A simple blood test could one day help doctors determine whether someone suffered a traumatic brain injury and what type of treatment is needed, according to University of Pittsburgh researchers who on Tuesday joined a large-scale partnership focused on the life-threatening injuries. The public-private partnership will use $17 million from the Department of Defense but could benefit more than soldiers injured on the battlefield, brain injury experts said. Athletes and young children are among the more than 2.5 million people who suffer traumatic brain injuries every year in the United States. What we are looking to evaluate are biological measures to assess whether someone has a traumatic brain injury. Is there something in the blood that we can measure? Is there something that we can look at in a picture of the brain that can tell us if a person has or doesn't have a traumatic brain injury? said Stephen Wisniewski, senior investigator of the TBI Endpoints Development Award and co-director of the Epidemiology Data Center at Pitt's Graduate School of Public Health. An estimated 2 percent of the population lives with disabilities caused by traumatic brain injuries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Brain injury experts … Continue reading →

VIENNA, VA (PRWEB) September 30, 2014 The Brain Injury Association of America (BIAA) filed a second motion today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The organization is asking the court to grant the organization amicus curiae (friend of the court) status on the proposed settlement between the National Football League (NFL) and former players (case 2:12-md-02323-AB). In addition to the motion, BIAA filed an affidavit outlining the organizations serious concerns about the flaws and limitations of the settlement as it is currently written. Brent Masel, M.D., National Medical Director of BIAA, and Greg OShanick, National Medical Director Emeritus, drafted the affidavit in support of giving BIAA amicus status. Following are some of the areas of concern noted in the affidavit. "The outcome of this settlement will have a significant impact on all future brain injury prevention, research, treatment, and education, said Susan Connors, president and CEO of BIAA. In addition to the players, the decisions made in this case will affect the 2.5 million children and adults whose brains are injured in the U.S. each year. It is on their behalf that we have renewed our motion for amicus status." To download copies of … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 30-Sep-2014 Contact: Jeffrey Norris jeffrey.norris@ucsf.edu 415-502-6397 University of California - San Francisco @ucsf An unprecedented, public-private partnership funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) is being launched to drive the development of better-run clinical trials and may lead to the first successful treatments for traumatic brain injury, a condition affecting not only athletes and soldiers, but also millions among the general public, ranging from youngsters to elders. Under the partnership, officially launched October 1, 2014 with a $17 million, five-year award from the DoD, the research team, representing many universities, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), companies and philanthropies, will examine data from thousands of patients in order to identify effective measures of brain injury and recovery, using biomarkers from blood, new imaging equipment and software, and other tools. Each year more than 2.5 million people in the U.S. seek medical care for traumatic brain injuries that arise when blows to the body or nearby explosions cause the brain to collide with the inside of the skull. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an estimated 2 percent of the U.S. population now lives with TBI-caused disabilities, at an annual cost of about $77 … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise An unprecedented, public-private partnership funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) is being launched to drive the development of better-run clinical trials and may lead to the first successful treatments for traumatic brain injury, a condition affecting not only athletes and soldiers, but also millions among the general public, ranging from youngsters to elders. Under the partnership, officially launched October 1, 2014 with a $17 million, five-year award from the DoD, the research team, representing many universities, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), companies and philanthropies, will examine data from thousands of patients in order to identify effective measures of brain injury and recovery, using biomarkers from blood, new imaging equipment and software, and other tools. Each year more than 2.5 million people in the U.S. seek medical care for traumatic brain injuries that arise when blows to the body or nearby explosions cause the brain to collide with the inside of the skull. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention an estimated 2 percent of the U.S. population now lives with TBI-caused disabilities, at an annual cost of about $77 billion. No treatment for acute TBI and concussion … Continue reading →

Turku, Finland (PRWEB) October 01, 2014 Medicortex Finland Oy is a start-up pharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of neurodegenerative conditions. The company is developing a pharmaceutical therapy, which will limit the long-term effects of brain injuries, including the types of severe brain trauma that veterans may have received in combat. The companys other mission is to identify a biomarker and a diagnostic test to reliably establish the severity and extent of a brain injury. The company has recently launched a crowdfunding campaign accessible at http://privatequity.biz/stock/medicortex-finland-oy/. In addition to soldiers in combat, athletes and sports professionals are amongst the population most likely to suffer a traumatic brain injury. Football players aren't the only brain-injured sports figures in the news today. The sports world surely remembers Michael Schumacher, the German race car driver and Formula One winner, who suffered a near-fatal ski accident and fought a serious brain injury. He was brought out of coma that he was in for several weeks due to TBI he suffered by his injuries. No matter how much attention these stories receive, the real story of sports-related TBI lies in the sheer magnitude of the problem. Numerous studies have found evidence that even one minor … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise MORGANTOWN, W.Va. In its first wave of funding awards, a new presidential project aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain has pledged its support to a group of researchers led by West Virginia University faculty working to change the future of brain imaging. The White House announced that WVU has been awarded more than $1.5 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative, established by President Barack Obama to accelerate the development and application of innovative imaging technologies. The WVU team is developing a wearable, mobile molecular positron emission tomography (PET) imaging device capable of providing unprecedented insight into the metabolism and cellular processes of the brain, all while performing everyday activities, such as walking, playing a piano, or socializing. While traditional imaging techniques require a person being scanned to remain as still as possible, the helmet-like tool is wearable while in motion. The PET helmet, conceived at WVU and supported in its early stages by the Department of Radiology and the WVU Center for Neuroscience, can open new vistas into neural activity across the brain by permitting brain scans … Continue reading →

Teenagers who have experienced a traumatic brain injury are much more likely to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors, Canadian researchers report. Both boys and girls were more likely to smoke, use drugs, drink alcohol and get poor grades after they endured a blow to the head that knocked them out for longer than five minutes or landed them in the hospital for a day or more, the study found. "This is a wake-up call. Concussions are brain injuries, and we need parents and physicians to become more vigilant," said lead author Gabriela Ilie, a postdoctoral fellow at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. "Our brains define who we are, and a lot of our behaviors and thoughts and emotions depend on our brain circuitry operating properly." Play Video Basketball may not seem like a dangerous sport, but there's been a 70% increase in head injuries in recent years. The men's basketball team at th... However, the study only showed an association between traumatic brain injury and risky behaviors, not a cause-and-effect relationship, noted Dr. Anthony Alessi, a neurologist and concussion expert in Norwich, Conn. Alessi said he is concerned that studies like these provide an easy excuse for … Continue reading →