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Abstract
The concept of brain health has been inconsistently used across disciplines. This concept analysis sought to clarify brain health and construct a unified definition that may lead to consistent use of this concept. The analysis used Walker and Avant's framework to identify scholarly reports on the concept of brain health from various electronic databases. Building on the identified data sources, brain health can be understood as the brain's ability to optimally adapt to internal and external human conditions through cognitive and emotional responses across one's lifespan, which result in sustainable positive changes in brain structures and functional features. This analysis emphasized that maintaining brain health has positive implications on an individual's lifelong quality of health, independence, and delaying cognitive decline. By clarifying uses and definitions of the concept of brain health, this concept analysis may enable researchers and clinicians to evaluate and interpret the concept related data consistently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Boniface Harerimana
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada.,Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Cheryl Forchuk
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada.,Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.,Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Julie Walsh
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada
| | - Jennifer Fogarty
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada.,Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
| | - Michael Borrie
- Parkwood Institute Research, Lawson Health Research Institute, London, Canada.,Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
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Thiebaut de Schotten M, Dell'Acqua F, Ratiu P, Leslie A, Howells H, Cabanis E, Iba-Zizen MT, Plaisant O, Simmons A, Dronkers NF, Corkin S, Catani M. From Phineas Gage and Monsieur Leborgne to H.M.: Revisiting Disconnection Syndromes. Cereb Cortex 2015; 25:4812-27. [PMID: 26271113 PMCID: PMC4635921 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhv173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
On the 50th anniversary of Norman Geschwind's seminal paper entitled ‘Disconnexion syndrome in animal and man’, we pay tribute to his ideas by applying contemporary tractography methods to understand white matter disconnection in 3 classic cases that made history in behavioral neurology. We first documented the locus and extent of the brain lesion from the computerized tomography of Phineas Gage's skull and the magnetic resonance images of Louis Victor Leborgne's brain, Broca's first patient, and Henry Gustave Molaison. We then applied the reconstructed lesions to an atlas of white matter connections obtained from diffusion tractography of 129 healthy adults. Our results showed that in all 3 patients, disruption extended to connections projecting to areas distant from the lesion. We confirmed that the damaged tracts link areas that in contemporary neuroscience are considered functionally engaged for tasks related to emotion and decision-making (Gage), language production (Leborgne), and declarative memory (Molaison). Our findings suggest that even historic cases should be reappraised within a disconnection framework whose principles were plainly established by the associationist schools in the last 2 centuries.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Thiebaut de Schotten
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Brain Connectivity and Behaviour, Brain and Spine Institute, Paris, France Inserm U 1127; UPMC-Paris6, UMR_S 1127; CNRS UMR 7225, CRICM, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013 Paris, France
| | - F Dell'Acqua
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - P Ratiu
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and
| | - A Leslie
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - H Howells
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - E Cabanis
- Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, France
| | - M T Iba-Zizen
- Centre Hospitalier National d'Ophtalmologie des Quinze-Vingts, Paris, France
| | - O Plaisant
- University of Paris-Descartes, GH Pitié-Salpêtrière, URDIA, EA4465, Paris, France
| | - A Simmons
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
| | - N F Dronkers
- VA Northern California Health Care System, Martinez, CA, USA Department of Neurology, University of California, Davis, CA, USA National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation
| | - S Corkin
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - M Catani
- Natbrainlab, Department of FANS, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience and Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK
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Pieramico V, Esposito R, Cesinaro S, Frazzini V, Sensi SL. Effects of non-pharmacological or pharmacological interventions on cognition and brain plasticity of aging individuals. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:153. [PMID: 25228860 PMCID: PMC4151335 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00153] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2014] [Accepted: 08/05/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain aging and aging-related neurodegenerative disorders are major health challenges faced by modern societies. Brain aging is associated with cognitive and functional decline and represents the favourable background for the onset and development of dementia. Brain aging is associated with early and subtle anatomo-functional physiological changes that often precede the appearance of clinical signs of cognitive decline. Neuroimaging approaches unveiled the functional correlates of these alterations and helped in the identification of therapeutic targets that can be potentially useful in counteracting age-dependent cognitive decline. A growing body of evidence supports the notion that cognitive stimulation and aerobic training can preserve and enhance operational skills in elderly individuals as well as reduce the incidence of dementia. This review aims at providing an extensive and critical overview of the most recent data that support the efficacy of non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions aimed at enhancing cognition and brain plasticity in healthy elderly individuals as well as delaying the cognitive decline associated with dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Pieramico
- Molecular Neurology Unit, Center of Excellence on Aging, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Roberto Esposito
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Stefano Cesinaro
- Molecular Neurology Unit, Center of Excellence on Aging, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Valerio Frazzini
- Molecular Neurology Unit, Center of Excellence on Aging, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Stefano L Sensi
- Molecular Neurology Unit, Center of Excellence on Aging, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy ; Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences, University "G. d'Annunzio" Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy ; Departments of Neurology and Pharmacology, Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA, USA
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