Your Weekly Dose of #5ThoughtsFriday: A description of what we think is important at BIAMD | |
#5ThoughtsFriday is Powered By:
| |
|
Conference Date: March 21-22, 2024
Do you have a new presentation or research to share with the brain injury community at the 2024 Brain Injury Association of Maryland's annual conference?
If yes, we are currently taking submissions!!!
| |
The Maryland Commission on Caregiving wants to hear from family caregivers like you. Family caregivers are people who assist adults aged 18 or older with disabilities, illnesses, diseases, or limitations that make it hard for them to take care of themselves. Caregivers help with things like personal care, household chores, managing money, arranging services, or regularly visiting to check on how they are doing. We have created a survey that will take about 15 minutes of your time. It asks questions about the care you provide to your loved one, how caregiving has affected your life, and what you need as a family caregiver. | |
|
Every parent knows that loads of screen time probably isn’t great news for our kids – but what exactly is it doing to their brains?
A new study has revealed time spent watching television or playing computer games has measurable and long-term effects on children’s brain function.
Every parent knows that loads of screen time probably isn’t great news for our kids – but what exactly is it doing to their brains?
A new study has revealed time spent watching television or playing computer games has measurable and long-term effects on children’s brain function.
The review of 23 years of neuroimaging research showed there are negative and positive impacts to screen time.
What did the study find?
The new research, published in the journal Early Education and Development, looked at 33 studies which used neuroimaging technology to measure the impact of digital technology on the brains of children under the age of 12.
In total, more than 30,000 participants were included and screen time was found to lead to changes in:
- the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which is responsible for memory and the ability to plan or to respond flexibly to situations
- the parietal lobe, which helps us to process touch, pressure, heat, cold, and pain
- the temporal lobe, which is important for memory, hearing and language
- and the occipital lobe, which helps us to interpret visual information
Researchers said early digital experiences are having a “significant impact” on the shape of children’s brains and their functioning – this was deemed as both potentially positive and negative, but mainly negative.
CLICK HERE for more.
| |
|
Lauren Leffler owns and operates a small family law and trusts and estates law firm in Howard County, Maryland. Her and her team help individuals and families through complex divorces, custodial disputes, probate processes, and with guardianship matters. In addition to being a zealous advocate, she is also a trained mediator, parent coordinator, and child advocate. Outside of her professional life, Lauren is a Howard County native, residing in Ellicott City with her husband, daughter, three stepchildren, and two dogs. In her free time, she indulges in painting, traveling, and yoga.
Lauren's law firm website - Here
410-747-1180
[email protected]
CLICK HERE to listen.
| |
|
What happens in the human brain when we learn from positive and negative experiences? To help answer that question and better understand decision-making and human behavior, scientists are studying dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that serves as a chemical messenger, facilitating communication between nerve cells in the brain and the body. It is involved in functions such as movement, cognition and learning. While dopamine is most known for its association with positive emotions, scientists are also exploring its role in negative experiences.
Now, a new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine published Dec. 1 in Science Advances shows that dopamine release in the human brain plays a crucial role in encoding both reward and punishment prediction errors.
This means that dopamine is involved in the process of learning from both positive and negative experiences, allowing the brain to adjust and adapt its behavior based on the outcomes of these experiences.
“Previously, research has shown that dopamine plays an important role in how animals learn from ‘rewarding’ (and possibly ‘punishing’) experiences. But, little work has been done to directly assess what dopamine does on fast timescales in the human brain,” said Kenneth T. Kishida, Ph.D., associate professor of physiology and pharmacology and neurosurgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
CLICK HERE to read more about the study.
|  | |
|
The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) wants to hear from you (and your friends and family) about what you consider to be the most pressing health issues for Maryland residents!
MDH has launched a collaborative initiative called “Building a Healthier Maryland," which is aimed at improving the health and well-being of all Maryland residents. Please complete a very brief survey so that your voice is heard. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean and is intended for any Maryland resident who is at least 18 years old. The survey closes on January 3, 2024.
| |
|
Recent advances allow imaging of neurons inside freely moving animals. However, to decode circuit activity, these imaged neurons must be computationally identified and tracked. This becomes particularly challenging when the brain itself moves and deforms inside an organism's flexible body, e.g. in a worm. Until now, the scientific community has lacked the tools to address the problem.
Now, a team of scientists from EPFL and Harvard have developed a pioneering AI method to track neurons inside moving and deforming animals.
The study, now published in Nature Methods, was led by Sahand Jamal Rahi at EPFL's School of Basic Sciences.
The new method is based on a convolutional neural network (CNN), which is a type of AI that has been trained to recognize and understand patterns in images.
This involves a process called "convolution," which looks at small parts of the picture -- like edges, colors, or shapes -- at a time and then combines all that information together to make sense of it and to identify objects or patterns.
The problem is that to identify and track neurons during a movie of an animal's brain, many images have to be labeled by hand because the animal appears very differently across time due to the many different body deformations.
CLICK HERE to read more.
| | |
|
|
This book is about improving your life after experiencing a stroke or traumatic brain injury. It is written in easy to understand language. The reader will find many examples and suggestions for survivors and caregivers to help make life more fulfilling and productive after a stroke or TBI.
CLICK HERE to see more.
| |
1) Quote We are Contemplating | |
|
"The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public."
-George Jessel
| |
Looking for Something fun to do in Maryland this weekend?
Click the picture below and discover a world of possibilities for things to do this weekend!
| |
|
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND !
| |
This blog is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement of treatments, individuals, or programs which appear herein. Any external links on the website are provided for the visitor’s convenience; once you click on any of these links you are leaving BIAMD's #5ThoughtsFriday blog post. BIAMD has no control over and is not responsible for the nature, content, and availability of those sites.
Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.
| | | | |
