PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 15-Jul-2014 Contact: Natasha De Veauuse Brown ndeveauusebrown@gsu.edu 404-413-3602 Georgia State University A team of researchers at the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University has discovered that hidden differences in the properties of neural circuits can account for whether animals are behaviorally susceptible to brain injury. These results could have implications for the treatment of brain trauma. People vary in their responses to stroke and trauma, which impedes the ability of physicians to predict patient outcomes. Damage to the brain and nervous system can lead to severe disabilities, including epilepsy and cognitive impairment. If doctors could predict outcomes with greater accuracy, patients might benefit from more tailored treatments. Unfortunately, the complexity of the human brain hinders efforts to explain why similar brain damage can affect each person differently. The researchers used a unique research animal, a sea slug called Tritonia diomedea, to study this question. This animal was used because unlike humans, it has a small number of neurons and its behavior is simple. Despite this simplicity, the animals varied in how neurons were connected. Under normal conditions, this variability did not matter to the animals' behavior, but when a major pathway in the brain was severed, some … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 15-Jul-2014 Contact: LaTina Emerson lemerson1@gsu.edu 404-413-1353 Georgia State University ATLANTAA team of researchers at the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University has discovered that hidden differences in the properties of neural circuits can account for whether animals are behaviorally susceptible to brain injury. These results could have implications for the treatment of brain trauma. People vary in their responses to stroke and trauma, which impedes the ability of physicians to predict patient outcomes. Damage to the brain and nervous system can lead to severe disabilities, including epilepsy and cognitive impairment. If doctors could predict outcomes with greater accuracy, patients might benefit from more tailored treatments. Unfortunately, the complexity of the human brain hinders efforts to explain why similar brain damage can affect each person differently. The researchers used a unique research animal, a sea slug called Tritonia diomedea, to study this question. This animal was used because unlike humans, it has a small number of neurons and its behavior is simple. Despite this simplicity, the animals varied in how neurons were connected. Under normal conditions, this variability did not matter to the animals' behavior, but when a major pathway in the brain was severed, some of the … Continue reading →

(PRWEB) July 15, 2014 A team of researchers at the Neuroscience Institute at Georgia State University has discovered that hidden differences in the properties of neural circuits can account for whether animals are behaviorally susceptible to brain injury. These results could have implications for the treatment of brain trauma. People vary in their responses to stroke and trauma, which impedes the ability of physicians to predict patient outcomes. Damage to the brain and nervous system can lead to severe disabilities, including epilepsy and cognitive impairment. If doctors could predict outcomes with greater accuracy, patients might benefit from more tailored treatments. Unfortunately, the complexity of the human brain hinders efforts to explain why similar brain damage can affect each person differently. The researchers used a unique research animal, a sea slug called Tritonia diomedea, to study this question. This animal was used because unlike humans, it has a small number of neurons and its behavior is simple. Despite this simplicity, the animals varied in how neurons were connected. Under normal conditions, this variability did not matter to the animals behavior, but when a major pathway in the brain was severed, some of the animals showed little behavioral deficit, while others could … Continue reading →

A TOOWOOMBA family will soon know if a revolutionary treatment is going to lift the fog shrouding 26-year-old Joel Shepherd's mind. His sister Susan Graham-Ryan will fly with Mr Shepherd, their mum Coralie Graham, brother Kris and one of Mr Shepherd's carers to Los Angeles on Sunday. On Monday, Mr Shepherd is due to undergo reverse stroke treatment, which will hopefully reduce inflammation caused by a brain injury he acquired when he was three-and-a-half years old. Funding the perispinal etanercept treatment has been a huge undertaking. WHAT'S HOT ONLINE "Mum had to get a big remortgage of the house to cover the cost of it," Mrs Graham-Ryan said. But the burden has been eased by community members, some complete strangers, who have generously donated money to help fund the treatment. "It has just been amazing and overwhelming at the same time," Mrs Graham-Ryan said. A drug used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis will be injected into a large blood vessel at the base of Mr Shepherd's neck. He will then be suspended upside down to ensure the drug stays in the area it is intended to repair. See the article here: Hopes radical treatment will heal brain damage … Continue reading →

More than a week after North Carolina man Brandon Yam was struck in the head by a stray bullet, causing traumatic brain injury, he is being transferred Wednesday to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta for treatment. Yam, who is recovering slowly, is looking forward to returning to Atlanta where he lived until his marriage, not only to the specialized treatment he will receive at the Center, but also to being closer to his Atlanta-based family. He is kind of depressed because of the whole thing, the whole situation. He is looking forward to going to Atlanta, said sister Chenda Yam Wilson. He said Chenda, when are we going? And he keeps asking what time. Wilson said she thinks the Shepherd Center will be the best place for her brother and, for now, his wife and children have relocated to Atlanta to be there for him. There is no doubt about it and he is very determined to work as hard as he can, she said. Yam was shot the night of the 4th of July at the Cambodian Buddhist Temple in Charlotte. Yams family, originally from Cambodia, is still almost entirely based in Atlanta, and asked to get him transferred … Continue reading →