Corbetta to receive neurorehabilitation honor
Maurizio Corbetta, MD, an internationally recognized neuroscientist and clinician at the School of Medicine, will receive the 2015 Outstanding Neurorehabilitation Clinician Scientist (ONCS) Award. The American Society of Neurorehabilitation (ASNR) Education Foundation Board selected Corbetta for the honor.
New doctorate in rehabilitation science
Washington University in St. Louis will offer a doctoral program in rehabilitation and participation science beginning in fall 2011 designed to meet the growing demand for medical scientists in the rehabilitation field. “This unique program is aimed to train scientists within the areas of occupational science, neuroscience, environmental science and engineering to provide a scientific basis to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities and chronic health conditions and to increase their ability to participate in family, work and community life,” says Carolyn Baum, PhD, the Elias Michael Director of the Program in Occupational Therapy and professor of occupational therapy and of neurology.
Brain networks may be key to stroke-related attention deficit
Areas activated by tasks designed to stimulate voluntary attentionThe first direct analysis of the interactions between two brain networks that govern visual attention may help researchers at the School of Medicine develop treatments for stroke patients with a condition known as spatial neglect. These patients have difficulty focusing on or paying attention to stimuli in the left half of their visual field.
Brain networks may be key to odd attention deficit produced by some strokes
Among the areas activated by tasks designed to stimulate voluntary attention were the intraparietal sulcus and frontal eye fields, both believed to be part of a network of neurons called the dorsal attention system.The first direct analysis of the interactions between two brain networks that govern visual attention may help researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis develop treatments for stroke patients with a condition known as spatial neglect. These patients have difficulty focusing on or paying attention to stimuli in the left half of their visual field. They may forget to shave the left side of their face, fail to eat food on the left side of a plate or seem to be unaware that their left arm belongs to them. However, researchers have found that if they explicitly tell these people to pay attention to their left side, for a brief time they can do so.