Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the common causes of disability in physical, psychological, and social domains of functioning leading to poor quality of life. TBI leads to impairment in sensory, motor, language, and emotional processing, and also in cognitive functions such as attention, information processing, executive functions, and memory. Cognitive impairment plays a central role in functional recovery in TBI. Innovative methods such as music therapy to alleviate cognitive impairments have been investigated recently. The role of music in cognitive rehabilitation is evolving, based on newer findings emerging from the fields of neuromusicology and music cognition. Research findings from these fields have contributed significantly to our understanding of music perception and cognition, and its neural underpinnings. From a neuroscientific perspective, indulging in music is considered as one of the best cognitive exercises. With “plasticity” as its veritable nature, brain engages in producing music indulging an array of cognitive functions and the product, the music, in turn permits restoration and alters brain functions. With scientific findings as its basis, “neurologic music therapy” (NMT) has been developed as a systematic treatment method to improve sensorimotor, language, and cognitive domains of functioning via music. A preliminary study examining the effect of NMT in cognitive rehabilitation has reported promising results in improving executive functions along with improvement in emotional adjustment and decreasing depression and anxiety following TBI. The potential usage of music-based cognitive rehabilitation therapy in various clinical conditions including TBI is yet to be fully explored. There is a need for systematic research studies to bridge the gap between increasing theoretical understanding of usage of music in cognitive rehabilitation and application of the same in a heterogeneous condition such as TBI.

This study provides insight into the complex cognitive and brain changes observed on MRI in WD. Use of advanced MRI techniques in a larger cohort may improve understanding regarding functional and structural brain changes observed in similar disorders.

Objective:We examined the effectiveness of a 2-month-long home-based cognitive retraining program together with treatment as usual (TAU; psychoeducation and drug therapy) on neuropsychological functions, psychopathology, and global functioning in patients with first episode schizophrenia (FES) as well as on psychological health and perception of level of family distress in their caregivers.Materials and Methods:Forty-five FES patients were randomly assigned to either treatment group receiving home-based cognitive retraining along with TAU (n=22) or to control group receiving TAU alone (n=23). Patients and caregivers received psychoeducation. Patients and one of their caregivers were assessed for the above parameters at baseline, post-assessment (2 months) and at 6-months follow-up assessment.Results:Of the 45 patients recruited, 12 in the treatment group and 11 in the control group completed post-intervention and follow-up assessments. Addition of home-based cognitive retraining along with TAU led to significant improvement in neuropsychological functions of divided attention, concept formation and set-shifting ability, and planning. Effect sizes were large, although the sample size was small.Conclusions:Home-based cognitive retraining program has shown promise. However, further studies examining this program on a larger cohort with rigorous design involving independent raters are suggested.

No abstract

Psychosis, manifested through formed visual hallucinations or minor hallucinations, is a common non-motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD). The pathogenesis of psychosis in PD remains unclear; however, is possibly linked to structural and functional alterations in the hippocampus. To explore the role of hippocampus in psychosis, a detailed hippocampal subfield analysis was performed on PD patients with (PD-P) and without psychosis (PD-NP), and healthy controls (HC). An automated subfield parcellation was performed on T1 MRI images of 141 subjects (PD-P:42, PD-NP:51, and HC:48). The volumes of 12 subfields on each side were estimated and analyzed between the three groups and were corrected for multiple comparisons using false discovery rates. The volumes were also correlated to psychosis severity and specific neuropsychological tests and finally were employed to predict the psychosis severity in PD-P using a support vector regression (SVR) model. Compared to controls, PD-NP group did not demonstrate any significant differences; however, the PD-P group had significantly lower total hippocampal volume. Bilateral molecular layer, granule cell-dentate gyrus, left subiculum, and hippocampal tail and right CA3, CA4, and HATA illustrated significantly lower volumes, while bilateral hippocampal fissure demonstrated a significant widening. Compared to PD-NP, the PD-P group had higher volume of the bilateral hippocampal fissures. Finally, SVR could significantly predict the psychosis severity from all the subfield volumes. Our findings indicate a higher degeneration of specific hippocampal subfields in PD-P compared to controls and a trend of higher volume of hippocampal fissures in PD-P group than in PD-NP.