By Jenna Gallegos By Jenna Gallegos July 10 at 3:00 PM For the first time, scientists have reversed memory and learning deficits in mice following traumatic brain injuries. Thisnew research could someday leadto treatments for head traumaand debilitating cognitive diseases. More than 2 million Americans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are seen in hospital emergency rooms every year. Millions more skip a hospital visit despite suffering a head injury that could cause lasting damage, according to researchers. In a study published Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at the University of California in San Francisco found that a new experimental drug can restore normal function in mice following two types of TBIs. Geoffrey Manley, the chief of neurosurgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, sometimes sees dozens of TBI cases a week. He was not involved in the study but called the results very exciting from a clinical perspective. In previous trials where drugs proved effective in mice, treatments were administered right after the injury, according to Manley.But diagnosis and treatment within a few hours does not always occur with humans, he explained. The new successful treatment, which was administered to the mice two to … Continue reading →

Charlie Gard has a rare mitochondrial disease caused by a genetic defect. Photograph: Family handout/PA Charlie has a very rare mitochondrial disease caused by a genetic defect inherited from his parents. The official diagnosis is infantile onset encephalomyopathic mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome, referred to generally as MDDS. Mitochondria supply energy to the cells in the human body. Mitochondrial failure leads to cellular injury and cell death. When multiple cells fail, the bodys organs are damaged and shut down. These diseases are usually fatal and kill children, although sometimes they dont show up until adulthood. Where they dont kill, they cause serious permanent brain damage. Charlie is in intensive care at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, the leading childrens hospital in the UK. Life support machines are keeping him alive. The hospital says that he has severe brain damage, cannot move or breathe by himself, is deaf and has epilepsy. It says his heart, liver and kidneys are also affected. His eyelids cannot stay open and because of the weakness of the muscles, his eyes point in different directions and the damage to the brain will not allow his sight to develop. However, Charlies mother, Connie Yates, said on BBC … Continue reading →

July 11, 2017 Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a serious public health threat contributing to mortality and morbidity around the world, according to two studies published in PLOS Medicine that quantify the burden of TBI on the populations of Europe and China, respectively. In the first study, Marek Majdan of Trnava University, Slovakia, and colleagues calculated the Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to TBI for 16 European countries. Using data acquired from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, the researchers found that a total of 17,049 TBI deaths occurred in the countries in 2013, translating into 374,636 YLL. Each TBI death was, on average, associated with 24.3 YLL and the summary rate was 259.1 TBI YLL per 100,000 people (95% CI: 205.8 to 312.3). Males accounted for significantly more TBI YLL than females (82% of all TBI YLL, a rate ratio 3.24, 95% CI: 3.24 to 3.27). Falls and traffic accidents were the most common external cause of TBI YLL. Extrapolating the numbers to the entire EU, about 1.3 million YLL were attributable to TBI in 2013. "We believe this information could facilitate policy makers in tailoring preventive action so that the respective measures are targeted to … Continue reading →