Category Archives: Brain Injury Treatment

NORRISTOWN >> Pennsylvanias top law enforcement officer showed his support for treatment courts during an appearance at Montgomery County Veterans Treatment Court shortly before the specialty courts latest graduation ceremony. I am humbled by your service and grateful for your service, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is a former county commissioner, said Monday as he addressed veterans and the specialty courts organizers. I believe in problem solving courts and know how critical they are in our justice system and I believe in you. Established in April 2011, the veterans treatment court addresses the needs of veterans cycling through the court and prison system. Judge Todd D. Eisenberg, who currently presides over veterans treatment court, held a graduation ceremony on Monday for four veterans who completed the program. This is an exciting day here in veterans treatment court, said Eisenberg, who also was joined by recently Retired Judge William J. Furber Jr., who helped spearhead the development of the specialty court. The veterans treatment court is a collaboration of the county judicial system, the district attorneys office, the public defender, the county jail, the adult probation office, community-based treatment providers and county and federal departments of Veterans Affairs. Shapiro said Pennsylvania … Continue reading →

June 26, 2017 09:01 ET | Source: Prevacus, Inc. TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 26, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prevacus, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for concussion (mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)) and other neurological disorders, today announced a partnership with country music legend Randy Travis and The Randy Travis Foundation. "I am delighted to have the support of Randy and his foundation," said Dr. Jake VanLandingham, CEO of Prevacus. "Randy suffered a significant neurological injury and has worked hard to recover. He is a passionate fighter and a powerful voice for others in need, especially for members of our military struggling with neurological conditions associated with brain injury. With Randys support, we will continue developing PRV-002, our novel concussion treatment, to help make the world safer for members of our military, professional athletes and the general populace." Randy and his Foundation will join others at Prevacus including Brett Favre, Jay Saldi, Roger Staubach, Leigh Steinberg, James Bus Cook, Abby Wambach, Dale Jarrett, Steve Mariucci, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Matt Hasselbeck, Warren Moon and Kerri Walsh-Jennings. About Prevacus Prevacus, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates with the potential to advance treatment in the fields of traumatic brain … Continue reading →

Virtual reality is much more than just a new form of entertainment, it is increasingly being used in a wide range of medical applications, from treatments to training. Here are a few of them. 1. Pain management There is good scientific evidence that virtual reality (VR) can help relieve pain. The parts of the brain that are linked to pain the somatosensory cortex and the insula are less active when a patient is immersed in virtual reality. In some instances, it can even help people tolerate medical procedures that are usually very painful. Other studies have shown that amputees can benefit from VR therapy. Amputees often feel severe pain in their missing limb, which can be hard to treat with conventional methods, and often doesnt respond well to strong painkillers like codeine and morphine. However, a technique called virtual mirror therapy, which involves putting on a VR headset and controlling a virtual version of the absent limb,seems to help some patients cope better with this phantom pain. 2. Physical therapy VR can be used to track body movements, allowing patients to use the movements of their therapy exercises as interactions in a VR game. For example, they may need to … Continue reading →

Monday, June 26, 2017 1:02 PM UTC TALLAHASSEE, Fla., June 26, 2017 -- Prevacus, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on developing treatments for concussion (mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI)) and other neurological disorders, today announced a partnership with country music legend Randy Travis and The Randy Travis Foundation. "I am delighted to have the support of Randy and his foundation," said Dr. Jake VanLandingham, CEO of Prevacus. "Randy suffered a significant neurological injury and has worked hard to recover. He is a passionate fighter and a powerful voice for others in need, especially for members of our military struggling with neurological conditions associated with brain injury. With Randys support, we will continue developing PRV-002, our novel concussion treatment, to help make the world safer for members of our military, professional athletes and the general populace." Randy and his Foundation will join others at Prevacus including Brett Favre, Jay Saldi, Roger Staubach, Leigh Steinberg, James Bus Cook, Abby Wambach, Dale Jarrett, Steve Mariucci, Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Matt Hasselbeck, Warren Moon and Kerri Walsh-Jennings. About Prevacus Prevacus, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing drug candidates with the potential to advance treatment in the fields of traumatic brain injury and other neurological … Continue reading →

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) within youth, defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an injury to the head that causes disruption of the normal function of the brain, is fast becoming an issue of concern for parents across the United States. High-profile incidents of TBI reported in professional athletes have sparked conversations on the safety of youth participation in a variety of sporting activities including hockey, boxing, soccer and full-contact football. TBI that occurs during sporting events is only the tip of the iceberg. TBI also occurs frequently because of falls, motor vehicle accidents, fights and physical abuse perpetrated by adults. Hence, youth between the ages of 15 to 19 are one of the highest-risk groups to experience TBI, and the consequences of this high rate of TBI within youth are diverse and far reaching. TBI within youth have been shown to be associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, attempted suicide, and abuse of alcohol and/or drugs. Furthermore, TBI has also been shown to increase criminal behavior by youth and lead to their later involvement with law enforcement. A systematic review of research found that TBI is approximately three times more … Continue reading →

Research that shows activity aids recovery for concussion patients has been adopted by experts in the field. New guidelines published this month in the British Journal of Sports Medicine are intended to guide clinical practice, as well as future research in the field of sport-related concussion. The guidelines include research by John J. Leddy, MD, clinical professor of orthopaedics, and Barry S. Willer, PhD, professor of psychiatry. The 2017 Concussion in Sport Group drafted new guidelines on how to best treat concussion for individuals ages 6 and older. For the first time, the recommendation for prolonged complete rest post-concussion was updated. We are not saying, after a concussion, go crazy and resume life as if nothing happened, says Leddy, an adjunct professor of rehabilitation science. What we are saying is that after two days of complete rest, if your symptoms have stabilized and you are starting to feel better, then it is OK to start to gradually do life activities and get your heart rate up a little. Dont just sit in a bed with the lights off. Guidelines are released every four years to reflect updates that have taken place in the field of concussion research, he says. The … Continue reading →

"Historically, integrating new evidence into provider behavior can take many years. However, we demonstrated a rather robust and quick uptake of several recommended clinical strategies, even ones new to many primary care providers," says Kristy Arbogast, PhD, lead author and co-director of CHOP's Center for Injury Research and Prevention. "The EHR platform allowed us to provide clinical practice guidance across our geographically and socio-economically diverse network, and promote systematic implementation and documentation of emerging recommended practices. We want all patients to get 'CHOP-level care' no matter where they enter our system." The study's results highlight that in the two years leading up to the intervention, neither management strategy was implemented and documented consistently or systematically. In the pre-intervention period, performance of the vestibular oculomotor exam was documented in the EHR for only 1.8 percent of concussion visits. In contrast, 71 percent of visits in the post-intervention period included evidence of this exam for an overall 129 percent increase from July 2012 to June 2014. During the pre-intervention period, 19 percent of concussion visits included EHR documentation of sharing return-to-learn and return-to-play guidelines. In contrast, in the post-intervention period these phrases were found in 73 percent of EHRs for a total … Continue reading →

Sadiya Ramos, a recipient of the Formation Scholarship, has been dancing since she was 3 years old. Photo courtesy of Sadiya Ramos Maya Rogers had been playing music for nearly 30 years in 2013 when she sustained a traumatic brain injury from a car crash. When she began treatment, which involved playing instruments and singing to accelerate her recovery, Rogers was no longer able to read sheet music. It took years of work, but she was able to eventually sing and play again, and also teach. Today, she is one of four recipients of the Formation Scholarship, a tuition award created by singer and songwriter Beyonc and funded by her company Parkwood Entertainment that supports young black female scholars. Endowed in honor of Beyoncs visual album Lemonade, which was released one year ago, the tuition scholarship provides $25,000 for four students. Applicants composed an essay describing why Lemonade was significant to their lives and submitted a portfolio of their work. Recipients say the Formation Scholarship, named after the last track of the album, is doing more than just funding tuition: it is helping young black women to enter creative fields, where under-representation, job insecurity and discrimination can act as barriers … Continue reading →

Philips has struck a deal to buy Electrical Geodesics for its noninvasive brain activity monitoring and interpretation devices. The Dutch conglomerate plans to combine the technologies with its imaging and informatics assets to better diagnose and guide treatment of neurological disorders. Electrical Geodesics specializes in electroencephalogram (EEG) hardware and software. Like other EEG technologies, the products detect electrical activity in the brain. The difference, as Philips sees it, is the Electrical Geodesics technologies use more electrodes to gather brain activity data than is typical. The dense array EEG marketed by Electrical Geodesics uses 256 sensors. Electrical Geodesics opted for this approach to deliver readouts that track changes in brain activity millisecond by millisecond at high resolution. Philips is a believer in the merits of the approach. By adding the technology to a portfolio featuring imaging and informatics capabilities, Philips is aiming to assess the anatomy, physiological processes and electrical activity of the brain. The hope is this comprehensive assessment will improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders, notably stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and Parkinsons disease. By fusing these different tools together, we will create a more comprehensive map of the brain, and unlock new computational algorithms which will … Continue reading →

To understand the effect of injury, we must look not just for localized changes but network-wide changes caused by the disruption of network connections. Considering the brains network of activity, rather than just individual regions, could help us understand why some brain injuries are much worse than others, according to a study published PLOS Computational Biology by Maxwell B. Wang, Julia Owen, and Pratik Mukherjee from University of California, San Francisco, and Ashish Raj from Weill Cornell Medicine. The human brain displays an astonishing range of responses to injury, depending on its location. This is conventionally considered a result of the fact that each brain region has a specific functional role. However, there is increasing evidence that the brains regions do not operate in isolation but as a network or connectome. Therefore, to understand the effect of injury, we must look not just for localized changes but network-wide changes caused by the disruption of network connections. The authors used a combination of Diffusion-Tensor MRI and ideas from graph theory to investigate patterns in the white matter network architecture of the brain, and how these change due to injury. They built on previous work by Dr. Raj, in the Feil Family … Continue reading →