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        <title>MedWorm Tags: ability</title>
        <description>MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'ability'.</description>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.medworm.com/rss/search.php?qu=%22ability%22&t=%22ability%22&r=Exact&o=d&f=tag]]></link>
        <lastBuildDate>Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:02:08 +0100</lastBuildDate>
        <item>
            <title>The Multiple Sclerosis Spell-Checker</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5182096&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=36038&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fthe-multiple-sclerosis-spell-checker%2F</link>
            <description>The more I write about multiple sclerosis, the more I realize that I’m smarter than my computer about said topic.
Sometimes I feel like my spell-checking software hasn’t caught up with the vernacular of our disease. Other times, I feel like we’re just making up words for stuff &amp;mdash; oft, we are!
Myelin, Cog-Fog, Assistive, PML, CCSVI… not something your everyday word processing program recognizes; and I need it too! In my current state, I find myself relying more and more on the brain under my fingertips more than I trust my own T-Cell infested gob but squiggly red, blue or green highlights (GREAT! Now I’m to understand color-coding as well) splash their way across my screen as I type.
I once mentioned, a few years ago now my issue with typing my passwords when my fingers aren...</description>
            <author>Life with MS</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5182096</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:13:11 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Can Decision Fatigue Lead To Medical Errors?</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5158990&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=39187&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fcan-decision-fatigue-lead-to-medical-errors%2F2011.08.26</link>
            <description>This article adds to that understanding: Our decision-making abilities appear to be powerfully affected by the demands of repeated decision making as they interact with depleted blood glucose levels. That fatigue mounts over a day of making decisions and as blood glucose levels fall between meals. In response, we tend to either make increasingly impulsive decisions without considering the consequences or to make no decisions at all. Tierney describes a study analyzing 1,100 parole decisions by judges over the course of a year:  “Prisoners who appeared early in the morning received parole about 70 percent of the time, while those who appeared late in the day were paroled less than 10 percent of the time.”
The effects reported in the article were (more&amp;#8230;)

			
			*This blog post ...</description>
            <author>Better Health</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5158990</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:00:44 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>MS Clogs My Funnel</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159492&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=36038&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fms-clogs-my-funnel%2F</link>
            <description>I guess I think both in words and in pictures. As a writer, it’s kind of required that I use words but, in my mind, I oft see what multiple sclerosis is doing to me in misty cartoons and ghostly graphics.
I envision ‘brain floss’ to clear away the annoying plaques along my axons the way minty, flat-glide dental tape clears bits of barbeque from between my teeth. I could almost see the poison of Novantrone zapping new immune cells as they emerged from my bone marrow before they could make their way to a morning meal of my myelin. Lharmeet’s Sign looked like Igor flipping those big, nasty switches in Dr Frankenstein’s laboratory and sending massive jolts down the Jacob’s Ladder of my spinal cord.
And now, the clogged funnel… 
I think I’ve mentioned this metaphor in a previous...</description>
            <author>Life with MS</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159492</comments>
            <pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 20:39:39 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>The ‘Mental Exacerbation’</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159493&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=36038&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fthe-mental-exacerbation%2F</link>
            <description>I promise I’ll read this post through an extra time or two &amp;mdash; and have Rose comb it as well &amp;mdash; as I’m experiencing something very new to me and my MS. I’m calling it a “mental exacerbation.&amp;#8221;
I have met a few people whose executive function, memory, and even general cognition have taken a direct hit from our old nemesis: multiple sclerosis. I can remember a few conversations in these pages having to do with increased difficulty with multitasking and attention, and I&amp;#8217;ve lived with some of those issues for many years now. What I am now experiencing is beginning to frighten me quite a bit, but, as odd as it may seem, I also feel great comfort as well. 
The past few days have found me completely overwhelmed by even the smallest list, stack, or process.
Time managem...</description>
            <author>Life with MS</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159493</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:48:36 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Art Therapy Exercises To Try at Home</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5103377&amp;cid=t_116464_109_f&amp;fid=34750&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F06%2Fart-therapy-exercises-to-try-at-home%2F</link>
            <description>I&amp;#8217;ve always loved art. Looking at interesting, unique, beautiful-in-their-own-way images and objects always has made me feel alive and happy.  As a child and teen, I also loved drawing, painting and creating everything from collages to greeting cards. And I loved losing myself in the work.
So I was excited to learn more about art therapy, where clients create their own art to help them express emotions, better understand themselves and grow in general.
In her book, The Art Therapy Sourcebook, art therapist Cathy A. Malchiodi describes various exercises that readers can try at home. Below are three that I found especially helpful.

By the way, remember that this has little to do with artistic ability or the final product. Instead, Malchiodi suggests focusing on the process, your intu...</description>
            <author>World of Psychology</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5103377</comments>
            <pubDate>Sat, 06 Aug 2011 16:35:08 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Cog-Fog: Multiple Sclerosis ‘Cognitive Fog’</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4512502&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=36038&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fcog-fog-multiple-sclerosis-cognitive-fog%2F</link>
            <description>I’m told by those who have cared for someone with Alzheimer’s disease that the hardest part is when the patient emerges, momentarily, from their dementia and it is evident by the look on their face (or comments) that they know exactly what is happening to them.
While we know that multiple sclerosis isn’t Alzheimer’s, many of us are cognizant of the fact that “cog-fog” is a part of MS too.
The anecdotal reports of treatment for CCSVI (the narrowing of veins which is theorized to be a contributing factor in MS) include a lifting of cog-fog as a major benefit.
This “brain fog,” as it’s sometimes called, is difficult to pigeonhole in the realm of direct MS symptoms because teasing it from co-morbidities such as depression and fatigue can prove beyond the abilities of patients...</description>
            <author>Life with MS</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4512502</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 20:52:36 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Are We Rational Animals? Part 2</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4470451&amp;cid=t_116464_109_f&amp;fid=34750&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F02%2F12%2Fare-we-rational-animals-part-2%2F</link>
            <description>This is the second in a two-part discussion about human rationality. Click to read Part 1, Are We Rational Animals?.
Intelligence as a predictor of rationality
Some may be surprised to learn that high levels of intelligence do not necessarily indicate high levels of rationality.  In fact, some people may rank high in intelligence while low in rationality.  There is more to sound thinking than intelligence.
Below is a list of rational thinking tasks and their association with cognitive ability/intelligence from Stanovich (2010, p.221).
Tasks that fail to show associations with cognitive ability 

Noncausal base-rate usage (Stanovich &amp; West, 1998c, 1999, 2008)
Conjunction fallacy between subjects (Stanovich &amp; West, 2008)
Framing between subjects (Stanovich &amp; West, 2008)
Anchori...</description>
            <author>World of Psychology</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4470451</comments>
            <pubDate>Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:44:23 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Do Patients Have Clinical Judgment?</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4355716&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=39187&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fdo-patients-have-clinical-judgment%2F2011.01.16</link>
            <description>I used to think they didn’t, but they do.
Clinical judgment is the application of individual experience to the variables of a patient’s medical presentation. It’s the hard-worn skill of knowing what to do and how far to go in a particular situation. It’s having the confidence to do nothing. Clinical judgment is learned from seeing lots of sick people. Good clinical judgment is when the gifted capacity of reasoning intersects with experience. Some doctors have better judgment than others.
Aristotle called this phronesis &amp;#8211; or practical judgment.
Patients have practical judgment. We often can tell when something’s amiss with our own body. Things feel different or look different. Taking action on these observations is how we exercise judgment as patients.
Parents of chi...</description>
            <author>Better Health</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4355716</comments>
            <pubDate>Sun, 16 Jan 2011 23:00:49 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Paying the Bills With Multiple Sclerosis</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4349584&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=36038&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Ftrevis-life-with-multiple-sclerosis-ms%2Fpaying-the-bills-with-multiple-sclerosis%2F</link>
            <description>I
A comment posted by widawn earlier this week brought something to mind about our daily responsibilities.
We’ve had a few conversations in the past about the economic and personal financial impact of multiple sclerosis over the years. But widawn’s comment was brought home to me when my postman stopped by today.
I opened an envelope from the city of Seattle Municipal Court… This can’t be good!
Well, it was a check. A check from the court!
After a few calls, I found out that I had double paid a parking fine.
It is, we must assume, better to overpay a bill than to forget to pay it, but had it been a “regular” bill I doubt I would have gotten a refund.
A number of years ago (I can’t find the blog reference right now) I made mention that when MS is messing with me cognitively, it...</description>
            <author>Life with MS</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4349584</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 14 Jan 2011 22:22:21 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>1 in 5 Drivers Killed In Car Crashes Test Positive For Drugs</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4214001&amp;cid=t_116464_83_f&amp;fid=34856&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Finsidesurgery.com%2F2010%2F11%2F1-5-drivers-killed-car-crashes-test-positive-drugs%2F</link>
            <description>A new report just out shows that 18% of drivers who were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2009 tested positive for drugs (both legal and illegal) that could impair their ability to drive. (Source: Inside Surgery)</description>
            <author>Inside Surgery</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4214001</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:49:43 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>“Unintended Consequences” Of Cheaper Generic Drugs?</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4175693&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=39187&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Funintended-consequences-of-cheaper-generic-drugs%2F2010.11.17</link>
            <description>There’s an article in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled the “Unintended Consequences of Four-Dollar Generic Drugs.“ Ever one to hone in on unintended consequences of all stripes, I quickly clicked through. Oh, dear! What bad could possibly come of making drugs significantly more affordable?
Were more people demanding prescriptions for drugs they didn’t really need now that they were so cheap? (Dream on. I’m still twisting arms to get my high-risk cardiac patients to take their generic statins.) Were pharmacies going out of business, no longer to make ends meet without massive markups on brand name drugs, contributing to skyrocketing unemployment and otherwise adding to the country’s general economic malaise? Were cardiologists’ incomes plummeting because of saggin...</description>
            <author>Better Health</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4175693</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:00:35 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Okay To Be A Doctor AND Bipolar?</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4036647&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=39187&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fokay-to-be-a-doctor-and-bipolar%2F2010.10.06</link>
            <description>&amp;#8220;I have bipolar disorder. Can I be a doctor?&amp;#8221; One of our readers asked this. It&amp;#8217;s one of those questions to which there is no real answer.
Being a doctor takes a long time, it requires reliability, diligence, and a willingness to learn things you may not want to learn (organic chem anyone?) and do things you may not want to do. It requires endurance and passion. You need to be tolerant of many things: Arrogant supervisors, irritable colleagues, sick people who may not be charming and who may, in their distress, be downright nasty. You have to tolerate a militaristic order and be willing to work with a system that may be very difficult, wrong, and demand your obedience in ways that may be uncomfortable. (Oh, I am so happy to no longer be a medical student or a resident in ...</description>
            <author>Better Health</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4036647</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 06 Oct 2010 14:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Can't Concentrate? Blame It On Ovulation</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4013116&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=34872&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fblisstree.com%2Ffeel%2Fcant-concentrate-blame-it-on-ovulatio%2F</link>
            <description>photo via AOL Health
 Check out this post by Catherine Donaldson-Evans at AOL Health. 
Women may have a harder time focusing at different times of the month, a new study suggests.
Canadian researchers from Concordia University found that a surge in estrogen, which occurs when women are ovulating and during pregnancy, is linked to an inability to concentrate, pay attention and learn.
But the study, published in the journal Brain and Cognition, did not examine the impact of high estrogen levels in humans &amp;#8212; only in female rats.
&amp;#8220;Although estrogen is known to play a significant role in learning and memory, there has been no clear consensus on its effect,&amp;#8221; senior author Wayne Brake, an associate professor at Concordia&amp;#8217;s Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology, said...</description>
            <author>Healthbolt</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4013116</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 28 Sep 2010 18:56:42 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Patients Are Splitting Pills To Cut Healthcare Costs</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3929230&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=39187&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fpatients-are-splitting-pills-to-cut-healthcare-costs%2F2010.09.02</link>
            <description>Patients are pill-splitting more to trim back healthcare costs, according to a poll by Consumer Reports. In the past year, 39 percent took some action to cut costs.
The poll of more than 1,100 people found that 45 percent of people take at least one prescription drug and average four. But 27 percent said they didn&amp;#8217;t always comply with a prescription, and 38 percent of those younger than 65 without drug coverage didn&amp;#8217;t fill prescriptions at all.
Just over half of patients felt that doctors didn&amp;#8217;t consider their ability to pay when prescribing a drug, while nearly half blamed drugmaker&amp;#8217;s influence for physicians&amp;#8217; prescribing habits. (HealthLeaders Media)

			
			*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist* (Source: Better Health)</description>
            <author>Better Health</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3929230</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:00:00 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>A Certain Kind of Faith</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3854755&amp;cid=t_116464_151_f&amp;fid=35818&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fa-certain-kind-of-faith-2%2F</link>
            <description>Recovery from alcoholism, addiction, codependency and gambling requires a certain kind of faith.
&amp;quot;Without knowing it, had we not been brought to where we stood by a certain kind of faith? 
For did we not believe in our own reasoning? 
Did we not have confidence in our ability to think? 
What was that but a sort of faith? 
Yes, we had been faithful, abjectly faithful to the God of Reason. So, in one way or another, we discovered that faith had been involved all the time!&amp;quot; 
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, We Agnostics, pg. 53~

See also;

Alcoholics Anonymous &amp;#8211; the Big Book &amp;#8211; an Audible MP3 book
Faith It Till You Make It &amp;#8211; A Recovery Book

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Share, print or e-mail this articleRandom ArticlesA Woman&amp;#8217;s Way Through the Twelve StepsFemale Drinkers have more P...</description>
            <author>Recovery Is Sexy.com</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3854755</comments>
            <pubDate>Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:56:00 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Digital Games for Physical, Cognitive and Behavioral Health</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2967419&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FIyJ1ZqXFUE8%2F</link>
            <description>This study aims to improve these and other related cognitive skills by using a driving game in which players practice paying attention to relevant information, such as traffic signs, and ignoring irrelevant information, such as billboards. The study monitors brain activity with electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings and observes eye position and game performance in younger adults (ages 18 to 30) and older adults (ages 60 to 80) before and after six weeks of game play. The study assesses changes in cognitive ability, brain activity and transfer of game-related skills to similar cognitive operations and activities that take place in daily life.
Children&amp;#8217;s Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia, PA) Reward Circuitry, Autism and Games that Teach Social Perceptual Skills &amp;#8211; tests effe...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2967419</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:35:40 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>1 Step to Raise Your Child’s IQ Today</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2842590&amp;cid=t_116464_109_f&amp;fid=34750&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2009%2F09%2F28%2F1-step-to-raise-your-childs-iq-today%2F</link>
            <description>Want to raise your child&amp;#8217;s IQ by 5 points right now? Don&amp;#8217;t spank them anymore.
So says the results of yet another study looking at the negative effects of spanking on children. This one tracked IQ changes in 1,400 children ages 2 to 9 over 4 years. The results? Children who had been spanked &amp;#8212; even infrequently &amp;#8212; suffered from an average 5-point deficit on the IQ test.
In a 2002 meta-analysis of 88 spanking studies, 90 percent of them found that spanking had negative effects on the child. These effects ranged from later mental health problems (such as ADHD and depression) to anti-social behavior and increased aggression. Yes, you read that right &amp;#8212; rather than help curb aggressive or inappropriate behavior, spanking actually seems to increase these unwanted beha...</description>
            <author>World of Psychology</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2842590</comments>
            <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:38:28 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Alzheimer's Risk Gene May Reduce Benefits of Physical Activity to Cognitive Ability</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2602200&amp;cid=t_116464_137_f&amp;fid=35426&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FTheAlzheimersReadingRoom%2F%7E3%2FUmPX83zhFng%2Falzheimers-risk-gene-may-reduce.html</link>
            <description>In their analysis, the researchers found that physical activity was associated with enhanced cognitive function, and that this relationship was differentially influenced by the person's APOE genotype: non-E4 carriers and people with one copy of E4 performed better than people with two copies of E4.For more Insight into Alzheimer's DiseaseSubscribe to The Alzheimer's Reading RoomAlzheimer's Risk Gene May Reduce Benefits of Physical Activity to Cognitive AbilityWhile the relationship of physical activity with cognitive performance as we age is a subject of considerable research, much less is known about how this relationship is impacted by the Alzheimer's risk gene Apolipoprotein E (APOE). The APOE gene comes in three types, or alleles, known as e2, e3, and e4. Each person gets one type of A...</description>
            <author>Alzheimer's Reading Room, The</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2602200</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:25:02 +0100</pubDate>
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            <title>Neuroscience, brain development and cognitive health</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2349069&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F24WEO4FpkcE%2F</link>
            <description>Round-up of recent articles on neuroscience, brain development and cognitive health:
Encephalon 68: A carnival of neuroscience:
Chris hosts a great collection of neuroscience and psychology posts in his signature Q&amp;#038;A style.
Bilingual Babies Get Head Start --- Before They Can Talk:
- Unlike the monolingual group, the bilingual group was able to successfully learn a new sound type and use it to predict where each character would pop up.
- The bilingual babies' skill applies to more than just switching between languages. Mehler likened this apparently enhanced cognitive ability to a brain selecting &amp;quot;the right tool for the right operation&amp;quot;—also called executive function.
- In this basic process, the brain, ever flexible, nimbly switches from one learned response to another as ...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2349069</comments>
            <pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2009 03:20:11 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Does cognitive training work? (For Whom? For What?)</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2217627&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FgAFeyCIEMYo%2F</link>
            <description>CONCLUSIONS
What those 2 recent studies say and imply
• Cognitive training can help healthy adults improve specific cognitive skills, and improvements seem to last longer than the training itself (Willis et al., 2006; Smith et al., 2009).
• Cognitive training can help adults in the early stages of cognitive impairment and dementia improve some cognitive skills (Sitzer et al, 2006)
• One needs to make informed decisions. SharpBrains' Evaluation Checklist may prove useful.
What neither study says or implies
• Whether cognitive training can postpone the emergence of dementia: More long-term studies are needed. (We know that mentally stimulating activities can help build a Cognitive Reserve and delay symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease, but that evidence is not based on randomized clini...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
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            <pubDate>Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:21:56 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Minimally Conscious Feel Pain</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1862645&amp;cid=t_116464_87_f&amp;fid=34825&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wesleyjsmith.com%2Fblog%2F2008%2F10%2Fminimally-conscious-feel-pain.html</link>
            <description>A study has found that people with serious cognitive impairments who are conscious--people who are routinely dehydrated to death in most states--feel pain. From the story: Severely brain-damaged patients in a &quot;minimally conscious state&quot; may still feel pain and require painkilling treatment, according to European researchers.A minimally conscious state (MCS) is different than a persistent vegetative state (PVS), which involves wakefulness without awareness of self or surroundings. MCS patients do show some evidence of awareness of self and their surroundings. However, caregivers have difficulty assessing MCS patients' levels of conscious pain based on their behavior, according to background information in the study by Dr. Steven Laureys, of the Coma Science Group at the University of Liege,...</description>
            <author>Secondhand Smoke</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1862645</comments>
            <pubDate>Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:09:00 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Nintendo Brain Training and Math in UK Schools</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1833697&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F403024865%2F</link>
            <description>Computer game boosts maths scores (BBC):
- &amp;quot;It also found improvements in pupils' concentration and behaviour.&amp;quot;
- &amp;quot;The study involved more than 600 pupils in 32 schools across Scotland using the Brain Training from Dr Kawashima game on the Nintendo DS every day.&amp;quot;
- &amp;quot;Researchers found that while all groups had improved their scores, the group using the game had improved by a further 50%.&amp;quot;
- &amp;quot;Less able children were found to be more likely to improve than the highest attainers and almost all pupils had an increased perception of their own ability.&amp;quot;
Comment:  fascinating results supporting the potential role for &amp;quot;Serious Games&amp;quot; in education. Now, please take the results with a grain of salt, since the study doesn't seem to have been published...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833697</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:20:46 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Can you use mental self rotation to read a map?</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1710228&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F365747416%2F</link>
            <description>This article was written by Pascale Michelon, Ph. D., for SharpBrains.com. Dr. Michelon, Copyright 2008. Dr. Michelon has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and has worked as a Research Scientist at Washington University in Saint Louis, in the Psychology Department. She conducted several research projects to understand how the brain makes use of visual information and memorizes facts. She is now an Adjunct Faculty at Washington University, and teaches Memory Workshops in numerous retirement communities in the St Louis area.
You may enjoy these other teasers by Dr. Michelon:
- Spot the Difference
- Word game
- Boost your visuospatial skills
- Words in your brain
And our Top 50 Brain Teasers collection.
brain, Brain games, brain teaser, cognitive ability, cognitive exercise, egocentric, free b...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1710228</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:20:14 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Executive Functions, Education and Alzheimer's Disease</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1501538&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F307119481%2F</link>
            <description>I just read a very interesting article in Newsweek: Executive Functions: The School Skill That May Matter More Than IQ. A few quotes:
- &amp;quot;But recent advances in psychology and brain science are now suggesting that a child's ability to inhibit distracting thoughts and stay focused may be a fundamental cognitive skill, one that plays a big part in academic success from preschool on. Indeed, this and closely related skills may be more important than traditional IQ in predicting a child's school performance.&amp;quot;
- &amp;quot;EF (executive functions) comprises not only effortful control and cognitive focus but also working memory and mental flexibility—the ability to adjust to change, to think outside the box.&amp;quot;
- &amp;quot;When the teacher holds up a circle they clap, with a triangle they ...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1501538</comments>
            <pubDate>Sun, 08 Jun 2008 02:38:20 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Cognitive Health News</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1365102&amp;cid=t_116464_122_f&amp;fid=36582&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F268131761%2F</link>
            <description>This study challenges the theory that depression and dementia are caused by another factor. It therefore adds weight to, but does not prove, the theory that depression is a risk factor for dementia. However, this study has shortcomings, and further research that is free of these should provide a clearer picture. Until more is known, depression sufferers should not be overly worried that they will develop dementia.&amp;quot;
Comment: I guess that last sentence offers good news...
 

aging brain, Alzheimers Association, Alzheimers Tests, baby boomers, Brain games, Brain Training, brain training game, Casual Games, cognitive ability, cognitive deficits, Cognitive tests, Depression and Alzheimers, executive skills, fit brains, High blood pressure, Humana, lifestyle, Medicaid, Medicare, memory cl...</description>
            <author>SharpBrains</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1365102</comments>
            <pubDate>Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:31:36 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Watch me</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1045090&amp;cid=t_116464_129_f&amp;fid=34885&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fterriblepalsy.wordpress.com%2F2007%2F11%2F22%2Fwatch-me%2F</link>
            <description>In case you missed the links that Dawn posted - this is actually what I was looking for when I posted the other you-tube piece on See the person not the disability.

Find out more about Creature Discomforts here. I wish Australia had a campaign like this. Anyone clever enough to take this on?
A great big thanks to Dawn for pointing me in the right direction. (Source: Terrible Palsy)</description>
            <author>Terrible Palsy</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
        <comments>http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1045090</comments>
            <pubDate>Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:47:10 +0100</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Blogging Against Dis-Ablism Day</title>
            <link>http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=584138&amp;cid=t_116464_133_f&amp;fid=35105&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fjoyofautism.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F05%2Ftoday-is-blogging-against-dis-ableism.html</link>
            <description>Today is blogging against dis-ableism day --the purpose of which is “to write about disability and rail against the discrimination that disabled people continue to face.” Yesterday, Orato Media published &quot;I am the Happy Mother of an Autistic Child.&quot; I think that will be my contribution to today's theme. It is about accomodating autism versus remediating it, and understanding the Hue in Hu-Manity. Speaking of hues, I also want to point you to Elliot, an autistic five-year-old artist who was in the New York Times today (thanks to Kristina of Autism Vox for pointing me in his direction). Elliot's cards are available for sale here.In the Wolfond household, we are about what can be done as opposed to the cannots. Our lives are about creating the lives we want to live and trying to make it h...</description>
            <author>The Joy of Autism</author>
            <type>blogs</type>
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            <pubDate>Tue, 01 May 2007 12:18:00 +0100</pubDate>
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