Defining Exposures in Professional Football: Professional American-Style Football Players as an Occupational Cohort.

Studies of professional American football players have shown that football-related activities lead to acute injuries and may have long-term adverse health outcomes including osteoarthritis, neurocognitive impairment, and cardiovascular disease. However, the full complement of what constitutes professional football exposure has yet to be effectively articulated. Most likely, professional football exposure encompasses a multifaceted array of experiences including head impacts and joint stresses, long-term pain medication use, dietary restrictions, and strenuous training regimens.

Therapeutic noninvasive brain stimulation in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

Purpose Of Review: Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease without effective pharmacological treatment. Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), are increasingly being investigated for their potential to ameliorate the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).

Recent Findings: A comprehensive literature review for primary research reports that investigated the ability of TMS/tES to improve cognition in ADRD patients yielded a total of 20 reports since 2016.

Cerebellar-Prefrontal Network Connectivity and Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia.

Objective: The interpretability of results in psychiatric neuroimaging is significantly limited by an overreliance on correlational relationships. Purely correlational studies cannot alone determine whether behavior-imaging relationships are causal to illness, functionally compensatory processes, or purely epiphenomena. Negative symptoms (e.

Neural function in DCC mutation carriers with and without mirror movements.

Objective: Recently identified mutations of the axon guidance molecule receptor gene, DCC, present an opportunity to investigate, in living human brain, mechanisms affecting neural connectivity and the basis of mirror movements, involuntary contralateral responses that mirror voluntary unilateral actions. We hypothesized that haploinsufficient DCC mutation carriers with mirror movements would exhibit decreased DCC mRNA expression, a functional ipsilateral corticospinal tract, greater "mirroring" motor representations, and reduced interhemispheric inhibition. DCC mutation carriers without mirror movements might exhibit some of these features.

Sham tDCS: A hidden source of variability? Reflections for further blinded, controlled trials.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique increasingly used to modulate neural activity in the living brain. In order to establish the neurophysiological, cognitive or clinical effects of tDCS, most studies compare the effects of active tDCS to those observed with a sham tDCS intervention. In most cases, sham tDCS consists in delivering an active stimulation for a few seconds to mimic the sensations observed with active tDCS and keep participants blind to the intervention.

Prevention of Early Postoperative Decline (PEaPoD): protocol for a randomized, controlled feasibility trial.

Background: Delirium is associated with a significantly increased risk of postoperative morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, delirium has been associated with an increased risk of prolonged cognitive deficits and accelerated long-term cognitive decline. To date, experimental interventions for delirium have mainly focused on alternative pharmacologic and behavioral strategies in the postoperative period.

Challenges of differential placebo effects in contemporary medicine: The example of brain stimulation.

‘Differential placebo effects’ is the concept that different types of placebos (e.g. inert pill versus sham device) may yield different magnitudes of placebo effects.

Change in Emotional and Theory of Mind Processing in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Pilot Study.

Changes in emotional processing (EP) and in theory of mind (TOM) are central across treatment approaches for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Although the assessment of EP relies on the observation of a patient's self-criticism in a two-chair dialogue, an individual's TOM assessments is made based on responses to humorous stimuli based on false beliefs. For this pilot study, we assessed eight patients with BPD before and after a 3-month-long psychiatric treatment, using functional magnetic resonance imaging and behavioral tasks.

The Role of Cognitive Reserve in Alzheimer's Disease and Aging: A Multi-Modal Imaging Review.

Comforts in modern society have generally been associated with longer survival rates, enabling individuals to reach advanced age as never before in history. With the increase in longevity, however, the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, has also doubled. Nevertheless, most of the observed variance, in terms of time of clinical diagnosis and progression, often remains striking.

Age-related differences in default-mode network connectivity in response to intermittent theta-burst stimulation and its relationships with maintained cognition and brain integrity in healthy aging.

The default-mode network (DMN) is affected by advancing age, where particularly long-range connectivity has been consistently reported to be reduced as compared to young individuals. We examined whether there were any differences in the effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) in DMN connectivity between younger and older adults, its associations with cognition and brain integrity, as well as with long-term cognitive status. Twenty-four younger and 27 cognitively normal older adults were randomly assigned to receive real or sham iTBS over the left inferior parietal lobule between two resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) acquisitions.

Elevated mirror neuron system activity in bipolar mania: Evidence from a transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

Objectives: The role of the "mirror neuron system" (MNS) in the pathophysiology of mood disorders is not well studied. Given its posited role in the often-impaired socio-emotional processes like intention detection, empathy, and imitation, we compared putative MNS-activity in patients with bipolar mania and healthy comparison subjects. We also examined the association between putative MNS-activity and hyper-imitative behaviors in patients.

Motor cortical plasticity in schizophrenia: A meta-analysis of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation - Electromyography studies.

Background: Several lines of investigations converge upon aberrant synaptic plasticity as a potential pathophysiological characteristic of schizophrenia. In vivo experiments using neuromodulatory perturbation techniques like Transcranial Magnetic and Direct Current Stimulation (TMS & tDCS) have been increasingly used to measure 'motor cortical plasticity' in schizophrenia. A systematic quantification of cortical plasticity and its moderators in schizophrenia is however lacking.

Robotic Arm Rehabilitation in Chronic Stroke Patients With Aphasia May Promote Speech and Language Recovery (but Effect Is Not Enhanced by Supplementary tDCS).

This study aimed to determine the extent to which robotic arm rehabilitation for chronic stroke may promote recovery of speech and language function in individuals with aphasia. We prospectively enrolled 17 individuals from a hemiparesis rehabilitation study pairing intensive robot assisted therapy with sham or active tDCS and evaluated their speech ( = 17) and language ( = 9) performance before and after a 12-week (36 session) treatment regimen. Performance changes were evaluated with paired -tests comparing pre- and post-test measures.

The Barcelona Brain Health Initiative: A Cohort Study to Define and Promote Determinants of Brain Health.

The Barcelona Brain Health Initiative (BBHI) is an ongoing prospective longitudinal study focused on identifying determinants of brain health. The main objectives are: (i) to characterize lifestyle, cognitive, behavioral and environmental markers related to a given individual's cognitive and mental functions in middle to old age, (ii) to assess the biological determinants predictive of maintenance of brain health, and (iii) to evaluate the impact of a controlled multi-dimensional lifestyle intervention on improving and maintaining brain health. The BBHI cohort consists of >4500 healthy participants aged 40-65 years followed through online questionnaires (Phase I) assessing participants' self-perceived health and lifestyle factors in seven different domains: overall health, physical exercise, cognitive activity, sleep, nutrition, social interactions, and life purpose.

Brain stimulation and physical performance.

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques have been used for decades to study brain function and for the treatment of various neurological disease. These techniques involve the passage of electrical current or magnetic field in a controlled manner to a targeted brain area. Recently, experimental studies explored the application of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) for the improvement of physical performance in healthy individuals.

Durability of antidepressant response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The therapeutic options for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) encompass a range of neuromodulatory techniques, including repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). While rTMS is safe and has documented short-term efficacy, durability of antidepressant effects is poorly established.

Objective: Assess existing evidence regarding durability of rTMS-induced antidepressant response.

The Effects of Waveform and Current Direction on the Efficacy and Test-Retest Reliability of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

The pulse waveform and current direction of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) influence its interactions with the neural substrate; however, their role in the efficacy and reliability of single- and paired-pulse TMS measures is not fully understood. We investigated how pulse waveform and current direction affect the efficacy and test-retest reliability of navigated, single- and paired-pulse TMS measures. 23 healthy adults (aged 18-35 years) completed two identical TMS sessions, assessing resting motor threshold (RMT), motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), cortical silent period (cSP), short- and long-interval intra-cortical inhibition (SICI and LICI), and intracortical facilitation (ICF) using either monophasic posterior-anterior (mono; n = 9), monophasic anterior-posterior (mono; n = 7), or biphasic (bi; n = 7) pulses.

Relation of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears to Potential Chronic Cardiovascular diseases.

We have enrolled a cohort of former National Football League players (n = 3,506) who played since 1960 to assess potential long term health consequences associated with participating in the sport. Each participant has completed a self-administered questionnaire including reporting of physician-diagnosed health conditions. One of the early assessments was to evaluate whether anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears were associated with later life co-morbidities, including cardiovascular effects.

Reduced motor cortex inhibition and a 'cognitive-first' prioritisation strategy for older adults during dual-tasking.

It is well established that older adults are less able to perform attentionally demanding motor tasks, placing them at greater risk of accident-related injury. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate whether the interplay between prefrontal and motor cortex activity could predict such age-related performance deficits. Using a dual-task (DT) paradigm, 15 younger and 15 older adults participated in experiment 1, where brain activity was simultaneously measured using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

The Illusion of the Perfect Brain Enhancer.

Many questions loom over transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive form of neurostimulation in which constant, low current is delivered directly to areas of the brain using small electrodes. It was first established in neuroscience research in the 1950s and 60s, but has seen rapid growth, particularly in the last five years. Originally developed to help patients with brain injuries such as strokes, tDCS is now also used to enhance language and mathematical ability, attention span, problem solving, memory, coordination, and even gaming skills.

Studying Implicit Social Cognition with Noninvasive Brain Stimulation.

Given that globalization has brought different sociocultural groups together on an unprecedented scale, understanding the neurobiology underlying intergroup social behavior has never been more urgent. Social and cognitive scientists are increasingly using noninvasive brain-stimulation techniques (NBS) to explore the neural mechanisms underlying implicit attitudes and stereotyping. NBS methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS), can interfere with ongoing brain activity in targeted brain areas and distributed networks, and thus offer unique insights into the mechanisms underlying how we perceive, understand, and make decisions about others.

Atrophy in Distributed Networks Predicts Cognition in Alzheimer's Disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) are common causes of cognitive decline among older adults and share strong epidemiological links. Distinct patterns of cortical atrophy are observed in AD and T2DM, but robust comparisons between structure-function relationships across these two disease states are lacking.

Objective: To compare how atrophy within distributed brain networks is related to cognition across the spectrum of cognitive aging.

Feasibility of Aerobic Exercise in the Subacute Phase of Recovery From Traumatic Brain Injury: A Case Series.

Background And Purpose: Aerobic exercise is as important for individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) as for the general population; however, the approach to aerobic training may require some adaptation. The objective of the trial program was to examine the feasibility of introducing aerobic physical exercise programs into the subacute phase of multidisciplinary rehabilitation from moderate to severe TBI, which includes computerized cognitive training.

Case Description: Five individuals undergoing inpatient rehabilitation with moderate or severe TBIs who also have concomitant physical injuries.