Although anyone may develop the disorder, most of the people who are diagnosed with aphasia are middle-aged or older. According to the National Aphasia Association, there are about 80,000 cases of aphasia each year, only from strokes. There are about one million people in the United States currently living with aphasia.

People with aphasia speak in short or incomplete sentences that do not make sense, use unrecognizable words, interpret figurative language literally, begin to make spelling errors and lose the ability to read and write. It is important to see a doctor when the person begins having trouble speaking or comprehending speech.

Aphasia is diagnosed through tests to measure language skills and comprehension. These tests assess the person’s ability to name common objects, engage in a conversation and understand and use words correctly, among others. A computerized tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may also be performed to quickly identify what’s causing the aphasia. The treatment for aphasia is speech therapy.

The scientists, led by Ralph Adolphs, Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology and postdoctoral scholar Daniel P. Kennedy, were able to make the link between the amygdale and real-life human social interaction through a unique patient, a 42-year-old woman known as SM, who has extensive damage to the amygdala on both sides of her brain.

SM has difficulty recognizing fear in the faces of others, and in judging the trustworthiness of someone, two consequences of amygdala lesions that Adolphs and colleagues published in prior studies. Additionally, during his years of studying her, Adolphs also noticed that the very outgoing SM is almost too friendly, to the point of “violating” what others might perceive as their own personal space. “She is extremely friendly, and she wants to approach people more than normal. It’s something that immediately becomes apparent as you interact with her,” says Kennedy.

Previous studies of humans never had revealed an association between the amygdala and personal space. From their knowledge of the literature, however, the researchers knew that monkeys with amygdala lesions preferred to stay in closer proximity to other monkeys and humans than did healthy monkeys.

The experiment used what is known as the stop-distance technique. Briefly, the subject (SM or one of 20 other volunteers, representing a cross-section of ages, ethnicities, educations, and genders) stands a predetermined distance from an experimenter, then walks toward the experimenter and stops at the point where they feel most comfortable. The chin-to-chin distance between the subject and the experimenter is determined with a digital laser measurer.

Among the 20 other subjects, the average preferred distance was .64 meters—roughly two feet. SM’s preferred distance was just .34 meters, or about one foot. Unlike other subjects, who reported feelings of discomfort when the experimenter went closer than their preferred distance, there was no point at which SM became uncomfortable; even nose-to-nose, she was at ease.

While this theory has not been recurrently proven, it is the foundation on which scientists can begin a new series of testing in the human brain. To learn more about the latest news on brain research visit the neuroscience department at NorthShore University HealthSystem.

The question then becomes why. Unfortunately, the doctors at Severance Mental Health Hospital in Seoul discovered that the reason for the steep spike is much closer to home than people realize. The main cause is not genetic, but instead routine daily activities whose stress levels have been heighted due to added pressures to succeed from society, friends and family.

“It is largely due to the competitive atmosphere at schools and pressure from their parents that increasing number of young students are displaying symptoms of OCD,” said Kim Chan-Hyung, director of Severance Mental Health Hospital in Seoul.
Researchers will continue to conduct more tests to ensure that these are cases of OCD and not just symptoms that everyone exhibits when anxious.

To learn more about OCD and other anxiety related disorders visit the neurosciences department at NorthShore University HealthSystem.

Dr. Marian said that it is imperative to know the warning signs of stroke. These include sudden weakness or numbness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body; sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes; sudden trouble speaking or confusion; sudden trouble walking or loss of balance or coordination; sudden severe headache.

Furthermore he added, it is important to know and treat your own personal risk factors for heart disease and stroke as they are unique to each individual. Common risk factors include high blood pressure and cholesterol; diabetes; smoking; excess alcohol or illicit drug use; and known heart disease. Work with your doctor to keep these under control.

To learn more about stroke and its warning signs visit the neuroscience department at NorthShore University HealthSystems.

The following are three very reliable techniques that will allow your baby to sleep through the night.

White Noise
Babies enjoy and are soothed by the chatter of the crowd and other types of noise.  Some great white noise resources are a vacuum, hair dryer, a radio channel that doesn’t come in too well, and perhaps Daddy trying to sing.

Swaddling
Babies have been in a very confined place for the last 40 weeks and as uncomfortable as it seems to adults, it’s the epitome of comfort for babies.  One of the best ways to attempt to replicate this feeling is to swaddle babies so they feel comforted and cradled throughout the night.  Depending on the blanket used, swaddling can make babies through the night.

Routine
All humans are creatures of habit.  What’s the problem with starting a baby on a good schedule from early on in life?  In its earliest weeks, a baby will definitely dictate the parent’s life.  Its normal, but to ease a parent’s life it is important to start creating a normal bedtime routine for the baby.  Bath time, feeding and bedtime is a good routine.  On nights in which a bath is not needed schedule a short, soothing “massage” followed by feeding and bedtime.  If the parent remains consistent with the baby, bedtime will be made easier….eventually.

These are several helpful tips parents can use to not only help their babies get a good night’s sleep, but also ensure they get to eliminate some of those bags under their eyes. To learn more about sleep patterns and tips visit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.

The foundation for the current study was based upon a study conducted in 2006 in which Italian researchers found that music with faster tempos resulted in increased breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. When the music was paused, breathing, heart rate and blood pressure decreased, sometimes below the beginning rate. Slower music caused declines in heart rates.

This current study is an extension of those findings in which researchers discovered swelling crescendos appear to induce moderate arousal while decrescendos induce relaxation. In music, a crescendo is a gradual volume increase, and a decrescendo is a gradual volume decrease. The study consisted of 24 healthy Caucasians matched for age and sex — 24 to 26 years old with 12 experienced singers (nine women) and 12 participants (seven women) who had no previous musical training. Study participants were fitted with headphones and were attached to electrocardiogram (ECG) and monitors to measure blood pressure, cerebral artery flow, respiration and narrowing of blood vessels on the skin.

Five random tracks of classical music were played — including selections from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; an aria from Puccini’s Turandot; a Bach cantata (BMW 169); Va Pensiero from Nabucco; Libiam Nei Lieti Calici from La Traviata — as well as two minutes of silence.

Researchers found:

• Every crescendo led to increased narrowing of blood vessels under the skin, increased blood pressure and heart rate and increased respiration amplitude. In each music track the extent of the effect was proportional to the change in music profile.
• During the silent pause, changes decreased, with blood vessels under the skin dilating and marked reductions in heart rate and blood pressure. Unlike with music, silence reduced heart rate and other variables, indicating relaxation.
• Music phrases around 10 seconds long, like those used in “Va Pensiero” and “Libiam Nei Lieti Calici,” synchronized inherent cardiovascular rhythm, thus modulating cardiovascular control.

These new findings provide great potential for the way stroke victims can be treated. To learn more about treatment options and recent treatment discoveries for stroke patients visit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.

Senior investigator Golda Ginsberg, PH.D., a child psychologist at Hopkins Children’s and associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says “data show that the children of parents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder are up to 7 times more likely to develop an anxiety disorder themselves, and up to 65 percent of children living with an anxious parent meet the criteria for anxiety disorder.”

Researchers analyzed families in which both parents and children struggled with anxiety disorder. The study found that by treating the whole family through group therapy, the children’s anxiety disorder symptoms decreased by 65% as opposed to 20% to those that received individual treatment.

To learn more about this study parents can email the research team at CAPS@JHMI.EDU. Additionally, to learn more about anxiety disorders and treatment options visit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.

Claustrophobia develops as the mind makes the association that small spaces psychologically translate to some imminent danger. This typically occurs as a result of a traumatic past experience (such as being trapped in a dark, small space and thinking that there is no way out because the mind is not fully developed enough to realize there is a way out) or from another unpleasant experience occurring later on in life involving confined spaces. These two causes of claustrophobia both reject the common misconception that claustrophobia is a genetic disorder.

In fact claustrophobia is a conditioned response to a stimulus.  It results from when an individual associates a tremendous amount of anxiety and a panic attack with a confined space. That event, the confined space, serves as a trigger or the stimulus, which is programmed into the brain. Because that stimulus is programmed into the brain, so is the response, which in this case, is a tremendous amount of anxiety. As a result, the confined space consistently triggers the same anxious response.

To learn more about claustrophobia and other neurological and anxiety disorders visit the NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.

The researchers conducted a study comprised of 749 pairs of monozygotic twins and 687 pairs of dizygotic twins age 9 to 17. After analyzing numerous data, the researchers were able to conclude that the shared genetic effects between insomnia, depression and anxiety disorder suggest the disorders are linked.

The findings will be presented to the Associated Professional Sleep Societies annual meeting on Monday. To stay up to date on break neurological news visit the NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.

The administration of satins to stroke victims which include medications such as Crestor, Lipitor, Pravachol and Zocor are being officially recommended by world class neurologists. According to the May 26 issue of Neurology, 800 people who had strokes found a 35% lower frequency of a second stroke and a 57% decreased death rate.

Dr. Giannopoulos of the SPARCL study, the cholesterol lowering activity of statins may not be the direct reason for the reduced occurrences of stroke. Giannopoulos said that, “Statins have anti-inflammatory and antioxidative effects and they also prevent blood clotting and stabilize plaque in the arteries. So, one of these mechanisms may help to prevent recurrent stroke.” According to the doctor statins are already dramatically affecting medical practice guidelines when dealing with stroke victims.

To learn more about stroke and to stay up to date on the latest findings in the field of neurology visit NorthShore University HealthSystem’s neuroscience department.