scholarly journals Neurofeedback Effects on EEG Connectivity in Children with Reading Disorder: I. Coherence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucero Albarrán-Cárdenas ◽  
Juan Silva-Pereyra ◽  
Benito Javier Martínez-Briones ◽  
Jorge Bosch-Bayard ◽  
Thalía Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Learning Disorders ◽  
Reading Disorder ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Power Normalization ◽  
Reading Accuracy ◽  
Higher Power ◽  
Eeg Connectivity ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
Behavioral Improvement ◽  
The Brain

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) of children with reading disorder (RD) are characterized by higher power and coherence in slow frequencies (delta and theta bands) and lower power and coherence in the alpha band compared to EEGs of typically developed children. Neurofeedback (NFB) is useful for treating learning disorders by reinforcing the reduction of the theta/alpha ratio. This efficacy is supported by EEG power normalization and cognitive-behavioral improvement. To further explore brain changes in isolated areas, this study aimed to explore the effects of this NFB protocol on functional connectivity (coherence) in children with RD. Twenty children with RD and an abnormally high theta/alpha ratio underwent 30 sessions of NFB. After treatment, 90% of par-ticipants learned to decrease their theta/alpha ratio, and on average, children increased their reading accuracy and comprehension scores. Interhemispheric coherence diminished in the delta, theta and beta bands, mainly between frontopolar regions. Intrahemispheric coherence decreased in delta, theta and beta bands and increased in alpha band. The reduction in theta coherence be-tween the left frontal area and other regions of the left hemisphere had particular relevance for reading. These results suggest that this NFB treatment could positively impact reading-related functions in the brain networks of children with RD.

Morphological Changes in the Brain of Acutely Ill and Weight-Recovered Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Seitz ◽  
Katharina Bühren ◽  
Georg G. von Polier ◽  
Nicole Heussen ◽  
Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Clinical Prognosis ◽  
Qualitative Review ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
The Brain

Objective: Acute anorexia nervosa (AN) leads to reduced gray (GM) and white matter (WM) volume in the brain, which however improves again upon restoration of weight. Yet little is known about the extent and clinical correlates of these brain changes, nor do we know much about the time-course and completeness of their recovery. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis and a qualitative review of all magnetic resonance imaging studies involving volume analyses of the brain in both acute and recovered AN. Results: We identified structural neuroimaging studies with a total of 214 acute AN patients and 177 weight-recovered AN patients. In acute AN, GM was reduced by 5.6% and WM by 3.8% compared to healthy controls (HC). Short-term weight recovery 2–5 months after admission resulted in restitution of about half of the GM aberrations and almost full WM recovery. After 2–8 years of remission GM and WM were nearly normalized, and differences to HC (GM: –1.0%, WM: –0.7%) were no longer significant, although small residual changes could not be ruled out. In the qualitative review some studies found GM volume loss to be associated with cognitive deficits and clinical prognosis. Conclusions: GM and WM were strongly reduced in acute AN. The completeness of brain volume rehabilitation remained equivocal.

scholarly journals The brain dynamics of architectural affordances during transition

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zakaria Djebbara ◽  
Lars Brorson Fich ◽  
Klaus Gramann
Keyword(s):  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
The Body ◽  
Brain Dynamics ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Time Frequency ◽  
Posterior Cingulate ◽  
Sensory Signals ◽  
Event Related Desynchronization ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Attentional Mechanisms

AbstractAction is a medium of collecting sensory information about the environment, which in turn is shaped by architectural affordances. Affordances characterize the fit between the physical structure of the body and capacities for movement and interaction with the environment, thus relying on sensorimotor processes associated with exploring the surroundings. Central to sensorimotor brain dynamics, the attentional mechanisms directing the gating function of sensory signals share neuronal resources with motor-related processes necessary to inferring the external causes of sensory signals. Such a predictive coding approach suggests that sensorimotor dynamics are sensitive to architectural affordances that support or suppress specific kinds of actions for an individual. However, how architectural affordances relate to the attentional mechanisms underlying the gating function for sensory signals remains unknown. Here we demonstrate that event-related desynchronization of alpha-band oscillations in parieto-occipital and medio-temporal regions covary with the architectural affordances. Source-level time–frequency analysis of data recorded in a motor-priming Mobile Brain/Body Imaging experiment revealed strong event-related desynchronization of the alpha band to originate from the posterior cingulate complex, the parahippocampal region as well as the occipital cortex. Our results firstly contribute to the understanding of how the brain resolves architectural affordances relevant to behaviour. Second, our results indicate that the alpha-band originating from the occipital cortex and parahippocampal region covaries with the architectural affordances before participants interact with the environment, whereas during the interaction, the posterior cingulate cortex and motor areas dynamically reflect the affordable behaviour. We conclude that the sensorimotor dynamics reflect behaviour-relevant features in the designed environment.

scholarly journals Emergence Of Consciousness And Qualia From A Complex Brain

Folia Medica ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 289-296
Author(s):  
Jakob Korf
Keyword(s):  
System Theory ◽  
General System ◽  
Resolution Power ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
Scientific Exploration ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
Higher Brain Functions ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Qualia are private conscious experiences of which the associated feelings can be reported to other people. Whether qualia are amenable to scientific exploration has often been questioned, which is challenged by the present article. The following arguments are given: 1. the configuration of the brain changes continuously and irreversibly, because of genetic and environmental influences and interhuman communication; 2. qualia and consciousness are processes, rather than states; 3. private feelings, including those associated with qualia, should be positioned in the context of a personal brain as being developed during life; 4. consciousness and qualia should be understood in the context of general system theory, thus concluding that isolated, in vitro, properties of neurons and other brain constituents might marginally contribute to the understanding of higher brain functions, mind or qualia; 5. current in vivo approaches have too little resolution power - in terms of space and time - to delineate individual and subjective brain processes. When subtle personalized properties of the nervous system can be assessed in vivo or in vitro, qualia can scientifically be investigated. We discuss some approaches to overcome these barriers.

scholarly journals Experience, but not age, is associated with volumetric mushroom body expansion in solitary alkali bees

2021 ◽  
pp. jeb.238899
Author(s):  
Mallory A. Hagadorn ◽  
Makenna M. Johnson ◽  
Adam R. Smith ◽  
Marc A. Seid ◽  
Karen M. Kapheim
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Evolutionary Relationship ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Mushroom Bodies ◽  
Order Processing ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Foraging Experience ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
The Brain

In social insects, changes in behavior are often accompanied by structural changes in the brain. This neuroplasticity may come with experience (experience-dependent) or age (experience-expectant). Yet, the evolutionary relationship between neuroplasticity and sociality is unclear, because we know little about neuroplasticity in the solitary relatives of social species. We used confocal microscopy to measure brain changes in response to age and experience in a solitary halictid bee (Nomia melanderi). First, we compared the volume of individual brain regions among newly-emerged females, laboratory females deprived of reproductive and foraging experience, and free-flying, nesting females. Experience, but not age, led to significant expansion of the mushroom bodies—higher-order processing centers associated with learning and memory. Next, we investigated how social experience influences neuroplasticity by comparing the brains of females kept in the laboratory either alone or paired with another female. Paired females had significantly larger olfactory regions of the mushroom bodies. Together, these experimental results indicate that experience-dependent neuroplasticity is common to both solitary and social taxa, whereas experience-expectant neuroplasticity may be an adaptation to life in a social colony. Further, neuroplasticity in response to social chemical signals may have facilitated the evolution of sociality.

scholarly journals The investigation into neurotoxicity mechanisms of Nonylphenol: A narrative review

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandana Lotfi ◽  
Amir Hosseyn Hasanpour ◽  
Ali Akbar Moghadamnia ◽  
Sohrab Kazemi
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Health Hazard ◽  
Learning Disorders ◽  
Inflammatory Factors ◽  
Postnatal Exposure ◽  
Memory And Learning ◽  
Nonylphenol Ethoxylate ◽  
Intracellular Calcium Ion ◽  
The Brain

Background: Nonylphenol (NP), as a chemical compound that widely used in industry, is the result of the nonylphenol ethoxylate decomposition and it is known as an estrogen-like compound. Numerous studies and researches have shown that it has many destructive functions of various organs such as the brain. This toxicant causes oxidative stress in the cortex and hippocampus cells, which are two essential regions to preserve memory and learning in the brain. Methods: This review examines recent findings to better understand the mechanisms of NP neurotoxicity. We used Scopus, Google Scholar and PubMed databases to find articles with focus on the destructive effects of NP on the oxidative stress pathway and its defense mechanisms. Results: NP has potential human health hazard associated with gestational, peri- and postnatal exposure. NP can disrupt brain homeostasis in different ways, such as activation of inflammatory factors in brain especially in hippocampus and cortex, disruption of the cell cycle, changes in neuron, dendrites and synapses morphology, disruption of extra and intracellular calcium ion balance and also memory and learning disorders

Ageing and the human brain

2020 ◽  
pp. 170-182
Author(s):  
Verena Heise ◽  
Enikő Zsoldos ◽  
Klaus P. Ebmeier
Keyword(s):  
In Vivo Imaging ◽  
Allostatic Load ◽  
Public Health Medicine ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Stress Markers ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
Heuristic Device ◽  
The Brain

There is little doubt that the brain changes with time, and all research in psychiatry is predicated on holding age constant in comparing groups of patients or estimating the effect sizes of causal factors. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the mechanisms that are responsible for translating time into ageing. This chapter tries, after an overview of the principal mechanisms involved in biological ageing, to summarize the age-related changes observable in brains in vivo and to demonstrate the types of investigations that may cast light on such mechanisms in the future. A useful heuristic device to order the multiple potential causes of ageing is the chronic stress–allostatic load model, widely employed in epidemiology, public health medicine, and health psychology. In vivo imaging provides a method to test the translation of intermediate stress markers, such as vascular risk, metabolic syndrome, or allostatic load, into predictors of age-related brain changes.

scholarly journals Alpha band EEG coherence in healthy nonagenarians

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (9) ◽  
pp. 609-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Silva Jorge ◽  
Livia Spindola ◽  
Joyce Haruyo Biancon Katata ◽  
Renato Anghinah
Keyword(s):  
Neuronal Loss ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Alpha Band ◽  
Eeg Coherence ◽  
Cognitively Normal ◽  
Interhemispheric Coherence ◽  
Normal Individuals ◽  
Standard Value ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACT Electroencephalographic (EEG) coherence is a parameter that enables evaluation of cerebral connectivity. It may be related to the functional state of the brain. In the elderly, it may reflect the neuronal loss caused by aging. Objective To describe characteristics of coherence in nonagenarians. Methods We evaluated interhemispheric coherence for the alpha band in 42 cognitively normal individuals aged 90 to 101 years. Coherence values in the occipital electrode (O1O2), in the resting state with closed eyes, were calculated by means of spectral analysis using digital EEG EMSA 32 channels, 12 bits and a frequency of 200 Hz. Results The mean coherence value for the alpha band at O1O2 was 0.65 (SD 0.13). No significant differences were found between men and women. Conclusions The findings from this study did not show any decrease in interhemispheric coherence for the alpha band in cognitively normal nonagenarians. This may be useful as a standard value for this age group.

scholarly journals The neurobiologist studying how the brain changes as it ages

Nature ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 578 (7793) ◽  
pp. S3-S3
Author(s):  
Sarah O’Meara
Keyword(s):  
Brain Changes ◽  
The Brain

scholarly journals Bacterial Inhibition of Phosphatidylcholine Synthesis Triggers Apoptosis in the Brain

2004 ◽  
Vol 200 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Zweigner ◽  
Suzanne Jackowski ◽  
Shannon H. Smith ◽  
Marie van der Merwe ◽  
Joerg R. Weber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hippocampal Neurons ◽  
Pneumococcal Infection ◽  
Learning Disorders ◽  
Hippocampal Damage ◽  
Neurological Sequelae ◽  
Mortality And Morbidity ◽  
Bacterial Inhibition ◽  
Dependent Inhibition ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Phosphatidylcholine Synthesis

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common cause of bacterial meningitis of high mortality and morbidity. Neurological sequelae include paralysis, mental retardation, and learning disorders. In humans, neurons of the hippocampus undergo apoptosis as a result of meningitis. Phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) is an essential component of mammalian cell membranes and PtdCho deficiency, either due to chemicals or altered nutrition, leads to apoptosis, especially in hippocampal neurons. We show that apoptosis of a variety of brain cells after pneumococcal infection arises from inhibition of PtdCho biosynthesis, the first such activity described for a bacterium. Apoptosis inhibitors did not prevent the bacterial-dependent inhibition of PtdCho biosynthesis. Supplementation with exogenous lyso-phosphatidylcholine prevents cell death and treatment of mice with cytidine diphosphocholine attenuates hippocampal damage during meningitis, even after the onset of infection. We conclude that bacterial inhibition of PtdCho biosynthesis activates an apoptotic cascade that is a causative event in pathogenesis and amenable to therapeutic intervention.

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