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Neuroskeptic
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- May 19, 2011
- 04:06 AM
- 844 views
Free Will Is In The Brain
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Warning: this post may change your brain.Well, all of my posts change your brain, because everything changes your brain. But this one might make a rather bigger impact than usual.According to a new paper in Psychological Science, reading a short article which argues that free will is an illusion causes measurable changes in brain function: Inducing Disbelief in Free Will Alters Brain Correlates of Preconscious Motor Preparation.The authors took 30 people and randomly assigned them to read one of........ Read more »
Rigoni D, Kühn S, Sartori G, & Brass M. (2011) Inducing disbelief in free will alters brain correlates of preconscious motor preparation: the brain minds whether we believe in free will or not. Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS, 22(5), 613-8. PMID: 21515737
- May 17, 2011
- 02:55 PM
- 873 views
Antivirals and Suicide
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
A case report from India describes a man who became suicidally depressed while being given drugs to treat a viral infection:A 43-year-old man diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C viral infection ... was started on therapy with interferon -α-2a and ribavirin ... Screening tests for hepatitis B virus, hepatitis A virus, and HIV were negative.In initial 3 months of start of therapy with IFN-α-2a and ribavirin, the patient experienced adverse effects in the form of high-grade fever, malaise, mya........ Read more »
Inder D, Rehan HS, Yadav M, Manak S, & Kumar P. (2011) IFN-α-2a (Interferon) and ribavirin induced suicidal attempt in a patient of chronic HCV: A rare case report. Indian journal of pharmacology, 43(2), 210-1. PMID: 21572662
- May 15, 2011
- 06:01 AM
- 855 views
Secondhand Smoke Goes To Your Head
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Secondhand smoking. It's bad for you. But does it get you high?According to UCLA researchers Arthur Brody et al, it might do, because exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke can cause you to absorb enough nicotine that it has measurable effects in the brain.That's quite interesting, but the best thing about this study is the methodology. This is the first neuroimaging study I've seen which involved a car. Not a picture of a car. An actual car.They used PET scanning to measure the binding of nicot........ Read more »
Brody AL, Mandelkern MA, London ED, Khan A, Kozman D, Costello MR, Vellios EE, Archie MM, Bascom R, & Mukhin AG. (2011) Effect of Secondhand Smoke on Occupancy of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors in Brain. Archives of general psychiatry. PMID: 21536968
- May 11, 2011
- 03:51 AM
- 883 views
Duck or Rabbit?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Ambigous figures are drawings that seem to flip from being one thing to another.Psychologists Melissa Allen and Alison Chambers recently showed these images to teenagers with autism in an attempt to find out whether they were able to perceive the effect normally: Implicit and explicit understanding of ambiguous figures by adolescents with autism spectrum disorderA leading theory of autism is weak central coherence - the idea that autistic people tend to be focussed on details, rather than the "........ Read more »
Allen ML, & Chambers A. (2011) Implicit and explicit understanding of ambiguous figures by adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Autism : the international journal of research and practice. PMID: 21486897
- May 10, 2011
- 09:35 AM
- 883 views
There's no DNA in "Disease"
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Back when I was a mere first year biology student, the first thing we were taught was this:DNA makes RNA makes Protein.This is the Central Dogma of Molecular Biology, and it describes the intricate and beautiful process by which genes influence living things. The whole thing really is remarkable.Unfortunately, some people in psychiatry seem to have forgotten this. Reading some of the literature, you would think that:DNA makes DSM DiagnosesOr if you're feeling especially adventurous and concious ........ Read more »
State MW. (2011) The Erosion of Phenotypic Specificity in Psychiatric Genetics: Emerging Lessons from CNTNAP2. Biological psychiatry, 69(9), 816-7. PMID: 21497679
- May 5, 2011
- 04:09 AM
- 870 views
Revenge Of The Depression Gene
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Last year, the world of psychiatric genetics was rocked by the news that a highly-studied gene, believed to be associated with depression, wasn't in fact linked to depression at all.The genetic variant was 5-HTTLPR. It's a length variant in the gene coding for the serotonin transporter protein (5HTT) which the target of antidepressants like Prozac. There are two flavors of this variant, short and long.Many studies have shown that the short ("s") variant is associated with a high risk of getting ........ Read more »
Karg K, Burmeister M, Shedden K, & Sen S. (2011) The Serotonin Transporter Promoter Variant (5-HTTLPR), Stress, and Depression Meta-analysis Revisited: Evidence of Genetic Moderation. Archives of general psychiatry, 68(5), 444-54. PMID: 21199959
- May 3, 2011
- 04:27 PM
- 908 views
Psychiatry and Phrenology
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
The notorious John P. "Most Published Research Findings Are False" Ioannidis has turned his baleful statistical gaze upon the literature on brain volume abnormalities in psychiatric disorders.Reports of regional volume differences in the brains of people with mental illness compared to healthy people have appeared in increasing numbers in recent years. Such studies have given plenty of positive results. People with depression have smaller hippocampi. The amygdala is bigger in people with autism......... Read more »
Ioannidis JP. (2011) Excess Significance Bias in the Literature on Brain Volume Abnormalities. Archives of general psychiatry. PMID: 21464342
- April 30, 2011
- 09:05 AM
- 930 views
The Neuro-Recession
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Everyone's favourite British psychopharmacologist David "Ecstasy Vs Horseriding" Nutt joins four other leading neuroscientists to discuss the impact of the financial crisis on neuroscience, in an article over at NR:N: Neuroscience in recession?It's interesting to get an international perspective. Susan Amara, President of the Society for Neuroscience, says that American scientists were encouraged by the surprise $10bn boost to NIH funds that made it into the 2009 economic stimulus package. But t........ Read more »
Amara SG, Grillner S, Insel T, Nutt D, & Tsumoto T. (2011) Neuroscience in recession?. Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 12(5), 297-302. PMID: 21505517
- April 28, 2011
- 04:13 PM
- 967 views
The Schizophrenic Computer
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
All over the world, inanimate objects are getting schizophrenia. Last week, it was a dish (full of neurons).Before that, it was a computer program. That's according to a paper, which appeared in Biological Psychiatry last month, although it involved no biology, called Using Computational Patients to Evaluate Illness Mechanisms in Schizophrenia.The authors set up a neural network model, called DISCERN, and trained it to "read" stories. The nuts and bolts are, we're reassured, not something that r........ Read more »
Hoffman RE, Grasemann U, Gueorguieva R, Quinlan D, Lane D, & Miikkulainen R. (2011) Using computational patients to evaluate illness mechanisms in schizophrenia. Biological psychiatry, 69(10), 997-1005. PMID: 21397213
- April 25, 2011
- 07:03 AM
- 940 views
Slipping Through Time In Autism
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Have you ever felt like you're reliving the past?Have you ever felt like you're reliving the past? A curious paper from Japan: ‘Time slip’ phenomenon in adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders. Have you ever felt like you're...OK, sorry. I'll stop that.The paper describes the cases of two young men with autism, who suffered from an unusual affliction - very vivid memories of a single past event. These recollections were so unpleasant that they led to outbursts of violence. In t........ Read more »
Tochimoto S, Kurata K, & Munesue T. (2011) 'Time slip' phenomenon in adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders: Case series. Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences. PMID: 21489047
- April 19, 2011
- 04:09 AM
- 822 views
Language Is General?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
So according to the authors of a paper in Nature:It suggests rather that language is part of not a specialised module distinct from the rest of cognition, but more part of broad human cognitive skills.The paper is Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals. They found that the various grammatical rules governing the proper order of different words in a sentence changed over time, and crucially that there were no fixed associations between them: no corr........ Read more »
Dunn M, Greenhill SJ, Levinson SC, & Gray RD. (2011) Evolved structure of language shows lineage-specific trends in word-order universals. Nature. PMID: 21490599
- April 18, 2011
- 02:18 PM
- 964 views
Schizophrenia In A Dish...?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
...or a storm in a teacup?According to a new paper just out in Nature from the prestigious Salk Institute, schizophrenia may be associated with differences in neural wiring which can be observed in a bunch of cells grown in the lab.The paper is here, and here's an open-access Nature news bit discussing it: Schizophrenia 'in a dish'. It's certainly an incredible piece of biology. They took fibroblasts, a cell found in the skin, from 4 patients with schizophrenia and 6 healthy........ Read more »
Brennand KJ, Simone A, Jou J, Gelboin-Burkhart C, Tran N, Sangar S, Li Y, Mu Y, Chen G, Yu D.... (2011) Modelling schizophrenia using human induced pluripotent stem cells. Nature. PMID: 21490598
Callaway, E. (2011) Schizophrenia 'in a dish'. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/news.2011.232
- April 13, 2011
- 01:49 PM
- 831 views
Who Gets Autism?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
According to a major new report from Australia, social and family factors associated with autism are associated with a lower risk of intellectual disability - and vice versa. But why?The paper is from Leonard et al and it's published in PLoS ONE, so it's open access if you want to take a peek. The authors used a database system in the state of Western Australia which allowed them to find out what happened to all of the babies born between 1984 and 1999 who were still alive as of 2005. There were........ Read more »
Leonard H, Glasson E, Nassar N, Whitehouse A, Bebbington A, Bourke J, Jacoby P, Dixon G, Malacova E, Bower C.... (2011) Autism and intellectual disability are differentially related to sociodemographic background at birth. PloS one, 6(3). PMID: 21479223
- April 12, 2011
- 04:16 AM
- 500 views
First Fish, Now Cheese, Get Scanned
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Here at Neuroskeptic we have closely followed the development of fMRI scanning on fish.But a new study has taken it to the next level by scanning... some cheese.OK, this is not quite true. The study used NMR spectroscopy to analyze the chemistry of some cheeses, in order to measure the effects of different kinds of probiotic bacteria on the composition of the cheese. NMR is the same technology as MRI, and indeed you can use an MRI scanner to gather NMR spectra.In fact, NMR is Nuclear Magnetic Re........ Read more »
Rodrigues D, Santos CH, Rocha-Santos TA, Gomes AM, Goodfellow BJ, & Freitas AC. (2011) Metabolic Profiling of Potential Probiotic or Synbiotic Cheeses by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry. PMID: 21443163
- April 1, 2011
- 02:51 AM
- 818 views
Women Are Better Connected... Neurally
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Note: Please ignore the early draft of this post that I accidentally posted earlier because I'm stupid.The search for differences between the brains of men and women has a long and rather confusing history. Any structural differences are small, and their significance is controversial. The one rock-solid finding is that men's brains are slightly bigger on average. Then again, men are slightly bigger on average in general.A new paper just out from Tomasi and Volkow (of cell-phones-affect-brain fam........ Read more »
Tomasi D, & Volkow ND. (2011) Gender differences in brain functional connectivity density. Human brain mapping. PMID: 21425398
- March 30, 2011
- 11:41 AM
- 896 views
Neuroskeptic Irreverent and Sometimes Profane, Study Finds
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
I was most surprised and honored to find out this morning that the Annals of Neurology has declared Neuroskeptic to beIrreverent, sometimes profane, and can skirt the boundaries of good taste. Nonetheless, Neuroskeptic covers a rich mixture of important, engaging, or amusing topics focusing on the basic and clinical neurosciences, and does so in a data-driven, user-friendly, and comment-enabled format. Neuroskeptic is only one of a number of increasingly used web sites and blogs dedicated to pro........ Read more »
Hauser, S., & Johnston, S. (2011) Scientific literacy and the media. Annals of Neurology, 69(3). DOI: 10.1002/ana.22410
- March 26, 2011
- 06:50 AM
- 883 views
Fake Clinical Trial - Real Problems
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
Here at Neuroskeptic we've seen our fair share of dubious clinical trials over the years, but the Indian Journal of Psychiatry has just published one which really takes the biscuit, because it was completely made up.Luckily, the trial is actually a rather neat spoof paper, written for educational purposes to highlight bad practices in the design and writing up of clinical trials. It's accompanied by a serious piece which analyzes these problems. They're both open access so you can take a look.Th........ Read more »
Andrade C. (2011) A 6-week, multicentre, randomized controlled clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of placeboxetine hydrochloride in the treatment of major depressive disorder in an Indian setting. Indian journal of psychiatry, 53(1), 69-72. PMID: 21431013
Andrade C. (2011) Placeboxetine for major depressive disorder: Researcher, author, reader, and reviewer perspectives on randomized controlled trials. Indian journal of psychiatry, 53(1), 73-6. PMID: 21431014
- March 24, 2011
- 04:20 PM
- 950 views
A Stroke Of Good Fortune Cures OCD?
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
A 45 year old female teacher had a history of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder, along with other problems including ADHD. Her daughter, and many other people in her family, had suffered the same problems and in a few cases had Tourette's Syndrome.But all that changed - when she suffered a stroke. This is according to a brief case report from Drs. Diamond and Ondo of Texas:[she] had a long history of constant intrusive and obsessive thoughts that interrupted her daily activities and sleep. Sh........ Read more »
Diamond A, & Ondo WG. (2011) Resolution of Severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder After a Small Unilateral Nondominant Frontoparietal Infarct. The International journal of neuroscience. PMID: 21426244
- March 20, 2011
- 02:52 PM
- 947 views
Depressed or Bereaved? (Part 2)
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
In Part 1, I discussed a paper by Jerome Wakefield examining the issue of where to draw the line between normal grief and clinical depression.The line moved in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM diagnostic system when the previous DSM-III edition was replaced by the current DSM-IV. Specifically, the "bereavement exclusion" was made narrower.The bereavement exclusion says that you shouldn't diagnose depression in someone whose "depressive" symptoms are a result of grief - unless they're p........ Read more »
Wakefield JC. (2011) Should Uncomplicated Bereavement-Related Depression Be Reclassified as a Disorder in the DSM-5?: Response to Kenneth S. Kendler's Statement Defending the Proposal to Eliminate the Bereavement Exclusion. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 199(3), 203-8. PMID: 21346493
- March 18, 2011
- 10:26 AM
- 905 views
A Look Inside A Brain
by Neuroskeptic in Neuroskeptic
A remarkable paper just out in Nature has revealed images of the brain's structure and function in unprecedented detail: Network anatomy and in vivo physiology of visual cortical neurons.Harvard Medical School researchers Bock et al took a mouse - just one - and used two forms of microscopy to investigate a small patch of it's primary visual cortex, the area which receives input from the eyes.First, they used two-photon calcium imaging to look at the functional properties of individual cells. Th........ Read more »
Bock DD, Lee WC, Kerlin AM, Andermann ML, Hood G, Wetzel AW, Yurgenson S, Soucy ER, Kim HS, & Reid RC. (2011) Network anatomy and in vivo physiology of visual cortical neurons. Nature, 471(7337), 177-82. PMID: 21390124
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