Category Archives: Neurology

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Public release date: 8-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Angela Babb, APR ababb@aan.com 612-928-6102 American Academy of Neurology

MINNEAPOLIS Just one week of speech therapy may reorganize the brain, helping to reduce stuttering, according to a study published in the August 8, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The Chinese study gives researchers new insights into the role of different brain regions in stuttering, which affects about one percent of adults.

The study involved 28 people with stuttering and 13 people who did not stutter. Fifteen of the people with stuttering received a week of therapy with three sessions per day. The other stutterers and the controls received no therapy. Therapy involved the participants repeating two-syllable words that were spoken to them and then reading words presented to them visually. There was no time limit in either task. The average scores on stuttering tests and percent of stuttered syllables improved for those who received the therapy. There was no change in scores for the stutterers who did not receive therapy.

Brain scans were used to measure the thickness of the cerebral cortex in the brain for all participants at the beginning and end of the study. They also measured the interactions between areas of the brain while at rest, called resting state functional connectivity. Thickness and strength of interactions was reduced in an area of the brain important in speech and language production called the pars opercularis for those with stuttering compared to the controls. Increased strength of interactions was found in the cerebellum for those with stuttering compared to the controls.

For those who received the therapy, the functional connectivity in the cerebellum was reduced to the same level as that of the controls. There was no change in the pars opercularis area of the brain.

"These results show that the brain can reorganize itself with therapy, and that changes in the cerebellum are a result of the brain compensating for stuttering," said study author Chunming Lu, PhD, of Beijing Normal University in China. "They also provide evidence that the structure of the pars opercularis area of the brain is altered in people with stuttering."

Christian A. Kell, MD, of Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, said, "These findings should further motivate therapists and researchers in their efforts to determine how therapy works to reorganize the brain and reduce stuttering."

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Link:
Study: One week of therapy may help reorganize brain, reduce stuttering

By Fiachra Cionnaith

Friday, August 10, 2012

Almost 17,000 people including heart, orthopaedics, kidney, neurology, and cancer patients have been waiting over four years for an initial hospital consultant outpatient appointment.

HSE figures show that, despite repeated ministerial promises to resolve the delays, the long-term treatment backlogs are continuing across a range of vital specialities in the system.

Leading medical website irishhealth.com has revealed that, of the 351,000 people on outpatient lists, 117,000 are still waiting more than a year to be seen for the first time by a hospital consultant.

Of this figure, 16,903 are waiting as long as four years across all hospitals in the country.

This is despite the fact that Health Minister James Reilly is bidding to finally address lengthy waiting times for vital hospital treatment via his special delivery unit team.

While the above delays are lengthy, for patients facing the extensive waits, the queue for accessing care does not end when they are finally seen.

An initial outpatient hospital consultant appointment is generally considered to be a waiting list to get on to a second waiting list for more specialised care.

As such, the actual wait for specialised care is longer than the initial outpatient hospital consultant appointments.

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17,000 waiting over four years to see consultant

Newswise MINNEAPOLIS Just one week of speech therapy may reorganize the brain, helping to reduce stuttering, according to a study published in the August 8, 2012, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The Chinese study gives researchers new insights into the role of different brain regions in stuttering, which affects about one percent of adults.

The study involved 28 people with stuttering and 13 people who did not stutter. Fifteen of the people with stuttering received a week of therapy with three sessions per day. The other stutterers and the controls received no therapy. Therapy involved the participants repeating two-syllable words that were spoken to them and then reading words presented to them visually. There was no time limit in either task. The average scores on stuttering tests and percent of stuttered syllables improved for those who received the therapy. There was no change in scores for the stutterers who did not receive therapy.

Brain scans were used to measure the thickness of the cerebral cortex in the brain for all participants at the beginning and end of the study. They also measured the interactions between areas of the brain while at rest, called resting state functional connectivity. Thickness and strength of interactions was reduced in an area of the brain important in speech and language production called the pars opercularis for those with stuttering compared to the controls. Increased strength of interactions was found in the cerebellum for those with stuttering compared to the controls.

For those who received the therapy, the functional connectivity in the cerebellum was reduced to the same level as that of the controls. There was no change in the pars opercularis area of the brain.

These results show that the brain can reorganize itself with therapy, and that changes in the cerebellum are a result of the brain compensating for stuttering, said study author Chunming Lu, PhD, of Beijing Normal University in China. They also provide evidence that the structure of the pars opercularis area of the brain is altered in people with stuttering.

Christian A. Kell, MD, of Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, who wrote an editorial accompanying the study, said, These findings should further motivate therapists and researchers in their efforts to determine how therapy works to reorganize the brain and reduce stuttering.

The study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

To learn more about stuttering, visit http://www.aan.com/patients.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 25,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimers disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, Parkinsons disease and epilepsy.

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One Week of Therapy May Help Reorganize Brain, Reduce Stuttering

Washington, Aug. 7:

Its all in the family? According to new research, fainting has a strong genetic predisposition.

Researchers from the American Academy of Neurology found that fainting has a strong genetic component and it could be inherited but not usually by a single gene.

Fainting, also called vasovagal syncope, is a brief loss of consciousness when your body reacts to certain triggers, such as emotional distress or the sight of blood.

The question of whether fainting is caused by genetic factors, environmental factors or a mixture of both has been the subject of debate, said study author Samuel F. Berkovic from the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

Our results suggest that while fainting appears to have a strong genetic component, there may be multiple genes and multiple environmental factors that influence the phenomenon, Berkovic said in a statement.

For the study, 51 sets of twins of the same gender between the ages of nine and 69 were given a telephone questionnaire.

At least one of the twins had a history of fainting.

Researchers also gathered information about any family history of fainting. Of the 51 sets of twins, 57 per cent reported having typical fainting triggers.

The research found that among twins where one fainted, those who were identical (from the same fertilised egg) were nearly twice as likely to both faint compared to fraternal twins (those from two different fertilised eggs).

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Fainting linked to genetic factors: study

Public release date: 6-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Angela Babb ababb@aan.com 612-928-6102 American Academy of Neurology

MINNEAPOLIS Fainting has a strong genetic predisposition, according to new research published in the August 7, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Fainting, also called vasovagal syncope, is a brief loss of consciousness when your body reacts to certain triggers, such as emotional distress or the sight of blood.

"The question of whether fainting is caused by genetic factors, environmental factors or a mixture of both has been the subject of debate," said study author Samuel F. Berkovic, MD, FRS, with the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.

For the study, 51 sets of twins of the same gender between the ages of nine and 69 were given a telephone questionnaire. At least one of the twins had a history of fainting. Researchers also gathered information about any family history of fainting. Of the 51 sets of twins, 57 percent reported having typical fainting triggers.

The research found that among twins where one fainted, those who were identical (from the same fertilized egg) were nearly twice as likely to both faint compared to fraternal twins (those from two different fertilized eggs). The risk of fainting not related to outside factors (such as dehydration) was also much higher in identical twins compared to fraternal twins. Identical twins were much more likely to both experience fainting associated with typical triggers than fraternal twins. The frequency of fainting in non-twin relatives was low, suggesting that the way fainting is inherited is usually not by a single gene.

"Our results suggest that while fainting appears to have a strong genetic component, there may be multiple genes and multiple environmental factors that influence the phenomenon," said Berkovic.

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The study was supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Australia.

To learn more about fainting, visit http://www.aan.com/patients.

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Fainting: All in the family?