Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

University of California, Riverside researchers develop novel transparent skull implant that could provide new treatment options for disorders such as brain cancer and traumatic brain injury By Sean Nealon on September 3, 2013 Members of the research team, from left, Javier Garay, Yasuhiro Kodera, Carissa L. Reynolds, Yasaman Damestani, Guillermo Aguilar, Masaru P. Rao and B. Hyle Park. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) A team of University of California, Riverside researchers have developed a novel transparent skull implant that literally provides a window to the brain, which they hope will eventually open new treatment options for patients with life-threatening neurological disorders, such as brain cancer and traumatic brain injury. The teams implant is made of the same ceramic material currently used in hip implants and dental crowns, yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ). However, the key difference is that their material has been processed in a unique way to make it transparent. A version of the transparent skull implant developed by UC Riverside researchers. Since YSZ has already proven itself to be well-tolerated by the body in other applications, the teams advancement now allows use of YSZ as a permanent window through which doctors can aim laser-based treatments for the brain, importantly, without having to … Continue reading →

Cambridge News Follow us on Wednesday 4 Sep 2013 3:36 PM Written byLIZZY BUCHAN A brain injury survivor has said he is a different person after a rehabilitation centre saved him from depression. Tim Lodge, of Burwell, suffered a serious brain injury after falling off his bike in 2009 and the incident left his so low that he attempted suicide. In a new book called Life After Brain Injury: Survivors Stories, the 52-year-old credits the work of the Oliver Zangwill Centre (OZC), at the Princess of Wales Hospital, in Ely, for helping him to rebuild his life. He said: I was riding home one evening from my job as a design engineer at Marshalls, when I got knocked off my bike. I didnt think Id been knocked unconscious and I had no obvious serious injuries, so after I was checked over at the hospital I was sent home. I just thought I might need a few days off and then go back to work. Tim began to suffer from headaches and his head swelled up so he went to his doctor again. Tests then confirmed he had a serious brain injury. After recommendations that he attend the OZC, Tim admitted … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) September 04, 2013 In a study commissioned by the Veterans Administration, the Rand Corporation interviewed thousands of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and estimated 18% suffer from PTSD and 19% suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI). Yet according to the Defense and Brain Injury Center, 266,810 soldiers were diagnosed with PTSD from 2000 through 2012; yet only 54,000 were diagnosed with TBI during this period. "Soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with TBI are being under-diagnosed and often ineffectively treated. This under-diagnosis and ineffective treatment results in increased levels of chronic pain, substance abuse, depression and suicide among returning warriors," stated Rolando Hernandez M.D. neurosurgeon for Neurological Wellness Center. A study published in 2012 in the journal CNS Drugs** involving persons with TBI treated with perispinally administered etanercept (Enbrel) found that 75.0% reported a reduction in chronic pain, 87.5% exhibited a reduction of cognitive impairment, and 80.0 exhibited a reduction of psychological impairment. The authors note: Rapid improvement of mood, affect, and attitude was commonly observed. Patients and families commonly reported improvement of depression, anxiety, irritability, motivation, initiative, hopefulness and a return to pre-TBI personality (his personality is back) and a sense of humor. An examination of the Veterans … Continue reading →

BRAINTREE, Mass., Sept.4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --Snowboarding star and traumatic brain injury survivor Kevin Pearce will be the keynote speaker at Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital's 34th Annual Neurorehabilitation Conference, to be held October 26 and 27 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One of the longest running and most prestigious conferences of its kind, this event brings together thought leaders in traumatic brain injury, stroke and other neurologic disorders to present the most recent research and clinical findings and discuss their impact on patient treatment. Pearce, son of internationally renowned glass artist Simon Pearce, was considered a favorite to make the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2010 Vancouver Games when he sustained a traumatic brain injury during a halfpipe training run which ended his career. His remarkable story was chronicled in the documentary, "The Crash Reel." Today, as a sports commentator and an advocate for the prevention of traumatic brain injuries, he will speak about his life-altering experience and subsequent neurorehabilitation. "Kevin Pearce's experience will enlighten us in our understanding of brain injury, recovery and how it affects the lives of survivors and their families," said Dr. Douglas Katz, Medical Director of the nationally recognized Acquired Brain Injury Program at … Continue reading →

Put aside what you think you know about the sex hormone progesterone and consider this: It could be the foundation for a drug treatment for traumatic brain injury. BHR Pharma said Tuesday that its completed enrollment in a Phase III safety and efficacy study of its progesterone formulation, BHR-100, as a neuroprotective agent for people who experience moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Started back in June of 2010, the SyNAPSe trial has extended the experimental therapy to nearly 1,200 TBI patients at 150 participating sites in the U.S., Israel, Argentina and 18 other countries in Europe and Asia. Patients in the trial received a five-day continuous IV infusion of progesterone beginning within eight hours of injury, the company says. The primary goal is to see improved outcomes six months after injury using the Glasgow Outcome Scale. Results for the trial, which has been done in conjunction with the American Brain Injury Consortium and the European Brain Injury Consortium, are expected in May 2014. A company representative could not be reached for additional comments on Tuesday. Although its most commonly known for its role in regulating certain functions of ovulation and menstruation in women, progesterone therapy has also been found … Continue reading →

Louetta Hetrick learned that her daughter Naomi had been seriously injured in a car accident after images of the mangled car appeared on the local news. Naomi had been pulling out of the parking lot of Bluegrass Technical and Community College where she was studying to be a social worker when her car was broadsided. Louetta Hetrick, who was near their Richmond home, rushed to her daughter's side. She found Naomi in a coma. So she and her husband Mike waited and waited and waited for a sign that their daughter was still lingering inside a body frozen in trauma. A few days after the accident on Halloween 2012, as Naomi was in intensive care at University of Kentucky Medical Center, Louetta asked the doctor to perform a test to determine her daughter's brain function. She didn't want her baby suffering through any more operations if she was never coming back. "He refused the test," she said, "but he told me, 'She's still in there.'" "I told him, 'I am listening to you but I don't believe a word you are saying,'" she said. But slowly there were signs. Naomi would wiggle her foot. She would seem more aware. By … Continue reading →

RPG Research Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment using Role-playing Gaming Research studies on the educational and therapeutic aspects of participation in role-playing games. http://www.rpgresearch.com This video is a presentation o... By: rpgresearch … Continue reading →

Cannabis, which can activate the bodys cannabinoid receptors, is now being tested as treatment for healing brain function after traumatic injury. A study, which was conducted at the University of Madrid, suggested that activation of bodys cannabinoid receptors, such as consuming cannabis, was vital in awakening the neuroprotective effects of the drug. The findings also suggested the cannabis could enhance other beneficial effects of a number of prescription drugs. The discovery is an echo of a previous one published this year, where the exact conclusion was made. The author the study, Dr. Yosef Sarne of Tel Aviv Universitys Adelson Center for the Biology of Addictive Diseases, said ultra-low doses of tetrahydrocannabinol mightprecondition the brain to protect against damage like lack of oxygen, seizures or toxic drug exposure. Essentially, Sarne argued that low doses of THC could act as a kind of vaccine. Sarne also suggested that THC could act as a preventative measure against patients on cardiopulmonary heart-lung machines used in open heart surgery, when interrupting the blood supply to the brain can sometimes occur. In the study, which was published in Behavioral Brain Research and Experimental Brain Research, mice were injected with a single dose of THC around 1,000 … Continue reading →

by KING 5 HealthLink KING5.com Posted on August 30, 2013 at 6:16 PM Maps can lead us to some of our favorite destinations, but did you know they may also put us on the road to better health? Now, new research in brain mapping may help find treatments to some of the most common neurological and memory disorders. Dr. Mayank Mehta is studying the secrets of the human brain. "We hope this could help us understand what goes wrong in Alzheimer's disease," said Dr. Mayank Mehta, Professor of Neurology, Physics, and Astronomy. Mehta is mapping neuron patterns that form when rats do simple tasks. The goal is to learn more about how different sections of the brain communicate. "The brain has its own dynamics, its own laws of physics. If that goes wrong, clearly it will play a role in loss of memory, such as Alzheimer's or PTSD," Dr. Mehta explained. Diseases that Dr. Arthur Toga says may one day could be treated using brain mapping. "Our ability to look at a living brain of an individual that has a disease, or has had a traumatic brain injury, has allowed us to target exactly what has happened and suggest various … Continue reading →

By Scott Malone BOSTON (Reuters) - The National Football League has agreed to pay $765 million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of former players, many suffering from dementia and health problems, who accused the league of hiding the dangers of brain injury while profiting from the sport's violence. The deal announced on Thursday comes a week before the NFL begins a new season and could resolve a long-running concern for team owners, who faced the prospect of a possibly lengthy trial that could have delved deeply into how well the league understood the toll that football can take on its players. Sports business experts described the settlement, which will be paid out over decades, as a modest amount of money for the NFL, believed to generate total revenue of $9 billion or $10 billion a year. But they also said the more than 4,500 former players who brought their case in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania could have a struggled to prove each plaintiff's health problems was a direct result of years on the playing field. "It would certainly seem to be fair financial terms to the NFL as an enterprise, especially given how … Continue reading →