Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Results from UCSF Study Are Critical Step in Developing Treatments for Newborns Who Suffer Strokes Newswise The ability for substances to pass through the blood-brain barrier is increased after adult stroke, but not after neonatal stroke, according to a new study the UCSF that will be published July 11 in the Journal of Neuroscience. The novel findings may have major implications for drug development and the treatment of neonatal stroke, the researchers said. The blood-brain barrier is selectively permeable and blocks unwanted molecules from entering into the brain. The selectivity is achieved through fine coordination in function of many transporting systems in endothelial cells, which line the interior of blood vessels, and communication between endothelial cells and several types of cells in the brain. When blood flow in an artery to the brain is blocked by a blood clot, as occurs in arterial stroke, brain energy metabolism is compromised, and ion and other transporting systems malfunction, leading to blood-brain disruption. The new finding suggests, the researchers said, that drugs used to treat stroke need to be tailored to the specific makeup of the neonate blood-brain barrier. How the blood-brain barrier responds to stroke in adults and neonates currently is poorly … Continue reading →

Raleigh, N.C. A Smithfield father fighting a Raleigh hospital to keep legal guardianship of his son has been able to secure Medicaid benefits to cover the teen's treatment for a traumatic brain injury. Freddie Lempe, 18, has been in a coma at WakeMed since a car wreck in March 2011. His father, Fred Lempe, says Medicaid coverage for his son was dropped in December when he turned 18. The hospital has said that the teen was denied coverage because his father failed to file the paperwork. It wants the court to appoint a guardian for Freddie who would be legally authorized to make all medical decisions. Fred Lempe has said he's gotten conflicting information from the Johnston County Department of Social Services about what was required. Calls and emails to WakeMed were not immediately returned Friday afternoon, and it's unclear whether the hospital will pursue its request in the court system. A hearing is scheduled for July 25. Copyright 2012 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. More: Medicaid approved for Smithfield teen in a coma … Continue reading →

SACRAMENTO, CA. - A drug used to treat diabetes encourages the brain to grow and repair itself, afinding with far-reaching implications for the treatment of Alzheimers and brain injury, a new study published in Cell: Stem Cell reports. The widely used diabetes drug metformin comes with the unexpected side effect of causing the growth of new neurons in the brain and makes mice smarter, the July 6th issue of Cell Stem Cell, a Cell Press publication, said. The study has potentially wide-reaching implications for the treatment of Alzheimers in humans and brain related injury. The discovery has important implications for brain repair because it works not by introducing new stem cells but rather by spurring those that are already present into action, said the study's lead author Freda Miller of the University of Toronto-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children. And since the drug is already so widely used and so safe it means doctors could quickly begin using the drug for brain therapy treatment. Earlier work by Miller's team highlighted a pathway known as aPKC-CBP for its essential role in telling neural stem cells where and when to differentiate into mature neurons, the report said. Other researchers had found before them … Continue reading →

Chronic pain, which affects millions of Americans, may be linked with emotional brain patterns as well as physical injury, researchers say. A study conducted by experts at Northwestern University showed that the level of interaction between two areas of the brain, which govern emotional and motivational behavior , determines whether pain from an injury will become chronic. The two areas are the frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens. For the first time we can explain why people who may have the exact same initial pain either go on to recover or develop chronic pain, A. Vania Apakarian, senior author of the paper and professor of physiology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement. The injury by itself is not enough to explain the ongoing pain. It has to do with the injury combined with the state of the brain.It may be that these sections of the brain are more excited to begin with in certain individuals, or there may be genetic and environmental influences that predispose these brain regions to interact at an excitable level. The study examined subjects with no history of back pain who suffered an initial episode of that condition. It predicted with … Continue reading →

Researchers at the University of Missouri have shown that a new compound could be effective in protecting the brain from damage in the crucial hours after a stroke. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., with more than 800,000 cases each year. The most common form is the ischemic stroke, when a blood clot blocks flow to the brain. Not only does brain tissue start to die from the lack of oxygen and nutrients, so do blood vessels behind the clot. Only one treatment is available to limit the brain damage from stroke a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, which must be given within the first three hours of a stroke's onset. While this drug can restore blood flow to the brain, it also carries a significant risk of causing the weakened blood vessels to break apart, sending blood into nearby brain tissue and causing deadly swelling. By mimicking a stroke in mice, MU researchers have helped discover that targeting an enzyme which plays a role in the breakdown of blood vessels can prevent bleeding in the brain. The findings were published recently in the journal Molecular Neurodegeneraton. "While we are still in … Continue reading →

03-07-2012 07:39 Pt 9 of Inspirational speakers Shawn and Kate Rickel speaking at the Brain Injury Association in Kansas City in April 2011. See exactly how the present their amazing story of surviving traumatic brain injury and the miraculous recovery back to a normal life. For information about how you can have Shawn and Kate Rickel speak at your organization, please contact: Shawn or Kate Rickel - - 303.278.3351 See the article here: Pt 9 Shawn … Continue reading →

03-07-2012 06:57 Inspirational speakers Shawn and Kate Rickel spoke at the Brain Injury Association in Kansas City in April 2011. Here are reactions people had to hearing their remarkable story of surviving traumatic brain injury and the miraculous recovery back to a normal life. For information about how you can have Shawn and Kate Rickel speak at your organization, please contact: Shawn or Kate Rickel - - 303.278.3351 Read this article: After Shawn … Continue reading →

03-07-2012 07:11 Pt 1 of Inspirational speakers Shawn and Kate Rickel speaking at the Brain Injury Association in Kansas City in April 2011. See exactly how the present their amazing story of surviving traumatic brain injury and the miraculous recovery back to a normal life. For information about how you can have Shawn and Kate Rickel speak at your organization, please contact: Shawn or Kate Rickel - - 303.278.3351 Read the original: Pt 1 Shawn … Continue reading →

03-07-2012 07:14 Pt 2 of Inspirational speakers Shawn and Kate Rickel speaking at the Brain Injury Association in Kansas City in April 2011. See exactly how the present their amazing story of surviving traumatic brain injury and the miraculous recovery back to a normal life. For information about how you can have Shawn and Kate Rickel speak at your organization, please contact: Shawn or Kate Rickel - - 303.278.3351 The rest is here: Pt 2 Shawn … Continue reading →

03-07-2012 07:17 Pt 3 of Inspirational speakers Shawn and Kate Rickel speaking at the Brain Injury Association in Kansas City in April 2011. See exactly how the present their amazing story of surviving traumatic brain injury and the miraculous recovery back to a normal life. For information about how you can have Shawn and Kate Rickel speak at your organization, please contact: Shawn or Kate Rickel - - 303.278.3351 Read the original post: Pt 3 Shawn … Continue reading →