NSF REPORTS ON RESEARCH SHOWING HOW BRAIN REGIONS INTERACTS

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 

Researcher studies how different brain regions interact during tasks
2014 MacArthur Fellow’s work has potential to diagnose and treat Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction, stroke, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease

Danielle Bassett has an unusual take on studying the brain.

Bassett, the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania, a physicist by training, specializes in studying complex systems, that is, systems made up of individual pieces that interact with each other in complicated ways--materials, for example.

"When you look at the particles that make up materials, you can see the different forces that the particles are putting on each other," says the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientist. "It looks like a web, or tree, with complicated loops. Looking at the forces from the inside, you can see the complicated networks."

She sees the brain similarly, as an example of an intricate system of connected interacting parts, including cells, neurons and other circuitry; thus, she is using the same tools with which she studies other complex systems to gain a better understanding of how the brain works. "Our approach focuses on the network level, which distinguishes our methods from traditional neuro-imaging," she says.

Using mathematical computer algorithms she and her collaborators developed, she studies how different brain regions interact with one another while someone is engaged in a task. The goal is to understand how this interaction enables individuals to think, perform tasks, interact with the environment, change their behavior, learn and retain information and hold on to memories.

"We develop analytic tools to probe the hard-wired pathways and transient communication patterns inside the brain to try to identify organizational principles, and develop novel diagnostics of disease," she says, with the idea ultimately of designing "personalized therapeutics for rehabilitation and treatment of brain injury, neurological disease and psychiatric disorders."

The work has the potential to affect diagnosis and treatment of such brain disorders as Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, addiction, stroke, autism, epilepsy and Parkinson's disease, possibly even allowing clinicians to identify these conditions--and intervene--earlier.

Bassett has received NSF grants that support her work, including an award to hold a May 2014 workshop on quantitative theories of learning, memory and perception, and a computational neuroscience award funding collaborative research with Fabio Pasqualetti, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Riverside. The latter is examining mapping and control of large scale neuro-circuitry, and noninvasive techniques to stimulate the brain.

Bassett also is a recent recipient of one of this year's prestigious MacArthur fellowships, a $625,000 no-strings-attached award, popularly known as a "genius" grant. These go to talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their fields, and are meant to encourage beneficiaries to freely explore their interests without fear of risk-taking. She plans to use the money to advance her research.

Bassett's experiments involve using MRI technology to determine how brain circuits work together while learning a motor task, in this case, a series of finger movements similar to piano arpeggios. They perform them using a button box that resembles a keyboard.

"We want to see what happens when you learn how to move your body in a particular way," she says. "People come into the MRI and learn these over the course of six weeks, one session of 90 minutes every two weeks. We teach them six sequences at the beginning of the experiment, and they practice the same six over and over again."

Using brain imaging data of people learning this task over three distinct time periods, Bassett and colleagues found that they could predict a person's ability to learn based on the brain's flexibility, or the ability of different areas of the brain to connect in different combinations, and in identifying existing brain functions that come into play when learning a new behavior.

She found that people with more "flexible" brain networks learn better. She compares it to group dancing when explaining what she means by flexible.

"First you dance with one person, then you switch," she says. "The same thing happens in brain regions. The number of brain regions involved is equal to their flexibility; the more a brain region switches partners, the more flexible it is."

Thus far, the study has involved only young adults, but she hopes to conduct similar experiments on older people and children.

"I would expect kids to be more flexible, and older people to be less flexible," she says.

The hope is that the basic science ultimately will lead to brain stimulation techniques that will encourage the brain to become more flexible and, when injured, recover faster.

"For example, you could intervene after a stroke so someone can relearn and recuperate faster," she says. "That is our incentive, to determine whether we can use brain stimulation to enhance flexibility, quickening rehabilitation after injury."

-- Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation
Investigators
Danielle Bassett
Mala Murthy
Nancy Kopell
William Bialek
Related Institutions/Organizations
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University

HHS SAYS $212 MILLION WILL BE GOING TO PREVENT CHRONIC DISEASES

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

September 25, 2014

HHS announces nearly $212 million in grants to prevent chronic diseases
Funded in part by the Affordable Care Act, grants focus on preventing tobacco use, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell today announced nearly $212 million in grant awards to all 50 states and the District of Columbia to support programs aimed at preventing chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.  Funded in part by the Affordable Care Act, the awards will strengthen state and local programs aimed at fighting these chronic diseases, which are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States, and help lower our nation’s health care costs.

A total of 193 awards are being made  to states, large and small cities and counties, tribes and tribal organizations, and national and community organizations, with a special focus on populations hardest hit by chronic diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will administer the grants.

“These grants will empower our partners to provide the tools that Americans need to help prevent chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, and diabetes,” said Secretary Burwell. “Today’s news is important progress in our work to transition from a health care system focused on treating the sick to one that also helps keep people well throughout their lives.”

The goals of the grant funding are to reduce rates of death and disability due to tobacco use, reduce obesity prevalence, and reduce rates of death and disability due to diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.

“Tobacco use, high blood pressure, and obesity are leading preventable causes of death in the United States,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “These grants will enable state and local health departments, national and community organizations, and other partners from all sectors of society to help us prevent heart disease, cancer, stroke, and other leading chronic diseases, and help Americans to live longer, healthier, and more productive lives.”

This is one of many ways the Affordable Care Act is improving access to preventive care, and coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Under the Affordable Care Act, 76 million Americans in private health insurance have gained access to preventive care services without cost-sharing and issuers can no longer deny coverage to anyone because of a pre-existing condition.

Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year, and they account for more than 80 percent of the $2.7 trillion our nation spends annually on medical care.

CDC REPORTS THAT DISABLED HAVE LESS ACTIVITY AND MORE CHRONIC DISEASE

FROM:  CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION 

Inactivity Related to Chronic Disease in Adults with Disabilities
Half of adults with disability get no aerobic physical activity
Working age adults with disabilities who do not get any aerobic physical activity are 50 percent more likely than their active peers to have a chronic disease such as cancer, diabetes, stroke, or heart disease, according to a Vital Signs report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nearly half (47 percent) of adults with disabilities who are able to do aerobic physical activity do not get any. An additional 22 percent are not active enough. Yet only about 44 percent of adults with disabilities who saw a doctor in the past year got a recommendation for physical activity.

“Physical activity is the closest thing we have to a wonder drug,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H. “Unfortunately, many adults with disabilities don’t get regular physical activity.  That can change if doctors and other health care providers take a more active role helping their patients with disabilities develop a physical fitness plan that’s right for them.”

Most adults with disabilities are able to participate in some aerobic physical activity which has benefits for everyone by reducing the risk of serious chronic diseases. Some of the benefits from regular aerobic physical activity include increased heart and lung function; better performance in daily living activities; greater independence; decreased chances of developing chronic diseases; and improved mental health.

For this report, CDC analyzed data from the 2009-2012 National Health Interview Survey and focused on the relation between physical activity levels and chronic diseases among U.S. adults aged 18-64 years with disabilities, by disability status and type.  These are adults with serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs; hearing; seeing; or concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. Based on the 2010 data, the study also assessed the prevalence of receiving a health professional recommendation for physical activity and the association with the level of aerobic physical activity.

Key findings include:

Working age adults with disabilities are three times more likely to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes or cancer than adults without disabilities.
Nearly half of adults with disabilities get no aerobic physical activity, an important protective health behavior to help avoid these chronic diseases.
Inactive adults with disabilities were 50 percent more likely to report at least one chronic disease than were active adults with disabilities.
Adults with disabilities were 82 percent more likely to be physically active if their doctor recommended it.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that all adults, including those with disabilities, get at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate – intensity aerobic physical activity each week. If meeting these guidelines is not possible, adults with disabilities should start physical activity slowly based on their abilities and fitness level.

Doctors and other health professionals can recommend physical activity options that match the abilities of adults with disabilities and resources that can help overcome barriers to physical activity. These barriers include limited information about accessible facilities and programs; physical barriers in the built or natural environment; physical or emotional barriers to participating in fitness and recreation activities, and lack of training in accessibility and communication among fitness and recreation professionals.

“It is essential that we bring together adults with disabilities, health professionals and community leaders to address resource needs to increase physical activity for people with disabilities,” said Coleen Boyle, Ph.D., M.S. hyg., director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

CDC has set up a dedicated resource page for doctors and other health professionals with information to help them recommend physical activity to their adult patients with disabilities, www.cdc.gov/disabilities/PA.  

Through the Affordable Care Act, more Americans have access to health coverage and to no-cost preventive services. Most health insurance plans cannot deny, limit, or exclude coverage to anyone based on a pre-existing condition, including persons with disabilities. To learn more about the Affordable Care Act, visit Healthcare.gov or call 1-800-318-2596 (TTY/TDD 1-855-889-4325).

Vital Signs is a CDC report that appears on the first Tuesday of the month as part of the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, or MMWR. The report provides the latest data and information on key health indicators. These are cancer prevention, obesity, tobacco use, motor vehicle passenger safety, prescription drug overdose, HIV/AIDS, alcohol use, health care-associated infections, cardiovascular health, teen pregnancy, food safety and developmental disabilities.