TBI – Survivors, Caregivers, Family, and Friends

Archive for August 23, 2014

SPEAK OUT! NewsBit . . . . . . . . Portable Concussion Indicator

High-school Football Teams Test Portable Concussion Indicator

Newsboy thThere is growing concern about brain injuries arising from concussions, especially in young players. Research has shown that concussions, once thought to be harmless, actually injure the brain. In fact, a concussion is regarded as a form of TBI (mTBI, or mild TBI). (The term “mild” is deceiving because even some mTBIs can be life-threatening or can leave an individual with life-long mental deficits.)

A researcher has developed a scanner that can detect a player’s concussion during a game. It is being tested by four Texas high-school football programs. The scanner looks similar to binoculars, but it compares a possibly concussed player’s eye movements to the player’s normal eye movements taken earlier. (A possible concussion-causing hit is indicated by a microchip-containing sensor in the helmet.) The scanner is hooked up to a computer to quickly analyze the eye-movement data. A coach or trainer can readily determine if the player has experienced a concussion. New guidelines on when to return to play have been adopted by many schools to protect the player from further brain injury and to allow the traumatized brain to heal. (Full story.)

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

SPEAK OUT! NewsBit . . . . . . Scientists Search for Therapies for Brain Injury

Stimulation of Specific Neurons Enhances Recovery

Research at Stanford newsboy-thUniversity examined recovery from stroke in mice, but its significance will affect future therapy for brain injuries in humans. The scientists were the first to use a relatively new technique, called “optogenetics,” for studies of the brain. They engineered mice to make a light-sensitive protein in the motor cortex of the brain. They also implanted an optical fiber so they could use light to stimulate that protein, and therefore those neurons specifically.

Stroke-impaired mice (stroke mice) that were stimulated with light recovered significantly more in tests of coordination, balance, and muscle mass than did stroke mice that were not stimulated. Unlike the only drug currently used for strokes, which works to dissolve a clot and must be given within a few hours of a clot-induced stroke, the neural stimulation was effective even five days after a stroke. There were no side effects from stimulating the brains of healthy mice in the same way.

The scientists also found that stimulated stroke mice showed better weight gain than did unstimulated stroke mice. Also, the brains of stimulated stroke mice showed enhanced blood flow, produced more natural neural growth factors, and made more of a protein that strengthens neural circuits during therapy, when compared to the brains of unstimulated stroke mice.

This research is just beginning. The objective is to identify specific neural circuits that have roles in the recovery of the brain to injury. Once the circuits are known, implants that stimulate specific neurons in humans (as is being done now to control epilepsy) and/or new therapies will enhance recovery from brain injury. (Full story)

(Clip Art compliments of Bing.)

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