From owner-cse575-fa08-list@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Wed Oct 22 18:48:16 2008 Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:54:38 -0400 From: "William J. Rapaport" Subject: UB CogSci-R.Benedict-Cognition, Personality & Multiple Sclerosis To: CSE575-FA08-LIST@LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU Center for Cognitive Science, University at Buffalo presents ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ralph H. Benedict Departments of Neurology, of Psychology, of Psychiatry, and of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology University at Buffalo http://www.psychology.buffalo.edu/directory/faculty/people/benedict/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wednesday, 29 October 2008; 2:00 p.m.; Park 280 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cerebral Lesions and Atrophy Influence Cognition and Personality in Multiple Sclerosis ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ABSTRACT: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory, immunological disorder of the CNS affecting roughly 500,000 persons in the US. The pathological hallmark of MS is demyelination in the cerebral or spinal white matter, which can be easily measured with MRI. The pathology arises in acute attacks or inflammation or "relapses", and the clinical diagnostic criteria emphasize demyelinating lesions that are disseminated in time and space. However, in recent years, the degenerative aspects of the disease have been more appreciated. Brain atrophy is also common in MS and is probably more important with regard to clinical parameters. Thus, MS is both an inflammatory and a degenerative disease. Roughly 50-60% of MS patients are cognitively impaired, and more are affected psychiatrically. The cerebral pathology of MS is heterogeneous, and clinical presentation varies considerably from patient to patient. Much has been learned about the neuropsychology of MS in the past two decades, with the advent of standardized tests for this population and of improved brain imaging. This presentation covers our clinical neuropsychological research in MS and in particular research revealing correlation between cognitive compromise and pathology in specific regions of the brain and specific tissue compartments. Our work demonstrates that (a) processing speed and episodic memory are most commonly affected in MS, (b) atrophy of deep gray matter (e.g., thalamus and caudate) is prominent in MS and strongly related to cognitive decline, (c) cerebral reorganization/compensation processes as measured by PET and fMRI probably account for the imperfect correlation between structural MRI and cognition, and (d) the cerebral pathology of MS also contributes to neuropsychiatric disorders and subtle personality changes. I will conclude with a brief summary of our planned work in the hope of fostering communication within the UB community network and encouraging collaboration across disciplines. Background readings can be found on UBLearns at: https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_60597_1&content_id=_1051022_1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Schedule for Ralph Benedict: 11:30 Arrive at Gail Mauner's office Park 323 12:00 Brownbag Lunch with: Micah Geer, Estella Liu, Alex Tilton, Gail Mauner, Bill Rapaport ANYONE WISHING TO JOIN US FOR LUNCH SHOULD CONTACT GAIL MAUNER mauner@buffalo.edu 1:30 Talk Preparation, Park 280 2:00-3:45 Colloquium, Park 280 4:00-5:00 Meet with Paul Luce 5:00-6:00 Meet with Pfordresher lab: John Kupla, James Mantell, Alex Tilton, Justin Couchman 6:30 Dinner with Jim Sawusch, Gail Mauner, David Braun at local restaurant (TBA) ANYONE WISHING TO JOIN FOR DINNER SHOULD CONTACT GAIL MAUNER mauner@buffalo.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Complete Fall schedule @ www.cogsci.buffalo.edu/Activities/Colloquium/CLLQf08/2008fall.html Background readings for each lecture are available to UB faculty and students on UB Learns. To get access to the CogSci UBLearns website, please contact Gail Mauner, mauner@buffalo.edu Once you have logged in to UB Learns at https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/ select "Center for Cognitive Science", then "Course Documents", then "Background Readings for Fall 2008 Colloquium Series". Or link directly to: https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_60597_1&content_id=_1010420_1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ For further information, please visit: http://www.cogsci.buffalo.edu/ or contact: William J. Rapaport Webmaster, Center for Cognitive Science Associate Professor of Computer Science Affiliated Faculty, Philosophy & Linguistics 201 Bell Hall | (716) 645-3180 x 112 Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering | fax: (716) 645-3464 University at Buffalo (SUNY) | rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu Buffalo, NY 14260-2000 | http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport Buffalo Restaurant Guide: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/restaurant.guide/ Good Things about Buffalo: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/buffalo.html