Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

LAB PHOTOS BY SIMON BRUTY/THE MMQB BETHESDA, Md. One of the most important recent developments in the treatment of brain traumaand by extension, the future of footballmay have been discovered by a clumsy intern. Theo Rothisa St. Louis-born, Alabama-raised Stanford graduatewho finagled his way into a National Institutes of Health internship in the summer of 2010, after his senior year of high school. Bored after graduation, he appealed to Dr. Dorian McGavern with a personal email and the recommendation of a mentor of his parents, both doctors. McGavern, new at the NIHs suburban Maryland health campus, allowed the 18-year-old to sidestep the pool of more than 10,000 college kids gunning for 1,000 spots and took him on. McGavern and his team were using a new research tool, pioneered in 2007 at New York University, which involved shaving down a small portion of a mouses skull to shine light into the brain and record its processes. McGavern wanted to study how meningitis affected the brain, but his new intern couldnt handle the tiny ballpoint saw without concussing the mice and muddling the results. He was really bad at performing skull-thinning surgery, McGavern says of Roth. Just couldnt get the hang of … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 17-Apr-2014 Contact: Carol Thorbes cthorbes@sfu.ca 778-782-3035 Simon Fraser University Two Simon Fraser University psychologists have made a brain-related discovery that could revolutionize doctors' perception and treatment of attention-deficit disorders. This discovery opens up the possibility that environmental and/or genetic factors may hinder or suppress a specific brain activity that the researchers have identified as helping us prevent distraction. The Journal of Neuroscience has just published a paper about the discovery by John McDonald, an associate professor of psychology and his doctoral student John Gaspar, who made the discovery during his master's thesis research. This is the first study to reveal our brains rely on an active suppression mechanism to avoid being distracted by salient irrelevant information when we want to focus on a particular item or task. McDonald, a Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience, and other scientists first discovered the existence of the specific neural index of suppression in his lab in 2009. But, until now, little was known about how it helps us ignore visual distractions. "This is an important discovery for neuroscientists and psychologists because most contemporary ideas of attention highlight brain processes that are involved in picking out relevant objects from the visual … Continue reading →

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) April 16, 2014 San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee gave Jessica Goldman a rousing send off this morning as she left the front steps of San Francisco City Hall. Goldman is running across the country in an attempt to break a world record, running from City Hall in San Francisco to City Hall in New York a distance of more than 3,000 miles. Mayor Lee counted Goldman into the start, officially sending her off at 8:15 a.m. PDT. Goldman, who will be running across the United States using a modified jogging stroller filled with supplies, is raising funds for the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) while she attempts to break the women's trans-America run record. Her goal is to raise $5 for each mile she runs. The current, official women's transcontinental world record was set in 1978 and stands at 69 days, two hours and 40 minutes. In order to break the record, Goldman must run between the two city halls with a GPS tracking device that records her position every 10 minutes. In addition, she has to have an official video and signatures from witnesses at the beginning and end of the trip, as … Continue reading →

A class of drugs developed to treat immune-related conditions and cancer -- including one currently in clinical trials for glioblastoma and other tumors -- eliminates neural inflammation associated with dementia-linked diseases and brain injuries, according to UC Irvine researchers. In their study, assistant professor of neurobiology & behavior Kim Green and colleagues discovered that the drugs, which can be delivered orally, eradicated microglia, the primary immune cells of the brain. These cells exacerbate many neural diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as brain injury. "Because microglia are implicated in most brain disorders, we feel we've found a novel and broadly applicable therapeutic approach," Green said. "This study presents a new way to not just modulate inflammation in the brain but eliminate it completely, making this a breakthrough option for a range of neuroinflammatory diseases." The researchers focused on the impact of a class of drugs called CSF1R inhibitors on microglial function. In mouse models, they learned that inhibition led to the removal of virtually all microglia from the adult central nervous system with no ill effects or deficits in behavior or cognition. Because these cells contribute to most brain diseases -- and can harm or kill neurons -- the … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 16-Apr-2014 Contact: Tom Vasich tmvasich@uci.edu 949-824-6455 University of California - Irvine Irvine, Calif., April 16, 2014 A class of drugs developed to treat immune-related conditions and cancer including one currently in clinical trials for glioblastoma and other tumors eliminates neural inflammation associated with dementia-linked diseases and brain injuries, according to UC Irvine researchers. In their study, assistant professor of neurobiology & behavior Kim Green and colleagues discovered that the drugs, which can be delivered orally, eradicated microglia, the primary immune cells of the brain. These cells exacerbate many neural diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as brain injury. "Because microglia are implicated in most brain disorders, we feel we've found a novel and broadly applicable therapeutic approach," Green said. "This study presents a new way to not just modulate inflammation in the brain but eliminate it completely, making this a breakthrough option for a range of neuroinflammatory diseases." The researchers focused on the impact of a class of drugs called CSF1R inhibitors on microglial function. In mouse models, they learned that inhibition led to the removal of virtually all microglia from the adult central nervous system with no ill effects or deficits in behavior or cognition. … Continue reading →

He also sustained bone fractures, in his left arm and leg. When he woke up, he could not recognise his wife. He was shouting obscenities and remained agitated for days. His wife was afraid of him, an otherwise gentle person and loving father of two. His sleeping habits were erratic. He refused to eat and he spat at anyone who came near. He tried to get out of bed several times a day and his speech was incoherent at times. He had to be restrained for his own safety. This continued for a few more days before he slowly began to calm down. However, he continued to be confused for several weeks more. He slowly became more aware of his surroundings and was finally able to recognise his wife and family. He could not recall what had happened to him. He could not remember anything about the accident nor his erratic behaviour. What he went through was not a form of insanity but, a common reaction following traumatic brain injury, known as post traumatic amnesia or PTA. TEMPORARY IMPAIRMENT Post traumatic amnesia is a temporary cognitive impairment thats common among traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. It is a state during … Continue reading →

Scottsdale, Arizona (PRWEB) April 14, 2014 Brain State Technologies announced today the presentation of results from a case series of 21 individuals with persisting symptoms following traumatic brain injury who enrolled in an open label research study using High-resolution, relational, resonance-based, electroencephalic mirroring (HIRREM), known commercially as Brainwave Optimization, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. Study participants reported improved sleep and fewer symptoms related to depression and post-traumatic stress. Brainwave Optimization is a noninvasive, computer-guided technology that facilitates self-optimization of the brain by helping individuals achieve a state of deep relaxation. The presentation was made at the International Brain Injury Associations Tenth World Congress on Brain Injury in San Francisco on March 21. The study was conducted at the Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., by Charles H. Tegeler, M.D., professor of neurology, and was made possible by a research grant from The Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation, Inc. The participants in this case series had histories of traumatic brain injury related to military service, sports, or other accidents. They received an average of 16 HIRREM sessions, 90 minutes each, over 13 days. According to the researchers, use of HIRREM was associated with reduction in self-reported symptoms of insomnia, depression, and post-traumatic … Continue reading →

Investigators are saying the alleged abuse of a 4-year-old girl who suffered a brain injury from high sodium levels could have started as early as 2011. The child's mother, Katie Alice Ripstra, 31, of northwest Harris County, was charged with felony injury to a child April 8. Investigators believe Ripstra, a former pediatric nurse at Texas Childrens Hospital, used a feeding tube to introduce high levels of liquid sodium into her daughters system in the summer of 2013, said said Lt. Ruben Diaz of the HCSO Criminal Investigations Bureau. While in the hospital, the child would be just fine and then when the child was released back to the parent it wouldnt take long until the child would be returned ill again, said Diaz. These cases are really hard to prove because they can go undetected for years. According to court documents, the child was admitted to the hospital at least five times with high sodium levels from March to August 2013. On Aug. 6, the child returned to the hospital unconscious and suffering from hypovelimic shock from extremely high sodium levels a day after being discharged from the hospital. As a result of the high sodium levels, the child … Continue reading →

Published: Saturday, April 12, 2014, 12:01a.m. Updated 11 hours ago A 3-month-old boy suffered head trauma, brain injury, seizures and other medical complications from physical abuse by his father in a Youngwood home last month, state police at Greensburg said. Tyler James Priggins, 26, was arraigned on Thursday on charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. Priggins was baby sitting his infant son, Dominique, on March 26 when he injured the baby, who became unresponsive, according to court papers. The infant was taken by ambulance to Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg, where he was given emergency treatment to aid his breathing, and was then flown to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh due to his grave condition, police said. A Children's doctor determined Dominique was physically abused and would have died had he not received medical attention when he did, police said. The physician also related that the injuries that the victim sustained were not accidental, nor could they be self-inflicted, according to a police affidavit. In addition to the head trauma, the infant had bruises on his shoulders, police said. State police questioned Priggins in late March. The defendant made several statements to investigators indicating he … Continue reading →

HOUSTON (AP) A Houston-area pediatric nurse has been arrested for feeding her own daughter such a dangerous amount of salt that the child had to be hospitalized. Harris County sheriff's spokesman Alan Bernstein said Thursday that 31-year-old Katie Alice Ripstra is charged with two counts of injury to a child/serious bodily injury. A probable cause affidavit says the girl, now 4, suffered a brain injury because of the excessive amount of salt Ripstra fed her. The girl has since recovered and is no longer in her mother's custody. Bernstein says Ripstra took the child last year on four separate occasions for treatment at the hospital where Ripstra worked. He says the woman's motives are not clear. Ripstra bonded out of jail Wednesday. Online records did not indicate an attorney for her. See the original post here: Texas woman accused of poisoning child with salt … Continue reading →