Archive for the 'Newsletter' Category
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.
June 30th, 2010 by carrie
CONFERENCES
Richard Jones attended the University of Otago, Christchurch, Centre for Bioengineering Mini-Conference on 23rd June 2010 and presented the following invited talk:
Jones R D (2010). An overview of the Christchurch Neurotechnology Research Programme.
Tracy Melzer attended the 16th Annual Meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in Barcelona, Spain, 6-10th June 2010. Tracy presented the following paper:
Melzer TR, Watts R, MacAskill MR, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop DC, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Anderson TJ (2010). Interpretation of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI perfusion deficits in Parkinson’s Disease.
PUBLICITY
Richard Jones, Carrie Innes, and Govinda Poudel were featured on Radio New Zealand National’s Our Changing World discussing their research on ‘Microsleeps’ (13 min), 10 June 2010. (www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld)
May 31st, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Wu CC, Fairhall SL, McNair NA, Hamm JP, Kirk IJ, Cunnington R, Anderson TA, Lim VK (2010). Impaired sensorimotor integration in focal hand dystonia patients in the absence of symptoms. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. 81: 659-665
GRADUATIONS
Govinda Poudel graduated with a PhD in Medicine from the University of Otago on the 22nd May. Govinda’s PhD was titled ‘Functional magnetic resonance imaging of lapses of responsiveness during visuomotor tracking’ and supervised by Richard Jones, Carrie Innes, and Phil Bones.
AWARDS
Petra Hoggarth was one of two students to win the Department of Psychology University of Canterbury, heat of the ‘PhD in 3’ Competition.
Ramesh Kaipa won 2nd place in the Health Research Society of Canterbury Poster Expo for his poster titled ‘Recovery of Speech following total glossectomy: An acoustic and perceptual appraisal’ (Authors: Ramesh Kaipa, Michael P Robb, Greg A. O’ Beirne, Robert S. Allison).
Phoebe Macrae was awarded the ‘Research Excellence Award’ by the New Zealand Speech Therapists Association. This award recognises innovative research that contributes to clinical work.
Phoebe Macrae won 2nd place in the Scientific Abstract Award at the meeting of the 18th annual Dyspagia Research Society meeting in San Diego, in March with her paper ‘Manometric pressures within and across 3 sessions: within subject variance and order effects’.
Phoebe Macrae won the Department of Communication Disorders, University of Canterbury, heat of the ‘PhD in 3’ Competition.
PUBLICITY
Richard Jones, Govinda Poudel, and Carrie Innes were interviewed for a story based on their Marsden Funded project ‘Losing the struggle to stay awake: What happens in the brain during a lapse of responsiveness?’ which will air on Radio New Zealand National as part of the Our Changing World programme. From 10th June, a link to the interview will be on the Radio New Zealand website at www.radionz.co.nz/ourchangingworld.
April 30th, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Hoggarth PA, Innes CRH, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Severinsen JE, Jones RD (in press). Comparison of a linear and a non-linear model for using sensory-motor, cognitive, personality, and demographic data to predict driving ability in healthy older adults. Accident Analysis & Prevention.
Melzer T R, Watts R, MacAskill, M R, Pearson, J F, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop D C, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford J C, Anderson T J (in press). Characteristic arterial spin labeling MRI perfusion abnormalities in early, treatment-free Parkinson’s disease [Abstract]. New Zealand Medical Journal.
CONFERENCES
Tracy Melzer attended the Health Research Society of Canterbury meeting on 22nd April and presented the following paper:
Melzer T R, Watts R, MacAskill, M R, Pearson, J F, Keenan R, Shankaranarayanan A, Alsop D C, Graham C, Livingston L, Dalrymple-Alford J C, Anderson T J. ‘Characteristic arterial spin labeling MRI perfusion abnormalities in early, treatment-free Parkinson’s disease’.
EVENTS
Members from the Rotary Club of West Christchurch visited the Institute on the 28th April. Tim Anderson, Maggie-Lee Huckabee, Richard Watts, John Dalrymple-Alford, and Richard Jones gave short presentations on their respective research interests. The talks were followed by a visit to the MRI scanner with Richard Watts and tours of the Institute’s laboratories by representatives from the Eye Movement, Swallowing, and Neurotech research groups.
March 31st, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Davidson P, Watts R, and Bones PJ (in press). Measurement of BOLD Changes Due to Cued Eye-closure and Stopping during a Continuous Visuomotor Task via Model-based and Model-free Approaches. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering.
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Bones PJ, Watts R (in press). Changes in BOLD activity during behavioural microsleeps [Abstract]. New Zealand Medical Journal.
Jones RD, Poudel GR, Innes CRH and Bones PJ (2010). Lapses of responsiveness: Their characteristics, detection, and underlying mechanisms [Abstract]. NeuroMath COST Action BM0601: Neurodynamic insight into functional connectivity, cognition, and consciousness. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.05.00008
CONFERENCES
Govinda Poudel presented at the Health Research Society of Canterbury meeting on 26th March. Govinda presented the following paper:
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Bones PJ, Watts R. ‘Changes in BOLD activity during behavioural microsleeps’.
Richard Jones was an invited speaker at the Workshop on ‘Neurodynamic Insight into Functional Connectivity, Cognition and Consciousness’, in Dubrovnik, 27-28th March 2010, Croatia. Richard presented the following paper:
Jones RD, Poudel GR, Innes CRH. ‘Lapses of responsiveness: Their characteristics, detection, and underlying mechanisms’.
Richard Jones was an invited speaker at the Senior Drivers Workshop, Wellington, 1st March 2010. Richard’s presentation was titled ‘Christchurch Driving Research Programme’.
Richard Jones presented an invited seminar on ‘Lapses of responsiveness: Their characteristics, detection, and underlying mechanisms’ at the Santa Lucia Foundation – Scientific Institute for Hospitalisation and Treatment (National Hospital for Neuromotor Rehabilitation), Rome, Italy, 26 March 2010.
EVENTS
Prof. Shu Leong Ho, Professor & Division Chief from the Neurology Department at the University of Hong Kong gave a talk about neuroprotection in Parkinson’s Disease to the Discussion Group on 24th February.
Professor Don Stein is an Erskine visiting fellow at the Psychology Dept at the University of Canterbury. Professor Stein presented at Discussion Group in March. He also gave a public lecture ‘Repairing damaged brains: progesterone – a safe treatment hidden in plain sight’ on 18th March at the Christchurch Art Gallery as part of the Neurological Foundation’s national Brain Awareness Week. These talks summarised his 27 year journey towards a current, multi-centre US$28 million clinical trial to minimise the effects of acute brain injury. It seems that sex steroids, especially progesterone, could be affective for both men and women. This hormone may also hold promise in many other conditions associated with brain impairment.
GRANTS
Richard Jones was successful in obtaining $5000 from the Royal Society of NZ (International Science & Technology Linkages Fund) to put toward travel expenses involved in participation in the EU COST Action BM0601 (NeuroMath) workshop.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Sina Rüeger is visiting us for three months from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. She is completing a Masters’ degree in Engineering with a focus on statistics. Her project aims to test improved ways to analyse MRI arterial spin labeling data.
February 28th, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Alamri Y, Anderson T, MacAskill M (in press). We are what we eat, or are we not? New Zealand Medical Student Journal.
CONFERENCES
Hannah Farr and Tim David attended the conference ‘Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering’ in Valencia, Spain 24–27 February. Hannah was interested to find that they were the only presenters discussing cellular models involving the brain. Most of the other people investigating the brain were conducting research into cerebral aneurysm or atherosclerosis modelling with computational fluid dynamics or were looking at methods of measuring specific mechanical properties of tissue. There were a small number of people investigating multiscale modelling (large arteries at centimetre scale, through the smaller arterioles and capillaries, and down to nanoscale cellular mechanics) but they were looking at other organs rather than the brain. Hannah presented the following paper in the ‘Neuro’ special session:
Farr H, David T. Computational models of metabolic autoregulation in the human cerebrovasculature.
January 31st, 2010 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Choo AL, Robb MP, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Huckabee M-L, O’Beirne GA (in press). Different lip asymmetry in adults who stutter: Electromyographic evidence during speech and non-speech. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica.
Doeltgen SH, Dalrymple-Alford J, Ridding MC, Huckabee M-L (in press). Differential effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation parameters on submental motor evoked potentials. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair.
Koenig ST, Crucian GP, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Dünser A. (2009). Virtual reality rehabilitation of spatial abilities after brain damage. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics. 2009;144:105-7.
McKinlay A, Grace RC, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Roger D (in press). Characteristics of executive function impairment in Parkinson’s disease patients without dementia. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.
McKinlay A, Grace RC, Dalrymple-Alford JC, Roger D (2009). Cognitive characteristics associated with mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 28: 121-129.
McLellan T, Johnston L, Dalrymple-Alford J, Porter R (in press). Sensitivity to genuine versus posed emotion specified in facial displays. Cognition & Emotion.
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson attended the South Island Movement Disorders Meeting – Focus on Parkinsonism on the 4th December 2009 at Clearwater, Christchurch. Tim presented the following papers:
Anderson, TA ‘Management of early Parkinson’s disease’
Anderson, TA ‘Non-motor manifestations of Parkinson’s disease’
Anderson, TA ‘The atypical Parkinsonian disorders’
GRANTS
John Dalrymple-Alford, Tim Anderson, Richard Watts, Ben Harrison, Tim Wilkinson, Richard Porter, and Leslie Livingston successfully obtained $126,587 funding for the project ‘Combating dementia with cognitive enrichment’ from Lottery Health Research. The 2009/2010 round was a particularly competitive one, with $3,186,696 (16%) available from a requested $19,798,753. The funds provided are for research assistance, MRI scans, participant travel and consumables.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Yassar Alamri, Tessa Cowley, Simon Feng, and William Ha are medical students from the University of Otago, Christchurch who will be taking a year out from their medical degrees to complete Bachelor of Medical Science projects supervised by Tim Anderson and Michael MacAskill.
Yassar will be examining the ability of blackcurrant metabolites to enter the cerebrospinal fluid.
Tessa will working with head injury patients in the Emergency Dept to characterise their headache and dizziness symptoms.
Simon will be undertaking an eye movement/imaging project in Parkinson’s.
William will be using fMRI and other technologies to understand how some people with PD can voluntarily suppress their tremor.
November 30th, 2009 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Wilcke JC, O’Shea RP, Watts R (2009). Frontoparietal activity and its structural connectivity in binocular rivalry. Brain Research, 1305, 96-107.
Wu B, Butler A, Millane RP, Watts R, Bones PJ (in press). Cartesian sliding window methods for retrospective selection of acceleration factors for contrast enhance MR angiography. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
CONFERENCES
Norsila Abdul Wahab, Aamir Al-Toubi, Stefanie Bauer, Maggie-Lee Huckabee, Richard Jones, Phoebe Macrae, Margaret Monroe, and Oshrat Sella attended the Department of Communication Disorders Postgraduate Research Conference at the University of Canterbury on 12th November 2009. The following presentations were made:
Abdul Wahab N, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L ‘Changes in motor-evoked potentials of the submental muscles following olfactory and gustatory stimulations’
Al-Toubi A, Abu-Hijleh A, Huckabee M-L, Macrae P, Doeltgen S ‘The effects of repeated volitional swallowing and time on corticobulbar excitability’.
Bauer S, Huckabee M-L ‘The effects of exercises on suprahyoid muscles and hyoid movement during swallowing in healthy individuals: Investigation by ultrasound’.
Macrae P, Jones RD, Huckabee M-L ‘The effects of neuromuscular exercises on biomechanical and neural mechanisms of swallowing: Investigations by motor evoked potentials, ultrasound, and manometry’.
Monroe M, Huckabee M-L, Robb MP ‘Citric acid inhalation cough challenge: Establishing normative data’.
Sella O, Huckabee M-L, Jones RD, Watts R. ‘Skill versus strength training in swallowing rehabilitation’.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
The following Summer Students will be working at the Institute for 10 weeks over the summer:
William Ha is a medical student from the University of Otago, Christchurch will be undertaking a summer project supervised by Tim Anderson and Michael MacAskill. William is also intending to complete a Bachelor of Medical Science thesis at the Institute in 2010.
Ben Han a BE student from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury will be undertaking the project ‘Strength vs skill training in dysphagia rehabilitation: development of sEMG biofeedback software’ under the supervision of Maggie-Lee Huckabee and Richard Jones.
Jeremy Lane a BE(Hons) student from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury will be undertaking the project ‘Automated estimation of level of drowsiness from the EEG’ under the supervision of Richard Jones, Govinda Poudel, and Carrie Innes.
Agate Ponder-Sutton a student from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury will be undertaking the project ‘Prediction of driving ability in persons with brain disorders: Improving a non-linear predictive model’ under the supervision of Richard Jones and Carrie Innes.
October 31st, 2009 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Heitger MH, Jones RD, Macleod AD, Snell DL, Frampton CM, Anderson TJ (2009). Impaired eye movements in post-concussion syndrome indicate suboptimal brain function beyond the influence of depression, malingering or intellectual ability. Brain. 132(10), 2850-70.
Huckabee M-L, Macrae P (2009). Temporal resolution in swallowing neural control: The way forward (Editorial). Clinical Neurophysiology. 120(10), 1764-1765.
CONFERENCES
Tim Anderson attended the Palmerston North Movement Disorders Meeting, 14 and 15 October 2009 and presented the following keynote addresses:
‘Parkinson’s disease update’
‘Instructive video cases’
Tim Anderson was an invited speaker at the Kapiti/Horowhenua Parkinson’s Society Seminar in Paraparaumu, 23 October 2009 and presented the following talk:
‘Medical management of Parkinson’s disease’
GRANTS
Maggie-Lee Huckabee, Oshrat Sella, and Richard Jones were successful in obtaining a Canterbury Medical Research Foundation Project Grant of $10,000 for their project ‘Skill vs strength training in swallowing rehabilitation’.
PEOPLE AT VDVI
Pip Aimer and Laura Paermentier commenced as Clinical Research Coordinators. Pip and Laura will be covering for Meredith Woodhouse while she is on maternity leave for 6 months.
Helen Skene commenced as a Research Nurse / Clinical Trial Coordinator.
September 30th, 2009 by carrie
PUBLICATIONS
Webb, A., Knott, A., & MacAskill, M. R. (in press). Eye movements during transitive action observation have sequential structure. Acta Psychologica.
CONFERENCES
Richard Jones and Govinda Poudel attended the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC’09), September 2-6, 2009 in Minneapolis, USA. The following paper was presented:
Poudel GR, Jones RD, Innes CRH, Watts R, Signal TL, Bones PJ. fMRI correlates of behavioural microsleeps during a continuous visuomotor task. Proceedings of 31st Annual International Conference of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC 2009), Minneapolis, USA. 2009;31:2919-2922.
GRANTS
Michael MacAskill, Tim Anderson, John Dalrymple-Alford, Richard Watts, Tracy Melzer, and Ross Keenan successfully obtained $74,350 funding for the project ‘Can advanced MRI and saccade parameters faithfully measure progression in Parkinson’s disease?’ from the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation. This study will follow people with PD who have been studied previously, looking to examine methods of predicting changes in disease severity, cognitive performance, MR brain imaging, and eye movement measures.
PUBLICITY
Petra Hoggarth’s runner-up prize in the ‘Science and our Society’ category of the McDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Awards was reported in articles and photos published in the Press and in the University of Canterbury Chronicle.
‘Student develops detection of unsafe drivers’, The Press, Christchurch, September 9, 2009. (www.stuff.co.nz/national/2845763/Student-develops-detection-of-unsafe-drivers)
‘UC researchers recognised in Young Scientist Awards’, Chronicle, Volume 44, No 14, September 4, 2009 p. 2 (www.comsdev.canterbury.ac.nz/chronicle/2009/ChronVol44-14.pdf)