3048-3057. DOI: 10.1002/art.30458
- January 2, 2013
- 11:18 AM
- 541 views
What We Know About Obesity and Mortality
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
To begin 2013 I would like to do a series of posts related to weight, overweight and obesity on mortality and brain disorders.This morning a new meta-analysis was published in JAMA examining the relationship between weight category and all cause mortality. This study is receiving a significant degree of attention as it challenges a commonly held belief that even mild obesity is linked to earlier death.The study was conducted by a research team at the Centers for Disease Control, the Univer........ Read more »
Flegal KM, Kit BK, Orpana H, Graubard BI. (2013) Association of All-Cause Mortality With Overweight and Obesity Using Standard Body Mass Index Categories. JAMA, 309(1), 71-82. info:/
- December 13, 2012
- 11:10 AM
- 578 views
Does Your Smartphone Know How Smart You Are? IQ Pro iPhone App Review
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Smartphones and tablet computers hold the potential to extend the availability of testing intelligence quotient (IQ) and other neuropsychological functions.So if you use your smartphone to test your IQ your smartphone will know how smart you are. I recently downloaded and tested the iPhone app IQ Pro.When you search IQ at the Apple app store you get 1,919 hits. I selected IQ Pro because it had a high user rating score (4.5 stars out of 5) and appeared to have information about the re........ Read more »
Cattell, R. (1963) Theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence: A critical experiment. Journal of Educational Psychology, 54(1), 1-22. DOI: 10.1037/h0046743
- December 12, 2012
- 12:15 PM
- 531 views
Smartphone Apps in Medicine: Review
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In a previous post, I examined a research survey of smartphone app use by medical students and junior physicians in the United Kingdom. I would like to follow up on this topic by summarizing a recent review of the smartphone in medicine.Ozdalga and colleagues from Stanford University Hospital recently published results of literature review on this topic in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.Their study examined all published research studies with the search term smartphone and ........ Read more »
Ozdalga, E., Ozdalga, A., & Ahuja, N. (2012) The Smartphone in Medicine: A Review of Current and Potential Use Among Physicians and Students. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 14(5). DOI: 10.2196/jmir.1994
- December 10, 2012
- 11:41 AM
- 812 views
Are Physicians Using Medical Smartphones Apps?
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
The number and types of medical apps for physicians and other medical providers is rapidly increasing. Smart phone apps (i.e. iPhone and Android apps) have the potential to allow physicians real time access to medical records, treatment guidelines and medical reference information. As these apps increase in number and type, it will be important to understand the facilitators and barriers to implementation in the medical setting. Additionally, research will be needed to document ........ Read more »
Payne KF, Wharrad H, & Watts K. (2012) Smartphone and medical related App use among medical students and junior doctors in the United Kingdom (UK): a regional survey. BMC medical informatics and decision making, 121. PMID: 23110712
- December 6, 2012
- 11:27 AM
- 616 views
Can Exercise Reduce Stroke Damage?
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
This is the fourth and final post is a series focusing on exercise and the brain. In the first post, I reviewed research documenting the brain's role in exercise fatigue. The second post examined the hypothesis that aerobic physical activity had a key evolutionary role in the growth of brain size in humans. The third post focused on animal study research supporting a role for exercise in reducing vulnerability to anxiety by changes in the 5-HT2C serotonin receptor.In this post,........ Read more »
Dunn JF, Wu Y, Zhao Z, Srinivasan S, & Natah SS. (2012) Training the brain to survive stroke. PloS one, 7(9). PMID: 23028788
- December 5, 2012
- 10:55 AM
- 628 views
Exercise and the Brain: Anxiety-related Receptors
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Aerobic exercise appears to have significant therapeutic benefits in the treatment of anxiety and depression. This effect has been demonstrated in animal models as well as in humans. However, there has been limited study of the potential brain mechanisms that produce an anti-anxiety or an anti-depressant effect.Brain serotonin neurotransmitter receptors have been implicated in anxiety and depressive disorders. Additionally, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs such as f........ Read more »
Greenwood BN, Strong PV, Loughridge AB, Day HE, Clark PJ, Mika A, Hellwinkel JE, Spence KG, & Fleshner M. (2012) 5-HT(2C) Receptors in the Basolateral Amygdala and Dorsal Striatum Are a Novel Target for the Anxiolytic and Antidepressant Effects of Exercise. PloS one, 7(9). PMID: 23049953
- December 3, 2012
- 11:18 AM
- 668 views
Did Exercise Lead to Bigger Human Brains?
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In a series of posts, I am examining recent research related to exercise and the brain. In the first post in this series, I summarized some evidence of the role of the brain in exercise-related fatigue.In this post, I will review a hypothesis that aerobic physical activity (APA) played a key role in the evolution and growth of the human brain.Raichlen and Polk have recently published a review on this topic in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society.This review begins by noting the rec........ Read more »
Raichlen DA, & Polk JD. (2013) Linking brains and brawn: exercise and the evolution of human neurobiology. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 280(1750), 20122250. PMID: 23173208
- November 29, 2012
- 12:28 PM
- 739 views
Exercise and the Brain: Fatigue
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Aerobic exercise results in improved cardiovascular and muscular health. However, the benefits of exercise on the brain are only now beginning to be understood. In the next series of posts, I will review some recent research addressing the effects of exercise on the brain. One area of research on this topic is understanding the biological mechanism for exercise fatigue and this effect contributes to athletic performance.Historically, the brain was felt to have no significant co........ Read more »
Noakes TD. (2012) Fatigue is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates the Exercise Behavior to Ensure the Protection of Whole Body Homeostasis. Frontiers in physiology, 82. PMID: 22514538
- November 20, 2012
- 10:51 AM
- 707 views
Brain Markers of Math Anxiety
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Right and Left Amygdala Highlighted in BlueIn the last several posts, I have examined some recent research related to the learning disorder known as dyscalculia or mathematics disorder. A common component of mathematics disorder is math anxiety. As children with math disorders struggle with school-based mathematics activities, anxiety common develops around these types of learning experiences. This anxiety can contribute to impaired learning and additionally make the experience........ Read more »
Young CB, Wu SS, & Menon V. (2012) The neurodevelopmental basis of math anxiety. Psychological science, 23(5), 492-501. PMID: 22434239
- November 14, 2012
- 11:33 AM
- 680 views
Math Disorder: Brain Imaging Research
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In previous posts, I have reviewed research related to the definition and prevalence of mathematics disorder. Mathematics disorder was compared to reading disability and the role of genetic and environmental influences in math disorder was examined.Advances in brain imaging technology provide additional tools to understand brain function including performing calculations and other math cognitive skills.An early important brain imaging study in mathematics disorders has been published by Da........ Read more »
Davis N, Cannistraci CJ, Rogers BP, Gatenby JC, Fuchs LS, Anderson AW, & Gore JC. (2009) Aberrant functional activation in school age children at-risk for mathematical disability: a functional imaging study of simple arithmetic skill. Neuropsychologia, 47(12), 2470-9. PMID: 19410589
- November 13, 2012
- 03:35 PM
- 676 views
Math Disorder: Gene-Environment Interaction
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Ever wonder why you might be good at math or might struggle with numbers, calculations and higher order mathematics? Well, to a certain extent, doing your problem sets in grade school and continuing higher level mathematics classes in high school, college and beyond are important. Research studies suggest some features of your mathematics abilities may lie outside the simple work=skill equation. In this post, I am going to review two recently published studies of mathematics abi........ Read more »
Docherty SJ, Davis OS, Kovas Y, Meaburn EL, Dale PS, Petrill SA, Schalkwyk LC, & Plomin R. (2010) A genome-wide association study identifies multiple loci associated with mathematics ability and disability. Genes, brain, and behavior, 9(2), 234-47. PMID: 20039944
Docherty SJ, Kovas Y, & Plomin R. (2011) Gene-environment interaction in the etiology of mathematical ability using SNP sets. Behavior genetics, 41(1), 141-54. PMID: 20978832
- November 8, 2012
- 01:28 PM
- 514 views
Comparing Math Disorder and Reading Disorder
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
One of the important areas for understanding learning disorders is learning about the prevalence and specificity of various types of disorders.In a previous post, I summarized a research review that estimated math disorder or disability is present in about 7% of school children. It is possible that math disorder simply represents a component of a more general learning disability. If this is true, there should be a large overlap of math disorder with other learning disorders such as re........ Read more »
Compton DL, Fuchs LS, Fuchs D, Lambert W, & Hamlett C. (2012) The cognitive and academic profiles of reading and mathematics learning disabilities. Journal of learning disabilities, 45(1), 79-95. PMID: 21444929
- November 6, 2012
- 11:07 AM
- 656 views
Mathematics Learning Disorders
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
Math disorder or dyscalculia is a learning disability where math performance lags significantly behind expected performance given the students age, grade level and general intelligence.In the next few posts, I will focus on math disorder and explore the epidemiology of math disorder and compare overlap with reading disorder. Additionally, I will review some of the genetic and environmental risk factors for math disorder. Finally, I will take a look at some of the research related to ........ Read more »
Geary DC. (2011) Consequences, characteristics, and causes of mathematical learning disabilities and persistent low achievement in mathematics. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBP, 32(3), 250-63. PMID: 21285895
- November 1, 2012
- 11:25 AM
- 658 views
Red Bull and Driving Performance
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In previous posts, I have examined some recent research using driving simulation technology. These posts examined the effect of Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and sleep apnea on driving performance.In the next two posts, I will take a look at a couple of studies focusing on the effect of pharmacological and training interventions on driving performance. Driving simulators are very useful in examining the response to specific interventions on driving performance.Mets and her........ Read more »
Howland J, Rohsenow DJ, Arnedt JT, Bliss CA, Hunt SK, Calise TV, Heeren T, Winter M, Littlefield C, & Gottlieb DJ. (2011) The acute effects of caffeinated versus non-caffeinated alcoholic beverage on driving performance and attention/reaction time. Addiction (Abingdon, England), 106(2), 335-41. PMID: 21134017
- October 31, 2012
- 10:56 AM
- 599 views
Driving Simulation and Parkinson's Disease
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In two previous posts, I reviewed research relevant to driving performance in patients Alzheimer's disease and in patients with sleep apnea.These posts noted that driving impairment appears present in very early Alzheimer's disease, at a stage when family and medical personnel may not be aware of the disorders.Additionally, in sleep apnea, driving impairment is commonly present with some improvement, but not normalization with continuous positive airway pressure. &n........; Read more »
Vaux LM, Ni R, Rizzo M, Uc EY, & Andersen GJ. (2010) Detection of imminent collisions by drivers with Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease: a preliminary study. Accident; analysis and prevention, 42(3), 852-8. PMID: 20380912
Uc EY, Rizzo M, Anderson SW, Dastrup E, Sparks JD, & Dawson JD. (2009) Driving under low-contrast visibility conditions in Parkinson disease. Neurology, 73(14), 1103-10. PMID: 19805726
- October 30, 2012
- 11:39 AM
- 640 views
Driving Simulation and Sleep Apnea
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In a previous post, I examined a research study simulator of the effect of mild to moderateAlzheimer's disease on driving performance. This study found that even mild probable Alzheimer'sdisease subjects demonstrated significant impairment in a variety of driving performance domains.In this post, I will summarize three research studies related to driving performance in the sleepdisorder sleep apnea. The first study focused on changes in driving performance following theinitiatio........ Read more »
Vakulin A, Baulk SD, Catcheside PG, Antic NA, van den Heuvel CJ, Dorrian J, & McEvoy RD. (2011) Driving simulator performance remains impaired in patients with severe OSA after CPAP treatment. Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 7(3), 246-53. PMID: 21677893
Williams SC, Marshall NS, Kennerson M, Rogers NL, Liu PY, & Grunstein RR. (2010) Modafinil effects during acute continuous positive airway pressure withdrawal: a randomized crossover double-blind placebo-controlled trial. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine, 181(8), 825-31. PMID: 20056901
Tippin J, Sparks J, & Rizzo M. (2009) Visual vigilance in drivers with obstructive sleep apnea. Journal of psychosomatic research, 67(2), 143-51. PMID: 19616141
- October 25, 2012
- 11:47 AM
- 542 views
Driving Simulation and Alzheimer's Disease
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In previous posts I have summarized research studies of the role of cannabis in risk for motor vehicle accidents (MVA). This research suggests that risk of MVA with cannabis use is comparable to that of driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.8 g/L. A research study review found that cannabis use carries an overall risk of doubling the chances for serious MVA.Driving simulation research provides a laboratory tool to better understand the key elements in driving skill. A........ Read more »
Stein AC, & Dubinsky RM. (2011) Driving simulator performance in patients with possible and probable Alzheimer's disease. Annals of advances in automotive medicine / Annual Scientific Conference .. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine. Scientific Conference, 325-34. PMID: 22105407
- October 24, 2012
- 11:05 AM
- 585 views
Cannabis Use and Car Accident Risk
by William Yates, M.D. in Brain Posts
In a previous post, I summarized a recent study of the relative contribution of cannabis and alcohol to motor vehicle accident (MVA) risk. This Belgium study estimated that risk of motor vehicle accident with cannabis use was comparable to that of alcohol at a blood alcohol concentration of about 0.8 to 1.0 g/L.The Belgium study estimated the odds ratio for motor vehicle risk with cannabis at about 5.8. Asbridge and colleagues recently published a review of acute cannabis consumptio........ Read more »
Asbridge M, Hayden JA, & Cartwright JL. (2012) Acute cannabis consumption and motor vehicle collision risk: systematic review of observational studies and meta-analysis. BMJ (Clinical research ed.). PMID: 22323502
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