Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

McLEAN, Va. A distraught Marine who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and a colleague before killing himself at the Quantico Marine Corps base was suicidal, had signs of traumatic brain injury and should have received better psychological care, a military investigation found. Sgt. Eusebio Lopez was receiving treatment in North Carolina after his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Iraq, but his medical care stopped abruptly when he was transferred to Quantico in 2012, according to a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The reason appeared to be two-fold: His new doctors didn't know about his previous treatment and he didn't speak up. The report also found problems with the response to the shooting because unarmed Marines were deployed to secure the perimeter around the barracks. Two of the bodies were not found until nearly four hours after the shots were fired. Lopez shot Lance Cpl. Sara Castromata, 19, and Cpl. Jacob Wooley, 23, inside a barracks at the Officer Candidates School after a night of drinking. Lopez was upset Castromata had ended a relationship with him and had begun dating Wooley, according to the report obtained Thursday. The day of the shooting, Lopez sent numerous … Continue reading →

The family of former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, who shot and killed his girlfriend before taking his own life, had his body exhumed in hopes that having Belchers brain examined will reveal answers as to why the former University of Maine football star shot Kasandra Perkins nine times before turning the gun on himself. It is believed to be the first exhumation of a former NFL player. Belcher killed Perkins the morning of Dec. 1, 2012, then drove to the teams facility and killed himself. If his brain had been examined [when he died], wed have a better understanding of why he did what he did, said Dr. Bennet Omalu, who is credited with discovering the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. We would have a better understanding about concussions and playing football, and we would advance the understanding of the science of all of this. Last weekend, Belchers former college team drew almost 8,000 football fans to Alfond Stadium for UMaines first-ever NCAA home playoff game. Many passed under a mural depicting 20 of the programs greats who went to play in the NFL. Until last December, that mural had 21 names. Belchers name and photo … Continue reading →

MCLEAN A distraught Marine who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and a colleague before killing himself at the Quantico Marine Corps base was suicidal, had signs of traumatic brain injury and should have received better psychological care, a military investigation found. Sgt. Eusebio Lopez was receiving treatment in North Carolina after his vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device in Iraq, but his medical care stopped abruptly when he was transferred to Quantico in 2012, according to a report obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The reason appeared to be two-fold: His new doctors didnt know about his previous treatment and he didnt speak up. The report also found problems with the response to the shooting because unarmed Marines were deployed to secure the perimeter around the barracks. Two of the bodies were not found until nearly four hours after the shots were fired. Lopez shot Lance Cpl. Sara Castromata, 19, and Cpl. Jacob Wooley, 23, inside a barracks at the Officer Candidates School after a night of drinking. Lopez was upset Castromata had ended a relationship with him and had begun dating Wooley, according to the report obtained Thursday. The day of the shooting, Lopez sent numerous despondent … Continue reading →

Donate Here "From The Ashes" A Brain Injury Survivor's Guide Captin for Life, autobiography, oF Harry Carson, Legendary Football Hall of Fame linebacker offers high praise for From The Ashes: the original BRAIN injury survivor's guide.Harry WROTE "this book became my Bible. Before I read it I thought I had loss my mind. " Featured on the Super Bowl XXXIV, pre-game show!!! 01/30/00. From The Ashes on sale on Amazon. Used copies priced from $80 to $1,500. OR buy it new here, read it and then sell it on Amazon for a profit. SPECIAL PACKAGE: orders placed on this site receive a free consultation with lead author Constance Miller, as well as an autographed copy of From The Ashes and an educational copy of the 5.5 minute Super Bowl DVD that featured From The Ashes as well as a complimentary caregiver's guide. ONLY $60 U.S. plus postage and handling. We honor Visa , MC, AmEX and PayPal. Call: 206-621-8558 Conferences & Events Brain and Spinal Injury Lawyers UK Head Injury Negligence Lawyers UK In the spirit of "Ideas Worth Spreading" Watch Dr. Jim Olson's TEDx talk on Project Violet at http://www.projectviolet.org, and share it with your friends. The Washington Research … Continue reading →

Dec. 9, 2013 Scientists from Case Western Reserve University and University of Kansas Medical Center have restored behavior -- in this case, the ability to reach through a narrow opening and grasp food -- using a neural prosthesis in a rat model of brain injury. Ultimately, the team hopes to develop a device that rapidly and substantially improves function after brain injury in humans. There is no such commercial treatment for the 1.5 million Americans, including soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, who suffer traumatic brain injuries (TBI), or the nearly 800,000 stroke victims who suffer weakness or paralysis in the United States, annually. The prosthesis, called a brain-machine-brain interface, is a closed-loop microelectronic system. It records signals from one part of the brain, processes them in real time, and then bridges the injury by stimulating a second part of the brain that had lost connectivity. Their work is published online this week in the science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "If you use the device to couple activity from one part of the brain to another, is it possible to induce recovery from TBI? That's the core of this investigation," said Pedram Mohseni, professor of electrical engineering … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE Until Wed., Dec. 11, 2013, 2 p.m. ET Newswise Philadelphia, Dec. 11, 2013 Scientists who fed a cocktail of key amino acids to mice improved sleep disturbances caused by brain injuries in the animals. These new findings suggest a potential dietary treatment for millions of people affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI)a condition that is currently untreatable. If this type of dietary treatment is proved to help patients recover function after traumatic brain injury, it could become an important public health benefit, said study co-leader Akiva S. Cohen, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Cohen is the co-senior author of the animal TBI study appearing today in Science Translational Medicine. He collaborated with two experts in sleep medicine: co-senior author Allan I. Pack, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; and first author Miranda M. Lim, M.D., Ph.D., formerly at the Penn Sleep Center, and now on faculty at the Portland VA Medical Center and Oregon Health and Science University. Every year in the U.S., an estimated 2 million people suffer … Continue reading →

December 12, 2013 redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports Your Universe Online New research appearing in the journal Science Translational Medicine has found that amino acids can help correct sleep disturbances in mice suffering from traumatic brain injuries. In the study, experts from the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvanias Perelman School of Medicine and the Oregon Health and Science University report that these organic compounds could potentially be used as a dietary treatment for the millions of people affected by traumatic brain injuries or concussions. The study authors investigated the use of something known as selected branched chain amino acids (BCAA). These amino acids are predecessors of the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, which help neurons communicate with each other while also helping to maintain the normal balance of brain activity. If this type of dietary treatment is proved to help patients recover function after traumatic brain injury, it could become an important public health benefit, explained study co-leader Dr. Akiva S. Cohen, who was previously a member of a research team that demonstrated that a BCAA-rich diet helped restore cognitive function in rodents with brain injuries. When they compared healthy mice with those with experimentally induced traumatic brain … Continue reading →

Appeal for witnesses from Yeovil brain injury victim 1:00pm Tuesday 10th December 2013 in News A YEOVIL cyclist who suffered a serious brain injury when he was involved in a head-on collision has appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward. Antony Richardson spent several weeks in a medically-induced coma following the crash, which happened on August 1 last year on Lyde Road. Although he eventually regained consciousness and subsequently returned home, Mr Richardson, 39, suffered a catalogue of injuries including a serious brain injury. He has no recollection of the incident itself, and he is now appealing through his lawyer for any witnesses to help piece together exactly what happened, to help him secure the long-term care and treatment he will need. Vijay Mehan, a specialist serious injury lawyer with Slater & Gordon, said that Mr Richardson was lucky to be alive. This was a horrific incident, one which has had a catastrophic impact on Antony and his family, said Mr Mehan. Antony was riding his bike along Lyde Road, near to the junction which forms the entrance to the Lidl supermarket, when he collided head-on with a vehicle coming in the other direction. Mr Richardson, of … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Dec-2013 Contact: Todd Murphy murphyt@ohsu.edu 503-494-8231 Oregon Health & Science University PORTLAND, Ore. Scientists have discovered how to fix sleep disturbances in mice with traumatic brain injuries a discovery that could lead to help for hundreds of thousands of people who have long-term and debilitating sleep and wakefulness issues after they suffer concussions. What scientists found helpful was giving the mice something all humans produce from foods in their normal diets something called branched chain amino acids. "If further research confirms what this study suggests, we could develop a dietary supplement of these amino acids that could be a viable therapy to help people after a concussion," said Miranda Lim, M.D., Ph.D., a neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at the Portland VA Medical Center and an assistant professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine, neurology and behavioral neuroscience at Oregon Health & Science University. Lim is the first author of the study, published online today in Science Translational Medicine. Lim performed this research during her sleep medicine fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. Senior authors on the study are Akiva S. Cohen, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Allan I. Pack, M.D., Ph.D., … Continue reading →

Published:Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Updated:Wednesday, December 11, 2013 00:12 Research professor Mayland Chang is taking to heart the maxim a mind is a terrible thing to waste in two ways, as she uses her mind to the fullest by working to develop a treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Chang, director of the Chemistry-Biochemistry-Biology Interface (CBBI) Program, said she and other researchers have been studying a group of 27 enzymes called Matrix metalloproteinases (MPPs) for more than a decade. She said the team has found a promising use for one of these enzymes, Matrix metallopeptidase nine (MPP-9), in treating TBI. We thought that this group of enzymes would be important for many diseases. Not much was known, so we started making inhibitors, Chang said. It turns out MPP-9 plays a critical role in the pathology of TBI. Chang said every case of TBI essentially can be divided into two injuries, each with different effects. You have the primary injury, the blow to the head, Chang said. There is absolutely nothing you can do for the brain cells that die in the primary injury. This is followed by a cascade of events, starting with damage to the blood-brain barrier, that result … Continue reading →