Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31673447›Full record

ArticleJournal of pharmacopuncture2019

qEEG Measures of Attentional and Memory Network Functions in Medical Students: Novel Targets for Pharmacopuncture to Improve Cognition and Academic Performance.

Vasavi R Gorantla, Vernon Bond, James Dorsey, Sarah Tedesco, Tanisha Kaur, Matthew Simpson, Sudhakar Pemminati, Richard M Millis

Open access · diamondAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of pharmacopuncture, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 32% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Vasavi R GorantlaDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Neuroscience, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
Vernon BondDepartment of Recreation, Human Performance & Leisure Studies and Exercise Science & Human Nutrition Laboratory, Howard University Cancer Centre, Washington, DC 20060, United States of America.
James DorseyDepartment of Recreation, Human Performance & Leisure Studies and Exercise Science & Human Nutrition Laboratory, Howard University Cancer Centre, Washington, DC 20060, United States of America.
Sarah TedescoAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
Tanisha KaurAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
Matthew SimpsonAUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
Sudhakar PemminatiDepartment of Medical Pharmacology, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
Richard M MillisDepartment of Behavioural Sciences and Neuroscience, AUA College of Medicine, Antigua and Barbuda.
American University of Antigua · AGHoward University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesAttentional and memory functions are important aspects of neural plasticity that, theoretically, should be amenable to pharmacopuncture treatments. A previous study from our laboratory suggested that quantitative electroencephalographic (qEEG) measurements of theta/beta ratio (TBR), an index of attentional control, may be indicative of academic performance in a first-semester medical school course. The present study expands our prior report by extracting and analyzing data on frontal theta and beta asymmetries. We test the hypothesis that the amount of frontal theta and beta asymmetries (fTA, fBA), are correlated with TBR and academic performance, thereby providing novel targets for pharmacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance.

methodsTen healthy male volunteers were subjected to 5-10 min of qEEG measurements under eyes-closed conditions. The qEEG measurements were performed 3 days before each of first two block examinations in anatomy-physiology, separated by five weeks. Amplitudes of the theta and beta waveforms, expressed in μV, were used to compute TBR, fTA and fBA. Significance of changes in theta and beta EEG wave amplitude was assessed by ANOVA with post-hoc t-testing. Correlations between TBR, fTA, fBA and the raw examination scores were evaluated by Pearson's product-moment coefficients and linear regression analysis.

resultsfTA and fBA were found to be negatively correlated with TBR (P<0.03, P<0.05, respectively) and were positively correlated with the second examination score (P<0.03, P=0.1, respectively).

conclusionSmaller fTA and fBA were associated with lower academic performance in the second of two first-semester medical school anatomy-physiology block examination. Future studies should determine whether these qEEG metrics are useful for monitoring changes associated with the brain's cognitive adaptations to academic challenges, for predicting academic performance and for targeting phamacopuncture treatments to improve cognitive performance.

Indexed as

academic performancefrontal beta asymmetryfrontal theta asymmetryneural plasticitypharmacopuncturequantitative electroencephalography (qEEG)Theta/beta ratio

Identifiers

PMID31673447
PMCPMC6820472
OpenAlexW2991417371

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.