Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

Severe loss of everyday memory associated with brain injury and neurodegenerative diseases substantially impacts quality of life and is a major health issue in New Zealand. The incidence of aging-related memory loss is a particular concern because the current 12 percent of people over 65 will burgeon to 25 percent within 30 years. A University of Canterbury (UC) psychology researcher Dr Bruce Harland is seeking to identify whether these losses can be minimised or reversed. This is an important goal in neuroscience today. We want to sustain good health and wellbeing in our older population. Previous research in our laboratory was the first to demonstrate recovery of impaired memory in an animal model of injury to one part of the brains circuitry that enables the acquisition of everyday memory. This recovery was achieved using a non-pharmacological treatment, in which brain-injured rats exposed to a safe, but stimulating and varied "enriched environment" showed substantial improvement in memory. Brain-injured rats, living in standard conditions, showed only persisting impairments. My research, supervised by Professor John Dalrymple-Alford and Dr David Collings, was part of collaboration between two New Zealand, one United Kingdom, one US and three French research centres and was supported by the … Continue reading →

Top Health Grants Awarded to Help Kiwis Recover from Brain Injuries Research into New Zealands worrying brain injury epidemic has been given a boost with three scientists awarded grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) to help improve the prognosis of Kiwis with brain injuries. Dr Paula Kersten from AUT University has been awarded a Feasibility Study Grant worth $146,608 to examine ways to improve the long-term well-being of some 30,000 New Zealanders who have a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year. Findings published in The Lancet Neurology journal in December 2012 showed that New Zealands TBI burden is actually six times greater than even the World Health Organization estimated, and far higher than that reported in Europe and North America. Dr Kersten and her team will train people in the community who have had a TBI in the past to act as mentors for people with a recent moderate to severe TBI. A clinical trial will determine if this novel peer mentoring approach improves TBI patients participation in the community. Participation is considered a fundamental outcome of rehabilitation for people with TBI, says Dr Kersten. Inpatient rehabilitation can only partly focus on participation after hospital discharge … Continue reading →

The eyes may be the window to the soul, but researchers are finding they also provide a view into the brain that could help detect neurological damage from bomb blasts, sports concussions and a wide range of diseases, including Alzheimers and multiple sclerosis. If initial results are borne out, it might eventually be possible to use simple eye tests to evaluate soldiers, athletes or accident victims and to monitor the effectiveness of drugs and other treatments, several scientists said Sunday in Seattle at a meeting of the worlds largest vision-research organization. More than 12,000 researchers and clinicians are in town for the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, which runs through Thursday. Sundays session brought together some of the nations top researchers on brain injuries in veterans and athletes, including psychiatrist Elaine Peskind, of the University of Washington and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System. Nearly 2.4 million U.S. troops have served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. About 20 percent of them were exposed to blasts from roadside bombs and other explosives, Peskind said. The veterans she studied experienced an average of 14 blasts, though some were exposed to 100 or more. … Continue reading →

Public release date: 6-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Daphne Watrin d.watrin@iospress.com 31-206-883-355 IOS Press Amsterdam, NL, May 6, 2013 Each year more than 1.7 million people in the United States sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). The incidence of TBI in older adults poses special diagnostic, management and treatment challenges, say experts in a special collection of papers on TBI in the elderly in NeuroRehabilitation: An Interdisciplinary Journal. "As our understanding of TBI increases, it is becoming clear that its impact is not uniform across the lifespan and that the response of a young brain to a TBI is different from that of an old brain," writes Guest Editor Wayne A. Gordon, PhD, ABPP, Vice Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY. "Indeed, the literature is beginning to suggest that TBI in the elderly brings to light a complex set of challenges, some of which are highlighted in this issue." Although evidence is mixed, several previous studies have found an association between lifetime TBI and dementia risk in later life. Kristen Dams-O'Connor, PhD, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and colleagues compare the medical history and cognitive function of … Continue reading →

May 3, 2013 A key type of human brain cell developed in the laboratory grows seamlessly when transplanted into the brains of mice, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered, raising hope that these cells might one day be used to treat people with Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and possibly even Alzheimer's disease, as well as and complications of spinal cord injury such as chronic pain and spasticity. "We think this one type of cell may be useful in treating several types of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders in a targeted way," said Arnold Kriegstein, MD, PhD, director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCSF and co-lead author on the paper. The researchers generated and transplanted a type of human nerve-cell progenitor called the medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) cell, in experiments described in the May 2 edition of Cell Stem Cell. Development of these human MGE cells within the mouse brain mimics what occurs in human development, they said. Kriegstein sees MGE cells as a potential treatment to better control nerve circuits that become overactive in certain neurological disorders. Unlike other neural stem cells that can form many cell types -- and that may … Continue reading →

She was just a 12-year-old athlete when it happened: A blow to the head from a lacrosse ball left Marianna Consiglio with a severe concussion. Recovering from the brain injury took more than a year and a half, but it turned out that was the easier part. Marianna and her family hadn't figured on debilitating headaches that often left her unable to function. The headaches lasted four years through every imaginable medical treatment. Nothing worked. Then Marianna's mother, desperate for an answer, ended up on the Internet and came across a doctor she hoped could help. Last December, the Connecticut family traveled to Washington, D.C., to Georgetown University Hospital, where Marianna underwent outpatient surgery. Marianna, now 16, was understandably skittish. "I was almost at the point where I wanted to give up," she said. "I was really nervous about having surgery, but there was no way I couldn't try it." On Dec. 15, Georgetown plastic and peripheral nerve surgeon Dr. Ivica Ducic operated on Marianna's occipital nerves, which he found were inflamed. The occipital nerves begin in the spine in the upper neck and run through muscles in the back of the head and into the scalp. Ducic performed decompression … Continue reading →

Whether it be from the battlefield or the playing field, traumatic brain injury is something that has received a good deal of discussion in recent years, and along with that comes some significant breakthroughs in how is it treated, especially in a pre-hospital setting. When it comes to emergency medical services, Arizona is becoming recognized as leading the way with innovation when it comes to pre-hospital care in the field. The University of Arizona has established the Excellence in Prehospital Injury Care (EPIC) project with a new emphasis on traumatic brain injury. According to the UofA, an estimated 1,000 people die each week from traumatic brain injury in the United States. It is becoming clear that the care received before arriving at the hospital can make a significant difference in life or death and even the level of recovery for survivors. There is growing evidence that treatment in the early minutes following an injury significantly impacts the outcome of recovery. EMTs and paramedics around the state are receiving training for a new protocol for treating TBI patients for moderate to severe injury in the field. Fountain Hills Fire Department Paramedic Capt. Todd Brunin is certified as a master trainer with … Continue reading →

Newswise NEW ORLEANS (April 30, 2013) Today during the 81st American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting, researchers presented results showing the positive impact that bone marrow stromal cell (MSC) therapy can have for those suffering from certain types of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The study investigated the effects of treatment with bone MSC on axonal sprouting in the spinal cord after TBI. The axonal regeneration that occurred was correlated with functional recovery. Researchers used adult male Wistar rats (n=8), which were injured with controlled cortical impact and treated with MSCs (3x10 6) impregnated into collagen scaffolds and transplanted into the lesion cavity one week after TBI. Control animals (n=8) were injected intracerebrally with saline. On day 21 after TBI, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA, 10,000 MW) was injected into the collateral motor cortex stereotactically to label the corticospinal tract (CST). Sensorimotor function was tested with neurological severity scores (NSS) and foot fault tests. All rats were sacrificed 35 days after TBI, with the brain and spinal cord sections stained for immuhohistological analysis. The results of this study, Treatment of traumatic brain injury with marrow stromal cells induces axonal sprouting in denervated spinal cord, will be presented by Asim … Continue reading →

Almost two years ago, Garrison Leif Sandberg, a junior at Napa High, was near death from injuries he sustained as a passenger in a DUI-related crash near Napa. Today, at 19, Sandberg walks without a cane. His shaking has subsided and he can speak. Key to his ongoing recovery, his parents, Eric and Suzanne Sandberg said, was the medical and rehabilitation therapy Leif Sandberg received for nine months at Centre for Neuro Skills in Bakersfield. However, that long-term inpatient therapy, which ended in April 2012 and cost about $300,000, was not covered under the familys Blue Shield health policy plan, the Sandbergs said. The Sandbergs will travel to Sacramento Wednesday to show support for Senate Bill 320 that would prohibit insurance companies from denying long-term therapy for brain injury patients. The Sandbergs will take a stack of signatures in support of the bill, which the California Senate Health Committee is scheduled to discuss. State Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, introduced the bill in February with the backing of the Brain Injury Association of California, which estimates about 350,000 Californians live with a traumatic brain injury. If approved, S.B. 320 would take effect Jan. 1, 2014. The goal is to come … Continue reading →

MORRISVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Oxygen Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OBI) (OXBT), today announced the initiation of the second cohort of its Phase IIb clinical trial to investigate the safety and tolerability of Oxycyte in patients with severe, non-penetrating traumatic brain injury (STOP-TBI). The second cohort begins officially with the activation of the first of five planned sites in Israel. This trial site will receive its first shipment of Oxycyte this week and can immediately begin enrollment. Resuming enrollment in the second cohort of our TBI trial is a critical milestone in the development of Oxycyte, said Michael Jebsen, President and Chief Financial Officer of OBI. We have spent the last year focused on securing long-term supply of clinical trial material and retaining a contract research organization with the ability to effectively manage an international clinical trial. Bringing Oxycyte to market as a treatment for acute ischemic conditions, such as TBI, remains the top priority of OBI. The STOP-TBI trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-escalation study in which a single intravenous administration of Oxycyte is given to patients in conjunction with supplemental oxygen. The primary objective of the trial is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of Oxycyte in patients with severe non-penetrating … Continue reading →