Of Octopi and Brain Fog May 20, 2022 Old but fascinating: Octopi are just so special. Stop eating them! I’m pretty good at Words With Friends (and a “genius” every morning with Spelling Bee). Do you know who regularly beat me, back when she had time to play? The new White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre. Hats off to her. Know anyone suffering from “brain fog?” Not your perpetually stoned pothead pal; I mean someone with long Covid or a Traumatic Brain Injury. A new study confirms this is yet another thing BrainHQ helps assuage: . . . Researchers at New York University enrolled 21 patients with chronic TBI that had persisted, on average, for more than seven years. Patients were diagnosed with mild, moderate, or severe TBI, and assigned to either an intervention group or a control group. The intervention group was asked to complete a total of 40 hours of training over 13 weeks (or about 3 hours per week). Before and after the 13-week period, cognitive function was measured with standardized neurocognitive tests, and brain connectivity was measured with fMRI brain imaging. The researchers found that the brain training group showed significant improvements in standard cognitive tests of attention, memory, and executive function, as well as in standard measures of self-reported symptoms, as compared to the control group. Imaging revealed significant improvement in the functional connectivity across a key network of brain regions – known as the Default Mode Network (DMN). Lower connectivity is associated with cognitive dysfunction and deficits. “This new study confirms and extends what has been seen in seven prior studies of chronic TBI and BrainHQ, which have shown study participants improved measures of cognitive abilities and symptoms, with imaging showing functional re-organization of the brain” observed Dr. Henry Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science. These type of persistent symptoms — following not just Traumatic Brain Injuries, but other types of injuries such as “chemobrain,” “cardiobrain,” and “long COVID” — are increasingly known as “brain fog.” Researchers increasingly believe that common brain mechanisms underly the brain fog seen across these disparate conditions – which may explain the similar pattern of results seen in three studies of BrainHQ in cancer patients and seven studies in heart failure patients showing similar types of improvement. More than 100 published studies of the exercises in BrainHQ have shown benefits, including gains in standard measures of cognition (attention, speed, memory, executive function, social cognition), in standard measures of quality of life (mood, confidence and control, managing stress, health-related quality of life) and in real world activities (gait, balance, driving, everyday cognition, maintaining independence). BrainHQ is now offered, without charge, as a benefit by leading national and 5-star Medicare Advantage plans and by hundreds of clinics, libraries, and communities. BONUS Six months in, 4,300 infrastructure projects are underway. At home: Putting people to work at good jobs rebuilding America. Abroad: Rebuilding alliances and quietly leading NATO in the fight to defend democracy and the world order. Big things. BONUS BONUS Al Franken on Roe V. Wade, Susan Collins, and Ted Cruz. Have a great weekend!