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F J Vila

Publications and source records attributed to F J Vila.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

[Our brain deceives us].

The brain does not "objectively" reflect outer reality, but rather what is necessary in order to survive and adapt to the environment. The "phi" phenomenon, the eye's blind spot and cryptomnesia, reflect the brain's capacity to invent information. In split-brain patients, research has shown how one hemisphere, when it lacks certain information, invents a plausible story to explain the behaviour of the other hemisphere. All this would suggest that the brain deceives us, producing occurrences which in reality have never happened, in such a way that, for the brain, convenient reality and "objective" reality are two very different things.

Brain↗
PubMed1997

Fronto-striato-thalamic perfusion and clozapine response in treatment-refractory schizophrenic patients. A 99mTc-HMPAO study.

Several studies with functional and structural brain-imaging techniques support the hypothesis that responders and non-responders to clozapine could show a different pattern of cerebral dysfunction. Thirty-nine neuroleptic-refractory schizophrenic patients were studied with 99Tc-labelled hexamethyl-propylene-aminoxime (HMPAO) and SPECT, while on classical neuroleptics and after 6 months of treatment with clozapine. The perfusion differences between responders and non-responders to clozapine were studied in the regions included within the dorsolateral and orbitofrontal fronto-striato-thalamic circuits, as well as the predictive value of these parameters. These values were compared to those of a normal database, and between both treatments within the two groups. On-neuroleptic perfusion in non-responders was lower in the thalamus, basal ganglia and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Thalamus and right prefrontal perfusion regions were selected as response predictors by a discriminant analysis. Thalamic and left basal ganglia activities while on neuroleptics were lower only in non-responders with respect to the normal subjects. Perfusion changes were only observed in the responder group in thalamus and basal ganglia. Study of regional perfusion may contribute to the prediction of clozapine response.

Adult↗