The inability to understand facial expressions can have a profound effect on the lives of people with dementia and their families, says Dr Fiona Kumfor. Recently I met a lady who, despite only being in her 50s, was suspected of having dementia. Susan* and her family had come to the dementia clinic at NeuRA (where I conduct research) to get help […]
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NeuRA’s Dr Julie Brown has looked at the impact of the 2010 NSW child restraint legislation – and has good news. I am so happy that we finally have some good news to share with parents, carers and those advocating for change to reduce child injury – it seems there have been positive changes in the way children are travelling […]
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NeuRA researcher Flavia Di Pietro is investigating the maps in our brain and the role they might play in the pain experience. There is a region of the cortex – the outer layer of your brain – that contains a precise and organised map of your entire body. Here, every part of your body surface is represented by a network […]
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Accurately diagnosing conditions of the brain such as dementia can be very challenging; there are no easy blood tests or scans that tell us without a doubt what a patient is suffering from. Diagnosis involves observing the patient’s symptoms and performing a number of clinical tests such as testing memory function, and depends on a good understanding of what symptoms […]
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I work in the field of schizophrenia research; specifically, I study schizophrenia by looking at the brain. Up until about 25 years ago, this way of studying schizophrenia was considered a dead-end career path for pathologists and researchers like me; many doubted that measurable differences between the brains of people with schizophrenia and those who don’t have a mental disorder […]
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At NeuRA, we work with patients who have a form of younger-onset dementia called semantic dementia (SD). These patients experience progressive damage to a specific region of the brain called the temporal lobes; as a result, they forget the names and functions of simple objects and lose the ability to recognise familiar faces or popular tunes. Despite these profound difficulties […]
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I remember the first time I saw someone stop breathing during sleep. After a prolonged pause they suddenly gasped for air only to fall back asleep and stop breathing once again. Like me, if you have ever witnessed someone suffering from obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), it’s hard to imagine how these individuals can function at all during the day given […]
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Motor neurone disease (MND), as discussed in previous posts, is not a disease of pure motor symptoms. MND can also affect one’s ability to perform complex judgments (e.g. financial decision-making) and leads to changes in behaviour (e.g. a person once very active and driven can become apathetic). These non-motor symptoms and behavioural changes often go unrecognised and underdiagnosed. In a […]
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Life is full of things that are not necessarily what they seem to be, and the same applies when diseases mimic each other and make diagnosis difficult. This is particularly true for different dementias, which often show similar and overlapping symptoms.
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You are preparing to leave your house when you look out the window. You see dark clouds rolling towards you and thunder is echoing in the distance. It looks like rain. You pick up your umbrella and walk outside, prepared for the downpour.
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