Insights about the Genetic Basis for Concussion
Despite significant advances in treatment, sports-related concussion continues to plague athletes. Part of the reason…
Traumatic Brain Injury
Updates on the Baylor Cranial Gunshot Wound Prognosis Score
Two papers by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that extend our understanding of the Baylor GSWH scoring system and its application, externally validating it in a different group of patients presenting during a more recent time period in which better acute management techniques are available.
Understanding Quality of Life for Caregivers of Persons with Traumatic Brain Injury
New research uses a unique survey tool to understand how caring for a person with TBI impacts the caregiver’s mental health and well-being.
Brain magnetic stimulation for veterans with concussion: Need is high, but evidence is limited
Studies using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a noninvasive technique, to help veterans and active-duty service members living with depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other lasting consequences of concussion have shown promise. However, there’s an urgent need for studies designed to address the unique patterns of post-concussion symptoms seen in military populations, concludes a review in the November/December issue of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR). The official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America, JHTR is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Virginia Tech scientists advance understanding of blood-brain barrier health
in a study with potential impacts on a variety of neurological diseases, Virginia Tech researchers have provided the first experimental evidence from a living organism to show that an abundant, star-shaped brain cell known as an astrocyte is essential for blood-brain barrier health.
Concussion discovery reveals dire, unknown effects of even mild brain injury
Even mild concussions cause severe and long-lasting impairments in the brain’s ability to clean itself, and this may seed it for Alzheimer’s, dementia and other neurodegenerative problems.
UChicago Medicine joins BOOST-3 national trial to investigate treatments for traumatic brain injuries
As part of nationwide study to improve trauma care for severe brain injuries, researchers at UChicago Medicine are working to engage South Side residents and ensure representation among underrepresented communities.
Expanding Treatment Options for Severe Brain Trauma
Researchers at UC San Diego Health have joined a national research study called Hyperbaric Oxygen Brain Injury Treatment (HOBIT) to assess whether therapy involving 100 percent oxygen under pressure might also benefit patients with severe brain injuries.
Music therapy goes virtual in the midst of the pandemic
How one professor’s quick thinking allowed music therapy to play on for clients at home
Researchers simulate, assess damage to brain cells caused by bubbles during head trauma
Researchers are studying how the collapse of microbubbles within the skull can damage brain cells. Their research could lead to the design of better helmets.
Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Have Higher Sugar Levels in Brain
Article title: Increased myoinositol in the anterior cingulate cortex of veterans with a history of traumatic…
Concussion May Lead to Permanent Changes in Spinal Cord Motor Nerve Pathways
Article title: Altered corticomotor latencies but normal motor neuroplasticity in concussed athletes Authors: William Stokes, Jake…
‘Brain Surfing’: Ultrasound waves focused on prefrontal cortex elevate mood and change brain connectivity in human volunteers
A team of researchers at the University of Arizona has found that low-intensity ultrasound waves directed at a particular region of the brain’s prefrontal cortex in healthy subjects can elevate mood, and decrease connectivity in a brain network that has been shown to be hyperactive in psychiatric disorders. The method uses transcranial focused ultrasound (‘tFUS’), a painless, non-invasive technique to modulate brain function comparable to transcranial magnetic stimulation (‘TMS’), and transcranial direct current stimulation (‘tDCS’). This study shows, for the first time, a correlation between tFUS-induced mood enhancement, and reorganization of brain circuits.
Brain Scan-Blood Test Panel Promises Improved Diagnosis of Brain Trauma Following Battlefield Blast Exposure
New brain scans and blood tests move researchers towards more sensitive diagnosis of battlefield brain trauma and evaluation of new drugs
Study Reveals New Way to Treat Stroke Using an Already FDA-Approved Drug
Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) is currently used to treat neutropenia due to chemotherapy and has been successfully used for patients who require bone marrow transplants. The study is the first to report on the neuroprotective effect of GCSF in vivo and showed that it improved neurological deficits that occur in the first few days following cerebral ischemia. GCSF improved long-term behavioral outcomes while also stimulating a neural progenitor recovery response in a mouse model.
Researchers develop cell therapy to improve memory and stop seizures in mice following traumatic brain injury
Researchers from the University of California, Irvine developed a breakthrough cell therapy to improve memory and prevent seizures in mice following traumatic brain injury. The study, titled “Transplanted interneurons improve memory precision after traumatic brain injury,” was published today in Nature Communications.
Man with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury Lives to Tell the Tale
John Kaczmarczyk, 58, was unconscious at the bottom of a flight of stairs in his home when his wife and son found him.
Penn Medicine Researchers Receive $9.7 Million NIH Grant to Study Traumatic Brain Injuries and Neurodegeneration
An international team of experts led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Glasgow has been awarded a $9.7 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and National Institute for Aging (NIA) to establish CONNECT-TBI—a program spanning 12 institutions which will study traumatic brain injury (TBI) and related neurodegenerative diseases.
Study identifies brain injury as a cause of dementia in some older adults
A UCLA-led study finds that, with the use of MRI scans, it is possible to distinguish between memory loss caused by Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury.