Blog - Brainstreams

Invisible wounds of war

The following is a script from “Invisible Wounds” which aired on May 5, 2013. David Martin is the correspondent. Mary Walsh, producer.

We all learned a lot in recent years about the dangers of head injuries from contact sports like football. We now know that a hard hit can cause brain damage that only becomes apparent after an athlete’s playing days are over. Football is violent, no doubt, but it’s nothing compared to war. And just as the National Football League has struggled to come to grips with head injuries so has the military – but on a much vaster scale.

Winter blues and summer bummer link brains of rats and man

Nicholas Spitzer and Davide Dulcis felt for people in higher latitudes whose attitudes soured in the shorter daylight hours of winter.

The neuroscientists, who work in balmy San Diego, wondered whether summer was a bummer for rats. They’re nocturnal, after all.

That thought experiment has led the researchers to discover that an adult mammal’s brain can “rewire” itself in response to light by recruiting brain cells to change the signaling chemical they ordinarily produce.

Their research, published Thursday in the journal Science, offers hints toward new avenues of research into Parkinson’s disease, stroke, addiction and depression.

Dulcis and Spitzer had already tinkered lower in the evolutionary ladder, showing that neurons in […]

Prince Harry opens Headway headquarters in Nottingham

Prince Harry has opened the new headquarters of a brain injury charity supported by his mother, during his first official visit to Nottingham. He was greeted by hundreds of schoolchildren as he opened the head office of Headway where Diana, Princess of Wales, served as royal patron. The charity provides support to brain injury survivors through a network of groups across the UK. The prince also visited a youth group and boxing club in the city.

The chairman of Headway, Andrew Green, said: “Princess Diana’s support of the charity greatly enhanced its profile and made more people aware not only of brain injury and its effects, but also of the help that was available.”

Peplinski says ban bodychecking for kids or ‘we’re going to become dinosaurs’

Former Calgary Flames captain Jim Peplinski, known best for his skills as a bruiser on the ice, is calling for a nationwide ban on bodychecking until at least the age of 16 to curb the concussion rates plaguing hockey.

The Stanley Cup winner, who played in 711 career NHL games, scoring 161 goals while picking up 1,467 minutes in penalties, said prohibiting hitting among youngsters could have the added benefit of helping turn around the trend of declining enrolment in minor hockey.

Otherwise, Peplinski said during a sport concussions seminar at the University of Calgary this week, he’s not optimistic about the future of Canada’s national passion.

“On this path, I think we’re going to become dinosaurs,” he said.

Minor hockey means serious risks

As the National Hockey League and provincial major junior leagues grind into playoff season, provincial and local minor hockey associations across the country go into annual general meeting mode.

Now is the time for parents to instruct the minor hockey bureaucrats to whom they delegate responsibility for the safety of their children to deal with bodychecking and brain injury for players participating at the entry level of Canada’s game.

Leading neurologists, pediatricians, institutes specializing in brain and spinal cord injuries, parents whose kids have paid the price of ignorance and inaction and the often-marginalized minor hockey officials who actually do pay attention to research are generally agreed that bodychecking is really bad for kids under 15.

Read […]

NIH-funded study to develop measure of quality of life specific to caregivers of persons with TBI

Dr. Chiaravalloti receives $526,206 National Institutes of Health grant to study challenges faced by caregivers of persons with TBI

Kessler Foundation is one four sites participating in “Quality of Life in Caregivers of Traumatic Brain Injury: The Development of the TBI-CareQOL”, a multi-site 5-year study funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Nursing Research (1R01NR013658-01). Nancy Chiaravalloti , PhD, co-investigator of the Kessler site, is also project director of the Northern New Jersey Traumatic Brain Injury System and director of TBI Research at Kessler Foundation.

The University of Michigan is the lead center for the study; Noelle Carlozzi, PhD, is principal investigator. The goal is to develop a measure of quality of life that is specific to caregivers of […]

US judge in Philly weighs NFL concussion suits

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Senior U.S. District Judge Anita Brody has a billion-dollar problem on her hands.

Brody, of Philadelphia, heard arguments Tuesday on whether lawsuits that accuse the NFL of glorifying violence and hiding known concussion risks belong in court or in arbitration.

Brody could side with the 4,200 players and let them pursue lawsuits, or she could rule for the league and find that head injuries are covered under health provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.

One Mind for Research(TM) Receives Support From Wounded Warrior Project(R)

SEATTLE, April 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — One Mind for Research announced today that Wounded Warrior Project(R) (WWP) has pledged $3.5 million in support of One Mind’s “Gemini Program,” contingent upon One Mind securing additional funding. “The Gemini Program” is a multi-year study of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS).

One Mind is catalyzing collaboration between international research centers, industry, and government to accelerate the translation of basic science into breakthrough diagnostics and improved treatments for all brain diseases and injuries. The Gemini Program is the first major research project in this mission.

Scheduled to launch in 2013, this multi-country, multi-site program will create a large-scale database of individuals with TBI and PTS with rigorous biomarker (e.g., genetics, imaging) and clinical […]

React Canada helps treat concussed kids

MONTREAL – Not long ago, concussion victims received relatively little care or treatment.

That neglect, unfortunately, extended to schools.

“In the past, students would suffer from concussion and we would get a simple little note from the hospital saying ‘no sports for two weeks.’ Now, we get weekly updates, or daily updates,” said Jean-François Quirion Coordinator at John Rennie High School.

Will Monitoring Head Impact Exposure Solve the Problem?

Head injuries in youth and high school football pose daunting challenges; ones that sensational media coverage has many parents believing are insurmountable. Add in a culture resistant to change, too many coaches still teaching players to block and tackle using their heads, players unwilling to report concussions, and a sport in which, despite new laws, new technology and new tests, concussion identification and management remains haphazard, and parents are left wondering what can be done to improve safety.

Now, with Youth Sports Safety Month beginning, comes The Smartest Team™, an hour-long documentary designed to help football programs and athletes play safer and smarter.

Obama Unveils Details of New Human Brain Mapping Initiative

First the genome, now the brain.

On Tuesday, President Obama provided more information about his plan to invest $100 million in 2014 to map the human brain. The goal of the project, referred to as the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative and the Brain Activity Map project, is to develop technologies that can document the interactions between nerve cells and the complex network of circuits that are at the root of human thoughts, behavior and functions. The knowledge will better inform scientists about diseases like Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, autism and traumatic brain injury, and hopefully lead to new treatments for these conditions. President Obama referred to the project in this year’s State of the Union address.

Family’s struggle with TBI helps dozens of others

AUBURN, Wash. — After a tragic accident left a young man needing long-term care, his family discovered the closest suitable place was out of state. So they decided to open up a home for him. And now their efforts are improving the lives of dozens of people with traumatic brain injury. Terry Norman is still very much like the teenager he was 30 years ago. He enjoys hanging out in his room, typing on the keyboard and listening to his music.

“His mind is good,” said his mother Mary Norman. “He still has a wonderful sense of humor. That keeps us all kind of going.”

Mark Kelly speaks at brain injury conference in Carlsbad

CARLSBAD (CBS 8) – It has been a little more than two years since Mark Kelly’s wife, former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was nearly assassinated after a gunman shot her in the head.

Since then, Giffords has made a remarkable recovery and become an inspiration for those suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

Capt. Kelly was in Carlsbad Saturday talking about the progress his wife has made while sending his own message about TBI.

Watch video and read more>>

Can Just One Concussion Change the Brain?

Suffering a single concussion may cause lasting brain damage, researchers report in the journal Radiology. Steven Flanagan, co-director of the Concussion Center at NYU Langone Medical Center, discusses the findings, and why diagnosing a concussion is so difficult.

Brain Spikes: Synchrony May Be Key to Cracking Brain’s Neural Code

Despite many remarkable discoveries in the field of neuroscience during the past several decades, researchers have not been able to fully crack the brain’s “neural code.” The neural code details how the brain’s roughly 100 billion neurons turn raw sensory inputs into information we can use to see, hear and feel things in our environment.

Death of the NFL: Part 2

In part one of this series, I suggested that the increased size, speed and strength of today’s NFL players are creating a dramatically more impactful and damaging set of collisions. We have known for years of the devastation these collisions wreck on every joint in the human body. It has become crystal clear that the effects of blows to the head affect emotions, memory, reasoning — what it means to be human — in frightening ways. The ticking time bomb and undiagnosed health epidemic that is developing consists of the cumulative effects of millions of sub-concussive blows that are rarely recognized or treated. The potential reticence of parents to allow their children to play football at all, […]

Having purpose in life 'could reduce stroke risk'

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Jazz musician overcomes brain injury with music

It’s a remarkable story of determination, perseverance and above all, a deep love of music, jazz music in particular.

Connor Derraugh is a 17-year old aspiring musician who plays alto sax and piano. But two and a half years ago he suffered a terrible brain injury during surgery that left him paralyzed on his right side. That meant having to learn how to walk again, how to talk, how to eat. And accepting the possibility that he’d never play music again.

While still in hospital, Derraugh announced to his father that no matter what, he was going to jazz camp, even if he had to play with just one hand.

Brain Injury: My Road To Recovery – ‘Time Is Of The Essence’

BOSTON (CBS) – If you were to ask 10 people on the street what TBI is, you’d be hard pressed to find even one person who knows the answer.

TBI stands for traumatic brain injury.

I’ve been recovering from one for the past six months.

Last July, I tumbled from my very old, somewhat rusty, yet trusty bicycle. It was the first day of my two-week summer vacation on Nantucket.

I remember nothing of that day, or the 8 days in the hospital that followed. However, one of the first responders to the scene, Nantucket police officer Keith Mansfield, later filled me in on some of it.

“You were on the ground, very injured and definitely not with it, and pretty much what we’re trained […]

Stroke patients’ health outcomes influenced by spouse’s optimism

TORONTO – Spouses and family members looking after a loved one who just suffered a stroke have a reason to try to stay optimistic during the trying times: new American research suggests stroke patients’ health outcomes are influenced by their caregiver’s outlook.

Following a stroke, life changes dramatically for a family. Stroke is a leading cause of disability in North America. Half of stroke victims experience paralysis on one side of their bodies, 30 per cent can’t walk and another 19 per cent have speech problems.

It’s an incredibly challenging time for the stroke victim and their families left to pick up the pieces of their previous life.

That’s why University of Kentucky scientists say that stroke survivors and their spouse caregivers […]

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