JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2005
Emerging brain-based interventions for children and adolescents: overview and clinical perspective.
Hirshberg LM, Chiu S, Frazier JA.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2005 Jan;14(1):1-19, v.
Electroencephalogram biofeedback (EBF), repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) are emerging interventions that attempt to directly impact brain function through neurostimulation and neurofeedback mechanisms.
This article provides a brief overview of each of these techniques, summarizes the relevant research findings, and examines the implications of this research.....
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Neurofeedback treatment of epilepsy.
Walker JE, Kozlowski GP.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2005 Jan;14(1):163-76, viii.
With electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback (or neurofeedback), it is possible to train the brain to de-emphasize rhythms that lead to generation and propagation of seizure and emphasize rhythms that make seizures less likely to occur.
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Psychopharmaceutical Drugs, Diet and the Brain
Jeffrey Bruno, Ph.D.
Peninsula Child & Youth Assessment Clinics
Our knowledge of children's developing brains and the complex interactions between diet, brain development, neurotransmission, and pharmaceutical drugs is still in its infancy. Most psychiatric medications have not been rigorously tested on children, despite their wide-spread use. Additionally, almost no studies have been conducted on the safety of using multiple psychiatric drugs on children's developing nervous systems and bodies.
Neurotransmitters are not directly replaced by a pharmaceutical drug (e.g., Ritalin or Prozac). Nobody has a Ritalin or Prozac deficiency! Instead, pharmaceutical drugs attempt to block neurotransmitters' action or increase their availability.....
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Topographic mapping of brain electrical activity in children with food-induced attention deficit hyperkinetic disorder.
Uhlig T, Merkenschlager A, Brandmaier R, Egger J.
Eur J Pediatr. 1997 Jul;156(7):557-61.
Institute for Child Health Research, Clinical Sciences Division, West Perth, Australia.
Abstract
In 15 children suffering from food induced attention deficit hyperkinetic syndrome, topographic EEG mapping of brain electrical activity was carried out following avoidance and ingestion of previously identified provoking foods.
A crossover design was used and recordings were interpreted independently by two investigators, one of whom was blind to the order of testing.
During consumption of provoking foods there was a significant increase in beta activity in the frontotemporal areas of the brain. This investigation is the first one to show an association between brain electrical activity and intake of provoking foods in children with food-induced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
CONCLUSIONS: These data support the hypothesis that in a subgroup of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder certain foods may not only influence clinical symptoms but may also alter brain electrical activity.
Support For The Use of QEEG Scanning in Diagnosing ADHD
Dr. David Rabiner of Duke University
Collectively, the 3 studies described in this paper replicate prior results showing that: QEEG scanning provides an accurate tool for differentiating between individuals with and without ADHD....
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Mapping the brain in autism
McAlonan GM
Brain. 2004 Nov 17
Children with autism had a significant reduction in total grey matter volume and significant increase in CSF volume. They had significant localized grey matter reductions within fronto-striatal and parietal networks similar to findings in our previous study, and additional decreases in ventral and superior temporal grey matter.
White matter was reduced in the cerebellum, left internal capsule and fornices. Correlation analysis revealed significantly more numerous and more positive grey matter volumetric correlations in controls compared with children with autism.
Taken together, our data suggest abnormalities in the anatomy and connectivity of limbic-striatal 'social' brain systems which may contribute to the brain metabolic differences and behavioural phenotype in autism.
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Neural changes following remediation in adult developmental dyslexia.
Eden GF, Jones KM, Cappell K, Gareau L, Wood FB, Zeffiro TA, Dietz NA, Agnew JA, Flowers DL.
Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC
Neuron. 2004 Oct 28;44(3):411-22.
Brain imaging studies have explored the neural mechanisms of recovery in adults following acquired disorders and, more recently, childhood developmental disorders.
However, the neural systems underlying adult rehabilitation of neurobiologically based learning disabilities remain unexplored, despite their high incidence. Here we characterize the differences in brain activity during a phonological manipulation task before and after a behavioral intervention in adults with developmental dyslexia.
Phonologically targeted training resulted in performance improvements in tutored compared to nontutored dyslexics, and these gains were associated with signal increases in bilateral parietal and right perisylvian cortices. Our findings demonstrate that behavioral changes in tutored dyslexic adults are associated with (1) increased activity in those left-hemisphere regions engaged by normal readers and (2) compensatory activity in the right perisylvian cortex.
Hence, behavioral plasticity in adult developmental dyslexia involves two distinct neural mechanisms, each of which has previously been observed either for remediation of developmental or acquired reading disorders.
Warning for Strattera
The FDA Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program
FDA notified health care professionals about a new warning for Strattera, a drug approved for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults and children.
The labeling is being updated with a bolded warning about the potential for severe liver injury following two reports (a teenager and an adult) in patients who had been treated with Strattera for several months, both of whom recovered.
Health care professionals are encouraged to report any unexpected adverse events associated with Strattera to Eli Lilly or to the FDA MedWatch program.
Neurofeedback with anxiety and affective disorders.
Hammond DC.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2005 Jan;14(1):105-23, vii.
A robust body of neurophysiologic research is reviewed on functional brain abnormalities associated with depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
A review of more recent research finds that pharmacologic treatment may not be as effective as previously believed. A more recent neuroscience technology, electroencephalographic (EEG) biofeedback (neurofeedback), seems to hold promise as a methodology for retraining abnormal brain wave patterns.
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Electroencephalographic biofeedback (neurotherapy) as a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: rationale and empirical foundation.
Monastra VJ.
Child Adolesc Psychiatr Clin N Am. 2005 Jan;14
This article presents the rationale for EEG biofeedback and examines the empirical support for this treatment for ADHD using efficacy guidelines established by the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback and the International Society for Neuronal Regulation. Based on these guidelines, EEG biofeedback is considered to be "probably efficacious" for the treatment of ADHD and merits consideration as a treatment for patients who are stimulant "nonresponders."
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The GENIE Model
Jeffrey Bruno, Ph.D.
Peninsula Child & Youth Assessment Clinics
Our bodies and minds are deeply connected. Children with learning, behavior, or mood problems tend to have greater symptoms of physical illness (e.g., allergies, headaches, stomachaches).
To effectively treat the brain requires an integrated approach that considers the Gastro-intestinal tract, the Endocrine glands, the Nervous system, and the Immune system, as well as Environmental factors (the GENIE model).
Diagnostic and treatment approaches need to be systemic (addressing systems within the body as well as family, community, and environmental factors). Developmental phases across the lifespan, such as dramatic physical and cognitive shifts that occur during childhood, must also be taken into account.
The functional architecture of human empathy.
Decety J, Jackson PL.
Behav Cogn Neurosci Rev. 2004 Jun;3(2):71-100.
Empathy accounts for the naturally occurring subjective experience of similarity between the feelings expressed by self and others without loosing sight of whose feelings belong to whom.
Shared neural representations, self-awareness, mental flexibility, and emotion regulation constitute the basic macrocomponents of empathy, which are underpinned by specific neural systems. This functional model may be used to make specific predictions about the various empathy deficits that can be encountered in different forms of social and neurological disorders.
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Brain's " Storehouse" for Memory Molecules Identified
Duke University
9/23/2004
DURHAM, N.C. -- Neurobiologists have pinpointed the molecular storehouse that supplies the neurotransmitter receptor proteins used for learning-related changes in the brain.
They said their finding constitutes an important step toward understanding the machinery by which neurons alter their connections to establish preferred signaling pathways in the process of laying down new memories.
Identifying recycling endosomes as a source of receptors and other plasticity proteins opens up new possibilities for therapeutic approaches to diseases of memory and cognition....
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Omega-3 Fatty Acids Help Lower Risk of Memory Loss, Study Finds
Cole, Greg
University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine.
Sept. 1, 2004
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in soy, fish and other oils and known to provide a range of health benefits, may help protect against Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers reported.
Writing in the journal Neuron, Cole and colleagues said they studied mice bred to have genetic mutations that cause brain lesions associated with Alzheimer's disease. They were looking for something else but noticed the mice did not have the expected memory loss or brain damage. Notably, the synapses, the connections between brain cells, were not as damaged as would be expected.
"We discovered that the mice lived on a nutritious diet of soy and fish -- two ingredients chock-full of omega-3 fatty acids," said Sally Frautschy, who worked on the study.
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