Avastin is a fairly commonly used chemotherapy drug that can cause several adverse side effects when it comes to the brain. These include:

• Strokes and transient ischemic attacks (i.e., blood clots in the brain).
• Reversible posterior leukoencephalopathy. In September of 2006, Genetech and the FDA issued a warning to physicians that Avastin can cause this syndrome by impairing the brain blood barrier. While rare, this syndrome can be associated with headaches, seizures, confusion, and visual disturbances.

Whenever new symptoms develop, it’s always important to ask if they could possibly be due to a medication you are on. Interestingly, it is estimated that approximately 5% of hospital admissions are due to medication side effects.

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I have many feathers to help me fly.

I have a body and head, but I’m not alive.

It is your strength which determines how far I go.

You can hold me in your hand, but I’m never thrown.

What am I?

More short riddles? Here are some of the BEST!

• short safari word puzzle
• a feeling all persons detest
• the geometric riddle poem
• strolling through a tract of wheat riddle
• classic 30 word riddle-very hard!

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Earlier, I posted about a UC Irvine study that showed the more hours you put in at work, the more likely you are to have high blood pressure. High Blood Pressure ravages the small blood vessels that feed the brain, and over time leads to many little holes in your gray and white matter that are quite obvious on MRI brain scans.

Came across a recent study entitled The Dangerous Allure of the 70-hour Workweek. Published in the Harvard Business Review, the article discusses how more and more people are finding themselves with “extreme jobs”.

• According to the study, 70 percent of these workers in the U.S. and 81 percent globally say their jobs undermine their health in terms of exercise, diet and the impact of stress. Nationally, 46 percent, and globally, 59 percent, say it gets in the way of their relationships.

Regardless of what these workers acknowledge, I suspect 100% are having their health and relationships undermined by their job.

An MSNBC article that commented on the HBR study goes on to say: “To get ahead, a 70-hour work week is the new standard”. In today’s competitive work world, with growing globalization, I suspect this is probably true…

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For this matchstick puzzle, move 3 matches to make the fish point towards the right:

Thanks to Sam for emailing me this brain joke:

THE LONELY LITTLE BRAIN CELL

Once upon a time there was a female brain cell,
which by mistake happened to end up in a man’s head.

She looked around nervously, but it was all empty and quiet.

Hello?” she cried, but no answer.

“Is there anyone here?” she cried a little louder,
but still no answer.

Now the female brain cell started to feel alone and
scared and cried at the top of her voice:

“HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE HERE?”

Then she heard a faint voice from far, far away………………….

“We’re down here ….”

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Can you figure out what these words have in common?

Banana

Dresser

Grammar

Potato

Revive

Uneven

Voodoo

Feel free to post your answers in the comments section below; will unmask them in a couple days to give everyone a chance to work at it.

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Is the brain like the muscles in your body? Can it be trained with cognitive exercises to improve mental agility and sharpness as you get older?

Quite a bit of research has come out lately indicating that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘Yes’.

The most recent research I’ve come across is the ACTIVE study (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly), published in the December issue of JAMA (reference below). The amazing findings indicate a mere 10 training sessions (each lasting 60-75 minutes) over a five week period was enough to significantly improve cognitive ability and brain power. Importantly, the brain boosting effect lasted more than five years.

The benefits were actually quite impressive. Dr. Sherry Willis, one of the chief authors of the study, notes: "The improvements seen after training roughly counteract the degree in decline in cognitive performance that we would expect to see over a 7-14 year period among older people without dementia".

The study included 2,832 participants over the age of 65.

For those over 50 looking for computer software that serves as a brain gym, check out our review of Mindfit brain trainig program.

JAMA. 2006;296:2805-2814. Long-term Effects of Cognitive Training on Everyday Functional Outcomes in Older Adults.

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It is estimated that more than 1 in 3 Americans take vitamin supplements every day. Many believe that by taking these pills, they can improve brain function. B Vitamins are especially popular.

Do they work?

My suspicion is, as long as you don’t have a significant deficiency, they are probably not doing your brain very much good.

In fact, a meta-analysis was published in the January issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine that looked at this very issue.

The study looked at 14 trials that tested the cognitive benefits of taking vitamin B6, B12, and folic acid. Unfortunately, on most tests of mental function, no improvement was seen. [Reference below]

Now this is not to say vitamins can’t boost brain power. The question, however, becomes: Where are you getting them from? The majority of recent research indicates you have to go to the raw food source as opposed to a pill.

Importantly:

• Vitamins are just part of the food, and contain just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of beneficial organic compounds (i.e., phytochemicals) present in a fruit or vegetable. For example, many people associate Vitamin C with oranges. An orange, however, contains over 190 phytochemicals, and the vast majority of these will never make their way into a vitamin pill.
• The hundreds of beneficial organic compounds in raw food are balanced, and work synergistically. This is just not possible when a few vitamins are synthetically isolated in pill form.

Raw food is the greatest supplement of all.

If you’d like to read more on the brain boosting effects of phytochemicals, here are a few earlier smartkit posts that I recommend:

• What a glass of fruit or vegetable juice can do for your brain
• Green leafy vegetables most able to slow the rate of cogntive decline
• Grape Juice reverses brain aging
• Strawberries prevent memory loss

Reference: Arch Intern Med. 2007;167:21-30. Vitamin B6, B12, and Folic Acid Supplementation and Cognitive Function.

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Smartkit contest aims to compile new, healthy ways for students to capitalize on study sessions learning more in less time.

Boynton Beach, FL February 22, 2007 — www.smart-kit.com — Smart-kit.com, a leading website dedicated to providing studying techniques, is hosting a contest to create a compilation of study tips from its readers and help others learn how to study smarter, not harder.

"Almost all students have been forced to pull an all-nighter," said Dr. R.L. Kaplan, Board Certified Neurologist and author of Smart-kit.com. "But few realize the negative effects sleep deprivation can have on brain function the following day, decreasing the likelihood of performing well on tests."

According to the journal, Occupational & Environmental Medicine, after 19+ hours without sleep, performance on cognitive tests reached levels equivalent to those associated with a BAC (blood alcohol concentration) of 0.1 percent. In the majority of states, a BAC of 0.08 percent is grounds for a DUI. This means that students pulling an all-nighter don’t have enough brain function to legally drive a car.

"It is important that students learn more effective and healthy study habits," said Kaplan. "That is the goal of this contest, to educate students on a variety of ways to increase information learned while decreasing study time."

The contest, which begins on February 22nd, allows visitors to submit their favorite study techniques with a chance to win 1 of 2 prizes donated by Hearthmath Company. The prizes include a/an: 1. emWave Machine 2. TestEdge Interactive Learning Program

To submit your favorite study technique, visit: http://www.smart-kit.com/s394/smartkit-contest-submit-your-favorite-study-tips/

About Smartkit
SmartKit is an eBook written by Board Certified neurologist Dr. R.L. Kaplan. The SmartKit: Student Guidebook provides learning strategies for students of all ages.

The SmartKit website and its contents are owned and published by Synaptic Blue, LLC.

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Today starts the Smartkit site’s Study Tips contest. What worked for you while in college? Or if you’re still in school, we’d like to know your favorite method for getting your best studying done. We are giving away 2 prizes:

• Grand Prize: Choice of either an Apple 30 GB iPod video Black OR an emWave machine ($199) by the HearthMath Company. The highly acclaimed emWave and HeartMath system, which utilizes heart coherence biofeedback, are currently being used by Duke Medical Center, Stanford, Kaiser, Blue Cross Blue Shield, UNC, Sutter Health, and many other top medical centers to reduce stress and fatigue. Additionally, the system is also being used in school systems worldwide to help students develop their ability to focus and concentrate, as well as improve memory function.
• Runner-Up Prize: a collection of 5 mechanical puzzles.

The goal of the contest is to create a compilation of study tips and techniques from our readers. The tips will be available for all to see and use.

How to Participate:

1. Create a blog post or web page on your site that describes what favorite study technique or tip worked best for you while in college. If you could link back to this post for reference that’d be great. It’s not required though.
2. If you don’t have a website or blog to post to, no worries- simply submit your answer via the ‘Comment Section’ below this post
3. Head over to the ‘Contact Form‘ and send us your name and the URL (if applicable) for your blog post or webpage.
4. On March 12th, we’ll post a link to all the submissions and winners will be chosen at random.
5. The deadline for final submission has been extended to March 9th.

UPDATE: Grand Prize Winner: ‘Yen’. Runner-up Prize: ‘Frank’

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Thanks to Lloyd King for this unique lateral thinking puzzle that absolutely drove me crazy. To solve it, you’ll probably want to print the picture out.

[Lloyd is author of the Amazing "Aha!" Puzzles and Test your Creative Thinking]

In which city is this tower found?

Copyright © 2004 Lloyd King

Feel free to enter your answer in the comments section, but for this one, I’m going to hold off on releasing posted responses for a couple days so as to not spoil the fun.

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“A Hole in the Ground” by Seb Przd:

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Back in medical school, I remember a professor teaching us older patients tend to overreport memory problems and don’t really have much insight into the true status of their memory ability.

Now, a recent study published in the journal Neurology indicates that this may not be true.

The study looked at 40 people over the age of 60 who complained of memory problems but still had normal performance on detailed neuropsychological testing (i.e. cognitive and memory testing). Interestingly, the researchers found these patients actually had a significant reduction in brain gray matter in several regions:

• Bilateral hippocampal areas (the hippocampus is critical for memory function)
• Bilateral frontal regions
• Several other cortical and subcortical regions

In addition to enhancing the credibility of a patient’s insight when it comes to memory function, this study also raises another very important issue: Detailed memory tests may not be very sensitive at picking up organic memory impairment

Reference: Older adults with cognitive complaints show brain atrophy similar to that of amnestic MCI. NEUROLOGY 2006;67:834-842

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Not too difficult for a Sunday night: Use three 6’s to make a 7.

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Recently corresponded with Jim Warren, who was not only kind enough to provide the official answer to his “Find the Seven Horses” puzzle posted about a month ago, but also to provide another great brain art picture challenge.

[Click here to go to "Seven Horses" puzzle, answer is in comments section]

This new puzzle is entitled, “Seven Hearts…”; can you find them?

Please feel free to post the heart locations below

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