In a surprising turn of events, a researcher has uncovered potential fraud in an entire body of research that has long suggested that amyloid plaques are behind Alzheimer’s disease. If the investigator’s findings turn out to be accurate, it means that millions of dollars in research have pointed for years in the wrong direction. Worse, in my opinion, is that misleading research means lives potentially have been lost due to breakthroughs that never happened.

If these allegations of fraud are true, perhaps more research funding will go toward the theory that Alzheimer’s is the result of what is called “Type Three Diabetes,” which may be lifestyle-related and, therefore, preventable. You may read about Type Three Diabetes and Alzheimer’s in an article from the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology.

You can read the twists and turns of the potential discovery of fraud on the Nature website.

When a colleague mentions a book, I usually listen, and boy, am I glad I listened this time. The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, by Alex Korb, PhD, is an excellent read. It’s full of tips that anyone can choose to try.

He starts by pointing out a fact that seems not to have reached most of the general public yet:  that depression is not a chemical imbalance in the brain, but is really dysfunction in the communication between parts of the brain called the pre-frontal cortex and the limbic system. From there, he goes on to explore practical things that anyone can do, mostly for free, to change the downward spiral of depression.

He explores habits, especially habits of mind, movement, and sleep, and does so in a way that is informative without being preachy. Each segment and accompanying tip are short, so that even someone who doesn’t normally read or is too unmotivated from depression to read more than a couple of paragraphs at a time can absorb the information. The beginning of the book is a little heavy on brain anatomy, and that might be a little much for a layperson to absorb, but the solution for that is to bounce over the explanations and go straight to the suggestions.

I was surprised to find that he even mentions biofeedback, though he stops short of mentioning brain-wave-based biofeedback, which is neurofeedback.

Keep in mind that Korb does not suggest or even imply that everyone should implement everything in the book. I like this practical approach to customizing tips that work for you and your unique body.

My only wish is that he had added a section on the importance of good nutrition for brain health and healing.

If you are a current or former client of mine, you may borrow the copy in my office.  Otherwise, The Upward Spiral appears to be available through most booksellers. I got my copy from Bards Alley in Vienna.

A study conducted at Charles University with collaboration from researchers at King’s College London and the University of Exeter found that certain behaviors in men over 50, known as mild behavioral impairment, are associated with a higher risk of dementia. A summary of the study published in Neuroscience News indicates that these behaviors are in five areas:  social withdrawal or apathy; mood changes, including anxiety; increased impulsivity; social inappropriateness; and holding false beliefs.

The same behaviors in women do not have this same, strong association, and the study is the first to identify gender differences in markers for cognitive decline.

You can find the article in Neuroscience News here and an abstract of the article in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease may be found here (the full study is behind a pay wall).

It’s been quite awhile since I posted, so this is the first of what will be a flurry of information.

Yesterday, Smithsonian Magazine posted an article saying that researchers have created a wearable patch that can detect neck movement and identify whiplash. They found that the patch is 90% accurate in laboratory conditions and believe their invention is a precursor to early identification of concussion. This patch, although in the early stages of development, is excellent news for athletes at all levels.

The patch will provide information on the dynamics of neck movement, which can hopefully be recorded in real time.

Researchers reported this information in the journal Nature’s Scientific Reports. You may find the journal article here, and the more layman’s interpretation in Smithsonian Magazine here.

We are taught that the brain is enormously adaptive to conditions as it grows and develops. That’s why, for example, pianists have a greater part of the brain dedicated to the hands than non-musicians, and parts of the brain dedicated to vision acquire other tasks when a person loses vision.

Wired magazine recent published an article to exploring the case of a woman who was missing a temporal lobe from birth yet suffered no loss of cognitive abilities, including language function that’s just fine. Her story and its implicationd are fascinating. Check out the article, which includes photos of MRIs, here: https://www.wired.com/story/she-was-missing-a-chunk-of-her-brain-it-didnt-matter/

I think most people are aware that heavy drinking causes cognitive impairment and shrinkage in the brain. A new study, however, indicates that light-to-moderate drinking also causes brain volume loss, and loss begins after consumption of just one serving.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania studied MRIs in 36,000 individuals, one of the largest sets of data. They found that going from zero to one serving of alcohol had little effect, but beginning from the switch from one to two servings, there was a noticeable effect. They say that alcohol consumption affects both gray and white matter and is similar to accelerated aging in the brain.

For more information, see a summary of the study at Neuroscience News, or the study itself, which appears in the journal Nature Communication.