Traumatic Brain Injury News and Research

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Traumatic brain injury (TBI), a form of acquired brain injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes damage to the brain. TBI can result when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue. Symptoms of a TBI can be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the extent of the damage to the brain. A person with a mild TBI may remain conscious or may experience a loss of consciousness for a few seconds or minutes. Other symptoms of mild TBI include headache, confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision or tired eyes, ringing in the ears, bad taste in the mouth, fatigue or lethargy, a change in sleep patterns, behavioral or mood changes, and trouble with memory, concentration, attention, or thinking. A person with a moderate or severe TBI may show these same symptoms, but may also have a headache that gets worse or does not go away, repeated vomiting or nausea, convulsions or seizures, an inability to awaken from sleep, dilation of one or both pupils of the eyes, slurred speech, weakness or numbness in the extremities, loss of coordination, and increased confusion, restlessness, or agitation.

Head injuries can harm hundreds of genes to increase risk for severe brain disorders

Head injuries can harm hundreds of genes in the brain in a way that increases people's risk for a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders, UCLA life scientists report.

6 Mar 2017

Researchers develop new tool to evaluate survival, recovery in elderly patients with isolated TBI

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death for people age 45 and younger in the United States, but, as people live longer, this type of injury is becoming more prevalent in those 75 and older.

3 Mar 2017

Neuroprotective compound could save brain cells during stroke, rat study shows

Researchers from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have shown that a neuroprotective compound tested in rats provides two-pronged protection for brain cells during stroke and improves physical and cognitive outcomes in the treated animals.

2 Mar 2017

Researchers discover CTE in deceased patient's brain with no known history of head trauma

Researchers at Toronto Western Hospital's Canadian Concussion Centre have discovered the presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brain of a deceased patient with no known history of traumatic brain injury or concussion, the first known case of its kind.

2 Mar 2017

Study finds new mechanism underlying epileptic seizures

Prolonged epileptic seizures may cause serious problems that will continue for the rest of a patient's life. As a result of a seizure, neural connections of the brain may be rewired in an incorrect way.

27 Feb 2017

Alterations in brain connectivity can aid diagnosis and prediction of outcomes in mTBI patients

A new study shows that patients with mild traumatic brain injury, even without evidence of brain lesions, may exhibit changes in brain connectivity detectable at the time of the injury that can aid in diagnosis and predicting the effects on cognitive and behavioral performance at 6 months.

23 Feb 2017

Gist reasoning test may identify previously undiagnosed cognitive changes in TBI patients

Many who have a chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) report struggling to solve problems, understand complex information and maintain friendships, despite scoring normally on cognitive tests.

17 Feb 2017

New test could lead to early diagnosis and effective treatment of mild traumatic brain injury

A new test using peripheral vision reaction time could lead to earlier diagnosis and more effective treatment of mild traumatic brain injury, often referred to as a concussion, according to Peter J. Bergold, PhD, professor of physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and corresponding author of a study newly published online by the Journal of Neurotrauma.

16 Feb 2017

New study aims to better understand long-term neurologic effects of mild TBI

An ambitious U.S. federally funded study is enrolling at least 1,100 service members and veterans who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan to learn more about mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) and how it can be best evaluated, and perhaps prevented and treated.

9 Feb 2017

Study highlights need for increased vigilance when using GFAP, UCH-L-1 as potential biomarkers of mTBI

In patients who suffered acute orthopedic injuries, two proposed biomarkers for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) were not able to distinguish between patients who did or did not have mTBI.

7 Feb 2017

Sickest children can successfully undergo liver transplantation with advances in critical care

Advancements in critical care make it possible for even the sickest children to successfully undergo liver transplantation.

7 Feb 2017

College students take more time to recover from concussion, study shows

A new study, presented this week at the Association of Academic Physiatrists Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, shows college students take significantly more time to recover from a concussion than the general national average of seven to 14 days.

6 Feb 2017

Single Molecule Detection of Proteins in Single Cells

We developed this technology almost 10 years ago. It was developed after a key experiment was carried out by David Rissin, who was a PhD candidate in my laboratory at the time.

From Pittcon 3 Feb 2017

Frequent soccer ball heading could be common cause of concussion symptoms, study suggests

Frequent soccer ball heading is a common and under recognized cause of concussion symptoms, according to a study of amateur players led by Albert Einstein College of Medicine researchers.

2 Feb 2017

Research consortium awarded $21 million NIH grant to find ways to prevent epilepsy in patients with TBI

An international consortium of academic research institutions have been awarded a $21 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop better ways to prevent epilepsy in patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

30 Jan 2017

Synthetic molecule appears to reverse Alzheimer's-related neurological damage

Under ordinary circumstances, the protein tau contributes to the normal, healthy functioning of brain neurons. In some people, though, it collects into toxic tangles that damage brain cells.

25 Jan 2017

Aerobic exercise could help wounded warriors recover from mild traumatic brain injury

Improvised explosive devices and associated blast injuries have left over 350,000 U.S. service members in Iraq and Afghanistan with an invisible wound: traumatic brain injury.

25 Jan 2017

Functional MRI technique may help predict risk of long-term post-concussive symptoms

For concussion sufferers, even those who never lost consciousness, physicians may now be able to predict early on who is more likely to continue experiencing symptoms months or years after the head-jarring event, using a new non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging method devised by a consortium of researchers led by UC San Francisco scientists.

24 Jan 2017

Researchers find new way to quantify olfactory sensory neurons using PET radiotracer

Olfactory health - how well we are able to smell - is a reliable marker of the health of the brain, but the "smell identification tests" commonly used in studies of olfactory health do not offer a complete picture of what is happening.