Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

OKLAHOMA A bill allowing Oklahoma veterans to be provided with free hyperbaric oxygen treatment for traumatic brain injury has been approved by the state Senate. Senate Bill 1604, the Veterans Recovery Plan Act, states that any Oklahoma veteran who has been diagnosed with TBI, and prescribed HBOT by a medical professional, may receive free treatment at any licensed and equipped facility in the state. Sen. Mark Allen, author of the bill, said his proposal will provide desperately needed help for men and women who have sacrificed for their country. Many Oklahoma veterans are struggling with symptoms of traumatic brain injury, and have been unable to get the treatment they need, said Allen, R-Spiro. These men and women have represented us in combat and are entitled to the highest level of care we can provide them upon their return. This bill will broaden access to a proven treatment method for our injured veterans. The bill will create the Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment and Recovery Revolving Fund for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Under the measure, the Oklahoma State University Center for Aerospace and Hyberbaric Medicine will have statewide jurisdiction over all treatments provided and all requests for reimbursement from the … Continue reading →

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 12, 2014 During a press conference this afternoon, Susan H. Connors, President and CEO of the Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA), endorsed the National Brain Injury Surveillance System Act of 2014. Congressmen Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-N.J.) and Tom Rooney (R-Penn.) introduced the legislation today, which is Brain Injury Awareness Day. When enacted, the legislation will direct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to collect national data on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) across the lifespans of people with brain injuries. It will also collect additional data on individuals at the time of the injury, such as the severity of the injury, previous history of brain injury, co-occurring issues such as substance abuse or PTSD, and pre-existing conditions like ADHD or learning disabilities. When an individual sustains a brain injury it is not an event, it is the start of a lifelong disability, said Connors. An individual with a brain injury needs the appropriate access to care immediately after their injury and continued therapy so they may be active in their communities and return to work. Comprehensive data will drive the development of systems of care that are needed to meet this growing public health … Continue reading →

SOURCE: Premier Biomedical, Inc. EL PASO, TX--(Marketwired - Mar 12, 2014) - Premier Biomedical, Inc. (OTCQB: BIEI) a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative immune-system manipulation therapies for breast cancer, as well as potential novel therapies for Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis (MS), and traumatic brain injury, announced today that through its equity funding arrangement with Kodiak Capital Group, LLC, which was announced in December 2013, it has paid all its liabilities and anticipates having sufficient capital to fund current on-going and mid-term research and development. "We are extremely pleased to move forward with our research and development program as we recently received extremely positive results from duplicate studies on our newest Breast Cancer treatment, which will be formally presented to the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting in San Diego in April.While funding innovative research is a challenge regardless of the industry, our progress toward our goals has been recognized by a global capital investment firm," said Premier Biomedical, Inc. CEO William A. Hartman. "We are in a strong position to focus on the future along with our partners in R&D, the Department of Defense with Center of Expertise at the William Beaumont Army Medical Center … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Mar-2014 Contact: Rachel Harrison rachel.harrison@duke.edu 919-419-5069 Duke University Medical Center DURHAM, N.C. -- Brain imaging using radioactive dye can detect early evidence of Alzheimer's disease that may predict future cognitive decline among adults with mild or no cognitive impairment, according to a 36-month follow-up study led by Duke Medicine. The national, multicenter study confirms earlier findings suggesting that identifying silent beta-amyloid plaque build-up in the brain could help guide care and treatment decisions for patients at risk for Alzheimer's. The findings appeared online March 11, 2014, in Molecular Psychiatry, a Nature Publishing Group journal. "Our research found that healthy adults and those with mild memory loss who have a positive scan for these plaques have a much faster rate of decline on memory, language and reasoning over three years," said lead author P. Murali Doraiswamy, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the neurocognitive disorders program at Duke. Alzheimer's disease which currently has no cure afflicts an estimated five million U.S. adults, and is the sixth-leading cause of death among adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior studies have found that changes in the brain begin years, and possibly decades, before cognitive symptoms … Continue reading →

PHILADELPHIA Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is using mathematical modeling to better understand the mechanisms at play in this kind of injury, with an eye toward protecting the brain from its long-term consequences. Their recent findings, published in the Biophysical Journal, shed new light on the mechanical properties of a critical brain protein and its role in the elasticity of axons, the long, tendril-like part of brain cells. This protein, known as tau, helps explain the apparent contradiction this elasticity presents. If axons are so stretchy, why do they break under the strain of a traumatic brain injury? Taus own elastic properties reveal why rapid impacts deal permanent damage to structures within axons, when applying the same force more slowly causes them to safely stretch. This understanding can now be used to make computer models of the brain more realistic and potentially can be applied toward tau-related diseases, such as Alzheimers. The team consists of Vivek Shenoy, professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Hossein Ahmadzadeh, a member … Continue reading →

JACKSONVILLE The signature battlefield wound among veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is now moving to the classroom. And a local college is on a mission to educate its student and faculty about how to teach and study with those who suffer the effects of traumatic brain injury. Coastal Carolina Community College in Jacksonville recently hosted speakers from the Defense and Veteran Brain Injury Center, or DVBIC, who presented information about the causes, signs and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury and how they may complicate life in academia for those who have suffered one. While TBI has come to the forefront because of the wars in the Middle East, any blow or jolt to the head such as a car accident or fall can cause a TBI. Watching this presentation, I realized there were a lot of positive things going on, said Navy veteran Debra Johnson, 46, of Jacksonville. Having been in the military for 18 years, there are a lot of things not heard, not seen and not spoken of; so watching this and having them break everything down to help everyone understand it brings more attention to the topic. Thought to have suffered a TBI … Continue reading →

This story of survival is part of the Dateline report "Twist of Fate" Andrea Vellinga cant remember anything about the steamy August day that forever changed her lifenot the trip to the 2011 Indiana State Fair, not the horrific stage collapse, not the object that careened down on her head, cracking her skull and bruising her brain. Andrea Vellinga was injured when the stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed in 2011. As ominous black clouds barreled toward the Indianapolis fair grounds on Aug. 13, Vellinga was in the crowded pit at the base of the stands waiting for her favorite band, Sugarland, to come on stage. When the storm struck, it was violent. Heavy winds ripped at the rigging of the towers at the front of the stage and, in a matter of moments, sent the structure crashing down on the crowd below. Seven people died. Dozens were injured. It was Vellingas good luck that a physician and her paramedic husband were in the stands. The couple spotted the unconscious 30-year-old mom lying on the ground, got her onto a makeshift stretcher and then into an ambulance. It was her bad luck that the injury to her brain was … Continue reading →

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) March 10, 2014 Tidewater Physical Therapy is pleased to announce that thanks to the sponsors and the nearly 500 attendees of the inaugural Richmond Endurance Athlete Symposium and Expo on Feb. 1, it donated $4,300 each to the Brain Injury Association of Virginia and the Richmond 2015 UCI Road World Championships. Tim Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Richmond 2015, and Kim Moore, President of the Brain Injury Association of Virginia, accepted the donations this month from Tidewater Physical Therapys Richmond Regional Director, Kevin Dintino, and Jim Miller, Clinical Director and cycling enthusiast from the Laburnum location. Both organizations commended Tidewater Physical Therapy, the sponsors and the attendees for their great support of their missions. This inaugural event really did become a day of motivation and inspiration thanks to these two great organizations being on site and available to educate the attendees about their mission, said Dintino, also an avid cyclist. Tidewater Physical Therapy is committed to supporting our community and in delivering expert information to athletes, coaches and healthcare professionals. Tidewater Physical Therapy hosted the inaugural Richmond Endurance Athlete Symposium and Expo at the Westin Richmond. The event featured an array of speakers, including Olympic silver medalist … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only While concussions are most commonly associated with sports-related injuries, associate professor Anthony Acquavella, MD, at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, says prevention and awareness begins by recognizing that these brain injuries can also result from slips and falls, playground injuries, and car accidents. Concussions are a force to be reckoned with because they are traumatic brain injuries that need to be identified and treated as soon as they occur to help prevent further complications, or even death, said Dr. Acquavella, who also serves as a physician for the Universitys student health service. While March is designated as National Brain Injury Awareness Month, Dr. Acquavella said concussions and head injuries affect hundreds of individuals each day. Approximately 1.7 million people suffer from traumatic brain injuries each year, and concussions represent about 75 percent of those injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Earlier this year, a USciences student suffered a concussion from a fall significant enough to take a medical leave from school, as concussion treatment requires thorough brain rest, said Dr. Acquavella. While concussions are typically caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head, they can also … Continue reading →

Craig Hospital's 2014 Christopher and Dana Reeve Inspiration Award went to snow-boarder Kevin Pearce, left. His parents, Pia and Simon Pearce, are pictured with him. In 2009, when snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a severe traumatic brain injury while training for the U.S. Olympic trials, it was apparent that it was going to take a miracle to restore any sense of normalcy to his life. The kind of miracle that his family found at Craig Hospital in Englewood, where treatment from a skilled team of doctors and therapists have brought the elite athlete to a point where he can function quite well, thank you very much. Nicholas and Christine Classick were among the 1,400 guests at Craig Hospital's PUSH dinner. (Photos by David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post) "I'm nowhere near being completely recovered," Pearce told the 1,400 who'd gathered at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center on Feb. 28 for PUSH, a dinner where he received Craig's highest honor, the Christopher and Dana Reeve Inspiration Award. "It's a continuing process." Amazing as his recovery is an HBO documentary "The Crash Reel" tells the story quite well it's not sufficient to allow him to snowboard competitively. "Right now, it's all about … Continue reading →