Articles: chronic.
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Attentional deficits in patients with chronic pain are common and well studied. Yet, few studies have examined the effects of chronic pain on more complex cognitive abilities that rely on well-functioning attentional systems. With the current study, we aimed to investigate whether the impact of chronic pain on attention affects creative ideation as measured with an adaptation of the alternate uses task (AUT). ⋯ Chronic pain negatively affects attention and more complex cognitive abilities. However, the underlying psychophysiological mechanisms and the role of attention as a source of these impairments in more complex abilities are poorly understood. By analyzing task-related power changes in the EEG, the role of internal attention in creative ideation could be determined, revealing the functional relationship between chronic pain, attention, and a more complex cognitive ability.
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Endemic arsenism is a worldwide health problem. Chronic arsenic exposure results in cognitive dysfunction due to arsenic and its metabolites accumulating in hippocampus. ⋯ However, excessive NMDARs activity contributes to exitotoxicity and synaptic plasticity impairment. Here, we provide an overview of the mechanisms that NMDARs and their downstream signaling pathways mediate synaptic plasticity impairment due to arsenic exposure in hippocampal neurons, ways of arsenic exerting on NMDARs, as well as the potential therapeutic targets except for water improvement.