Talk about Neuroplasticity by Dr.Lara Boyd

[Elizabeth Dao]

Hi All,

Dr. Boyd is giving a talk about neuroplasticity and stroke recovery at Douglas Park. If you would like to attend please go on the link below and register. The talks will be similar so you will only need to attend one and I believe they are free of charge.

Date: Tuesday November 2nd, 2010
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm

Location: David Lam Campus
1250 Pinetree Way
Coquitlam, BC
V3B 7X3
Boardroom B3011
http://cms.douglas.bc.ca/Page23348.aspx?ViewMode=View&DateTime=...


Date:Thursday December 9th, 2010
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Location: New Westminster Campus
700 Royal Avenue
New Westminster, BC
V3M 5Z5
Boardroom 4920
http://cms.douglas.bc.ca/Page23349.aspx?ViewMode=View&DateTime=...

Hope to see you there!

Liz

[Elizabeth Dao]

Hi,

Please note that Dr. Boyd is giving a talk at Douglas College not Douglas Park. I made a mistake in my original post, my apologies.

Liz

[Elizabeth Dao]

Hi,

Yes these talks are open to the public. I will be attending the Nov 2 talk and I hope to see you all there.

Liz

[DPChow]

Hello,

Are these talks open to anyone? I'd like to tell our Templeton Turtles and/or put it on TurtleTalk.ca.

[Elizabeth Dao]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks a lot for your post and thank you for your accolades. I think Dr. Boyd's talk is a great opportunity for stroke survivors to ask questions about where the future of stroke recovery is heading so I hope to see you all there!

Liz

[Jeffrey Freno]

Hey my friends,

Thanks for the post Liz, I’ve added quite a bit here for the folks who hadn’t come out to Ravensong and may not be familiar with The UBC Brain Behavior Lab, Dr. Lara Boyd, or yourself. I hope I haven’t gotten any of this wrong. Strokers, you recall Carolyns’ earlier reference to our access to an “insider” when Elizabeth Dao joined our group. Elizabeth, or Liz, is a psychologist working with Dr. Boyds‘ research team at the UBC Brain Behavior Laboratory. These people are a world class research team and it’s a great opportunity to address any questions you may have to them. Both Dr. Boyd and the UBC Brain Behavior Lab are beyond my meager ability to paraphrase, or to cut and paste. If your interested Google them both, they’re interesting. We’re pleased to add Dr. Boyd, Liz Dao, and the team at the UBC Brain Behavior Lab to our small community. Currently they are interested in neuroplasticity.

Here’s a small part of what Wikipedia has to say about neuroplasticity; “Neuroplasticity (also known as cortical re-mapping) refers to the ability of the human brain to change as a result of one's experience, that the brain is 'plastic' and 'malleable'. The discovery of this feature of the brain is rather modern; the previous belief amongst scientists was that the brain does not change after the critical period of infancy.”

For us, this is the Holy Grail strokers, it means your brain may be able to repair or “rewire” areas impaired by stroke. That with patience, practice, and perseverance we can regain some, or all for a lucky few, of our pre-stroke level of function and sensation.

Here’s the information on the study of interest; Promotion of Brain Recovery after Stroke (Heart and Stoke Foundation, Vancouver Coastal Heath Foundation and Research Institute; North Family Foundation)
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may be used to excite the cortex when delivered at high frequencies. We are investigating whether pairing TMS to the dorsal premotor cortex with arm rehabilitation will facilitate motor recovery after stroke. We are also examining whether this treatment will shift patterns of brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
Status: Recruitment ongoing

In words a stroker can fathom this means they are going to apply a type of magnetism to our brains, and teach us to perform a simple task, while using fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) to determine if magnetism helps our brains overcome stroke

Jeffrey