Richard Courtemanche
Sessions in which Richard Courtemanche attends
Not scheduled
Efficient neural transmission is crucial for optimal brain function, yet the plastic potential of white matter (WM) has long been overlooked. Growing evidence now shows that modifications to axons and myelin occur not only as a result of long-term learning, but also after short training periods [1]. Motor sequence learning (MSL) has been shown to occur in overlapping learning stages where different neural circuits are involved at each stage [2]. However, most studies investigating short-term ...
Background: Cellular senescence, cell growth cycle arrest, is a marker of cellular aging. Obesity is considered a disease of accelerated aging as it shares several co-morbidities with aging, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Objective: To determine regional differences in markers of cellular senescence and how these compare in obese individuals with and without T2DM. Methods: Pre-menopausal females undergoing bariatric surgery were categorized as obese-metabolically healthy...
Background: Different exercise intensity has a various effect on the immune system. Lactate is one of the factors that releases in exercise, on one hand, higher lactate concentration not also apoptosis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) decrease but also the survival of the PBMCs increase (Elsaser et al., 2017), on the other hand...
Background: Recovery kinetics following cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) have yet not been described in people with OSA and comorbid insomnia (COMISA). Our objectives were to i) describe heart rate recovery (HRR), oxygen recovery slopes (VO2/t) and time to half recovery of VO2max (T½) following CPET in COMISA; and ii) investigate their response to either one of the following: 16 weeks of exercise training (Ex) or 8 week-relaxation control intervention followed by 8 weeks of exercise an...
Context: While soccer is considered a lateral dominant sport, few studies have examined if limb dominancy leads to asymmetries in body composition and their possible associations with injury (1). Objective: The purpose of this study was to 1) investigate body composition morphological asymmetries in male and female university-level soccer players, and 2) examine whether the degree of body composition asymmetry is associated with lower leg injuries (LLI) and lower back pain (LBP...
Although social distancing directives are important public health measures to reduce the spread of SARS-cov-2, they can contribute to negative emotional outcomes such as loneliness due to the isolation. Furthermore, individuals have been reporting poorer sleep quality since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study is to...
Postural stability is a complex skill dependent upon the coordination of motor, sensory and cognitive systems (Woollacott & Shumway-Cook, 2002). The purpose of this project was therefore to explore how older adults' balance performance is impacted by increased cognitive load, hearing loss, and simulated vision loss. Twenty-seven older adults between the ages of 56 and 90 years (M = 74.74, SD = 9.51) were tested. Participants underwent standard sensory acuity, and cognitive functioning tes...
Background: To create games that target older adults' interests in engaging in cognitively-boosting activities is a rising trend [1,2]. But, the novelty of the digital me-dium of play, and the implicit expectation of cognitive performance can create stressful experiences for them [3]. We have previously proposed an empirical framework, Affective Game Planning for Health Applications (AGPHA) based on Lazarus's Transactional Theory of Stress Appraisal and Coping [4], to study interactions betwe...
Monday 10 May, 2021
In this talk, we will present our recent developments in the context of Personalized functional Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (fNIRS) investigations, which consist in optimizing placement of fNIRS sources and detectors on the head of the participant in order to maximize fNIRS sensitivity to some targeted brain regions, while allowing accurate local 3D reconstructions of fluctuations of oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin along the cortical surface. Personalized fNIRS investigations could be ...
Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) are two established techniques which allow monitoring brain health non-invasively. With the foundation of our seminal NIRS-DCS work on neonates, we are developing novel devices and approaches to better quantify cerebral blood oxygenation, cerebral blood flow and oxygen metabolism in the clinical setting both in children and adults. In particular, in the last few years we have made substantial progress on D...
Tuesday 11 May, 2021
Sleep is important for memory consolidation and cognitives performances during the day. There is increasing evidence that brain oscillations during sleep play a central role in such processes. This presentation will review recent work from our lab on the interplay between brain rhythms during sleep, memory consolidation and age-related cognitive decline. We will also discuss recent data showing the impact of sleep disturbances on cognitive functions, as well as the effects o...
This talk will discuss sleep of children as they transition to teens in the context of research that examines associations between brain systems that regulate sleep/wake behavior—the circadian timing system and the sleep homeostatic system. For example, adolescents’ circadian timing becomes later; their sleep “need” does not diminish; their sleep homeostatic system is also modified in a way that can modify sleep timing. A major implication of this work has been in the area of education, sp...
The following posters will be presented:10:45am-10:50amThe Belief in Health Benefits of Digital Play Modulates Physiological Responses to Games Played for Cognitive BenefitsPresented by: Sasha Elbaz10:50am-10:55amEffects of Injury Prevention Strategies on the Biomechanics and Neuromuscular Performance of Fundamental Movement Skills in Children and Adolescents.Presented by: John A. Jimenez-Garcia10:55am-11:00am
Circadian clock genes are widely expressed in mammalian brain. Despite considerable knowledge about the role of these genes in the generation of circadian rhythms in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the master circadian clock, insight into brain-region specific function of these genes limited. Studies in our laboratory investigate the role of core clock gene, Bmal1 and Per2 in the control of behaviors governed by the striatum, a forebrain structure critical in in motor control, reward processi...
Sleep and circadian disturbances are common and represent risk factors for the development of some of the most prevalent and challenging chronic illnesses, such as cardio-metabolic and neurodegenerative disorders.Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous in all organisms. These rhythms, maintained through a complex molecular transcription-translation feedback loop are present throughout the brain and body, and play a key role in the regulation of nearly all physiological and behavioral processes. S...
Wednesday 12 May, 2021
Regional brain function is determined by its local structure and connectivity. I will present work from our lab that strives to quantify connectivity for applications in healthy development and understanding the impact of disease - focusing on understanding normative cerebellar connectivity and quantifying the impact of stroke. I will also touch on some recent work linking interhemispheric functional connectivity to bimanual motor control in older adults.
With aging, there are declines in sensorimotor functions such as fine motor control, gait and balance. Moreover, the largest age differences in brain structure are observed in the motor and somatosensory cortices. A key question of interest is why some individuals are more resilient than others to these functional declines. I will describe my findings showing that, in some cases, individual differences in sensorimotor system structure and function are associated with motor performance meas...
Safe mobility is vital to the functional independence of older adults. Executive functions such as working memory updating and dividing attention play an increasingly important role in supporting mobility in old age. This talk describes recent studies that examine the influence of cognitive and sensory challenges to complex motor performance. Featured are recent cognitive training and exercise intervention studies designed to target executive functions to improve mobility and cognition in old...
Disorders of gait and cognition are central to many age related conditions and diseases. While there are medications available to treat some of these disorders, they have significant side effects and limited effectiveness. A better understanding of the inter-relationship between motor and cognitive function in aging may help guide the development of new therapeutic approaches for conditions such as frailty, mobility disability and dementia. In this talk, I will discuss non-pharmacological ...