lifespan

Collaborative neuroimaging initiative BrainChart helps chart how brains change across the lifespan

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Source: Beth­le­hem et al (2020). A graph­i­cal sum­ma­ry of the nor­ma­tive tra­jec­to­ries of the medi­an (50th cen­tile) for each glob­al MRI phe­no­type, and key devel­op­men­tal mile­stones, as a func­tion of age (log-scaled).

For decades, growth charts have been used by pae­di­a­tri­cians as ref­er­ence tools. The charts allow health pro­fes­sion­als to plot and mea­sure a child’s height and weight from birth to young adult­hood. The per­centile scores they pro­vide, espe­cial­ly across mul­ti­ple vis­its, help doc­tors screen for con­di­tions such as obe­si­ty or inad­e­quate growth, which fall at the extremes of these scores.

Mean­while, it is pos­si­ble to mea­sure brain devel­op­ment with imag­ing tech­nolo­gies such as ultra­sound, mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing (MRI) and com­put­erised tomog­ra­phy (CT). The devel­op­ment of these tech­nolo­gies has led to a wealth of research on how the brain changes, and each year, mil­lions of clin­i­cal brain scans are per­formed world­wide. Despite this progress, there are few mea­sures that are used to aid in mon­i­tor­ing brain devel­op­ment. Why? [Read more…] about Col­lab­o­ra­tive neu­roimag­ing ini­tia­tive Brain­Chart helps chart how brains change across the lifespan

From Lifespan to Healthspan: Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer

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Yolan­da Esparza (right) and Mary Lyons (left) con­tin­ue their 2‑mile group trail ride orig­i­nat­ing from the Con­ley-Guer­rero Senior Activ­i­ty Cen­ter in Austin, Texas, on Dec. 3, 2019. (Julia Robin­son for KHN)

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AUSTIN, Texas — Retired state employ­ees Vick­ey Ben­ford, 63, and Joan Cald­well, 61, are Gold­en Rollers, a group of the over-50 set that gets out on assort­ed bikes — includ­ing trikes for adults they call “three wheels of awe­some” — for an hour of trail rid­ing and camaraderie.

“I love to exer­cise, and I like to stay fit,” said Cald­well, who tried out a recum­bent bike, a low-impact option that can be eas­i­er on the back. “It keeps me young.” [Read more…] about From Lifes­pan to Healthspan: Brain Sci­en­tists Tap Into The Secrets Of Liv­ing Well Longer

Survey of key scientific, technological and investment trends revolutionizing Brain Health in our Digital Age

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Last year I got very inter­est­ed in the func­tion­ing of the human brain and the sci­ence behind mind­ful­ness and learn­ing [1], so was quite excit­ed  to attend the Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit [2] in Decem­ber, indulging in the lat­est trends in applied neu­ro­science and dig­i­tal innovation.

The Sum­mit focused on the theme of rein­vent­ing brain health in the dig­i­tal age, and brought togeth­er lead­ing researchers, entre­pre­neurs, financiers and pol­i­cy­mak­ers pas­sion­ate with the mis­sion of mov­ing neu­ro­science and cog­ni­tive research from sci­ence labs towards appli­ca­tions in Health, Well­ness and Edu­ca­tion. Here’s a sum­ma­ry of the many things I dis­cov­ered. [Read more…] about Sur­vey of key sci­en­tif­ic, tech­no­log­i­cal and invest­ment trends rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing Brain Health in our Dig­i­tal Age

Great book review by The New York Public Library

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BrainFitnessLifecycle_webWhat Does a Brain Want? Alvaro Fer­nan­dez and the Sharp­Brains Team Put Brain Fit­ness to the Test (New York Pub­lic Library):

“Many have referred to the 21st cen­tu­ry as the cen­tu­ry of the brain. In the 20th cen­tu­ry the aver­age lifes­pan in the U.S. increased from 47 to 74, but research on the brain lagged behind. As lifes­pan increas­es this becomes more and more of a soci­etal, and per­son­al, concern…

May I rec­om­mend a book to cut through the chat­ter on the brain? The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness: How to Opti­mize Brain Health and Per­for­mance at Any Age…I dis­cov­ered Sharp­Brains when [Read more…] about Great book review by The New York Pub­lic Library

Dr. Sandra Chapman on Brainomics: How Big Data Provides Gateway to Maximize Human Cognitive Performance

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Dr. Chap­man will dis­cuss Brain­omics: How Big Data Pro­vides Gate­way to Max­i­mize Human Cog­ni­tive Per­for­mance, at the upcom­ing 2012 Sharp­Brains Vir­tu­al Sum­mit (June 7–14th, 2012).

San­dra Bond Chap­man, Ph.D., founder and chief direc­tor of the Cen­ter for Brain­Health at The Uni­ver­sity of Texas at Dal­las, is com­mit­ted to max­i­miz­ing human cog­ni­tive poten­tial across the entire human lifes­pan. As a cog­ni­tive neu­ro­sci­en­tist with more than 40 fund­ed research grants, [Read more…] about Dr. San­dra Chap­man on Brain­omics: How Big Data Pro­vides Gate­way to Max­i­mize Human Cog­ni­tive Performance

Agenda @ 2012 SharpBrains Virtual Summit (June 7–14th)

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82% of respon­dents to a 2012 Sharp­Brains sur­vey (n=3,165) agreed/ strong­ly agreed with “Adults of all ages should take charge of their own “brain fit­ness” with­out wait­ing for their doc­tors to tell them to,” and 77% agreed/ strong­ly agreed with “I would per­son­ally take a brief assess­ment every year as an “annu­al men­tal check-up.” This grow­ing aware­ness demands new ways to har­ness neu­ro­plas­tic­ity across the lifes­pan to opti­mize health, pro­duc­tiv­ity and qual­ity of life, and high­lights mar­ket oppor­tu­ni­ties. Click Here to see full Sum­mit agen­da, includ­ing 35+ speak­ers, 6 prod­uct presentation/ demos and 5 edu­ca­tion­al work­shops.