Archive for the 'Van der Veer Institute' Category
May 31st, 2011 by carrie
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson attended the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists (ANZAN) in Hobart, 16 – 20 May 2011. Tim presented the following paper in the Neuro-Ophthalmology Symposium:
Anderson TJ (2011). Supranuclear eye movement disorders.
Hannah Farr attended Brain 2011 (25th International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function), 25th-29th May in Barcelona Spain and presented the following paper:
Farr H, David T (2011). Potassium- and EET- mediated functional hyperemia: a mathematical model.
Tracy Melzer gave a presentation to the Otago Institute titled ‘Brain Imaging in Parkinson’s Disease: Grey matter atrophy and reduced blood flow with cognitive impairment’.
Govinda Poudel attended the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Action Workshop ‘Advanced methods for the estimation of human brain activity and connectivity’ (NeuroMath) in Rome, Italy, 20-21st May. Govinda also spent two days in the laboratory of collaborator Fabio Babiloni at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’. Govinda presented the following paper:
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Watts R, Signal L, Bones P (2011). The struggle to stay awake: Functional neuroimaging of behavioural microsleeps.
Richard Watts attended the 19th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Montreal, Canada, 7-13 May and presented the following paper:
Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill MR, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ (2011). Perfusion deficits predate grey matter atrophy in cognitively-impaired Parkinson’s disease.
EVENTS
The Van der Veer Institute will be holding its second annual Brain Research Symposium on Friday 30 September. This will be an all-day event at which researchers and local clinicians will share their latest findings and questions. The organising committee will be led by Tracy Melzer.
GRANTS
Tracy Melzer was awarded a travel grant of $1000 from the Otago Institute to attend their meeting and present his research.
Hannah Farr was awarded travel grants from the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation ($1000), Canterbury Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand Inc ($1000), and the Federation of Graduate Women (Canterbury Branch) ($600) in order to attend Brain 2011 in Barcelona, Spain.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Tracy Melzer’s thesis titled ‘Magnetic resonance imaging of cognition in Parkinson’s disease’ has been accepted for the award of a PhD. Tracy will be remaining at the Institute as a University of Otago Postdoctoral Fellow.
April 30th, 2011 by carrie
CONFERENCES
Professor Tim Anderson attended the 3rd Asian and Oceanian Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Congress (AOPMC) 25–27 March 2011, in Taipei, Taiwan. Tim Chaired the session ‘Modern concepts in non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
AWARDS
Ramesh Kaipa was awarded the annual Research Excellence Award of $500 by the New Zealand Speech-language Therapists’ Association for his PhD project titled ‘Effect of Principles of Motor Learning on Speech and Nonspeech Motor Learning’.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Ruvini Athukorala from the Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury joined the Institute to complete her MSc research project, titled ‘Skill training for swallowing rehabilitation in individuals with Parkinson’s disease’. Ruvini’s project will be supervised by Maggie-Lee Huckabee and Richard Jones. Prior to coming to New Zealand, Ruvini worked as a Speech language therapist and Audiologist for 2½ years in Sri Lanka and as a Lecturer in Audiology at the University of Kelaniya Medical Faculty. Ruvini has been working with intellectually disabled children with communication disorders in Auckland for the past 1½ years.
Sarah Davies from the Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury joined the Institute to complete her MSc research project, titled ‘The effects of a jaw-opening exercise on suprahyoid muscles and hyoid movement during swallowing in healthy adults’. Sarah’s project will be supervised by Maggie-Lee Huckabee and Gina Tillard and is funded by a UC Master’s Scholarship.
Andrew Nicholas from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury joined the Institute part-time to complete his final year project, titled ‘An electrical-impedance biofeedback instrument for swallowing rehabilitation’. Andrew’s project will be supervised by Richard Jones, Maggie-Lee Huckabee, and Paul Gaynor.
Eng Ann Toh is taking a year out from his medical training to complete a BMedSc (Hons) project through the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch. His project is titled ‘Eye-hand coordination and relationship to cognition in Huntington’s disease’ and will be supervised by Tim Anderson, John Dalrymple-Alford, Michael MacAskill, and Daniel Myall. Eng will be funded by a McGee Fellowship (University of Otago, Christchurch).
March 30th, 2011 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
van Stockum S, MacAskill MR, Myall D, Anderson TJ (in press). A perceptual discrimination task abnormally facilitates reflexive saccades in Parkinson’s disease. European Journal of Neuroscience. Special Issue ‘Saccade, Search and Orient’ to be published in 2011.
MacAskill MR, Koga K, Anderson TJ (2011). Japanese street performer mimes violation of Hering’s Law. Neurology, 76, 1186-1187. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e318212a8ec
EVENTS
This year’s Athol Mann lecture for the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation will be given by Prof David Miller of the Institute of Neurology, University College London, titled ‘Changing perspectives in the treatment of multiple sclerosis’
Prof Miller is a world-renowned expert on multiple sclerosis, particularly in the way in which MRI techniques can be used to study the disease. He is visiting to collaborate with local researchers at the Van der Veer Institute.
Date: Tuesday 19 April
Time: 5:30 p.m
Venue: NZ Chinese Association Hall,
22 St Asaph Street (Hagley Park end, next to Canterbury Medical Research Foundation)
Refreshments provided.
GRANTS
Nadia Borlase has received the Todd Foundation Award for Excellence. The Todd Foundation is an organisation which provides funding to those who are aiming to change lives for the better. The award will provide $11,500 towards Nadia’s personal research costs.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Simon Knopp commenced his PhD studies through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury. His project is titled ‘Development of a head-mounted multi-modal device for lapse and drowsiness detection’ and will be supervised by Richard Jones, Phil Bones, Govinda Poudel, and Carrie Innes. Simon will be funded by a University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship and a Christchurch Neurotechnology Research Programme award.
February 28th, 2011 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Abdul Wahab N, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L (2011). Effects of olfactory and gustatory stimuli on the biomechanics of swallowing. Physiology & Behavior, 102: 485-490.
Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill MR, Pearson JF, Rüeger, S, Pitcher T, Livingston L, Graham C, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ. (2001). Arterial spin labeling reveals an abnormal cerebral perfusion pattern in Parkinson’s disease. Brain, 134(3):845-855.
Peiris MTR, Davidson PR, Bones PJ, Jones RD (2011). Detection of lapses in responsiveness from the EEG. Journal of Neural Engineering, 8(1-016003):1-15.
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson was an invited speaker at the 10th Anniversary Parkinson’s Disease Symposium, in Takamatsu, Japan, 11–13 February 2011. Tim’s presented the following talk:
“Dopamine dysregulation Syndrome”
January 31st, 2011 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Al-Toubi AK, Abu-Hijleh A, Huckabee ML, Macrae P, Doeltgen SH (in press). Effects of repeated volitional swallowing and rest on the excitability of submental corticobulbar motor pathways. Dysphagia.
Al-Toubi AK, Doeltgen SH. Daniels S, Myall D, Huckabee ML (2010). The role of the primary motor cortex (M1) in volitional and reflexive pharyngeal swallowing [Abstract]. New Zealand Dental Journal, 106, (4), 143.
Al-Toubi AK, Abu-Hijleh A, Huckabee ML, Macrae P, Doeltgen SH (2010). Effects of repeated volitional swallowing and rest on the excitability of submental corticobulbar motor pathways [Abstract]. Dysphagia, 25, 376.
Dalrymple-Alford JC, Livingston L, MacAskill M, Graham CT, Melzer TR, Porter RJ, Watts R, Anderson TA (in press). Characterizing mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders.
Dalrymple-Alford JC, MacAskill MR, Nakas C, Livingston L, Anderson TJ. (2011). Reply from the authors Re: Marinus J, Verbaan D, van Hilten JJ. comments on “The MoCA” Dalrymple-Alford, et al., 75:1717-1725. Neurology.
Innes CRH, Lee D, Chen C, Ponder-Sutton AM, Melzer TR, Jones RD (in press). Do complex models increase prediction of complex behaviours? Predicting driving ability in people with brain disorders. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Macrae PR, Myall DJ, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L (in press). Pharyngeal pressures during swallowing within and across 3 sessions: within-subject variance and order effects. Dysphagia.
Macrae P, Huckabee M-L, Jones R (2010). Manometric pressures within and across 3 sessions: Within-subject variance and order effects [Abstract]. Dysphagia, 25, 377-378.
CONFERENCES
Leslie Livingston attended the 7th International Congress on Mental Dysfunctions and Other Non Motor Features in Parkinson’s Disease & Related Disease in Barcelona, Spain, 9–12 December. Leslie presented the following paper:
Livingston L, MacAskill MR, Graham CF, Melzer T, Crucian G, Anderson TJ, Dalrymple-Alford JC. Parkinson’s Disease: Different Criteria have a Major Influence on the Classification of Mild Cognitive Impairment.
Norsila Abdul Wahab, Amir Al-Toubi, Maggie-Lee Huckabee, Oshrat Sella, and Corina Winkelman attended the 8th Asia Pacific Conference on Speech, Language and Hearing in Christchurch, 11–14 January. The following papers were presented:
Abdul Wahab N, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L. Modulation of swallowing function following olfactory and gustatory stimulation.
Al-Toubi AK, Doeltgen SH. Daniels S, Myall D, Huckabee ML. The effect of trials on the performance of corticospinal and corticobulbar motor behaviours: Baseline study.
Kaipa R, Robb MP, Huckabee M-L, Jones RD. Motor learning across speech and nonspeech tasks.
Miles A, McLauchlan H, Huckabee M-L. Identifying aspiration and reducing pneumonia in stroke patients using cough reflex testing.
Moore S, Huckabee M-L, Tillard G. A correlational study of cough sensitivity to citric acid and radiographic features of airway compromise.
Sella O, Han B, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L. Skill vs. strength training in swallowing rehabilitation.
Winkelman C, Huckabee M-L, Robb MP. Reliability in ultrasound measurement of hyoid displacement and submental muscle size in healthy individuals.
APPOINTMENTS
Richard Jones was appointed Theme Editor on the Conference Editorial Board of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society with co-responsibility for ‘Neural and Rehabilitation Engineering’ (2011-2013).
Richard Jones became a Member of the International Program Committee for the International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2011), 30 Aug – 3 Sep 2011, Boston.
PUBLICITY
A paper written by John Dalrymple-Alford and colleagues ‘Characterizing mild cognitive impairment in Parkinsons disease’ which was published in Movement Disorders this year was featured on the www.MDLinx.com site. MDLinx is an up-to-date index of articles relevant to physicians and other healthcare professionals, sending almost 1,000,000 free briefings across 35 specialty areas.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Norsila Abdul Wahab submitted her PhD thesis on ‘Effects of olfaction and gustation on swallowing’ (Supervisors – Maggie-Lee Huckabee and Richard Jones; Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury) and returned with her family to Malaysia.
NEW EQUIPMENT
The Institute obtained two replacement 64-channel EEG Quik-Caps (small & medium) for recordings on the Neuroscan EEG & Evoked potentials system (EEG & Sensory-motor Lab).
November 30th, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Abdul Wahab, N., Jones, R., & Huckabee, M. L. (in press). Effects of olfactory and gustatory stimuli on the biomechanics of swallowing. Physiology & Behavior.
Dalrymple-Alford JC, Livingston L, MacAskill MR, Graham CF, Melzer TR, Porter RJ, Watts R, Anderson TJ. (in press). Characterizing mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders.
Dalrymple-Alford JC, MacAskill MR, Nakas C, Livingston L, Graham CF, Crucian GP, Melzer TR, Kirwan J, Keenan R, Wells S, Porter RJ, Watts R, Anderson TJ. (2010). The MoCA: Well-suited screen for cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease. Neurology. 75:1717-1725.
Doeltgen SH, Dalrymple-Alford J, Ridding MC, Huckabee M-L. (in press). Task-dependent differences in corticobulbar excitability of the submental motor projections: implications for neural control of swallowing. Brain Research Bulletin.
Heitger MH, Watts R, Jones RD, Keenan R, Wells S, Ardagh MW, Anderson TJ (2010). Links between white matter integrity, eye movement function, and health in postconcussion syndrome (Abstract). Proceedings of the 16th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Barcelona, Spain,
http://ww3.aievolution.com/hbm1001/index.cfm?do=abs.viewAbs&abs=1615
Mace JL, Porter RJ, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Wesnes KA, Anderson TJ. (in press). The effects of acute tryptophan depletion on neuropsychological function, mood and movement in the healthy elderly. Journal of Psychopharmacology.
Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill MR, Pearson JF, Rüeger, S, Pitcher T, Livingston L, Graham C, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ. (in press). Arterial spin labeling reveals an abnormal cerebral perfusion pattern in Parkinson’s disease. Brain.
Norrie J, Heitger M, Leathem J, Anderson T, Jones R, Flett R. (2010). Mild traumatic brain injury and fatigue: A prospective longitudinal study. Brain Injury. 24:1528-1538.
Peiris, MTR, Davidson PR, Bones PJ, Jones RD (in press). Detection of lapses in responsiveness from the EEG. Journal of Neural Engineering.
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Davidson PR, Watts R, Bones PJ. (2010). Transient BOLD activity due to cued eye-closure and stopping during a continuous visuomotor task: A model-free investigation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering. 18(5):479-488.
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson was an Invited Speaker at the Movement Disorders Society – Visiting Professor Programme, Shanghai, China, 31 Oct – 1 Nov 2010. Tim gave the following presentations:
1. Abnormal eye movements in Parkinsonism.
2. PD, CBS and PSP: differential diagnosis.
3. Tremor: mechanism and treatment.
Yassar Alamri, Tim Anderson, Michael MacAskill, and Sarah Wright attended the NOSA/Neurovision Conference, Christchurch 2–5 Sep 2010. The following papers were presented:
Anderson TJ, MacAskill MR. How good are you at picking an INO.
Anderson TJ, Graham C, MacAskill MR, Pitcher T, Dalrymple-Alford JC. Are reflexive saccades a useful marker of cognition and motor status in Parkinson’s Disease.
MacAskill MR, Koga KI, Anderson TJ. Japanese street performed mimes violation of Hering’s Law.
Wright S, MacAskill MR, Watts R, Livingston L, Deavoll B, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ. fMRI and saccades in Alzheimer’s disease.
Tim Anderson and Charlotte Graham attended the World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, 28 September – 1 October 2010. The following paper was presented:
Graham C, MacAskill MR, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Livingston L, Pitcher T, Anderson TJ (2010). Memory-guided saccades, cognitive status, and dementia in Parkinson’s Disease. 2nd World Parkinson Congress Abstracts (pages S569–S717), Movement Disorders, 25, Suppl. 3 (P23.07).
GRANTS
Petra Hoggarth was awarded a $4000 Claude McCarthy travel award and a $1500 Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust travel grant-in-aid to present research at the 6th International Driving Symposium on Human Factors in Driver Assessment in Lake Tahoe, California, USA.
AWARDS
Yassar Alamri’s poster titled ‘Blackcurrant metabolites and Parkinson’s disease: are metabolites present in the cerebrospinal fluid?’ (Authors: Alamri Y, MacAskill MR, Anderson TJ) won 2nd place in Postgraduate Students of Otago’s poster night.
Tracy Melzer won best student presentation at the Centre for Bioengineering Day Conference, University of Otago, Christchurch. Tracy’s paper was ‘Principal component analysis reveals abnormal blood flow in Parkinson’s disease’ (Authors: Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill MR, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ).
PUBLICITY
A paper written by John Dalrymple-Alford and colleagues ‘The MoCA: Well-suited screen for cognitive impairment in Parkinson disease’ which was published in Neurology this year was featured on the www.MDLinx.com site on 24th November. MDLinx is the world’s most up-to-date index of articles relevant to physicians and other healthcare professionals, sending almost 1,000,000 free briefings across 35 specialty areas. The Neurology article was selected as number 1 on their medical-student site: http://www.mdlinx.com/medical-student/news-article.cfm/3369882.
October 31st, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
MacAskill, M. R., Koga, K., & Anderson, T. J. (in press). Japanese street performer mimes violation of Hering’s Law. Neurology.
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson and Charlotte Graham attended the 2nd World Parkinson Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, 28 Sept – 1 Oct. Charlotte presented the following paper:
Graham C, MacAskill MR, Dalrymple-Alford J, Livingston L, Pitcher T, Anderson TJ (2010). Memory-guided saccades, cognitive status, and dementia in Parkinson’s Disease. Movement Disorders, 25, S3: S691.
AWARDS
Hannah Farr won the Templin Prize for the best written technical report awarded by the Canterbury Branch of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) for her entry ‘Creative Writing in Engineering – A Pilot Study’.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Ben Han (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) will be undertaking a 10 week University of Canterbury Summer Studentship project based at the Institute and supervised by Maggie-Lee Huckabee, Richard Jones, and Paul Gaynor. The project is titled ‘An electrical-impedance biofeedback instrument for swallowing rehabilitation’.
Shuang-Xiu Chuang (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) will be undertaking a 10 week University of Canterbury Summer Studentship project based at the Institute and supervised by Richard Jones, Govinda Poudel, Carrie Innes, and Phil Bones. The project is titled ‘Measurement and characteristics of video-based eye- closure: A critical marker in the detection of microsleeps’.
September 30th, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Abdul Wahab N, Jones RD, Huckabee ML (in press). Effects of olfactory and gustatory stimuli on neural excitability for swallowing. Physiology & Behavior.
CONFERENCES
Carrie Innes, Richard Jones, Amol Malla, and Govinda Poudel attended the 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina (31 Aug – 4 Sep). The following papers were presented:
Innes CRH, Poudel GR, Signal TL, Jones RD (2010). Behavioural microsleeps in normally-rested people. Proceedings of 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 32, 4448-4451.
Innes CRH, Lee D, Chen C, Ponder-Sutton A, Jones RD (2010). Different models for predicting driving performance in people with brain disorders. Proceedings of 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 32, 5226-5529.
Jones RD, Poudel GR, Innes CRH, Davidson PR, Peiris MTR, Malla AM, Signal L, Carroll GJ, Watts R, Bones PJ (2010). Lapses of responsiveness: Characteristics, detection, and underlying mechanisms. Proceedings of 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 32, 1788-1791.
Malla AM, Davidson PR, Bones PJ, Green R, Jones RD (2010). Automated video-based measurement of eye closure for detecting behavioral microsleep. Proceedings of 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 32, 6741-6744.
Poudel GR, Innes CRH, Bones PJ, Jones RD (2010). Effects of behavioural microsleeps on EEG theta and tracking performance during a pursuit tracking task. Proceedings of 32nd Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 32, 4452-4455.
AWARDS
Tracy Melzer was runner-up for the 2010 best student presentation at the Health Research Society of Canterbury Scientific Meetings.
PUBLICITY
Daniel Myall and Michael MacAskill featured on Our Changing World, Radio New Zealand National, on Thursday the 23 September 2010. The interview discussed ‘Parkinson’s disease and virtual reality’ and is also available online:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/20100923
NEW EQUIPMENT
The Neurotechnology Research Programme has acquired a Polysomnography system (Compumedics ProFusion PSG 2; 2003) [gifted to Neurotechnology Research Programme by Children’s Health Service, CDHB]. Profusion PSG 2 is a comprehensive sleep analysis program which allows for automated analysis of sleep staging and events.
August 31st, 2010 by carrie
CONFERENCES
Yassar Alamri, Nadia Borlase, Tessa Cowley, John Dalrymple-Alford, Hannah Farr, Simon Feng, Charlotte Graham, William Ha, Tracy Melzer, and Sarah Wright attended the Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research (AWCBR) 28 August – 1 September, Wanaka. The following papers were presented:
Alamri YA, MacAskill MR, Anderson TJ (2010). Blackcurrant antioxidants and Parkinson’s disease: Are metabolites present in the cerebrospinal fluid?
Borlase N, Melzer TR, Watts R, Livingston L, Graham CF, Pitcher T, Crucian GP, Keenan R, MacAskill MR, Anderson TJ, Dalrymple-Alford JC (2010). Diffusion tensor imaging and fibre tracking applied to the thalamus – A new approach to understanding Parkinson’s disease.
Cowley TK, Than M, MacAskill MR, Anderson TJ (2010). Prevalence and characteristics of acute headaches and dizziness in people with mild head trauma.
Dalrymple-Alford JC, MacAskill MR, Nakas CT, Livingston L, Wang YC, Graham CF, Melzer TR, Crucian GP, Watts R, Anderson TJ (2010). Parkinson’s Disease and Cognition: Clarifying the Spectrum of Impairments.
Farr H, David T (2010). Models of neurovascular coupling.
Feng SDW, MacAskill MR, Pitcher TL, Melzer TR, Graham CF, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Watts R, Anderson TJ (2010). Correlations between ASL blood flow MRI and eye movement abnormalities in Parkinson’s disease.
Graham CF, MacAskill MR, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ (2010). Does cognitive and motor status affect memory-guided saccades in Parkinson’s disease?
Ha W, MacAskill MR, Anderson TJ (2010). Voluntary tremor suppression in Parkinson’s disease
Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill, MR, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ (2010). Cerebral perfusion deficits in Parkinson’s disease with cognitive impairment.
Wright SL, MacAskill MR, Watts R, Livingston L, Deavoll B, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ (2010). Functional MRI of saccades in Alzheimer’s disease: the reflexive and predictive tasks.
EVENTS
The Institute held a one day symposium on the 27th August to highlight research performed at the Institute. In addition to ‘lightning talks’ from attendees in related fields, the following talks were presented:
Tim Anderson – Parkinson’s disease dementia and other non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease.
Petra Hoggarth – Are drivers who fail an on-road assessment really less safe?
Sarah Wright – Functional MRI of Saccades in Alzheimer’s disease: the reflexive and predictive tasks.
Govinda Poudel – Simultaneous fMRI and EEG investigation of behavioural microsleeps.
Richard Watts – Diffusion and Perfusion MRI: A brief introduction and some applications to neurological disease.
Norsila Abdul Wahab – Modulation of swallowing function following olfactory and gustatory stimulation.
Carrie Innes – Comparison of models for predicting driving performance in people with brain disorders.
Charlotte Graham – Does cognitive and motor status affect memory-guided saccades in Parkinson’s disease?
Daniel Myall – Can movements be made faster, larger, and more predictive in Parkinson’s disease?
John Dalrymple-Alford – Cognition in Parkinson’s disease: Clarifying the spectrum of impairments.
Phoebe Macrae – Validation of ultrasound as a tool for assessing muscle area.
Toni Pitcher – Neuroimaging of anxiety in Parkinson’s disease.
Michael MacAskill – Eye movements in Parkinson’s disease.
Tessa Cowley – Prevalence and characteristics of acute headaches and dizziness in people with mild head trauma.
Simon Feng – Correlations between ASL blood flow MRI and eye movement abnormalities in Parkinson’s disease.
Tracy Melzer – Cerebral perfusion deficits in Parkinson’s disease with cognitive impairment.
GRADUATIONS
Daniel Myall graduated on the 21st August with a PhD from the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch. His thesis was titled ‘Investigations into motor adaptation and Parkinson’s disease using virtual environments and computational frameworks’ and was supervised by Richard Jones, Tim Anderson, and Michael MacAskill.
AWARDS
Tracy Melzer won the Goddard Prize for best student presentation at the International Australasian Winter Conference on Brain Research in Wanaka.
Tracy Melzer won the best student poster at the University of Otago, Division of Health Science Research Forum, 8 September 2010, Dunedin, with his poster:
Melzer T R, Watts R, MacAskill, M R, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop D C, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford J C, Anderson T J (2010). Can advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) help characterized cognitive and motor impairments in Parkinson’s disease?
July 31st, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Dalrymple-Alford JC, MacAskill MR, Nakas C, Livingston L, Graham CF, Crucian GP, Melzer TR, Kirwan J, Keenan R, Wells S, Porter RJ, Watts R, Anderson TJ (in press). The MoCA: Well-suited screen for cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Neurology.
Hoggarth P, Innes C, Dalrymple-Alford J, Croucher M, Severinsen J, Gray J, Oxley J, Brook B, Abernethy P, Jones R (in press). Assessment of older drivers in New Zealand: the current system, research, and recommendations. Australasian Journal on Ageing.
van Stockum S, MacAskill MR, Anderson, TJ (in press). Bottom-up effects modulate saccadic latencies in well-known eye movement paradigm. Psychological Research.
Choo AL, Robb MP, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Huckabee M-L, O’Beirne GA (2010). Different lip asymmetry in adults who stutter: Electromyographic evidence during speech and non-speech. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 62:143–147.
Doeltgen SH, Dalrymple-Alford J, Ridding MC, Huckabee M-L (2010). Differential Effects of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation Parameters on Submental Motor Evoked Potentials. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 24:519-527.
McKinlay A, Grace RC, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Roger D (2010). Characteristics of executive function impairment in Parkinson’s disease patients without dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 16:268-277.
GRANTS
Toni Pitcher, John Dalrymple-Alford, Lucy Johnston, Richard Watts, Michael MacAskill, Richard Porter, Caroline Bell, Ross Keenan, and Tim Anderson were successful in obtaining a grant of $179,899 from the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand for their project ‘Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Anxiety in Parkinson’s disease’. The grant will cover salary and MRI costs.
AWARDS
Tracy Melzer won the University of Otago, Christchurch, round of the ‘PhD in 3’ Competition and was awarded $500 to put towards his research/conference attendance. Tracy will be travelling to Dunedin on the 19th August to compete in the University of Otago wide final of the ‘PhD in 3’ competition.
PUBLICITY
Richard Jones, Carrie Innes, Govinda Poudel, and Phil Bones were featured in an Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand magazine article about their lapse research. ‘Caught Napping’, e.nz Magazine, Vol 11/4, 35-37.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Yaqub Jon Mohamady commenced his PhD studies through the Department of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch. His project is titled ‘Real-time enhancement of deep electrical activity in the brain associated with behavioural microsleeps’ and will be supervised by Richard Jones, Govinda Poudel, and Carrie Innes.