First impressions form the Headache Congress IHC2011.
One day left of the 15th Congress of the International Headache Society (IHC2011) in Berlin, yet I already have picked my favorite talk. It was the talk entitled: "Possible new targets for migraine drugs" from Dr. Jes Olesen: "the people's neurologist" [1]. (More)
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Yesterday, I had the pleasure to introduce the speaker at a seminar: it was Bard Ermentrout. Already last year, Springer send me a copy of his book to review, so when, if not now, will be a better time to do this and reuse and expand my freshly crafted introduction?
In quite a few posts, I argued that math matters in neuroscience (e.g. see "Math Matters, Apply It To Neurology" or see here and here). Bard is one of the modern pioneers that began to use and develop mathematical methods to attack problems in neuroscience. I write modern pioneers because this field dates back to 19th century with Emil du Bois Reymond* and Hermann von Helmholtz, known as "organic physics" then. So the term "modern" refers to methods of dynamical systems theory, a field within applied
mathematics that describes complex behavior of dynamical systems by employing differential equations.
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Health information online—should we worry about hypochondriacs or rather hypocrisy? In the NYT Magazine, Virginia Heffernan offers a critical perspective on health sites. WebMD, being attacked, responded. It is probable that the quarrel will not end here. But who are the actual independent big players in the online health market?
About.com WebMD and Mayo Clinic? The raise of MedlinePLus.
The internet has significant impact on healthcare services. By providing access to medical information and advice it is possible for patients to assume much greater responsibility for their healthcare. In fact, many patients firstly prefer to investigate their health concerns in privacy before seeing a doctor. This pose significant conceptual, practical, and ethical challenges. Providing useful and reliable medical and health information, and ensuring its appropriate and efficient use should be the supreme concerns for every public website in this field. Who is pursuant to this standard? To what standard actually? (More)
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In Berlin, a new Collaborative Research Centre "Control of self-organizing nonlinear systems" is set up. One focus will be on mathematical neuroscience. The goal is to understand the brain's control mechanisms and how their failure leads to diseases. The precise language of mathematics offers the promise for better diagnostic and therapeutic techniques.
My deluxe brain made it on the homepage of my university, the Technische Universität Berlin. It is gone by now, but it was there for four days on the occasion of the anoucment of our new Collaborative Research Centre 910: Control of self-organizing nonlinear systems. The centre is funded with €7 million over a period of four years.
Philipp Hövel (acting managing director), Sabine Klapp (vice-coordinator), my brain (deluxe version), and Eckehard Schöll (coordinator of the CRC 910, from left to right)
Well, it was only my brain anatomy model that you see above. I bought it some time ago and had to choose from over two dozen different models. The simplest (and cheapest) version would have sufficed for my usual purpose, that is, to demonstrate the path taken by a localized wave of overly excited neurons through the folded surface of the brain. This wave causes on its course neurological deficits in migraine called aura [1]. Anyway, I decided to go for the deluxe brain. Who wouldn't? (More)
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As my pick for 2010, I select the post from June 16: Mathematical and computational neuroscience
I have not found as much time as I wanted to write for this blog. With eleven posts in 2010, I have not even managed to write one on average every month. My posts even heavily cluster in Januar and August with four posts in each.
Anyway, to end this year, I selected a post as my pick for 2010: Mathematical and computational neuroscience.
It got till today about 800 views. If you compare this to the nearly 10 000 views for Migraine and Chaos—which would have been my pick for 2009, only that I just started in November 2009 and did not like to pick from two posts—so if you compare this, it did not get much attention.
Yet, I was very pleased that about a month after I posted it, Michael Blume form the neighbor blog "Biology of Religion" commented:
I just tweeted this blog post, as it is deserving due attention.
It is, of course, the interview with Jack Cowan that deserves due attention.
I hope I can keep up or even increase the fequency of posts here in 2011. To all my readers a Happy New Year 2011!
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Jack Cowan had a profound impact on mathematical neuroscience. A large number of his pupils hold chairs today in the field of mathematical biology and computational neuroscience. What is actually the difference between mathematical and computational neuroscience, if there is any?
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The statement made in the title often marks a major step in our understanding of something that happened but should not have. In a scientific context, this can result in a shift of paradigm.
This cannot happen ... unless, of course, my assumptions were wrong.
You may ask What cannot happen? I have indeed something in mind. But let me just for a little longer stay in the abstract and call it it.
It cannot happen. Three words that say so much more. Who ever said or wrote them obviously thought about the possibility of it, or was forced by someone else to think about it, but than asserts that it cannot happen.
So what is my actual topic? What is it?
© Copyright Penny Mayes and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
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Mathematics is as sharp as a scalpel and cuts brain malfunctioning into pieces.
The first part of my title is copied from an awareness campaign of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, better known as SIAM.
In this campaign, mathematics behind everyday life is explained on 16 posters, such as "The Math behind Stopping and Preventing Fires" or "The Math behind Cardiology and Heart Attacks".
In some sense my blog is surely also an awareness campaign:
The Math behind Neurology.
In which way do I think math matters in neurology? (More)
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Theoretical physics and clinical neurology are as distant as black and white for you? Well, maybe. But than we need gray. Gray matters.
June 11, I started to write for my first blog "M.A.D. Lab Blog", which I now moved to SciLogs. Initially, my blog was named "M.D. Lab Blog". But as I am not a medical doctor, although I blog about migraines, I inserted later my middle initial, i.e., the letter A, in the blog name not to confuse MD for a degree.
I have no problems being M.A.D., nonetheless, I changed the name to Gray Matters. Because it does, (More)
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