WU researchers breakthrough with minimally conscious state patients

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers from Western University have utilized their own game-changing technology – previously developed for use with patients in a vegetative state – to assess a more prevalent group of brain-injured patients, those in the minimally conscious state (MCS). Their findings were released today in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The study, led by Adrian Owen, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience and Imaging, and Damian Cruse of Western's Brain and Mind Institute, is a follow-up to the team's groundbreaking Lancet publication from November 2011 that used electroencephalography (EEG) to show that some vegetative state patients were able to reliably follow commands, even though this ability was entirely undetectable from their external behaviour. 

In the new paper, titled "The relationship between aetiology and covert cognition in the minimally-conscious state," the MCS patients showed some inconsistent but reproducible external signs of awareness, such as being able to follow their eyes in a mirror.  Cruse says, however, that currently very little is known about their 'internal' state of awareness that may be hidden from their external behaviour. 

"Using our EEG approach, we found that 22 per cent of 23 MCS patients were able to complete a complex task which required them to imagine particular types of movement," says Cruse, a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Brain and Mind Institute and the lead writer of the paper. "This tells us that these patients have a much higher level of cognitive ability than what you could detect from their behaviour."

Cruse adds that the cause of the brain injury was a determining factor in finding these cognitive abilities as 33 per cent of traumatically injured patients (e.g. traffic accident, fall) returned positive EEG results compared to zero per cent of non-traumatically injured patients (e.g. heart attack, stroke).

The research team, in collaboration with Steven Laureys at the University of Liège, Belgium, asked patients approximately 100 times each to imagine moving his or her right-hand and toes. By making recordings of the patients’ EEG, a measure of the electrical activity of the brain, the team showed that 22 per cent of the MCS patients were able to produce patterns of brain activity that were indistinguishable from a healthy individual following the same commands. 

"There are a large number of patients in the MCS worldwide, and our approach highlights the importance of using EEG and other forms of brain imaging when assessing the mental capabilities of patients following brain injury," says Cruse "It reinforces our understanding that the externally observable abilities of a patient are not necessarily a true reflection of their internal state."

Provided by University of Western Ontario

"WU researchers breakthrough with minimally conscious state patients." March 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-wu-breakthrough-minimally-conscious-state.html

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Robert Karl Stonjek

Study: Sleep gets better with age, not worse

Aging does not appear to be a factor in poor sleep, a new survey of more than 150,000 Americans shows. In fact, subjective sleep quality seems to improve over a lifetime, with the fewest complaints coming from people in their 80s.

"This flies in the face of popular belief," said Michael Grandner, PhD, lead author of the study. "These results force us to re-think what we know about sleep in older people – men and women."

The study, appearing in the March edition of the journal Sleep, examined rates of sleep disturbance and daytime fatigue reported by 155,877 adults participating in a randomized telephone survey. Respondents were asked about sleep disturbances and daytime tiredness. The survey also asked about race, income, education, depressed mood, general health and time of last medical checkup. All responses were weighted so that they matched U.S. Census data.

Health problems and depression were associated with poor sleep, and women reported more sleep disturbances and tiredness than men. But except for an uptick in sleep problems during middle age – more pronounced in women than men – sleep quality improved consistently over a lifetime. Or at least that's how people reported their sleep.

"Even if sleep among older Americans is actually worse than in younger adults, feelings about it still improve with age," said Grandner, Research Associate at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. "Once you factor out things like illness and depression, older people should be reporting better sleep. If they're not, they need to talk to their doctor. They shouldn't just ignore it."

Grandner said the study's original intent was to confirm that increased sleep problems are associated with aging, using the largest and most representative sample ever to address this issue. Instead, the results challenge the conventional wisdom that difficulty sleeping is perceived more by older adults, and challenge the general clinical practice of ignoring sleep complaints from older adults as a normal part of aging.

More information: "Age and Sleep Disturbances Among American Men And Women: Data From the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System," in journal Sleep.

Provided by American Academy of Sleep Medicine

"Study: Sleep gets better with age, not worse." March 1st, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-age-worse.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

Fear factor isn't enough: Ads have to gross you out to work best

(PhysOrg.com) -- We've all seen the ads meant to scare us into buying products like protective sunscreen or to avoid doing something like drugs. Well, it turns out those advertisements may only freeze us with fear and inaction. New research from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University shows, in order to work best, these ads also have to disgust and gross us out.

“Fear creates uncertainty and insecurity over what to do, but disgust gives us a very strong impulse to avoid and distance ourselves from the item or situation as quickly as possible,” explains Andrea Morales, W. P. Carey School of Business marketing professor, lead author of the work. “When you add a disgusting message or image to an advertisement, it can significantly increase the ad’s effectiveness.”

The new research from Morales and her colleagues was just posted online by the Journal of Marketing Research. It points to successful, disgusting campaigns, such as one by the New York City Department of Health that centered on images of soda turning into gobs of fat. Department officials say sugar-rich beverage consumption in the area dropped by 12 percent after the campaign. Other popular advertisements in the disgusting category include a medication ad with a creepy yellow rat-like creature attacking a human toenail, a pain-medication ad featuring a pair of feet covered in fire ants, and an anti-smoking matchbook with graphic images of decayed, blackened teeth.

“Disgust dramatically enhances persuasion and compliance above and beyond just fear appeals,” says Morales. “You have to go beyond scare tactics to produce a strong and immediate avoidance reaction or a change in behavior. For example, disgust is especially good at motivating people toward losing weight, quitting smoking or changing another behavior to improve their health.”

In particular, the research discusses a real ad campaign in Britain that showed graphic images linking cigarettes with fat-filled arteries. The 2004 campaign by the British Heart Foundation and the local Department of Health was so successful that the United Kingdom’s government is planning to print these pictorial-warning images on all tobacco products sold in the U.K.

“We’ve also seen several recent ads for cleaning products that disgust viewers by talking about and showing the dirt, grime and germs left behind when you use other, less effective mops, cleansers, even toothpaste,” says Morales. “A new series of Febreze commercials shows people in filthy rooms, but smelling pleasant odors thanks to the spray.”

In a series of five experiments, the researchers repeatedly found the same thing. When people looked at ads with neutral messages or those simply meant to induce fear, they didn’t work as well as those using disgust.

For example, 155 undergraduate students looked at various versions of a real anti-meth ad with the same words and format, but different, altered images. The version with a teen whose face was covered in open sores was found to be much more effective than the versions with a picture of a coffin or two teens sitting side by side. The coffin, while scary, didn’t portray an immediate, imminent, disgusting threat.

Another experiment involved showing participants a sunscreen ad with identical images, but different text in each case. The most persuasive version talked about “open sores that crust and do not heal for weeks,” “scaly red patches” and “wart-like growths that ooze and bleed.” The reaction to it was far more significant than a neutral ad version and one that simply talked about “a severe sunburn” and the “possibility of heat stroke.”

Morales’ co-authors are Eugenia Wu, assistant professor at Cornell University and Gavan Fitzsimons, professor at Duke University.

More information: The full write-up called “How Disgust Enhances the Effectiveness of Fear Appeals,” is available at theJournal of Marketing Research website at http://www.journal … /jmr.07.0364 .

Provided by Arizona State University

"Fear factor isn't enough: Ads have to gross you out to work best." February 29th, 2012. http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-factor-isnt-ads-gross.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek