The brain is a vast frontier, with neurology students as our future pioneers on the front lines helping those with nervous system disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and brain injuries following 12 years of concentrated studies, internships and residency.

To help these dedicated students in their exploration the 50 Best Blogs for Neurology Students has been complied. This is a must read for anyone with even a passing interest in the wondrous brain! Some of my personal favorites are included, such as Renegade Neurologist, the blog of David Perlmutter, MD, a pioneer himself in the prevention and treatment of neurodegenerative disease.  Did I mention The Brain Understanding Itself made the list?  A nod to Suzane Smith for letting me know.

The Listening Program® (TLP) is a music listening therapy that provides engaging brain stimulation to improve performance in school, work and life. This introductory webinar is free and will provide an overview of  the auditory system, auditory processing, and how music listening therapy can help improve the life of a child on the autism spectrum.

Date: Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009
Times: USA  11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time)
9:00 AM – 10:00 AM MST (Mountain Standard Time)
India    9:30 PM – 10:30 PM IST (Indian Standard Time)

TO REGISTER: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/790568674

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about the Webinar.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
PC
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Mac
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4 (Tiger®) or newer

Music works, music heals; it unlocks our emotions, creativity, spirituality, and the infinite potential of the brain.  It is also a way to tap into the memories of someone suffering with Alzheimer’s Disease according to Dr. Concetta Tomaino, who has studied the therapeutic effects of music for more than 30 years.

Caregivers have observed for decades that Alzheimer’s patients can still remember and sing songs long after they’ve stopped recognizing names and faces. Many hospitals and nursing homes use music as recreation, since it brings patients pleasure. But beyond the entertainment value, there’s growing evidence that listening to music can also help stimulate seemingly lost memories and even help restore some cognitive function.

“What I believe is happening is that by engaging very basic mechanisms of emotions and listening, music is stimulating dormant areas of the brain that haven’t been accessible due to degenerative disease,” says Concetta Tomaino, executive director of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a nonprofit organization founded at Beth Abraham in 1995. 1

Read the complete article by Melinda Beck in The Wall Street Journal.

1Retrieved November, 26, 2009 The Wall Street Journal “A Key for Unlocking Memories” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704538404574540163096944766.html

10 Best Brain Blogs includes my favorites from some of the leading minds in neuroscience, neurotechnology, and brain fitness. These blogs cover topics ranging from neuroplasticity, anthropology, and neurobiology to brain training programs and so much more. The list offers a little something to engage anybody’s prefrontal cortex!  I hope you like it.  

To read 10 Best Brain Blogs visit  http://bit.ly/LGaPi.

Although I have not yet seen the program I know it will be outstanding. Why? In part because my friend Don Campbell, author of  The Mozart Effect and nearly two dozen other books on the power of music was one of the first co-producers for two years. A decade in the making, The Music Instinct should prove to be a key resource for anyone interested in music and the brain.        

Yo Yo Ma plays Bach, Bobby McFerrin creates an improvised melody with his son Tyler, and the acclaimed percussionist Evelyn Glennie, who happens to be deaf, shares how she hears music through the vibrations in her body (bone conduction). There is so much more;  music and evolution, medicine, the brain, the physics of sounds, and interviews, need I say more?

I’ll be joining the conversation on Twitter @alexdoman. Hope to see you there!  Please share your thoughts here after you watch.

The findings, published in the May 5 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, show for the first time that a sex hormone can directly affect auditory function, and point toward the possibility that estrogen controls other types of sensory processing as well. Understanding how estrogen changes the brain’s response to sound, say the authors, might open the door to new ways of treating hearing deficiencies.

Of particular interest is that estrogen modulates the gain of auditory neurons. This finding could be a critical to the successful treatment of  sound discrimination problems and hypersensitivity to sounds in the future. 

Advanced Brain Technologies featured in T

This annual report profiles the top 20 companies in the brain fitness software market.  Despite being one of the first movers in the brain fitness market with the introduction of the original BrainBuilder® software program in 1999 Advanced Brain Technologies is grouped in the “Wait and See” category in terms of  market position. This is due to our focus not being exclusively brain fitness software.

As a market leader in music-based intervention we are diversified beyond software unlike the other leading companies in the report which offer strictly software based solutions for assessment and improvement of cognitive functions.  

With new research and developments in market sectors including; consumer, healthcare, K-12, corporate, and military, our market position will be shifting significantly in the next 12 to 24 months.

Report Highlights

1) Growth market: Consumers, seniors’ communities and insurance providers drove year on year sustained growth, from $225m in 2007 to $265m in 2008. Revenues may reach between $1 billion to $5 billion by 2015, depending on how important problems (Public Awareness, Navigating Claims, Research, Health Culture, Lack of Assessment) are addressed.

2) Increased interest and confusion: 61% of respondents Strongly Agree with the statement “Addressing cognitive and brain health should be a healthcare priority.” But, 65% Agree/Strongly Agree “I don’t really know what to expect from products making brain claims.”

3) Investment in R&D seeds future growth: Landmark investments by insurance providers and government-funded research institutes testing new brain fitness applications planted new seeds for future growth.

4) Becoming standard in residential facilities: Over 700 residential facilities – mostly Independent and Assisted Living facilities and CCRCs – have installed computerized cognitive training programs.

5) Customer satisfaction: Consumers seem more satisfied with computer-based products than paper-based options. But, satisfaction differs by product. When asked “I got real value for my money”, results were as follows: Lumosity.com (65% Agree), Puzzle Books (60%), Posit Science (52%), Nintendo (51%) agreed. Posit Science (53% Agree) and Lumosity.com (51%) do better than Puzzle Books (39%) and Nintendo (38%) at “I have seen the results I wanted.”

6) Assessments: Increasing adoption of computer-based cognitive assessments to baseline and track cognitive functions over time in military, sports, and clinical contexts. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America now advocates for widespread cognitive screenings after 65-75.

7) Specific computerized cognitive training and videogames have been shown to improve brain functions, but the key questions are, “Which ones”, and “Who needs what when?”

8) Aggressive marketing claims are creating confusion and skepticism, resulting in a distracting controversy between two misleading extremes: (a) “buying product XYZ can rejuvenate your brain Y years” or (b) “those products don’t work; just do one more crossword puzzle.” The upcoming book The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness aims to help consumers navigate these claims.

9) Developers can be classified into four groups, based on our Market and Research Momentum analysis: we find 4 Leaders, 8 High Potentials, 3 Crosswords 2.0, and 6 Wait & See companies.

10) Increased differentiation: Leading companies are better defining their value proposition and distribution channels to reach specific segments such as retirement communities, schools, or healthcare providers.

Order a copy of the report at www.sharpbrains.com.

The Brain Understanding Itself was just added to All the top Neuroscience news on Alltop http://neuroscience.alltop.com/. Check it out.

To read the full article visit http://www.livescience.com/health/080908-detailed-memory.html