Candace Gantt bends over her Trek handlebars, her back racer-flat. She's concentrating on the stretch of pavement ahead as she negotiates the gentle hills and valleys of the narrow, two-lane road in Willistown Township. Biking is one of her fondest joys. Two weeks earlier, this tall and tanned 48-year-old, with a resting heart rate of 48, had completed her first Half Ironman at Lake Placid, N.Y. On this clear day, July 21, 2005, while daughters Carter, 11, and Morgan, 4, are at camp, Gantt and her training buddy Mary Wood are four miles into a new 15-mile route. Biking 100 yards behind, Wood loses sight as Gantt crests the brow of a hill on Goshen Road. Catching up a few seconds later, she is stunned. Her friend is splayed on the pavement. Hit by a truck and thrown from her bike, Gantt banged into a telephone pole and ricocheted into a split-rail fence. She suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, known as TBI - not unlike what happened to former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, who was shot in the head. Each year, 1.7 million people go to the ER for a TBI, according to the Brain Injury Association … Continue reading →

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) A teenage Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has responded well to treatment and impressed doctors with her strength, the British hospital where she was being treated said Tuesday. Experts are optimistic that 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was airlifted Monday to Britain to receive specialized medical care, has a good chance of recovery because unlike adults, the brains of teenagers are still growing and can adapt to trauma better. "Her response to treatment so far indicated that she could make a good recovery from her injuries," the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in central England's Birmingham said in a statement. Despite the early optimism, the full extent of Malala's brain injuries has not been made public and outside experts cautioned it is extremely unlikely that a full recovery of all her brain's functions can be made. Instead, they could only hope that the bullet took a "lucky path" going through a more "silent," or less active part of the brain. "You don't have a bullet go through your brain and have a full recovery," said Dr. Jonathan Fellus, chief scientific officer at the New Jersey-based International Brain Research Foundation. Malala was returning … Continue reading →

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Courtney Karayannis courtney.karayannis@monash.edu 61-408-508-454 Monash University Improving treatment and outcomes for people with life-threatening head and neck injuries is the aim of a comprehensive new book by one of Australia's eminent neurosurgeons. Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld AM has drawn on forty years of experience, his own research and the latest evidence based treatment from recognised world experts, in his new book Practical Management of Head and Neck Injury. In his text, Professor Rosenfeld provides a comprehensive account of the diagnosis and management of head and neck injury. Unique to any other text available, it details the entire patient journey from immediate emergency care and specialist treatment through to rehabilitation, in an accessible and engaging format. Head of Monash University's Department of Surgery and Director of the Department of Neurosurgery at The Alfred hospital, Professor Rosenfeld said he hoped for improvements in care of traumatic brain injuries, which affect more than 10 million people a year. "Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major global health problem, and sadly more than half of all severe TBI cases either die or suffer lifelong disability," Professor Rosenfeld said. "A patient doesn't usually come into … Continue reading →