Dr Claude Jean PARIS  3 avenue Desfeux 92100 Boulogne Billancourt

Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2013 Jul;67(5):301-10. doi: 10.1111/pcn.12067.

Abortion and subsequent mental health: Review of the literature.

Bellieni CV, Buonocore G.

Source

Department of Pediatrics, Obstetrics and Reproduction Medicine, University of Siena, Siena, Italy. cvbellieni@gmail.com

Abstract

The risk that abortion may be correlated with subsequent mental disorders needs a careful assessment, in order to offer women full information when facing a difficult pregnancy. All research papers published between 1995 and 2011, were examined, to retrieve those assessing any correlation between abortion and subsequent mental problems. A total of 36 studies were retrieved, and six of them were excluded for methodological bias. Depression, anxiety disorders (e.g. post-traumatic stress disorder) and substance abuse disorders were the most studied outcome. Abortion versus childbirth: 13 studies showed a clear risk for at least one of the reported mental problems in the abortion group versus childbirth, five papers showed no difference, in particular if women do not consider their experience of fetal loss to be difficult, or if after a fetal reduction the desired fetus survives. Only one paper reported a worse mental outcome for childbearing. Abortion versus unplanned pregnancies ending with childbirth: four studies found a higher risk in the abortion groups and three, no difference. Abortion versus miscarriage: three studies showed a greater risk of mental disorders due to abortion, four found no difference and two found that short-term anxiety and depression were higher in the miscarriage group, while long-term anxiety and depression were present only in the abortion group. In conclusion, fetal loss seems to expose women to a higher risk for mental disorders than childbirth; some studies show that abortion can be considered a more relevant risk factor than miscarriage; more research is needed in this field.
© 2013 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2013

des retours de guerre mouvementés

We often speak of veterans of our military as being someone to be thanked, appreciated, and honored for what they've done for our country. Yet when entering the workforce, many employers harbor fears that these same veterans, and their potential exposure to violence and training with weapons, might be violent or problematic.

The stereotypes usually associated with veterans, especially combat veterans, is one of a mixture of toughness and brutality with a strong sense of honor and duty. These are fostered by the media, movies, books, and television. Yet most veterans were not in combat and those that were are not likely to fit the stereotype used in media. Instead, they're just like the rest of us, only more experienced with dealing with pressure and exercising self-restraint.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often associated with the military's veterans. Clearly it is a concern for those soldiers and their families. It is not, however, a "problem" in the sense that employers may believe. Vets with PTSD don't often "snap" and if they do, it's usually to cry or release emotions in non-violent ways. The television and film portrayal of a veteran "snapping" and attacking or killing people is, in real life, so rare that it statistically is difficult to measure.

Here's how the numbers play out:
The Institute of Medicine estimated that 13-20 percent of the 2.6 million U.S. service members who've served in Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 have PTSD. That's about 2.6 to 4 million PTSD sufferers. The National Institute of Mental Health says that about 7.7 million total U.S. adults (veterans and non-vets) have PTSD. That's roughly 3.5 percent of the population. That's about a third of the total U.S. adult population with a mood disorder.

Studies, including one published last year in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology have generally found that returning veterans with PTSD are about twice as likely to be arrested from criminal behavior as are those without a diagnosis. When compared to general population statistics, the roughly nine percent of veterans with PTSD who are arrested is about double the national average from the general population.

This doesn't sound good except it doesn't account for violence. Most arrests are for non-violent behavior. Of the nine percent of veterans in the study who committed criminal acts, only one percent were violent. Most were drug-related, usually marijuana or similar drugs for self-medication. This compares with the general population favorably, as about 2.5 percent of the crimes committed are violent - more than double the number for those with PTSD.

Altogether, this shows that the veteran with PTSD is more likely to get in trouble (likely due to not seeking treatment until after the trouble starts), but far less likely to be violent by comparison to the average American on the street.

This should tell employers two things: the veteran is less likely to be violent, not more likely, and the mental health care we offer our military veterans is still sorely substandard.

This lowered statistic comes thanks to what the military teaches: discipline, leadership, and responsibility. All things any good employer will value.

Cognitive development: gaming your way out of dyslexia?

Bavelier D, Green CS, Seidenberg MS.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Meliora Hall, Box 270268, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. daphne.bavelier@unige.ch

Abstract

A recent study found that dyslexic children trained on action video games show significant improvements on basic measures of both attention and reading ability, suggesting future directions for the study of dyslexia intervention paradigms.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comment on

Annu Rev Neurosci. 2012;35:391-416. doi: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-060909-152832.

Brain plasticity through the life span: learning to learn and action video games.

Bavelier D, Green CS, Pouget A, Schrater P.

Source

Department of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. daphne@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

The ability of the human brain to learn is exceptional. Yet, learning is typically quite specific to the exact task used during training, a limiting factor for practical applications such as rehabilitation, workforce training, or education. The possibility of identifying training regimens that have a broad enough impact to transfer to a variety of tasks is thus highly appealing. This work reviews how complex training environments such as action video game play may actually foster brain plasticity and learning. This enhanced learning capacity, termed learning to learn, is considered in light of its computational requirements and putative neural mechanisms.

PMID:

 

22715883

 

[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Curr Biol. 2012 Mar 20;22(6):R197-206. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.02.012.

Learning, attentional control, and action video games.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. csgreen2@wisc.edu

Abstract

While humans have an incredible capacity to acquire new skills and alter their behavior as a result of experience, enhancements in performance are typically narrowly restricted to the parameters of the training environment, with little evidence of generalization to different, even seemingly highly related, tasks. Such specificity is a major obstacle for the development of many real-world training or rehabilitation paradigms, which necessarily seek to promote more general learning. In contrast to these typical findings, research over the past decade has shown that training on 'action video games' produces learning that transfers well beyond the training task. This has led to substantial interest among those interested in rehabilitation, for instance, after stroke or to treat amblyopia, or training for various precision-demanding jobs, for instance, endoscopic surgery or piloting unmanned aerial drones. Although the predominant focus of the field has been on outlining the breadth of possible action-game-related enhancements, recent work has concentrated on uncovering the mechanisms that underlie these changes, an important first step towards the goal of designing and using video games for more definite purposes. Game playing may not convey an immediate advantage on new tasks (increased performance from the very first trial), but rather the true effect of action video game playing may be to enhance the ability to learn new tasks. Such a mechanism may serve as a signature of training regimens that are likely to produce transfer of learning.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comput Human Behav. 2012 May;28(3):984-994.

The effect of action video game experience on task-switching.

Green CS, Sugarman MA, Medford K, Klobusicky E, Daphne Bavelier.

Source

Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53717.

Abstract

There is now a substantial body of work demonstrating that action video game experience results in enhancements in a wide variety of perceptual skills. More recently, several groups have also demonstrated improvements in abilities that are more cognitive in nature, in particular, the ability to efficiently switch between tasks. In a series of four experiments, we add to this body of work, demonstrating that the action video game player advantage is not exclusively due to an ability to map manual responses onto arbitrary buttons, but rather generalizes to vocal responses, is not restricted to tasks that are perceptual in nature (e.g. respond to a physical dimension of the stimulus such as its color), but generalizes to more cognitive tasks (e.g. is a number odd or even), and is present whether the switch requires a goal-switch or only a motor switch. Finally, a training study establishes that the relationship between the reduction in switch cost and action game playing is causal.

Neuron. 2010 Sep 9;67(5):692-701. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.08.035.

Children, wired: for better and for worse.file:///Users/cecilelapert/Desktop/Capture%20d’écran%202013-11-21%20à%2006.35.50.png

Bavelier D, Green CS, Dye MW.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA. daphne@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

Children encounter technology constantly at home and in school. Television, DVDs, video games, the Internet, and smart phones all play a formative role in children's development. The term "technology" subsumes a large variety of somewhat independent items, and it is no surprise that current research indicates causes for both optimism and concern depending upon the content of the technology, the context in which the technology immerses the user, and the user's developmental stage. Furthermore, because the field is still in its infancy, results can be surprising: video games designed to be reasonably mindless result in widespread enhancements of various abilities, acting, we will argue, as exemplary learning tools. Counterintuitive outcomes like these, besides being practically relevant, challenge and eventually lead to refinement of theories concerning fundamental principles of brain plasticity and learning.

2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2009;18(6):321-326.

Increasing Speed of Processing With Action Video Games.

Dye MW, Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester.

Abstract

In many everyday situations, speed is of the essence. However, fast decisions typically mean more mistakes. To this day, it remains unknown whether reaction times can be reduced with appropriate training, within one individual, across a range of tasks, and without compromising accuracy. Here we review evidence that the very act of playing action video games significantly reduces reaction times without sacrificing accuracy. Critically, this increase in speed is observed across various tasks beyond game situations. Video gaming may therefore provide an efficient training regimen to induce a general speeding of perceptual reaction times without decreases in accuracy of performance.

Cognition. 2006 Aug;101(1):217-45. Epub 2005 Dec 15.

Enumeration versus multiple object tracking: the case of action video game players.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, RC 270268, Meliora Hall, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA. csgreen@bcs.rochester.edu

Abstract

Here, we demonstrate that action video game play enhances subjects' ability in two tasks thought to indicate the number of items that can be apprehended. Using an enumeration task, in which participants have to determine the number of quickly flashed squares, accuracy measures showed a near ceiling performance for low numerosities and a sharp drop in performance once a critical number of squares was reached. Importantly, this critical number was higher by about two items in video game players (VGPs) than in non-video game players (NVGPs). A following control study indicated that this improvement was not due to an enhanced ability to instantly apprehend the numerosity of the display, a process known as subitizing, but rather due to an enhancement in the slower more serial process of counting. To confirm that video game play facilitates the processing of multiple objects at once, we compared VGPs and NVGPs on the multiple object tracking task (MOT), which requires the allocation of attention to several items over time. VGPs were able to successfully track approximately two more items than NVGPs. Furthermore, NVGPs trained on an action video game established the causal effect of game playing in the enhanced performance on the two tasks. Together, these studies confirm the view that playing action video games enhances the number of objects that can be apprehended and suggest that this enhancement is mediated by changes in visual short-term memory skills.

Nature. 2003 May 29;423(6939):534-7.

Action video game modifies visual selective attention.

Green CS, Bavelier D.

Source

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.

Abstract

As video-game playing has become a ubiquitous activity in today's society, it is worth considering its potential consequences on perceptual and motor skills. It is well known that exposing an organism to an altered visual environment often results in modification of the visual system of the organism. The field of perceptual learning provides many examples of training-induced increases in performance. But perceptual learning, when it occurs, tends to be specific to the trained task; that is, generalization to new tasks is rarely found. Here we show, by contrast, that action-video-game playing is capable of altering a range of visual skills. Four experiments establish changes in different aspects of visual attention in habitual video-game players as compared with non-video-game players. In a fifth experiment, non-players trained on an action video game show marked improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.

Il faut savoir sortir de sa zone de confort pour améliorer son déficit cognitif
Dr claude Jean PARIS

Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging

Sandra B. Chapman^1*†, Sina Aslan^2†, Jeffrey S. Spence¹, Laura F. DeFina³, Molly W. Keebler¹, Nyaz Didehbani¹ and Hanzhang Lu⁴

• ¹Center for BrainHealth^®, The University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
• ²Advance MRI, LLC, Frisco, TX, USA
• ³The Cooper Institute, Dallas, TX, USA
• ⁴Advanced Imaging Research Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

Physical exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, is documented as providing a low cost regimen to counter well-documented cognitive declines including memory, executive function, visuospatial skills, and processing speed in normally aging adults. Prior aging studies focused largely on the effects of medium to long term (>6 months) exercise training; however, the shorter term effects have not been studied. In the present study, we examined changes in brain blood flow, cognition, and fitness in 37 cognitively healthy sedentary adults (57–75 years of age) who were randomized into physical training or a wait-list control group. The physical training group received supervised aerobic exercise for 3 sessions per week 1 h each for 12 weeks. Participants' cognitive, cardiovascular fitness and resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) were assessed at baseline (T1), mid (T2), and post-training (T3). We found higher resting CBF in the anterior cingulate region in the physical training group as compared to the control group from T1 to T3. Cognitive gains were manifested in the exercise group's improved immediate and delayed memory performance from T1 to T3 which also showed a significant positive association with increases in both left and right hippocampal CBF identified earlier in the time course at T2. Additionally, the two cardiovascular parameters, VO₂ max and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) showed gains, compared to the control group. These data suggest that even shorter term aerobic exercise can facilitate neuroplasticity to reduce both the biological and cognitive consequences of aging to benefit brain health in sedentary adults.

Keywords: aging, CBF, exercise, memory, MRI

Citation: Chapman SB, Aslan S, Spence JS, DeFina LF, Keebler MW, Didehbani N and Lu H (2013) Shorter term aerobic exercise improves brain, cognition, and cardiovascular fitness in aging. Front. Aging Neurosci. 5:75. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2013.00075

Received: 23 August 2013; Accepted: 26 October 2013;
Published online: 12 November 2013.

Edited by:

Le sommeil indispensable pour la croissance , la journée pour le métabolisme

Translational Profiling of Clock Cells Reveals Circadianly Synchronized Protein Synthesis

• Yanmei Huang mail,
 
• Joshua A. Ainsley,
 
• Leon G. Reijmers,
 
• F. Rob Jackson mail

Abstract

Genome-wide studies of circadian transcription or mRNA translation have been hindered by the presence of heterogeneous cell populations in complex tissues such as the nervous system. We describe here the use of a Drosophila cell-specific translational profiling approach to document the rhythmic “translatome” of neural clock cells for the first time in any organism. Unexpectedly, translation of most clock-regulated transcripts—as assayed by mRNA ribosome association—occurs at one of two predominant circadian phases, midday or mid-night, times of behavioral quiescence; mRNAs encoding similar cellular functions are translated at the same time of day. Our analysis also indicates that fundamental cellular processes—metabolism, energy production, redox state (e.g., the thioredoxin system), cell growth, signaling and others—are rhythmically modulated within clock cells via synchronized protein synthesis. Our approach is validated by the identification of mRNAs known to exhibit circadian changes in abundance and the discovery of hundreds of novel mRNAs that show translational rhythms. This includes Tdc2, encoding a neurotransmitter synthetic enzyme, which we demonstrate is required within clock neurons for normal circadian locomotor activity.

Author Summary

The circadian clock controls daily rhythms in physiology and behavior via mechanisms that regulate gene expression. While numerous studies have examined the clock regulation of gene transcription and documented rhythms in mRNA abundance, less is known about how circadian changes in protein synthesis contribute to the orchestration of physiological and behavioral programs. Here we have monitored mRNA ribosomal association (as a proxy for translation) to globally examine the circadian timing of protein synthesis specifically within clock cells ofDrosophila. The results reveal, for the first time in any organism, the complete circadian program of protein synthesis (the “circadian translatome”) within these cells. A novel finding is that most mRNAs within clock cells are translated at one of two predominant circadian phases—midday or mid-night—times of low energy expenditure. Our work also finds that many clock cell processes, including metabolism, redox state, signaling, neurotransmission, and even protein synthesis itself, are coordinately regulated such that mRNAs required for similar cellular functions are translated in synchrony at the same time of day.

Citation: Huang Y, Ainsley JA, Reijmers LG, Jackson FR (2013) Translational Profiling of Clock Cells Reveals Circadianly Synchronized Protein Synthesis. PLoS Biol 11(11): e1001703. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001703

Academic Editor: Ueli Schibler, University of Geneva, Switzerland

une étude qui devrait renforcer la croyance populaire sur les gaucher..... a confirmer?
Dr Claude Jean PARIS

Left-Handedness Among a Community Sample of Psychiatric Outpatients Suffering From Mood and Psychotic Disorders

1. Jadon R. Webb1
2. Mary I. Schroeder2
3. Christopher Chee3
4. Deanna Dial4
5. Rebecca Hana4
6. Hussam Jefee4
7. Jacob Mays4
8. Patrick Molitor5

1. ¹Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
2. ²University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
3. ³University of California, San Francisco, USA
4. ⁴The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, USA
5. ⁵Georgia Regents University, Augusta, USA

1. Jadon Webb, Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, 230 South Frontage Rd., New Haven, CT 065219, USA. Email: Jadon.webb@Yale.edu

Abstract

The human brain develops asymmetrically, such that certain cognitive processes arise predominantly from the left or right side. It has been proposed that variations in this laterality contribute to certain forms of mental illness, such as schizophrenia. A convenient measure of brain laterality is hand dominance, and prior work has found that patients with schizophrenia are more likely to be left-handed than the general population. This finding is not consistent, however, and fewer studies have directly compared handedness between psychiatric diagnoses. We assessed hand dominance in 107 patients presenting to an outpatient psychiatric clinic with diagnoses of a mood or psychotic disorder. The prevalence of left-handedness was 11% for mood disorders, which is similar to the rate in the general population. It was 40% in those with psychotic disorders (adjusted odds ratio = 7.9, p < .001). The prevalence of left-handedness was much higher in psychotic disorders compared with mood disorders in this community mental health sample.

Un ADN par neurone , une découverte qui n'a pas fini de relancer notre compréhension du cerveau.
Dr Claude Jean PARIS

Mosaic Copy Number Variation in Human Neurons

1. Michael J. McConnell¹,²,⁷,⁸,⁹, 
2. Michael R. Lindberg⁷, 
3. Kristen J. Brennand¹,*, 
4. Julia C. Piper¹,²,†,
5. Thierry Voet³,⁴, 
6. Chris Cowing-Zitron¹, 
7. Svetlana Shumilina⁷, 
8. Roger S. Lasken⁵,⁶, 
9. Joris R. Vermeesch³,
10. Ira M. Hall⁷,⁹,‡, 
11. Fred H. Gage¹,‡

+Author Affiliations

1. ¹Laboratory of Genetics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
2. ²Crick-Jacobs Center for Theoretical and Computational Biology, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
3. ³Center for Human Genetics, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
4. ⁴Single-Cell Genomics Centre, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge CB10 1SA, UK.
5. ⁵J. Craig Venter Institute, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
6. ⁶Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
7. ⁷Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
8. ⁸Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.
9. ⁹Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA.

+Author Notes

• ↵* Present address: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
• ↵† Present address: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

1. ↵‡Corresponding author. E-mail: irahall@virginia.edu (I.M.H.) and gage@salk.edu (F.H.G.)

• ABSTRACT
• EDITOR'S SUMMARY

We used single-cell genomic approaches to map DNA copy number variation (CNV) in neurons obtained from human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines and postmortem human brains. We identified aneuploid neurons, as well as numerous subchromosomal CNVs in euploid neurons. Neurotypic hiPSC-derived neurons had larger CNVs than fibroblasts, and several large deletions were found in hiPSC-derived neurons but not in matched neural progenitor cells. Single-cell sequencing of endogenous human frontal cortex neurons revealed that 13 to 41% of neurons have at least one megabase-scale de novo CNV, that deletions are twice as common as duplications, and that a subset of neurons have highly aberrant genomes marked by multiple alterations. Our results show that mosaic CNV is abundant in human neurons.

• Received for publication 19 July 2013.
• Accepted for publication 1 October 2013.