Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) IMAGE:Dr. Dennis Kim, an LA BioMed lead researcher, is the author of a study that found a common treatment for traumatic brain injuries, platelet transfusions and DDAVP, were ineffective in... view more Credit: LA BioMed LOS ANGELES - (Jan. 27, 2015) - More than 1.7 million people in the U.S. alone suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) every year, often resulting in permanent disabilities or death. Up to half of these patients will experience progression of bleeding inside or around the brain, the occurrence of which is associated with an increased risk of death. A common treatment to prevent progression of "traumatic intracranial hemorrhage" is the transfusion of platelets, which are irregular shaped cells that cause blood to clot, and the administration of desmopressin (DDAVP), a naturally occurring hormone used to treat bleeding and a number of other medical conditions. A new study from Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) researchers, published online ahead of print in the Journal of Neurotrauma, finds this treatment is not effective in preventing further bleeding in the brain or in reducing the risk of death for patients with TBI. "Previous studies of … Continue reading →

20 hours ago by Bob Yirka A healed depressed fracture on a skull from the early modern Sortebrdre cemetery in Odense, Denmark. Credit: George R. Milner; collection, ADBOU University of Southern Denmark (Phys.org)A trio of researchers with members from Denmark, the U.S. and Germany has found that a group of men living in medieval Denmark who had healed head traumas had a 6.2 percent higher chance of dying at any given time than did other men in the general populace. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jesper Boldsen, George Milner and Svenja Weise describe their study of skulls found in medieval cemeteries and how it relates to the modern study of traumatic head injuries. Traumatic head injuries have been in the news a lot of late, primarily because of later life lingering impacts being reported by athletesbut it is also common with soldiers and victims of car accidents. Scientists would like to better understand what happens to people who survive such events later on in life because it might lead to more effective treatments early on. To learn more, the research trio examined the skulls of men whose remains had been dug out of … Continue reading →