Archive for the 'Newsletter' Category
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.
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.