AAICAD 2011

Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2011

Porte de Versailles - Paris, France
July 16-21, 2011

Call for Abstracts: November 2, 2010 – February 1, 2011

Submit abstracts for oral and poster presentations, plus a select number of featured research symposia sessions. Opportunities also include the Alzheimer's Imaging Consortium (AIC), a special one-day preconference event.

Submit your abstract now.

AAICAD 2011

Topics of Interest

• Biology of amyloid, tau, inflammation and other neurodegenerative mechanisms
• Epidemiology and risk factors
• Genetics and genetic testing
• Diagnosis, biomarkers, neuroimaging and clinical course of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders
• Therapeutic strategies
• Cellular and animal models
• Molecular and cellular processes and pathologies
• Social, behavioral and care research
• Prevention
• And more

MEMORY AND EMOTIONS

Patients With Amnesia Still Feel Emotions, Despite Memory Loss

A new University of Iowa study offers some good news for caregivers and loved ones of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Patients might forget a joke or a meaningful conversation -- but even so, the warm feelings associated with the experience can stick around and boost their mood.

For the study, published this week in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers showed individuals with memory loss clips of happy and sad movies. Although the participants couldn't recall what they had watched, they retained the emotions elicited by the clips. Justin Feinstein, lead study author and a student in the UI graduate programs of neuroscience and psychology, says the discovery has direct implications for Alzheimer's disease.

Feinstein conducted the study with UI neuroscience faculty members Daniel Tranel, Ph.D., UI professor of neurology and psychology, and Melissa Duff, Ph.D., UI assistant professor of communication sciences and disorders. The researchers studied five rare neurological patients with damage to their hippocampus, a part of the brain that's critical for transferring short-term memories into long-term storage. Damage to the hippocampus causes new memories to disappear. This same type of amnesia is an early sign of Alzheimer's disease.

Journal Reference:

Justin S. Feinstein, Melissa C. Duff, and Daniel Tranel. Sustained experience of emotion after loss of memory in patients with amnesia. PNAS, April 12, 2010 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0914054107

ScienceDaily (Apr. 13, 2010)

Generalization of Knowledge:
Multidisciplinary Perspectives

T. Banich, and Donna Caccamise

While the notion of generalization fits prominently into cognitive theories of learning, there is surprisingly little research literature that takes an overview of the issue from a broad multifaceted perspective. This volume remedies this by taking a multidisciplinary perspective on generalization of knowledge from several fields associated with Cognitive Science, including Cognitive Neuroscience, Computer Science, Education, Linguistics, Developmental Science, and Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

Researchers from each perspective explain how their field defines generalization -- and what practices, representations, processes, and systems in their field support generalization. They also examine when generalization is detrimental or not needed. A principal aim is the identification of general principles about generalization that can be derived from triangulation across different disciplines and approaches.

Collectively, the contributors’ multidisciplinary approaches to generalization provide new insights into this concept that will, in turn, inform future research into theory and application, including tutoring, assistive technology, and endeavors involving collaboration and distributed cognition.

NEW BOOK ON CLINICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

When Language Breaks Down

Analysing Discourse in Clinical Contexts

This is the first book to present models for comprehensively describing discourse specifically in clinical contexts and to illustrate models with detailed analyses of discourse patterns associated with degenerative (Alzheimer's) and developmental (autism spectrum) disorders. The book is aimed not only at advanced students and researchers in linguistics, discourse analysis, speech pathology and clinical psychology but also at researchers, clinicians and caregivers for whom explicit knowledge of discourse patterns might be helpful. The emphasis is on the autistic spectrum and Alzheimer’s disease but beyond these disorders and the specific analyses, the authors provide a way of thinking about language in clinical impairments. It presents numerous worked out linguistic analyses and offers suggestions for further specific research.

click here to know more

YOGIC EDUCACION & MEMORY IMPROVEMENT

Effect of yogic education system and modern education system on memory R Rangan, HR Nagendra, G Ramachandra Bhat Department of Yoga Research, Shri Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana (SVYASA), Bangalore, India

Background/Aim: Memory is more associated with the temporal cortex than other cortical areas. The two main components of memory are spatial and verbal which relate to right and left hemispheres of the brain, respectively. Many investigations have shown the beneficial effects of yoga on memory and temporal functions of the brain. This study was aimed at comparing the effect of one Gurukula Education System (GES) school based on a yoga way of life with a school using the Modern Education System (MES) on memory. Materials and Methods: Forty nine boys of ages ranging from 11-13 years were selected from each of two residential schools, one MES and the other GES, providing similar ambiance and daily routines. The boys were matched for age and socioeconomic status. The GES educational program is based around integrated yoga modules while the MES provides a conventional modern education program. Memory was assessed by means of standard spatial and verbal memory tests applicable to Indian conditions before and after an academic year. Results: Between groups there was matching at start of the academic year, while after it the GES boys showed significant enhancement in both verbal and visual memory scores than MES boys (P <>Conclusions: The present study showed that the GES meant for total personality development adopting yoga way of life is more effective in enhancing visual and verbal memory scores than the MES.

BEATRIZ GALLARDO - RESEARCH INTO CHILDREN WITH ADHD

RESEARCH INTO LANGUAGE IN ATENTION-DEFICIT HIPERACTIVITY DISORDER

Given my research interest in children with ADHD, I would like to hightlight the work of Beatriz Gallardo into such kind of issue. She is Professor of General Linguistics in the Universitat de València (Spain). Her research focuses specially discourse pragmatics and its application to the field of language impairment.

To read more about her just click here: http://www.uv.es/pauls/