AAAS Boston science meeting: Genomics, bioengineering, stroke research and more

The annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (aka Triple-A-S) is coming to Boston in February.They offer plenty of sessions on health topics in between panels on chemistry, astrophysics and robotics.

It’s not exactly an academic meeting and not exactly for the general public. Unless you’re s student, the registration fees start at $235 and go up. But, we’ll be reporting on some of the below events  here and elsewhere.  This is just a selection from the program

The Science of Uncertainty in Genomic Medicine

Friday, 15 February 10:00AM-11:30AM

Organized by: Reed E. Pyeritz, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Shili Lin, Ohio State University, Columbus

SPEAKERS

Giovanni Parmigiani, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

How Useful Is It to Know Your Genome?

James P. Evans, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Genomics in Clinical Medicine: Navigating the Spectrum from Certainty to Uncertainty

Robert C. Green, Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine, Boston, MA

A Data-Driven Pathway to Genomic Medicine

Between Science, Society, and Policy

Saturday, 16 February 8:30AM-11:30AM

Organized by: Peter Yang, Brenna Krieger, and Kevin Bonham, Harvard University, Boston, MA

SPEAKERS

Ting Wu, Harvard University, Boston, MA

Personal Genetics and Education

Mary Carmichael, Boston Globe, Malden, MA

The Media and the Personal Genetics Revolution

Brian Naughton, 23andMe Inc., New York City

Commercialization of Personal Genomics: Promise and Potential Pitfalls

Mira Irons, Children’s Hospital Boston, MA

Personal Genomic Medicine: How Physicians Can Adapt to a Genomic World

Sheila Jasanoff, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Societal and Ethical Dimensions of the Personal Genomics Revolution

Jonathan Gitlin, National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda, MD

Personal Genomics and Science Policy

 

Interfacing with the Body Using Implants and Prostheses

Sunday, 17 February 8:00AM-9:30AM

Organized by: Erin Heath, AAAS Office of Government Relations, Washington, DC

SPEAKERS

Leigh Hochberg, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston

Restoring Communication and Mobility Through Neurotechnology

*Hugh Herr, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, Cambridge, MA

Perfecting the Prosthetic Limb

Joseph F. Rizzo III, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Creating a Retinal Implant

 

Biotechnology and Nanotechnology

Monday, 18 February 9:45AM-12:45PM

Organized by: Elicia M.A. Maine, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada; James M. Utterback, MIT, Cambridge, MA

SPEAKERS

Robert S. Langer, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Challenges and Opportunities at the Confluence of Biotechnology and Nanomaterials

Nathan Lewis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena

Clean Energy Innovation from the Confluence of Technologies

Sarah Kaplan, University of Toronto, ON, Canada

The Process and Practice of Interdisciplinary Research

Elicia M.A. Maine, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Global Bio-Nano Firms: Exploiting the Confluence of Technologies

Han Cao, BioNano Genomics Inc., San Diego, CA

Commercializing Innovation: Applying Nanotechnology to Genomics

 

Why is Living Healthily So Difficult?

Saturday, 16 February 1:00PM-2:30PM

Organized by: Benedikt Herrmann, Joint Research Center, European Commission, Ispra, Italy; Geraldine Barry, Joint Research Center, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

SPEAKERS

David Laibson, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Behavioral Economics and Health Behaviors

Todd Hare, University of Zürich, Switzerland

Neurobiological Mechanisms of Self-Control in Value-Based Choices

Benedikt Herrmann, Joint Research Center, European Commission, Ispra, Italy

How Much Do Social Norms Influence Our Ambitions To Live Healthily?

 

The Toxicological Impact of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill on Human and Wildlife Health

Saturday, 16 February 8:30AM-11:30AM

Organized by: John Pierce Wise Sr., University of Southern Maine, Portland; R. Joseph Griffitt, University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs

SPEAKERS

Iain Kerr, Ocean Alliance, Gloucester, MA

Introduction to the Deepwater Horizon Accident

Samantha B. Joye, University of Georgia, Athens

Impact of the Gulf Oil Crisis on the Sea Floor

Carys Mitchelmore, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD

Laboratory Studies to Assess the Effects of Oil Spill Chemical Dispersants on Corals

R. Joseph Griffitt, University of Southern Mississippi, Ocean Springs

Effects of Dispersed Oil on Larval Sheepshead Minnows

Greg Mayer, Texas Tech University, Lubbock

Weathering and Dispersion of Crude Oil Alter Its Toxicity in Fundulus Grandis

John Pierce Wise Sr., University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

The Gulf of Mexico Offshore Toxicology Study

 

A 50 Year Legacy: Why does Rachel Carson Matter?

Sunday, 17 February 10:00AM-11:30AM

Organized by: Jane Maienschein and Gregg Zachary, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

SPEAKERS

Sharon Kingsland, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Bridging Two Cultures: Rachel Carson as Scientist and Humanist

Gregg Zachary, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Back to the Future: The Rachel Carson “Model” as a Response to the Crisis in Science

Jane Lubchenco, NOAA, Washington, DC

Rachel Carson and Responsible Science Policy

 

The Benefits of Randomized Experiments for Science and Society

Friday, 15 February 1:00PM-2:30PM

Organized by: Daniel McCaffrey, RAND Corp., Pittsburgh, PA

SPEAKERS

Arthur Lupia, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Experimenting with Politics

Michael Kremer, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Experimenting with Public Health and Education in the Developing World

Susan Murphy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Experimenting to Improve Clinical Practice

 

Stroke Research: New Concepts and Innovative Solutions

Friday, 15 February 3:00PM-4:30PM

Organized by: Virginija Dambrauskaite and Ruxandra Draghia-Akli, European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation, Brussels, Belgium

SPEAKERS

Costantino Iadecola, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York City

Great Expectations: The Promise of the Neurovascular Unit for Stroke Therapy

Molly Shoichet, University of Toronto, ON, Canada

Engineering Meets Medicine: Innovative Strategies To Overcome Stroke

Stephen Meairs, University Medical Center Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany

The European Stroke Network: A Platform for Overcoming the Translational Roadblock

 

Engineering the Nervous System: Solutions to Restore Sight, Hearing, and Mobility

Sunday, 17 February 1:30PM-4:30PM

Organized by: Sanna Fowler, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

SPEAKERS

Stephanie P. Lacour, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Flexible Electronics for Interfacing with the Nervous System

Silvestro Micera, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Controlling a Prosthetic Hand with Peripheral Neural Interfaces

Grégoire Courtine, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland

Walking Again After Spinal Cord Injury

Konstantina M. Stankovic, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Reversing Infant Deafness Through Genetic Engineering

Joan Miller, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Saving Sight in Retinal Disease

 

Predicting Major Events and Planning for Hazards: An Art or Science?

Friday, 15 February 10:00AM-11:30AM

Organized by: Julia Wilson, Sense About Science, London, United Kingdom; Albert Yuan, San Lian Life Weekly, Beijing, China

SPEAKERS

Kelin Wang, Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, BC

Operational Earthquake Prediction: Castles in the Air

Azra Ghani, MRC Center for Outbreak Analysis and Modeling, London, United Kingdom

Disease Scares: Predicting and Preparing for Outbreaks

Peter Webster, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Assessing Risk from Climate Change: Scenario Generation Versus Prediction

Can Exposure Science Quell the Furor over Environmental Endocrine Disruption?

Saturday, 16 February 1:30PM-4:30PM

Organized by: Justin G. Teeguarden, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA

SPEAKERS

Russ Hauser, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

BPA and Human Health: Epidemiologic Evidence and Its Interpretation

K. Barry Delclos, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR

Relating Internal BPA Doses to Adverse Effects in Rodent Toxicity Studies

Daniel R. Doerge, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR

BPA Pharmacokinetics in the Adult and Perinatal Periods in Experimental Animals

Justin G. Teeguarden, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA

Estrogen Receptor Activation Potential of Internal Concentrations of BPA in Humans

Jeffrey Fisher, National Center for Toxicological Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR

Estimating Infant and Adult Human Serum Levels of Unconjugated Bisphenol A

Richard M. Sharpe, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Are Causal Associations in Epidemiological Studies of BPA Exposure Plausible?

 

Global Health and Environmental Impacts of E-Waste Recycling

Friday, 15 February 3:00PM-4:30PM

Organized by: Erica L. Dahl, SafeBridge Consultants Inc., New York City; Bruce A. Fowler, ICF International, Fairfax, VA

SPEAKERS

Sanmi Areola, Environmental Health Services, Metro Public Health Department, Nashville, TN

The Scope of the Problem: International Regulation and the Basel Treaty

Myrto Petreas, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Berkeley

Regulated and Unregulated Contaminants in California Waste Streams

Aimin Chen, University of Cincinnati Department of Environmental Health, OH

E-Waste Recycling in Developing Countries: Concerns of Developmental Toxicity

Boston docs on debate over cholesterol screening for kids

A couple of Boston-area docs weigh in on charges of industry influence in the debate over whether to test kids for cholesterol.  From the Globe:

CHICAGO — Should all US children be tested for high cholesterol? Doctors are still debating that question months after a government-appointed panel recommended widespread screening that would lead to prescribing medicine for some kids.

Fresh criticism was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics by researchers who say the guidelines are too aggressive and were influenced by panel members’ financial ties to drug makers.

… Other criticism was published earlier this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association. …JAMA included additional criticism from a dissenting member of the panel that produced the kids’ cholesterol guidelines, Dr. Matthew Gillman of Harvard Medical School. He recommends more narrow screening based on family history of cholesterol problems.

… Dr. Sarah De Ferranti, an American Academy of Pediatrics spokeswoman and director of preventive cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, said the question should be part of a conversation parents should have with their pediatrician about heart disease risks, including weight, blood pressure, and lifestyle. She said she would have her children tested.

Most of the Peds articles are behind the pay wall. But, UCSF put out a press release on the latest comments. And the NIH guidelines are online.

From NIH: Integrated Guidelines for Cardiovascular Health and Risk Reduction in Children and Adolescents

From UCSF: New lipid screening guidelines for children overly aggressive, UCSF researchers say recommendations fail to weigh benefits against potential harms

Recent guidelines recommending cholesterol tests for children fail to weigh health benefits against potential harms and costs, according to a new commentary authored by three physician-researchers at UCSF.

Moreover, the recommendations are based on expert opinion, rather than solid evidence, the researchers said, which is especially problematic since the guidelines’ authors disclosed extensive potential conflicts of interest.

The guidelines were written by a panel assembled by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and published in Pediatrics, in November 2011. They also were endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The guidelines call for universal screening of all 9 to 11-year-old children with a non-fasting lipid panel, and targeted screening of 30 to 40 percent of 2 to 8-year-old and 12 to 16-year old children with two fasting lipid profiles. Previous recommendations called only for children considered at high risk of elevated levels to be screened with a simple non-fasting total cholesterol test.

The call for a dramatic increase in lipid screening has the potential to transform millions of healthy children into patients labeled with so-called dyslipidemia, or bad lipid levels in the blood, according to the commentary by Thomas Newman, MD, MPH, Mark Pletcher, MD, MPH and Stephen Hulley, MD, MPH, of the UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and e-published on July 23 in Pediatrics.

“The panel made no attempt to estimate the magnitude of the health benefits or harms of attaching this diagnosis at this young age,” said Newman. “They acknowledged that costs are important, but then went ahead and made their recommendations without estimating what the cost would be. And it could be billions of dollars.”

Some of the push to do more screening comes from concern about the obesity epidemic in U.S. children. But this concern should not lead to more laboratory testing, said Newman.

“You don’t need a blood test to tell who needs to lose weight. And recommending a healthier diet and exercise is something doctors can do for everybody, not just overweight kids,” he said

The requirement of two fasting lipid panels in 30 to 40 percent of all 2 to 8-year olds and 12 to 16 –year- olds represents a particular burden to families, he said.

“Because these blood tests must be done while fasting, they can’t be done at the time of regularly scheduled ‘well child’ visits like vaccinations can,” said Newman. “This requires getting hungry young children to the doctor’s office to be poked with needles on two additional occasions, generally weekday mornings. Families are going to ask their doctors, ‘Is this really necessary?’ The guidelines provide no strong evidence that it is.”

The authors note that the panel chair and all members who drafted the lipid screening recommendations disclosed an “extensive assortment of financial relationships with companies making lipid lowering drugs and lipid testing instruments.” Some of those relevant relationships include paid consultancies or advisory board memberships with pharmaceuticals that produce cholesterol-lowering drugs such as Merck, Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and Sankyo.

“The panel states that they reviewed and graded the evidence objectively,” said Newman. “But a recent Institute of Medicine report recommends that experts with conflicts of interest either be excluded from guideline panels, or, if their expertise is considered essential, should have non-voting, non-leadership, minority roles.”

Evidence is needed to estimate health benefits, risks and costs of these proposed interventions, and experts without conflicts of interest are needed to help synthesize it, according to Newman. He said that “these recommendations fall so far short of this ideal that we hope they will trigger a re-examination of the process by which they were produced.”

###

Newman and Hulley have no disclosures. Pletcher has NIH funding to support research on targeting of cholesterol-lowering medications to prevent cardiovascular disease.

What are #Harvard docs and #medical school students reading? Countway tweets tell all #library

The Countway Library at Harvard Medical School has a twitter account listing the books Harvard students, docs and profs return. Here are a few samples.  “Cooper:Therapy dog” seems popular, as do books by Paul Farmer of Partners in Health. For more see @HMSreturns.

History, memoir and colons

Medieval technology and social change by  Lynn Townsend White http://bit.ly/cuu1A8

Alfalfa to ivy : Memoir of a Harvard Medical School dean by  Joseph B. Martin http://bit.ly/wh12DD

Alice Hamilton: Pioneer doctor in industrial medicine by  Madeleine P. (Madeleine Parker) Grant http://bit.ly/IorK5q

The puzzle people : Memoirs of a transplant surgeon by  Thomas E. (Thomas Earl) Starzl http://bit.ly/v7zyjw

The mentally ill in America : A history of their care and treatment from colonial times by  Albert Deutsch http://bit.ly/IpxTlb

Power, sex, suicide : Mitochondria and the meaning of life by  Nick Lane http://bit.ly/iMoUZh

On the pill : A social history of oral contraceptives, 1950-1970 by  Elizabeth Siegel Watkins http://bit.ly/mJgZpX

Subjected to science : Human experimentation in America before the Second World War by  Susan E Lederer http://bit.ly/GWc9jq

Secrets?

Ophthalmology secrets in color http://bit.ly/ioWQHk

Trauma secrets http://bit.ly/Iqm91S

Dental secrets http://bit.ly/qlDxjJ

Med School

Assessment measures in medical school, residency, and practice : the connections http://bit.ly/Iqaikk

So you want to be a brain surgeon? http://bit.ly/ItC6oo

The Washington manual internship survival guide by  Grace A Lin http://bit.ly/A2JnkM

Iserson’s getting into a residency : a guide for medical students by  Kenneth V Iserson http://bit.ly/z47UNY

Diversity

Shattering culture : American medicine responds to cultural diversity http://bit.ly/GDhmrq

Health issues in Latino males : a social and structural approach http://bit.ly/zBRdWe

Race, ethnicity, and health : a public health reader http://bit.ly/dbx8jT

Not too medical

Gold: recovery, properties, and applications by  Edmund M. (Edmund Merriman) Wise http://bit.ly/JeDPM7

Hair transplantation http://bit.ly/JdZoiA

Etc

[Cooper : therapy dog] http://bit.ly/k7raF1

Better than well : American medicine meets the American dream by  Carl Elliott http://bit.ly/rGjxBK

How to

Electroconvulsive therapy : a guide for professionals and their patients by  Max Fink http://bit.ly/IofP7E

Schmidek & Sweet operative neurosurgical techniques : indications, methods, and results http://bit.ly/Io6L2C

Fundamentals of clinical trials by  Lawrence M. Friedman http://bit.ly/xGnSoF

Pocket medicine http://bit.ly/Io5DMl

Introduction to anesthesia; the principles of safe practice by  Robert Dunning Dripps http://bit.ly/HZwUXf

Janeway’s immunobiology by  Kenneth (Kenneth M.) Murphy http://bit.ly/rumf5h

Good general practice http://bit.ly/z56Nuq

Next generation microarray bioinformatics : methods and protocols http://bit.ly/HtuRsP

Bethesda handbook of clinical oncology http://bit.ly/qjBZ8M

The breath, and the diseases which give it a fetid odor : with directions for treatment by  Joseph W. (Joseph William)  http://bit.ly/ItDmrD

Sapira’s art & science of bedside diagnosis by  Jane M Orient http://bit.ly/tMxL9g

Outdated?

Callous disregard : autism and vaccines — the truth behind a tragedy by  Andrew J Wakefield http://bit.ly/HWH0vw

Two April events: #Crowd-sourced #health care, #science and the lay #press

Your scribe here, Tinker Ready, appears at the second event on science and the media.

Deleterious Me: Whole Genome Sequencing, 23andMe, and the Crowd-Sourced Health Care Revolution

Anne Wojcicki

With panel discussion by Archon Fung, Jeremy Greene, Sanford Kwinter, and Jonathan Zittrain. Moderated by Sheila Jasanoff.

April 17, 2012, 5:00pm–7:00pm

Emerson Hall, Room 105

Co-sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

———————————————————————-

 

 

 

Standing Up for Science Media Workshop

Part of the Cambridge Science Festival

Broad Institute | 7 Cambridge Center

Cambridge, MA 02142, United States

Tuesday April 24, 2012

10.00 am Registration

Map of the location: http://g.co/maps/fn2uh

10.30 – 12.00 pm Science and the media

What happens when research announcements go wrong, statistics are

manipulated, risk factors are distorted, or the discussions become polarised?

Panellists: Dr Shawn Douglas, Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically

Inspired Engineering; Professor Lorna Gibson, Professor of Materials Science

and Engineering, MIT; Dr Willy Lensch, Principal Faculty and Faculty Director of

Education, Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

12.00 – 1.10 pm Group work and lunch. Lunch will be provided.

1.10 – 2.30 pm What are journalists looking for?

How do journalists approach stories, balance the need for news and

entertainment with reporting science, and deal with accusations of polarising

debates and misrepresenting facts?

Panellists: Gino del Guercio, documentary filmmaker, Adjunct Professor, Boston

University’s College of Communication; Tinker Ready, freelance health and

science writer, Boston Health News & Nature Boston; Stephen Smith, City

Editor, Boston Globe.

2.30 – 3.10 pm Group work

3.10 – 4.15 pm Standing up for science – the nuts and bolts

Practical guidance for early career researchers to get their voices heard in

debates about science, how to respond to bad science when you see it, and top

tips for if you come face-to-face with a journalist.

Panellists: B. D. Colen, Sr. Communications Officer for University Science,

Harvard University; Leonor Sierra, Science and Policy Manager, Sense About

Science; Luke Stoeckel, Director of Clinical Neuroscience and Staff Training,

MGH-Harvard Center for Addiction Medicine, & VoYS US Representative.

4.15pm Close and informal feedback

End of Day Please join us for a drink

Nature Boston: Who in town is getting funded to do biomedical? #research #NIH

Nature Boston takes a trip through the NIH grants database and finds that the number of new grants dropped quite a bit last year.

While the agency funded 403 new projects in Massachusetts in 2010, that number dropped to 335 in 2011.

Does that make the grant winners super superstars? Or was the research in the labs at the right place at the right time? So many variables go into NIH funding, it can be hard to tell. Still it’s worth looking at where the money is going.

The 11 new winners so far for 2012 are looking into influenza, herpes, DNA replication timing, structural vaccinology for malaria and the search for biologically active antitumor and anti-infective agents in natural products. Our data is current as of this morning, but the numbers change constantly as NIH adds new grants to the database.  Grants went to Boston University, UMass med school and Brandeis University. But, Harvard-linked researchers – and infectious disease — dominate the list.

For more, head over to NB. While you are there, check out the site’s well-curated list of science events.

 

New Yorker: Former NEJM editor dismisses placebo claims

Arnold Relman writes in this week’s New Yorker.  He argues that researchers claiming placebos can cure are driven by ”substantial financial support for their anti-establishment views”  from NIH and private donors. From the letter’s page:

There is simply no evidence that physical diseases, such as cancer,  atherosclerosis, or organ disorders, can be cured or measurably improved by  placebos. Experienced physicians know that sympathetic concern and reassurance  can often allay subjective symptoms—at least temporarily—but only appropriate  medical treatment has a chance of curing physical disease. I suspect that the  main reason advocates of “alternative medicine” like Kaptchuk are receiving such  a friendly reception in many leading medical schools these days is that there is  substantial financial support for their anti-establishment views from one part  of the National Institutes of Health and from a few very wealthy private donors.

NYTimes starts its TBI / PTSD series in Maine

DEXTER, Me. — The roadside bomb that separated Sgt. Matthew Pennington from his left leg in 2006 also shattered his right leg and scorched his lungs. Those injuries he understood. But then came the ones he did not, the ones inside his head…

Like Mr. Pennington, many veterans injured in combat are finding that their invisible psychological and neurological wounds are proving more debilitating than their obvious physical ones.

About 1,700 American service members have lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan, most in roadside bombings that seared skin, shattered bones and damaged internal organs as well. Most of those troops also came home with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, which in many cases were not recognized for months.

Click here for the National Center for PTSD .

Story from The Nation on the misdiagnosis of head injuries. Cites Harvard study.

Here for Operation Recovery:

Service members who experience PTSD, TBI, MST, and combat stress have the right to exit the traumatic situation and receive immediate support, and compensation. Too often, service members are forced to redeploy back into dangerous combat, or train in situations that re-traumatize them. 

New look and new name for Nature Boston

So, the renamed Nature Boston is up and running. Check out this week’s calendar of event and a “Storify” post on last weeks visits by science journalist Carl Zimmer   He  was t the Coolidge Corner Theatre on talking about viruses at a screening of the film 12 Monkeys.

He also spoke at Harvard about his  book on science tattoos.

Also see a post on an event at Catalyst, a trendy new restaurant in Kendall Square with a back room named for Watson and Crick. The idea is to offer meeting space for the biotech and tech companies that have set up shop in the square.

Globe, WBUR on Alzheimer’s disease

Both The Globe and WBUR have had recent series on Alzheimer’s disease.

On Sunday, the Globe ran the last of a four-part, year-long series on a family coping losing their patriarch to early stage Alzheimer’s.

Bruce Vincent sits at a table in a stark room at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Charlestown research center, just a few minutes into what will be an hourlong test of his fading memory.

“Next, I will read you a list of words,’’ says research assistant Natacha Lorius, who sits across the table from him. “I need you to repeat the words back to me, in any order.

Suds, noose, spree, proxy, simile, nectar,’’ she says, reading slowly from a list of about 15 words.

When she finishes, Vincent, still raven haired and nearly wrinkle free at 49, stares at her for several seconds.

“I don’t remember any of them,’’ he says.

Alzheimer’s has recently quickened its devastating pace, snatching from Vincent more social skills and abilities than it had since his diagnosis three years earlier. He has a form of the disease that strikes at a young age.

Gone in the latest slide is the easy back and forth of conversation, the ability to sort and price products at the family’s Westminster grocery store that he once ran, and his recall of words, and sometimes entire conversations, from a few minutes earlier. Often he hovers, almost childlike, looking for direction in everyday tasks such as serving salad from a bowl to a dinner plate.

When Vincent shoveled his driveway after the snowstorm last month, he inexplicably walked dozens of yards to the backyard to empty each scoop, instead of simply tossing the snow to the side.

As the disease accelerates, Vincent’s family treasures all the more the bedrock pieces of his personality that remain — his optimism, his gentle nature, and especially his boyish humor.

“If I didn’t have Alzheimer’s,’’ Vincent confided after completing the memory-testing session, “that would have been a blast.’’ 

Another reason to root for the BoSox: Help for returning soldiers

On Veteran’s Day, consider these numbers from a Rand Corporation study: More than 300,000 U.S. soldiers will return from Iraq with concussions and head injuries. That doesn’t account for civilians.

So check out the Red Sox “Home Base” program, launched after players visited injured vets. To promote research, Home Base works with The Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology. CIMIT, a cross-disciplinary, cross- town collaboration that includes researchers from Harvard, MIT and local hospitals. The group applies technology – from electronic records to medical devices –to health problems.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has long challenged caregivers, who have limited options for determining prognosis and providing treatment. Recent prevalence of severe, moderate and mild TBI from military combat has increased the visibility of these issues. TBI and spinal cord trauma are major causes of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. Associated bio-physical changes are difficult to directly measure. The pathophysiology of TBI occurs in stages over prolonged periods of time. Better methods for characterization can aid in tailoring interventions to achieve better outcomes. CIMIT encourages novel approaches to treatment through functional and metabolic imaging and electromagnetic stimuli to localize treatment sites, measure progress, and identify the stages of recovery. CIMIT’s TBI & Neurotrauma Program seeks to explore novel techniques, including systemic and focal pharmacologic regimens, applied energy from lasers and ultrasound, and neuro-technological techniques, as methods to determine the stages at which they may be best applied. This program leverages the innovations of CIMIT Neurotechnology, Traumatic Stress Disorders, and Trauma & Casualty Care Programs, recognizing that many patients suffer from combinations of conditions that require clinicians to draw on a range of specialty resources. http://www.cimit.org/programs-traumatic-brain-injury.html