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Speaking to the annual conference of Disabled American Veterans, which represents 1.2 million people nationwide, Obama announced a $100 million grant to research centers, led by the University of Texas at San Antonio and Virginia Commonwealth University, dedicated to treating brain injuries and mental-health issues, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also said his administration would launch an effort to share research among the numerous federal agencies studying and providing treatment to veterans with neurological problems.

Brain injury and disease are among the enduring […]

Brain injury specialist Dr Willie Stewart told BBC Radio Scotland on Sunday the brains of head-injury victims looked similar through a microscope to people with dementia.

The neuropathologist examined the brain tissue of a former rugby player for abnormal proteins associated with head injuries and dementia, confirming what he believed to be the first confirmed case of early-onset dementia caused by playing rugby.

Dr Stewart said sports such as rugby and American football were beginning to lead to problems later in life normally suffered by former boxers.

Dementia pugilistica, also known as […]

Using the Canadian Light Source located at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and the Synchrotron Radiation Centre in Wisconsin, scientists have uncovered a new method for better understanding how stroke damages the brain.

“I am fascinated by the chemical reasons behind how we think and how that information could be applied to help stroke victims,” said Dr. Mark Hackett, who led the team conducting the research.

Hackett said a stroke is like lighting the fuse on a bomb as it activates pathways in the brain that may later cause severe damage.

The research validated the use of a new imaging approach to study the chemical pathways in […]

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over 1.7 million Americans suffer brain injuries every year, many caused by bicycle accidents, bringing billions in unnecessary medical bills and unquantifiable emotional pain. I am one of the victims of this oversight by our municipal governments. My mother spent […]

Such simultaneous sense experiences are an everyday reality for people born with synesthesia. But for a Toronto man, the intriguing neurological condition developed months after he suffered a stroke — and it has changed the way he sees the world.

George, who asked that his real name not be used, is believed to be only the second person worldwide to have acquired synesthesia as a result of brain damage, say neurologists at Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital involved in his […]

The non-invasive technique was used to temporarily shut down properly functioning parts of the brain so that the side which had been damaged by the stroke could relearn language.

Brain stimulation should be offered within five weeks of a patient suffering a stroke because genes which allow the brain to recover are most active early on, researchers said.

The therapy is aimed at patients with aphasia, a disorder which affects two or three in every 10 stroke sufferers and lowers their ability to understand and use language.

Until now speech and language therapy has been the only form […]

Reading aloud a simple children’s book is another story.

“Five little ducks went out one day. Over the hills and far away. The woman duck said quack, quack, quack,” he says.

Read it again, his instructor prompts. “The mother duck said quack, quack, quack,” he reads this time.

TC’s wife, Abby, beams. “Your quacking sound is awesome!”

He reads another sentence with no mistakes. “Oh my goodness,” he exclaims, laughing.

TC’s aphasia — his struggle to speak — resulted from a brutal assault on Capitol Hill last August. His intellect is largely intact. But his brain labors to command his mouth to say what he wants […]

The study, conducted by researchers from the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, comes amid a debate over how much practice is needed to prepare young players to protect themselves during games and to block and tackle in a safe way.

The study’s conclusion — that the amount of practice does not influence the number of head hits absorbed during games — may bolster calls to reduce the frequency of contact drills in youth football leagues. N.F.L., college and high school […]

Major neurological deficits and even death can occur to people who sustain repeated concussions, particularly if they develop so-called “second-impact syndrome,” reported the article published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

Following a simple six-point return-to-play protocol for people who have sustained a concussion can reduce the risk of further injuries, wrote Charles Tator, MD, PhD, a professor in the department of surgery at the University of Toronto.

Read […]

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Close to 2 million people are affected by traumatic brain injury, or TBI, every year. After an injury, the goal is to preserve as much of the brain function as possible. Researchers are hoping a hormone our bodies produce naturally can help bring the first ever TBI treatment to those who need it.

“As I was driving, I blacked out behind the wheel, and the car went into the back of a parked 18 wheeler,” said Lester Talley.

Health issues led to Talley’s near-fatal accident. The husband and father of two suffered a serious traumatic brain injury.

“My brain had started swelling,” said Talley.

“There really is no definitive therapy for the treatment of acute brain injury,” said Dr. Daniel Laskowitz, […]

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Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, references a growing list of research studies suggesting a link between the head-impact injuries football players routinely endure during practice and games, and debilitating neurological disorders.  The most troubling of these studies show evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of former college and professional football players, a disease with similarities to Alzheimer’s. CTE is only diagnosable post-brain death during an autopsy and has also […]

So what causes anosmia, and how does it change the way you eat and drink?

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She’s right. Using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand is more than just a way to communicate. The practice helps with learning letters and shapes, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development.

It’s not just children who benefit. Adults studying new symbols, such as Chinese characters, might enhance recognition by writing the characters by hand, researchers say. Some physicians say handwriting […]

The 16-year-old softball catcher at Maret School hopes to be fully recovered in time to play volleyball in the fall.

More than 38 million children and teens play sports in the United States each year, according to Safe Kids Worldwide, and it’s taking a toll. About one in three kids playing team sports is injured seriously enough to miss practice or a game. Those who, like Ally, play multiple sports that put pressure on the same body part are at an increased risk for injury.

Ally’s […]

Bike helmets were designed to protect against catastrophic head injuries like skull fractures, lacerations or contusions on the brain, which they do.

However, as the understanding of concussions has advanced significantly in recent years, basic helmet design has not, and the standard that North American helmet manufacturers follow has not changed since 1999.

If a cyclist falls and his head hits the pavement or an automobile, the brain could undergo what scientists call linear acceleration – moving in the direction of the impact. […]

The team’s medical staff will analyze the player’s brain waves on the spot and determine within minutes whether he can safely return to the game or whether he has a concussion and, if so, how severe it is.

Putting the finishing touches on that device is among the projects planned in the University of Nebraska’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, which opens this month in Memorial Stadium’s newly expanded east side.

CB3, as it’s called, is housed in […]

Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital found that one in five teens reported ever experiencing a traumatic brain injury (including concussion) that required overnight hospitalization or that caused them to become unconscious for at least five minutes. And more than half of these incidents were from sports, such as ice hockey, skateboarding and soccer.

“Traumatic brain injury is preventable,” study researcher Dr. Gabreila Ilie, a post-doctoral fellow at St. Michael’s Hospital, said in a statement. “If we […]

Up to 30 per cent of stroke survivors are left with a condition called aphasia, in which they have difficulty understanding language, speaking, reading or writing.

In a small study, Canadian and German researchers tested the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, on patients recovering from a stroke but left with different degrees of aphasia caused by the damage to their brains.

Twenty-four stroke patients were enrolled in the trial, with 13 getting TMS and 11 treated with a sham procedure. Following the sessions, participants were immediately given speech language […]

For each 15-minute head start doctors get on treating stroke, they cut the risk of stroke symptoms and death by 4 percent, according to the study of more than 58,300 ischemic stroke patients published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. What’s more, every 15 minutes also improves how you leave the hospital,  with a 4 percent increased likelihood of walking out and a 3 percent increased chance of heading home instead of going […]