Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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teens

Teens and crime: the Supreme Court to decide outcome

Emory’s Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, occasionally blogs for Psychology Today in a blog titled plus2sd.

Gregory Berns, MD, PhD

Gregory Berns, MD, Ph

Berns’ most recent blog taps his expertise on the use of brain-imaging technologies to understand human motivation and decision-making, as well as the biology of adolescent decision-making and the effects of peer pressure on risk attitudes.

In a blog called “My Immature Brain Made Me Do It?” he covers an upcoming case before the U.S. Supreme Court on life sentences for adolescents. Berns is Emory Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics and director of the Center for Neuropolicy, and a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine.

He writes: “On November 9th, 2009 the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the 8th amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits courts from sentencing children to life without the possibility of parole for the commission of a non-homicide. The elephant in the room, and the thing that the Court has taken deliberate steps to leave out of its rulings in the past, is the human brain.

Numerous briefs have been submitted by mental health advocacy groups suggesting that the brain is not fully mature until the mid-20’s. But come November, the Court should once again ignore the growing drumbeat to blame the immature brain and leave neuroscience out of its decision.

But there are serious flaws with the “immature brain made me do it” argument. In fact, my group recently published a study calling this argument into question (PLoS One, 2009). All of the neuroscience findings cited in the briefs rely on a correlation of brain structure with either age or a measurement of cognitive function.

Correlation means that you take one measurement and see how it changes with some other measurement. While on average, these conclusions are statistically valid, there is too much variation from one person to another to draw conclusions about any one individual. But you won’t find individual variability mentioned in any of these briefs.”

To read more about Berns’ recent study findings, visit Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

Or view a video:

Posted on October 20, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Stopping teen dating violence a priority for Jane Fonda

Jane Fonda, founder/chair of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (GCAPP), along with local teenagers and Atlanta community groups have launched the Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships Program. Its goal is to stop teen dating violence and abuse before it starts.

The Jane Fonda Center at Emory was chosen as one of 11 community organizations nationwide to receive $1 million in funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national Start Strong initiative. This is the largest national public health initiative ever funded, targeting 11-to-14-year-olds, to stop teen dating violence.

Jane Fonda speaks at the event

Jane Fonda speaks at the event

Fonda says the initiative, both locally and nationally, promises to educate and empower teens and their surrounding communities that dating violence and abuse among teenagers must be stopped before it ever starts.

With teen dating abuse a significant public health issue in this country, Fonda wants to focus on teaching young people to develop healthier and more positive relationships at an early age.

As part of this four-year initiative, Start Strong Atlanta will rally the entire community, including teenagers, parents, caregivers, educators, coaches and community leaders to build environments that support healthy relationships and ensure violence and abuse are never tolerated.

Students perform at the Start Strong event

Students perform at the Start Strong event

Melissa Kottke, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory School of Medicine, is the director of the Jane Fonda Center. She notes that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the campaign’s launch was the perfect tie-in. Kottke is also the principal investigator of the national initiative at Emory.

The Jane Fonda Center along with its partners, Atlanta Public Schools and Grady Memorial Hospital Teen Services Program, have together developed a comprehensive community plan for this initiative. This plan will focus on four core strategies involving education, policy change, community outreach and social marketing campaigns to empower local teens to develop healthier relationships.

Learn more about Start Strong Atlanta and other related events going on during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Find out what Fonda said about the event on her blog.

Posted on October 1, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized 1 Comment

Study looks at teenage brain and risk-taking

A new study using brain imaging to study teen behavior indicates that adolescents who engage in dangerous activities have frontal white matter tracts that are more adult in form than their more conservative peers.

The brain goes through a course of maturation during adolescence and does not reach its adult form until the mid-twenties. A long-standing theory of adolescent behavior has assumed that this delayed brain maturation is the cause of impulsive and dangerous decisions in adolescence. The new study, using a new form of brain imaging, calls into question this theory.

In order to better understand the relationship between high risk-taking and the brain’s development, Emory University and Emory School of Medicine neuroscientists used a form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure structural changes in white matter in the brain. The study’s findings are published in the Aug. 26, 2009 PLoS ONE.

“In the past, studies have focused on the pattern of gray matter density from childhood to early adulthood, says Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, principal investigator and professor of Psychiatry and Neuroeconomics at Emory University and director of the Center for Neuropolicy. “With new technology, we were able to develop the first study looking at how development of white matter relates to activities in the real world.”

Gray matter is the part of the brain made up of neurons, while white matter connects neurons to each other. As the brain matures, white matter becomes denser and more organized. Gray matter and white matter follow different trajectories. Both are important for understanding brain function.

Berns suggests that doing adult-like activities requires sophisticated skills.

“Society is a lot different now than it was 100 years ago when teens were expected to go to work and raise a family,” says Berns. “Now, adolescents aren’t expected to act like adults until they are in their twenties, when they have finished their education and found a career. Listen to Berns discuss the changing definition of adulthood.

Posted on September 8, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment