How to train your brain to handle injury

How to train your brain to handle injury

....“The human brain has a remarkable ability to adapt to various types of trauma, such as traumatic brain injury and stroke, making it possible for people to continue functioning after key brain areas have been damaged,” says Marcel Just, professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and director of its Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging.

“It is now clear how the brain can naturally rebound from injuries and gives us indications of how individuals can train their brains to be prepared for easier recovery.

Functional Brain Changes Following Cognitive and Motor Skills Training

Functional Brain Changes Following Cognitive and Motor Skills Training

...Reliable decreases in functional brain activity from pretraining to posttraining were observed in brain regions commonly associated with cognitive control processes, including lateral prefrontal, left anterior inferior parietal lobule, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Training-related increases were observed in the medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate and angular gyrus, core regions of the default network. Activity within the subcortical striatum also showed reliable increases pretraining to posttraining....

Eye movements reveal impaired reading in schizophrenia

Eye movements reveal impaired reading in schizophrenia

....A study of eye movements in schizophrenia patients provides new evidence of impaired reading fluency in individuals with the mental illness.

The findings, by researchers at McGill University in Montreal, could open avenues to earlier detection and intervention for people with the illness.

While schizophrenia patients are known to have abnormalities in language and in eye movements, until recently reading ability was believed to be unaffected. That is because most previous studies examined reading in schizophrenia using single-word reading tests, the McGill researchers conclude. Such tests aren’t sensitive to problems in reading fluency, which is affected by the context in which words appear and by eye movements that shift attention from one word to the next......

Neuropsychological recovery and quality-of-life in children and adolescents with growth hormone deficiency following TBI

Neuropsychological recovery and quality-of-life in children and adolescents with growth hormone deficiency following TBI

 Growth Hormone Deficiency following TBI is common in children and adolescents. Deficits in neurocognition and Quality of Life impact recovery after TBI. It is important to assess potential neurocognitive and QoL changes that may occur as a result of GHD. It is also important to consider the potential added benefit of overnight GH testing as compared to stimulation
testing in predicting changes in neurocognition or QoL.

ICO Matters Story: Co-founding a New Optometric Journal

The Illinois College of Optometry alumni news magazine had this brief story in it.


 

Dr. Dominick Maino Featured in ICO Matters from Dominick Maino

New Journal in PubMed

The following new journal from eCentury has been added to PubMed Central:


American Journal of Neurodegenerative Disease

EISSN: 2165-591X (electronic) LISSN: 165-591X

URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/journals/1989/

Archive includes 2012 1(1) to 2012 1(3) Note: There is no embargo delay for this journal.

Are There Side Effects to Watching 3D Movies? A Prospective Crossover Observational Study on Visually Induced Motion Sickness

Are There Side Effects to Watching 3D Movies? A Prospective Crossover Observational Study on Visually Induced Motion Sickness

....A prospective carry over observational study was designed to assess the effect of exposure (3D vs. 2D movie views) on self reported symptoms of visually induced motion sickness. .... Viewers reporting some sickness ...  were 54.8% of the total sample after the 3D movie compared to 14.1% of total sample after the 2D movie. Symptom intensity was 8.8 times higher than baseline after exposure to 3D movie (compared to the increase of 2 times the baseline after the 2D movie). .....

Comments: The author of this paper, Angelo G. Solimini of the Department of Public Health and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, was kind enough to email me that this paper was recently published in PLOS One. It is a very good paper that should be read by anyone who has an interest in how 3D affects the viewer. The primary purpose was to investigate the presence of syptoms 3D vs 2D. It is my hope that at some point, one or more researchers will also look at the presence of not only these symptoms, but also those binocular vision dysfunctions and vestibular anomalies associated with 3D and the subsequent presence of symptoms. I know that my colleague, Dr. Jim Sheedy and his incredible group of researchers at the Vision Performance Institute are investigating these areas.

This coming October, the College of Optometrists in Vision Development will host a symposium/presentation (I'm the moderator) all about 3D that will include Shun-Nan Yang, Ph.D (Vision Performance Institute), Len Scrogan (Adjunct Professor for the University of Colorado-Denver and Lesley University; - Educational Technology Speaker and Consultant; - Past Director of Instructional Technology for the Boulder Valley School District, blogger), and Len Press, OD, FAAO, FCOVD (Press Vision [private practice], former faculty member/Peds/BV Chief SUNY/PCO, blogger). If you want to know all about 3D...the latest research, use of 3D in education and the importance of 3D to the optometric clinician...the COVD meeting in October is where you need to be! DM

Is the Internet Good or Bad for Your Brain?

Is the Internet Good or Bad for Your Brain?

.... the so-called “Flynn Effect” (the sustained increase in “raw” IQ scores since the 1930s) suggests that, if anything, the impact of technology on the population at large has been more positive, or at least neutral, than negative.....

How Loyalty Study Affects ODs

 Patient Loyalty

"....A new study performed by Oracle found that 81% of customers would pay more for a better customer experience. The same study found that 70% of customers permanently ditch a business or brand due to a poor customer experience, and 92% of that 70% will switch to a competitor based on a poor experience....."

Comments: I recently moved from an office on the far northwest side (Harlem & Lawrence) of Chicago to Lincoln and Belmont in Chicago. More than 50 families from my old office have followed me to my new office. For the most part this is unheard of. Most of us know that in many cases, even if you move your office only a block or two from its original location, you loose patients. 

Why have so many of my patients followed me to this new location so far from my previous office?

Here's what my patients have told me when I asked them:

1.) Warm and caring attitude
2.) Totally engaged with my child
3.) Responsive to my needs
4.) Willing to answer questions
5.) An expert in your field
6.) You are funny (this was what one of my younger patients said!)
7.) It is obvious that you enjoy what you do 
8.) You make it look like examining difficult patients is easy
9.) You listen

I am now at Lyons Family Eye Care. I care for you there on Wednesdays!

Why do your patients continue to come to your office? DM 

Evidence-Based Guidelines For Automated Preschool Vision Screening

Evidence-Based Guidelines For Automated Preschool Vision Screening

...The Vision Screening Committee of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, the professional organization for pediatric eye care, has revised its guidelines for automated preschool vision screening based on new evidence. The new guidelines are published in the February issue of theJournal of AAPOS. ...

Comments: The Vision Screening Committee of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus can set new guidelines as much as they want for vision screenings...unfortunately vision screening outcomes are so bad that a review by Cochrane noted that they couldn't tell if they were effective or not....other studies just come out and say the outcomes are awful. For more information about how crummy vision screenings are type "vision screening" in the search box above. 

Say NO to vision screening. Say yes, to full, comprehensive eye and vision examinations.

The Affordable Care Act has a provision in it that makes comprehensive eye examinations for our children a health care benefit. Organized medicine and insurance companies do not want your children to receive this benefit. Tell your law makers to support this health care benefit for your family. Fight organized medicine and the insurance companies. Do it. Do it for your children and the children of others. Do not let your children suffer from amblyopia (lazy eye), strabismus (eye turn) binocular vision problems such as convergence insufficiency), uncorrected refractive error and eye health problems. Don't let special interests win this one.

For now if you have a 6-12 month old child and you want a no cost assessment of their vision go to http://www.InfantSee.org for information on how to have an American Optometric Association doctor look at your little one!  

If you live in the Chicago-land area call Lyons Family Eye Care to schedule an InfantSee appointment today! DM

Myopia: Call for Papers

Myopia: Call for Papers

Feature Issue

Call for Papers

DEADLINE: April 1, 2013

• Understanding the control of ocular growth, from visual signals to biochemical cascade
• Understanding and optimizing peripheral or foveal optical signals for control of ocular growth
• Biomechanical and non-retinal influences on refractive error development
• Prediction of myopia onset or progression
• Understanding the effects of outdoor exposure on risk of myopia onset or progression
• Differences in visual function between myopes and non-myopes
• Clinical trial results for therapies to reduce risk of myopia onset or rate of progression

All manuscripts will be peer reviewed and must be submitted online at http://ovs.edmgr.com. Submissions must be prepared according to the Instructions for Authors available athttp://edmgr.ovid.com/ovs/accounts/ifauth_online.pdf. Indicate during the submission process in the "Author's Comments" box that your paper is being submitted for this feature issue.

The six Guest Editors are leading international researchers and pioneers in myopia research. They are Donald Mutti, Jane Gwiazda, Tom Norton, Frank Schaeffel, Earl Smith, and Chi-ho To.

Donald Mutti will be coordinating submitted manuscripts with the Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor. Please contact the Editorial Office ([email protected]) if you have any questions.

The Feature Issue will be published in September/October 2013.

Tony Adams

Editor-in-Chief