Hope for more accurate diagnosis of memory problems

University of East Anglia finds new model for looking at memory

2014-07-30

(Press-News.org) More accurate tests could be created to diagnose diseases such as Alzheimer's or memory problems stemming from head injuries, leading to earlier intervention, according to new findings from the University of East Anglia.

The research involved investigating the components of memory using a combination of tests and neuroimaging – a method that could be used to create a diagnostic tool for distinguishing between different types of dementia, memory damage from stroke or forms of amnesia caused by head trauma.

Dr Louis Renoult, a lecturer in UEA's School of Psychology, said: "We are creating a new model of how we look at memory that's more nuanced and gives us a better picture of how memories, particularly long-term memories, are imprinted."

The findings, published today in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, are part of a project led by Dr Renoult with contributions from academics at the University of Ottawa, the State University of New York College at Old Westbury, and the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest, Toronto.

Dr Renoult said: "If patients lose semantic memory, they struggle with knowledge of everyday objects in the world, and have trouble communicating.

"But if you provide some personal application to those objects – for example showing a dog to someone who kept a dog as a pet – the patient may demonstrate they've retained memory of that object.

"The research shows this retained memory performance may result from the brain's automatic activation of personal episodes by related knowledge.

"We haven't previously been aware of this intermediate form of memory, which combines semantic knowledge with autobiographical, or 'episodic' memory.

"The hope is that advanced methods could be developed to test this newly discovered intermediate form of memory, leading to better approaches to rehabilitation."

The research was undertaken in 2011-2012 and involved a cohort of 19 healthy subjects.

INFORMATION:

'Autobiographically significant concepts: More episodic than semantic in nature? An electrophysiological investigation of overlapping types of memory' is published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience on July 30, 2014.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Exploring 3-D printing to make organs for transplants

2014-07-30

Printing whole new organs for transplants sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, but the real-life budding technology could one day make actual kidneys, livers, hearts and other organs for patients who desperately need them. In the ACS journal Langmuir, scientists are reporting new understanding about the dynamics of 3-D bioprinting that takes them a step closer to realizing their goal of making working tissues and organs on-demand. Yong Huang and colleagues note that this idea of producing tissues and organs, or biofabricating, has the potential to address the ...

Nature inspires a greener way to make colorful plastics

2014-07-30

Long before humans figured out how to create colors, nature had already perfected the process — think stunning, bright butterfly wings of many different hues, for example. Now scientists are tapping into those secrets to develop a more environmentally friendly way to make colored plastics. Their paper on using structure — or the shapes and architectures of materials — rather than dyes, to produce color appears in the ACS journal Nano Letters. N. Asger Mortensen, Anders Kristensen and colleagues point out that currently, plastic manufacturers add pigments to their products. ...

Fighting over proposed changes to food labels

2014-07-30

To help Americans make better decisions about what they eat, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year proposed significant changes to the Nutrition Facts label found on nearly every food product in the U.S. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, explains the suggested updates — and the fight that has ensued. Britt Erickson, a senior editor at C&EN, points out that while the Nutrition Facts label has remained largely the same for two decades, nutrition science has not — and neither have ...

Brainwaves can predict audience reaction

2014-07-30

Media and marketing experts have long sought a reliable method of forecasting responses from the general population to future products and messages. According to a study conducted at The City College of New York, it appears that the brain responses of just a few individuals are a remarkably strong predictor. By analyzing the brainwaves of 16 individuals as they watched mainstream television content, researchers were able to accurately predict the preferences of large TV audiences, up to 90 % in the case of Super Bowl commercials. The findings appear in a paper entitled, ...

Brazilian researchers identify RNA that regulates cell death

2014-07-30

Researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP) have identified an RNA known as INXS that, although containing no instructions for the production of a protein, modulates the action of an important gene in the process of apoptosis, or programmed cell death. According to Sergio Verjovski-Almeida, professor at the USP Chemistry Institute and coordinator of a research funded by São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), INXS expression is generally diminished in cancer cells, and methods that are capable of stimulating the production of this non-coding RNA can be used to ...

Scientists caution against exploitation of deep ocean

2014-07-30

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The world's oceans are vast and deep, yet rapidly advancing technology and the quest for extracting resources from previously unreachable depths is beginning to put the deep seas on the cusp of peril, an international team of scientists warned this week. In an analysis in Biogeosciences, which is published by the European Geosciences Union, the researchers outline "services" or benefits provided by the deep ocean to society. Yet using these services, now and in the future, is likely to make a significant impact on that habitat and what it ultimately ...

Ablation increases survival for adults with atrial fibrillation

2014-07-30

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Adults who undergo a minimally invasive technique to treat atrial fibrillation are significantly less likely to die from a heart attack or heart failure, according to a long-term study by the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center. More than 4 million people have atrial fibrillation, an age-related heart rhythm disorder that can cause a fluttering sensation in the chest and impair the heart's ability to pump blood. The study published in Heart Rhythm shows cardiovascular mortality dropped by 60 percent among adults who had their normal ...

Mercury's magnetic field tells scientists how its interior is different from Earth's

2014-07-30

Earth and Mercury are both rocky planets with iron cores, but Mercury's interior differs from Earth's in a way that explains why the planet has such a bizarre magnetic field, UCLA planetary physicists and colleagues report. Measurements from NASA's Messenger spacecraft have revealed that Mercury's magnetic field is approximately three times stronger at its northern hemisphere than its southern one. In the current research, scientists led by Hao Cao, a UCLA postdoctoral scholar working in the laboratory of Christopher T. Russell, created a model to show how the dynamics ...

Differential gene expression in proximal and distal nerve segments after sciatic nerve injury

2014-07-30

Wallerian degeneration is a subject of major interest in neuroscience. A large number of genes are differentially regulated during the distinct stages of Wallerian degeneration: transcription factor activation, immune response, myelin cell differentiation and dedifferentiation. Although gene expression responses in the distal segment of the sciatic nerve after peripheral nerve injury are known, differences in gene expression between the proximal and distal segments remain unclear. Dr. Dengbing Yao and co-workers from Nantong University, China used microarrays to analyze ...

Implanting 125I seeds into rat DRG for neuropathic pain: Only neuronal microdamage occurs

2014-07-30

The use of iodine-125 (125I) in cancer treatment has been shown to relieve patients' pain. Considering dorsal root ganglia are critical for neural transmission between the peripheral and central nervous systems, Dr. Tengda Zhang and colleagues from Institute of Radiation Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China assumed that 125I could be implanted into rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG) to provide relief for neuropathic pain. 125I seeds with different radioactivity (0, 14.8, 29.6 MBq) were implanted separately into the vicinity of the L5 DRG. Experimental results ...

Hope for more accurate diagnosis of memory problems

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: