corticalmetrics insights

What does a blood pressure cuff have to do with a Brain Gauge?

October 22, 2018

Climate change is not unique in scientific skepticism – there is a long history of early disbelief in new techniques or ideas: germ theory and sterile surgery, the earth not being at the center of the universe (Galileo got in trouble for that one!) and the blood pressure cuff as a relatively easy tool that anyone could use.

The task of measuring one’s blood pressure today is standard and is easily measured in the doctor’s office, a drug store, or even in your own home. The units of measure

Chronic Mold Exposure: Testing for Chronic Inflammatory Response

October 18, 2018

In the previous post, I explained an acute effect of mold on the nervous system, namely that toxins produced by mold act as a GABAA antagonist. But what happens when you have prolonged mold exposure? And what can you do about it? And how do you know if what you’re doing is actually helping?

The name given to mold/biotoxin patients completely explains what goes on when moving from an acute reaction to chronic problems. Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) is a well-documented condition with an impressive amount of

Mold Exposure: A Step-by-Step Guide to Tracking Recovery with a Brain Gauge

October 12, 2018

You may think of mold as a relatively harmless part of cheese that’s been in your fridge a little too long, or maybe as the penicillin that you take when you get an infection. But for some with genetic susceptibility, exposure to mold/mycotoxins and other biotoxins (like Lyme disease) can have extreme negative effects on their health and can cause symptoms as diverse as brain fog, fatigue, chronic pain, and/or debilitating psychiatric disorders. The large range of usually nondescript symptoms can leave those afflicted confused and frustrated

Autism: What kind of results could you expect from the Brain Gauge?

October 10, 2018

In another article, we discussed the nature of autism and how it guided the design of the Brain Gauge testing methods. One question that we often get is what Brain Gauge scores look like before and after treatment. We are often inquired whether Brain Gauge scores indicate if someone is improving or not.

Let’s take a look at one of the subjects in one of our autism studies. At the time, the patient was 22 years old, IQ in the 120 range and had an AQ of 38. He

The test for aging dementia many people would like to avoid.

October 03, 2018

If you could take a test that predicts you are headed for a degenerative state, would you take it?

Over the past couple of years, I have had several interesting discussions with clinicians using the Brain Gauge revolving around the fact that some patients score poorly and don’t like their scores. These people generally fall into one of three groups:

People that declare that they feel fine and that there is nothing wrong. Doubtful if they will seek help.
People that are disturbed that their scores are poor, but

PTSD, inflammation and more..

October 01, 2018

Although it is has been considered difficult to treat (and sometimes diagnose), it appears that one underlying symptom in PTSD is neuroinflammation.

It is estimated that approximately 8% of Americans will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) at some point in their life, but nearly 70% of the same population will experience a traumatic situation. So why do some people develop PTSD while others do not? As is the case with TBI/concussion, ethics prevents controlled studies of the development of PTSD, but there are other ways to tease apart

A sample step by step guide to use your Brain Gauge to monitor your brain health

September 28, 2018

One of the strengths of the Brain Gauge is that, when used correctly, it is able to detect changes in your brain function before those changes are large enough to cause physical symptoms. Early detection is paramount for slowing, halting, or even reversing the progression of any disease, which is why monitoring is so important, especially if you are at increased risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease. Monitoring could (and should) be done by a doctor, but it can also be supplemented with a Brain Gauge (we should note that

Possible relationship between ADHD and early onset Parkinson’s

September 25, 2018

A car can be a very useful tool to get you from Point A to Point B, but if you don’t know how to drive a car, it doesn’t do you much good. Even the most powerful tool isn’t very useful if you don’t know how to use it. Since there’s not a comparable technology to the Brain Gauge on the market today, we understand when people aren’t sure of the best methods for using a Brain Gauge to track their brain health. That’

Factors that influence concussion recovery and brain health: Is there an epidemic?

September 19, 2018

There are a lot of factors to consider when evaluating population brain health, and there is a relationship between speed of concussion recovery and baseline brain health at the population level.

As noted in several previous posts, exercise and keeping an active lifestyle are an important part of maintaining good brain health. And yet, many sports put you at risk for developing a concussion. We hear about football on the news all the time, but athletes in other sports - like soccer, basketball, volleyball, cycling, and even swimming (apparently quite

Going head-to-head with other cognitive scoring systems: case study

September 17, 2018

There are lots of brain assessment tools commonly used for concussion, but they fail to consistently detect alterations in brain health.

The Brain Gauge system was designed to be used for a wide spectrum of neurological disorders and other situations that benefit from assessing brain health. From the beginning, we set out to design a system in which pre-injury “baseline” measures would not be necessary. After all, many clinicians see patients only after that patient has sustained a potentially concussive impact.

Similarly, it's difficult to approximate a patient’s brain