Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 323)

This bibliography lists 125 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System during April, 1989. Subject coverage includes; aerospace medicine and psychology, life support systems and controlled environments, safety equipment exobiology and extraterrestrial life, and flight crew behavior and performance

Measuring cognitive load and cognition: metrics for technology-enhanced learning

This critical and reflective literature review examines international research published over the last decade to summarise the different kinds of measures that have been used to explore cognitive load and critiques the strengths and limitations of those focussed on the development of direct empirical approaches. Over the last 40 years, cognitive load theory has become established as one of the most successful and influential theoretical explanations of cognitive processing during learning. Despite this success, attempts to obtain direct objective measures of the theory's central theoretical construct – cognitive load – have proved elusive. This obstacle represents the most significant outstanding challenge for successfully embedding the theoretical and experimental work on cognitive load in empirical data from authentic learning situations. Progress to date on the theoretical and practical approaches to cognitive load are discussed along with the influences of individual differences on cognitive load in order to assess the prospects for the development and application of direct empirical measures of cognitive load especially in technology-rich contexts

Learning, Arts, and the Brain: The Dana Consortium Report on Arts and Cognition

Reports findings from multiple neuroscientific studies on the impact of arts training on the enhancement of other cognitive capacities, such as reading acquisition, sequence learning, geometrical reasoning, and memory

PET and P300 Relationships in Early Alzheimer\u27s Disease

The P300 (P3) wave of the auditory brain event-related potential was investigated in patients with probable Alzheimer\u27s disease to determine whether P300 latency discriminated these patients from controls and whether prolonged P300 latency correlated with rates of brain glucose metabolism as measured by Positron Emission Tomography. P300 latency was prolonged by more than 1.5 standard deviations from age expectancy in 14 of 18 patients, but none of 17 controls. In these subjects P300 latency was shown to be inversely correlated with relative metabolic rates of parietal and, to a lesser extent, temporal and frontal association areas, but not with subcortical areas

Zinc intake, status and indices of cognitive function in adults and children: a systematic review and meta-analysis

In developing countries, deficiencies of micronutrients are thought to have a major impact on child development; however, a consensus on the specific relationship between dietary zinc intake and cognitive function remains elusive. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the relationship between zinc intake, status and indices of cognitive function in children and adults. A systematic literature search was conducted using EMBASE, MEDLINE and Cochrane Library databases from inception to March 2014. Included studies were those that supplied zinc as supplements or measured dietary zinc intake. A meta-analysis of the extracted data was performed where sufficient data were available. Of all of the potentially relevant papers, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria, 12 of which were randomised controlled trials (RCTs; 11 in children and 1 in adults) and 6 were observational studies (2 in children and 4 in adults). Nine of the 18 studies reported a positive association between zinc intake or status with one or more measure of cognitive function. Meta-analysis of data from the adult’s studies was not possible because of limited number of studies. A meta-analysis of data from the six RCTs conducted in children revealed that there was no significant overall effect of zinc intake on any indices of cognitive function: intelligence, standard mean difference of <0.001 (95% confidence interval (CI) –0.12, 0.13) P=0.95; executive function, standard mean difference of 0.08 (95% CI, –0.06, 022) P=0.26; and motor skills standard mean difference of 0.11 (95% CI –0.17, 0.39) P=0.43. Heterogeneity in the study designs was a major limitation, hence only a small number (n=6) of studies could be included in the meta-analyses. Meta-analysis failed to show a significant effect of zinc supplementation on cognitive functioning in children though, taken as a whole, there were some small indicators of improvement on aspects of executive function and motor development following supplementation but high-quality RCTs are necessary to investigate this further

Brain asymmetries related to language with emphasis on entorhinal cortex and basal forebrain

Anatomical asymmetries of the human brain are important in at least four respects: 1) they can serve as potential indicators of the evolutionary foundations of language, 2) they can be used for comparative analysis of neural specializations for communication in primates, 3) they may provide underlying structural correlates for functional imaging (fMRI, PET) and genetic studies, and finally 4) they can be used for studying disorders which are suspected to result from either disturbed development of cerebral asymmetry or asymmetric damage to the brain. In the first part of this review, we give a general framework of this field through the brief descriptions of the milestone discoveries and major conceptual advances as they emerged throughout the last 150 years. In the second part, we provide a more detailed view on the functional relevance that asymmetries of the entorhinal cortex and basal forebrain may have on the language

Opioid dependence: brain structure and function : a magnetic resonance imaging, neuropsychological, and electromagnetic study

Background: Opiod dependence is a chronic severe brain disorder associated with enormous health and social problems. The relapse back to opioid abuse is very high especially in early abstinence, but neuropsychological and neurophysiological deficits during opioid abuse or soon after cessation of opioids are scarcely investigated. Also the structural brain changes and their correlations with the length of opioid abuse or abuse onset age are not known. In this study the cognitive functions, neural basis of cognitive dysfunction, and brain structural changes was studied in opioid-dependent patients and in age and sex matched healthy controls. Materials and methods: All subjects participating in the study, 23 opioid dependents of whom, 15 were also benzodiazepine and five cannabis co-dependent and 18 healthy age and sex matched controls went through Structured Clinical Interviews (SCID) to obtain DSM-IV axis I and II diagnosis and to exclude psychiatric illness not related to opioid dependence or personality disorders. Simultaneous magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) measurements were done on 21 opioid-dependent individuals on the day of hospitalization for withdrawal therapy. The neural basis of auditory processing was studied and pre-attentive attention and sensory memory were investigated. During the withdrawal 15 opioid-dependent patients participated in neuropsychological tests, measuring fluid intelligence, attention and working memory, verbal and visual memory, and executive functions. Fifteen healthy subjects served as controls for the MEG-EEG measurements and neuropsychological assessment. The brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was obtained from 17 patients after approximately two weeks abstinence, and from 17 controls. The areas of different brain structures and the absolute and relative volumes of cerebrum, cerebral white and gray matter, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces were measured and the Sylvian fissure ratio (SFR) and bifrontal ratio were calculated. Also correlation between the cerebral measures and neuropsychological performance was done. Results: MEG-EEG measurements showed that compared to controls the opioid-dependent patients had delayed mismatch negativity (MMN) response to novel sounds in the EEG and P3am on the contralateral hemisphere to the stimulated ear in MEG. The equivalent current dipole (ECD) of N1m response was stronger in patients with benzodiazepine co-dependence than those without benzodiazepine co-dependence or controls. In early abstinence the opioid dependents performed poorer than the controls in tests measuring attention and working memory, executive function and fluid intelligence. Test results of the Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT), testing fluid intelligence, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), measuring attention and working memory correlated positively with the days of abstinence. MRI measurements showed that the relative volume of CSF was significantly larger in opioid dependents, which could also be seen in visual analysis. Also Sylvian fissures, expressed by SFR were wider in patients, which correlated negatively with the age of opioid abuse onset. In controls the relative gray matter volume had a positive correlation with composite cognitive performance, but this correlation was not found in opioid dependents in early abstinence. Conclusions: Opioid dependents had wide Sylvian fissures and CSF spaces indicating frontotemporal atrophy. Dilatation of Sylvian fissures correlated with the abuse onset age. During early withdrawal cognitive performance of opioid dependents was impaired. While intoxicated the pre-attentive attention to novel stimulus was delayed and benzodiazepine co-dependence impaired sound detection. All these changes point to disturbances on frontotemporal areas.Huumeriippuvuus on krooninen aivosairaus, joka johtaa aineen jatkuvaan käyttöön huolimatta käytön aiheuttamista vakavista haitoista kaikilla elämän alueilla. Huumeriippuvuuteen liittyy myös huomattava huumeidenkäytön uusiutumisriski erityisesti varhaisen vieroituksen aikana, mutta vielä pitkänkin päihteettömän ajanjakson jälkeen. Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää pitkäaikaisen opioidien (heroiini ja buprenorfiini) väärinkäytön vaikutusta aivojen rakenteeseen magneettikuvauksella ja toimintaan aivojen sähköisiä vasteita mittaavilla elektroenkefalografia (EEG) - ja magnetoenkefalografiatutkimuksilla (MEG). Lisäksi kognitiivista suoriutumista selvitettiin varhaisen vieroitushoidon aikana neuropsykologisilla testeillä. Tutkimukseen osallistui 23 opioidiriippuvaista henkilöä, joista 15 oli myös bentsodiatsepiiniriippuvaisia. Tutkittavilla oli vakava pitkäaikainen opioidiriippuvuus. Tutkittavien tuloksia verrattiin iältään ja sukupuoleltaan vastaavien terveiden henkilöiden tutkimustuloksiin. Kaikille tutkittaville tehtiin strukturoidut psykiatriset haastattelut, joilla pois suljettiin sellaiset psykiatriset sairaudet, jotka eivät liity päihteiden käyttöön tai persoonallisuushäiriöihin. Kaikilla opioidiriippuvaisilla oli persoonallisuushäiriöitä, mutta verro-keilla ei niitä todettu. Vieroitushoitoon tulopäivänä opioidiriippuvaisille tehtiin samanaikainen EEG-MEG mittaus, jossa tutkittiin kuulovasteita. Tahatonta tarkkavaisuutta tutkittiin ns. poikkeavuusnegatiivisuus vasteella (mismatch negativity, MMN) ja P3a vasteella. MEG-EEG mittauksessa potilailla olivat MMN vaste EEG mittauksessa ja P3a vaste MEG mittauksessa viivästyneet viitaten tahattoman tarkkaavaisuuden muutokseen. Näitä vasteita pidetään kognitiivisina, alkeellista työmuistia edustavina vasteina. Potilailla, joilla oli myös bentsodiatsepiiniriippuvuus, oli kuuloärsykkeen aiheuttama vaste voimistunut. Aineiden sekakäyttö siis lisäsi kuulovasteen muutoksia. Vieroitushoidon aikana 15 opioidiriippuvaiselle tehtiin laaja neuropsykologinen tutkimus, jolla selvitettiin joustavaa älykkyyttä, muistin eri osa-alueita ja toiminnan ohjausta. Neuro-psykologisessa testissä potilaat menestyivät verrokeita huonommin tarkkavaisuutta ja työmuistia (PASAT) sekä toiminnan ohjausta (RFFT) ja joustavaa älykkyyttä mittaavissa tes-teissä (CFIT). PASAT ja CFIT testien tulokset korreloivat positiivisesti vieroitushoidon kestoon. Opioidiriipuvaisten kokonaissuoriutuminen neuropsykologisissa testeissä vieroitusvaiheessa oli verrokeita vaatimattomampi. Kahden viikon vieroitushoitojakson lopussa 17 opioidiriippuvaista kävi aivojen 1,5 T magneettiikuvauksessa. Kuvista analysoitiin valkean ja harmaan aineen sekä aivoselkäydin-nestetilojen tilavuudet sekä tehtiin aivorakenteiden pinta-ala mittauksia ja laskettiin rakenteiden suhteita. Myös korrelaatiot eri tutkimustulosten ja päihdehistorian välille laskettiin. Aivojen magneettiikuvauksessa todettiin, että aivojen sivukammiot olivat laajemmat kuin verrokeilla. Opioidiriipuvaisilla Sylvian uurteet oli leveämmät suhteessa aivojen poikkimittaan kuin verrokeilla ja tämä suhde korreloi opioidien käytön aloitusikään. Löydös viittaa aivojen otsa- ja ohimolohkojen surkastumiseen. Aivojen tilavuusmittauksissa todettiin aivojen kokonaisvolyymin olevan verrokeita pienempi ja suhteellisen aivoselkäydinnestemäärän olevan tutkittavilla merkittävästi verrokeita suurempi. Verrokeilla neuropsykologinen kokonaissuoriutuminen korreloi positiivisesti harmaan aineen määrään, mutta opioidirippuvaisilla henkilöillä tällaista korrelaatiota ei havaittu, voidaan siis ajatella vieroitusvaiheen muutosten heikentävän opioidiriippuvaisten suoriutumista ehkä pysyvämpiä muutoksia enemmän. Kaikissa eri tutkimuksissa saadut tulokset viittaavat pääosin otsa- ja ohimolohkojen toiminnan ja rakenteen muutoksiin opioidiriippuvaisilla