The NewYork Times | Jan 18, 2019
I’ve been a Patriots fan my entire life, long before they were good enough to loathe. But I won’t be watching football this weekend. I haven’t watched a single pass or tackle all season. I don’t remember much about last year’s A.F.C. championship game between the Patriots and the Jacksonville Jaguars. But I’ll never forget the sound. It still echoes in my ears.
Independent (UK) | Jan 18, 2019
One in four prisoners in Scotland have been hospitalised with a traumatic brain injury at some point in their lives, according to a new study. An estimated 10 percent of inmates have also suffered a severe or multiple head injuries that are likely to lead to a persistent disability, researchers at the University of Glasgow said. Collated in collaboration with the Scottish Prison Service, the findings show that brain injuries can result in emotional and personality changes such as impulsiveness, aggression or poorer judgment of control or temper.
The Irish News | Jan 18, 2019
There is a "significant" need for more help for families of children with acquired brain injuries in Northern Ireland, according to a new report. The charity, Brain Injury Matters, said it has received almost double the number of referrals it expected after launching a project in 2015 designed to assist families. The number of referrals to the project in just three years "shows the critical importance of having a dedicated service for children and their families in place, helping to bridge the gap that exists in statutory services".
ABC News (AUS) | Jan 18, 2019
A Queensland choir is using music therapy to unlock language problems and in turn, help sufferers learn to speak again after a brain injury. A person with Aphasia loses the ability to speak following a brain injury like a stroke, but the music therapy bypasses the injured brain cells using rhythm and memory to prompt the words.
Fox 12 News (OR) | Jan 18, 2019
A Portland bakery just opened its first brick-and-mortar location. But aside from its sweets, Sarah Bellum's Bakery wants to be known for shining on a light on an important issue: living with a brain injury. With every scoop, stir and sprinkle, the bakery is doing much more than serving up sensational sweets. Behind every cupcake–whether gluten-free, vegan or pet-friendly–is an even sweeter sentiment. "This is the environment where it is safe and it's okay if I forget something or get confused," Leslie Petcher, a volunteer, said. It's a safe place to learn things and just be me."
Medical Xpress | Jan 18, 2019
A team of Canadian and U.S. brain researchers have published results from a multi-year hockey concussion study, which tracked the brain function of young Junior A male ice hockey players using a new brainwave monitoring method called "brain vital signs." The research team found that brain vital signs detected neurophysiological impairments, such as attention and cognitive processing deficits, in players who had been diagnosed with concussions and were cleared for return-to-play. Surprisingly, the team also found significant delays in cognitive processing for players whom were not diagnosed with concussions at any time during the season (sub-concussive effects).
Front Office Sports | Jan 18, 2019
Along with increasingly stringent protocols at all athletic levels, the long-term effects of sports-related concussions are also coming to light with regularity. While science is continually improving, there are still latency issues with concussion symptoms and delays in how brain trauma can develop following an initial injury. Because of these neurological complications, teams and leagues are working on their risk management strategies for the devastating injuries, which can include concussion insurance.
UTNE Reader | Jan 18, 2019
According to Dr. Douglas Casa, chief executive officer of the University of Connecticut's Korey Stringer Institute (KSI), states and schools aren't putting the right policies in place to protect their athletes. "The best practices are not being followed...I'm kind of mystified, but people are just not implementing evidence-based medicine and policies at the high school level. I'm not saying they're not interested in it, but they're just not doing it." According to an analysis of peer-reviewed studies on head trauma in high school sports, high school football players are nearly twice as likely as college players to sustain a concussion.
Swim Swam | Jan 18, 2019
A case titled Mayall v. USA Water Polo in California between USA Water Polo and the parent of a child who played in a youth water polo league was filed on November 28, 2018. The case is not completed yet because the panel reversed the district court's original decision and remanded the case, meaning it will be sent back to the district court for further action.
ESPN | Jan 17, 2019
From the NFL to rec leagues, football is facing a stark, new threat: an evaporating insurance market that is fundamentally altering the economics of the sport, squeezing and even killing off programs faced with higher costs and a scarcity of available coverage, an Outside the Lines investigation has found. The NFL no longer has general liability insurance covering head trauma, according to multiple sources; just one carrier is willing to provide workers' compensation coverage for NFL teams. The insurance choices for football helmet manufacturers are equally slim; one helmet company executive said he was aware of only one.
Vancouver Sun | Jan 17, 2019
Brad Baylis suffered a traumatic brain injury when a moose crashed through his vehicle windshield owes his survival to the new field of brain chemistry microdialysis now being used at Vancouver General Hospital. While he was in the intensive-care unit for a month, plastic surgeons would spend 10 hours perfectly reconstructing his shattered face and intensive-care specialists would make Baylis the first patient to get a new procedure called brain microdialysis.
Portland Tribune | Jan 17, 2019
Over a decade ago three tragic stories of concussed high school football players — including Oregon's Max Conradt — put names and faces on a concussion problem that had been largely ignored for decades. Their painful stories resulted in legislation that has protected youth across the continent by establishing best practices for safely easing rattled student athletes back to competition. What's still missing, according to some education advocates, is an equal focus on how to help all kids - not just athletes - with brain injuries succeed in the classroom.
Futurity | Jan 17, 2019
For a new study, which appears in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, researchers looked at previous studies on the role that the neck's strength, size, and posture play in reducing concussion risk. They also looked into the greater risk of head injury to female and young male athletes who play contact or impact sports. The research suggests that neck-strengthening exercises in the preseason may help protect the heads of athletes at higher risk of concussion.
EurekAlert | Jan 17, 2019
To help physicians decrease the number of deaths resulting from traumatic brain injuries, Chandan Reddy, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and faculty at the Discovery Analytics Center, will use new machine learning techniques for computational models to predict short- and long-term outcomes, categorize traumatic brain injury patients, and provide interventions tailored to a specific patient and his or her injury. This four-year study is funded by a National Science Foundation grant in excess of $1 million.
Fox 8 News (NC) | Jan 17, 2019
Dealing with pain, loss and a brain injury, Rebekah Wagner used writing to help her cope through some of life's challenges. "I have a deteriorating brain. I was in a car accident when I was five - TBI, skull fractures, broke some ribs," she said. Wagner hasn't let those injuries stand in the way of her goals, despite what some people told her. "I was told that I had to give everything up, and I told my lawyer, 'Okay, I'll give everything up, but I will not give up my passion for writing. It's not gonna happen,'" she said.
Medical Xpress | Jan 17, 2019
Brightlamp Inc., a Purdue University-affiliated startup, has launched an application that lets a smartphone user quickly record data that can be sent to a medical trainer or other medical professional who can objectively determine if that person has sustained any neurological disturbance, including concussion, with potentially serious long-term health repercussions. The app, called Reflex, works exactly like a pupillometer and can take a digital video recording with a smartphone of an individual's eye to measure a response called "pupillary light reflex."
The Daily Nebraskan | Jan 16, 2019
During his research, Aria Tarudji, a graduate in biological engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, discovered that nanoparticles are able to accumulate in traumatic brain injury areas, and he is able to calculate the rate at which they accumulate into the damaged area using MRI. According to Tarudji, although these are not novel discoveries, they are rather novel to the traumatic brain injury field.
Seven Days Vermont | Jan 16, 2019
In 2014, Dr. Matthew Friedman and his colleagues founded the National Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Brain Bank, the first and only brain bank in the world devoted exclusively to PTSD research. It's a resource that could lead to a paradigm shift comparable to the origin of the PTSD diagnosis itself.
The Ringer | Jan 16, 2019
The six-time All-Star called it quits at age 34 because of concussion-related symptoms two months after the NHL agreed to compensate 318 ex-players who sued over head injuries. Is the league doing enough to ensure the long-term health of its athletes?
Portland Tribune | Jan 15, 2019
Nearly a decade ago, Oregon led the nation in passing a return-to-play law that governs when a student athlete is safe to practice and compete on the playing field following a concussion. But the state hasn't required anything to ensure student-athletes — or any children with concussions — are ready for the classroom following their injury, nor that the classroom is ready for them. David Kracke, an attorney who helped lobby for Oregon's return-to-play law in 2009, says it's time to expand the state's sports-fueled focus beyond "return to play" and help concussed students return to learn.
NPR | Jan 9, 2019
A question about heading soccer balls inspired a series of experiments to understand how the brain changes shape when someone's head takes a hit.
BBC Sports | Jan 9, 2019
The number of concussions in the Premiership fell last season, but overall injury absences increased, an annual study finds.
ESPN | Jan 9, 2019
The NFL is dropping efforts to fight certain dementia diagnoses in a landmark concussion case after lawyers for players accused the league of trying to delay payments and rewrite the $1 billion settlement. A federal court hearing set for Thursday on the NFL's appeal has been canceled. Instead, U.S. District Judge Anita Brody on Wednesday in Philadelphia ordered doctors to justify their findings in the contested cases.
The Irish Times | Jan 7, 2019
Scientists in Cork have developed a technique for the early detection of birth-related brain injury, which affects hundreds of babies in Ireland every year. Their work, based on genetic changes to umbilical cord blood that occur when a newborn is deprived of oxygen, is likely to enable earlier treatment that reduces the impact and severity of the damage to the brain.
Portland Tribune | Jan 4, 2019
Did gridiron collisions slam into Randy Casey's life? Unclear. "I authorized the hospital to send the pathology report & the slides to BU. (Experts there) said his brain was too far gone to give a definite diagnosis. From all of the symptoms and the way he acted, they said they thought he had CTE, but they couldn't say conclusively what it was because of not being able to test the tissue," says wife, Sue Casey. There is increasing concern about former athletes dealing with the effects of brain trauma. The Caseys' story shows there are repercussions for family members, as well.
The Candian Press | Jan 3, 2019
The latest figures available from the Public Health Agency of Canada say over 9,000 people fatally overdosed across the country between January 2016 and June 2018. British Columbia's coroners service recorded nearly a third of those deaths. But there are no comprehensive statistics for people who have survived the brain-damaging effects of opioids. Doctors say that information is imperative to understand the magnitude of the "forgotten" victims of the opioid crisis and to provide them with care and resources so they can become as functional as possible. Dr. Patricia Daly, chief medical health officer of Vancouver Coastal Health, called the lack of data on overdose-induced brain injuries "tragic" because neither patients nor their families get the support they need. "We focus on deaths but we forget that there's another group of people who have been negatively impacted, some of them severely."
Science Trends | Jan 3, 2019
For a number of years, researchers have described endocrine (glandular) problems in some people with a history of concussion. These endocrine problems can emerge months or even years after the concussive injury and can involve a puzzling constellation of multiple hormonal problems. It recently became apparent in the field that the underlying problem is under-performance of the pituitary gland. It is as if concussion in some people activates what amounts to a pituitary dimmer switch.
NPR | Dec 21, 2018
Chris Kurtz is trying to keep his sense of humor. Even after the VA told him last summer that he no longer needs a caregiver. In December 2010, a bomb blast ended his Army deployment to Afghanistan. He lost both legs above the knee and half of his left hand. Heather, then his fiancée, joined him at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the VA suggested she apply for their new caregiver program. The program was set up to support family members of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. They're mostly wives and mothers who receive a VA stipend to provide home health care that would otherwise cost the VA millions of dollars.
In recent years many VAs have drastically cut their rolls — often with little explanation to the caregivers.The cuts come at a time the program is supposed to be growing. Congress approved a major expansion of the program in May, though implementation could take years.
ABC 5 News (IA) | Dec 21, 2018
An Iowa veteran said the traumatic brain injuries he suffered during combat overseas have ruined his life. Jason Ogletree, a charming, handsome and incredibly driven man, went from being a decorated Army Ranger to being an inmate in the Polk County Jail. More and more combat veterans return home to the United States with symptoms of a degenerative brain disorder known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The disease can only be diagnosed posthumously. Commons symptoms include, but are not limited to, memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulsive behavior, aggression and thoughts of suicide.
Insider NJ | Dec 20, 2018
This week, U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell, Jr., the co-founder and co-chairman of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, celebrated the passage in the House of Representatives of H.R. 6615, the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Program Reauthorization Act of 2018. The legislation extends federal TBI programs through 2024 and authorizes resources to boost the CDC's efforts to launch a National Concussion Surveillance System as a means to fill longstanding data gaps and provide a better estimate of the TBI burden.
The London Free Press | Dec 20, 2018
Western University researchers are inching closer to making an invisible injury visible, using two kinds of brain scans to track the physical changes concussions cause even after the symptoms are long gone. In a new joint study, researchers at Western University and Radboud University’s Donders Institute in the Netherlands found physical markers of concussion in the brain at different stages post-injury. “That gave us new insights into how concussion works both acutely as well as at a six-month time point or even a multi-year time point,” said Ravi Menon, senior author of the study and a professor at Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Investigate West | Dec 19, 2018
Sue Casey suspects that the multiple concussions her husband, Randy, sustained in his football had something to do with the way his personality changed near the end of his life. "Toward the end, he was depressed. He got quieter and quieter. I never knew who I was coming home to — Jekyll or Hyde. His mood could change at the turn of a dime. He got to be very suspicious — I would say paranoid. I felt like I was the enemy. He would get really upset if you didn’t agree with him. I’d bring it up about how he had changed or something I noticed, and he humiliated me in front of our kids to the point where you never said anything. You were too afraid of what would happen."
The Huffington Post | Dec 19, 2018
About half of all people with brain injury are affected by depression within the first year after injury. Even more (nearly two-thirds) are affected within seven years after injury. Below, people who’ve dealt with depression explain how friends and family can help ease the burden.
Investigate West | Dec 19, 2018
Hunter Holmes, an active teen and the goalkeeper for Redmond High School's soccer team suffered a life-changing blow to the head. Less than two months later, he committed suicide. Hunter’s grieving parents will never know the reason he took his own life. But they work to promote teen suicide and concussion awareness in tandem.
California Magazine (UC Berkeley) | Dec 18, 2018
The concussion crisis has been mostly associated with the NFL, but the problem takes on an added dimension at the college and scholastic level, for the simple reason that schools are in the business of educating minds, not damaging them. Now, as the number of cases mounts and class action lawsuits fly, an increasing number of parents are questioning the wisdom of allowing their sons to suit up. As in 1906, critics are demanding reform. Back then, it was President Teddy Roosevelt who led the charge to save football, while several college presidents, including the University of California’s Benjamin Ide Wheeler, found the sport bankrupt beyond salvation.
Seattle Children's Hospital | Dec 17, 2018
New research from Seattle Children's Research Institute and UW Medicine's Sports Health and Safety Institute found concussion rates among football players ages 5-14 were higher than previously reported, with five out of every 100 youth, or 5%, sustaining a football-related concussion each season.
King5 News (WA) | Dec 17, 2018
Family members of Rod Jones, a former University of Washington tight end and NFL player who died by suicide Saturday, said they believe head trauma from football led to the 54-year-old's downward spiral. "He was changing and morphing into something that was so irrational, so scared, so loss-of-control. The last six months have been noticeably scary for me here at home," said his wife and partner of 32 years, Carla Jones.
Chicago Tribune | Dec 17, 2018
Operation Combat Bikesaver started as a nonprofit in October 2015. The mission was to teach vets, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan, how to rebuild motorcycles and their lives after war. Founder Jason Zaideman wanted to offer a therapeutic outlet for vets suffering from symptoms of PTSD, traumatic brain injuries, suicidal thoughts, depression and post-military social isolation. "It has to be a direct comparison between a motorcycle that is beat up and forgotten about," he said. "The veteran is the same way. They both work on each other. Resurrect each other."
Dayton Daily News (OH) | Dec 17, 2018
"If an individual sustains a concussion from participating in sports or other physical activity, they should seek proper medical care," says Ohio Rep. Niraj Antani. "This bill serves as a legacy to Cody's memory and will help prevent future tragedies." Cody Hamblin, 22, died May 29, 2016, in a drowning during which he suffered a seizure that CTE contributed to, according to Antani.
Insider | Dec 17, 2018
Scientists have been trying to unravel the mysteries of the human brain for centuries, and they've uncovered some pretty fascinating stuff about how our grey matter really works. Here are a few truly incredible facts about the human brain.
FiveThrityEight | Dec 17, 2018
Over the past few years, the NFL has been haunted by the early deaths of some former players whose brains showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. CTE is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by memory loss, mood disorders, dementia and other brain-related problems. But how prevalent is CTE, and how likely are players to develop it? Those remain unanswered questions, despite ongoing attempts to answer them.
The Post-Standard (NY) | Dec 17, 2018
Tim Green recently disclosed on national TV he suspects repeated football-related head injuries caused his ALS, a fatal nervous system disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
The former Syracuse University all-American and NFL player suffered so many concussions playing football he stopped counting them. "I used my head on every play," said Green."It was like throwing myself head first into a concrete wall." Green's diagnosis underscores a long-running debate about whether playing football and other sports can cause the rare, debilitating disease.
TIME | Dec 14, 2018
For years, studies have found that depression is an all-too-common symptom of concussions. Youth athletes, college athletes and retired NFL players who have suffered brain injuries are all at increased risk of mental illness. A new study, published in The Journal of Pediatrics, flips the relationship between concussions and depression, and asks a different question: Are kids who have depression more at risk of suffering a concussion while playing football?
Harvard Health | Dec 14, 2018
Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is unfortunately quite common, and some estimates suggest that millions of women may be sustaining unacknowledged, unaddressed, and often repetitive mild TBIs or concussions from their partners. Despite the plethora of concussion-related research in athletics and the military — concussion-related research in the context of intimate partner violence remains scant, representing a barely recognized and highly understudied public health epidemic.
The Washington Post | Dec 13, 2018
The family of Augustus “Gus” Lee, the University of Richmond football player who died early Tuesday morning, will donate his brain to the Veterans Administration-Boston University-Concussion Legacy Foundation Brain Bank, a repository of more than 650 donations established to study traumatic brain injuries and the neurodegenerative illness chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Lee was found dead in his snow-covered car just off the Richmond campus at 1:35 a.m., on Dec. 11, according to police. The Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported the cause of death was suicide by asphyxiation. He was 20 years old.
The New York times | Dec 13, 2018
Tyler Hilinski, a quarterback at Washington State, killed himself in January and was posthumously diagnosed with C.T.E. His brother is a star recruit at the same position. Ryan said he thinks about C.T.E. in relation to other players more than himself, but he remains wary and knows the risk of a brain injury.
Inside Edition | Dec 13, 2018
What would you do if the happiest memories of your life suddenly vanished? That's what happened to Sgt. Lisa Crutch, a soldier who manned machine guns in Iraq. Inside Edition teamed up with Wounded Warrior Project to learn why Crutch is among the many veterans who credit the organization's free services with helping them heal.
The Guardian | Dec 12, 2018
Suffering a traumatic head injury is a terrifying ordeal, with serious implications for the way we live. Yet, strangely, there can be an upside. Here, four people tell Sirin Kale about their experiences.
The Daily Nonpareil | Dec 12, 2018
While many people know carbon monoxide poisoning can be deadly, the fact that it can cause brain injuries — and with them, long-term aftereffects — is not as widely known. “It is a thing, and it’s a thing that we are quite concerned about,” said Dr. Jeffrey Cooper, director of hyperbaric medicine at Nebraska Medicine. Carbon monoxide, he said, prevents adequate oxygen from being delivered to tissues. But in some patients, it also can trigger an inflammatory response, in which the body attacks its own nervous system. Sometimes the effects appear immediately. In others, problems manifest later.
Reuters | Dec 12, 2018
Female military veterans with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression are more likely to develop dementia later in life than peers without those conditions, a U.S. study suggests. Each of those conditions was associated with an increased risk for dementia, and if a female vet was diagnosed with more than one, that risk went up, researchers report in Neurology.
The Telegraph | Dec 12, 2018
Steve McCulley served in the Royal Marines for 17 years and rose to the rank of major before he was injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) in Afghanistan in 2011. “I came to terms with dying in a trench, but when that didn’t happen, I looked at life differently,” he told The Daily Telegraph. The veteran founded Lios Bikes in 2013, following three years of rehab.
Bustle | Dec 11, 2018
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, no one experiences PTSD the same way. Some people may start experiencing symptoms within the first few months of the traumatic event, the NIMH says, while others don’t start experiencing symptoms until years later. And those symptoms are pretty varied and complex.
NPR | Dec 7, 2018
For almost a decade, the conventional wisdom on treating childhood concussions has been "keep kids at home, keep them in a dark room with no screens and minimal stimulation, and ban any sort of physical exertion." But in light of recent research, this month the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guideline for treating mild brain trauma, urging physicians and parents to let kids return to school sooner, and allow them to use electronics and ease back into physical activity after just a couple of days of rest.
The New York Times | Dec 6, 2018
Some people are surprised that Chuck's injuries would cause such problems for our family, particularly because his wounds aren't as apparent as severe burns or lost limbs. In many ways, his injuries are even harder on our children than on him. And because they can't see their father's injuries, the details of what happened to him are supplied by their imaginations.
NPR | Dec 3, 2018
A single season playing football might be all it takes to change a young athlete's brain. Those are the preliminary findings of research presented this week in Chicago at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. MRI scans of the brains of young football players suggest that repeated blows to the head can change the shape of nerve fibers in the corpus callosum, which connects the two halves of the brain.
The New York Times | Dec 3, 2018
Todd Ewen, one of hockey’s most aggressive fighters, who fatally shot himself at age 49 in September 2015, did not have the disease, despite displaying a wide range of symptoms for it. That was the conclusion of doctors in Toronto. It turned out to be wrong. A new analysis of Ewen's brain tissue confirms he had the degenerative brain disease, despite what a Canadian doctor initially found. That doctor went on to work for the NHL.
Los Angeles Times | Dec 3, 2018
Last month, the NFL announced that it is awarding more than $35 million in grants to fund research on brain injuries. The recipients of the league’s largesse include researchers at prestigious academic institutions such as Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, the University of Pittsburgh and UC San Francisco. Peter Chiarelli, who chaired the scientific advisory board to allocate the NFL’s funds, said the league did not influence the panel in any way: “We were totally independent.” We’ve seen this story line before.
Los Angeles Times | Dec 3, 2018
At least 10% of NFL players could develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the devastating neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated head trauma, according to a study published this week in the journal Neurology. Their work built on a study published last year that found signs of CTE in 110 of 111 brains of deceased NFL players examined by a group associated with Boston University. The researchers compared the 110 brains with CTE from the previous study with the 1,142 NFL players who died while it ran from 2008 to 2016. That showed at minimum 9.6% of players who died had CTE.
CBC News (BC) | Dec 3, 2018
In an alternate universe where cowboys don't get concussions, Matt O'Flynn's rodeo career would never end. "I wish I could ride bulls until I was 90," he says, speaking from his hometown of Quesnel, BC. But this weekend, the 28-year-old will saddle up one last time at the Bull Riders Canada final following through on a decision made in a moment of mortal reckoning brought on by the suicide of friend and fellow B.C. bull rider Ty Pozzobon.
New York Post | Dec 3, 2018
Hunt could use New York Mets fans' support again. He is coping with Parkinson’s disease, the well-known, incurable neurodegenerative disorder that, new studies show, very well may have resulted from the damage that Hunt incurred during his career. “I don’t know what I’ve got,” Ron Hunt said. “My memory’s shot. I get the shakes in this [left] hand. I go to rehab. They talk to me, but they don’t do anything.”
NBC News (CT) | Dec 3, 2018
A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed post-traumatic stress disorder but were denied Veterans Affairs benefits can sue the military. Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Haight Jr. on Thursday certified a class-action lawsuit against Navy Secretary Richard Spencer by veterans who say they were given less-than-honorable discharges for minor infractions linked to untreated mental health problems. The discharge designation prevents them from getting VA health benefits.
Neurology Advisor | Dec 3, 2018
Left atrial diameter (LAD) has been shown to be independently associated with prevalent brain infarcts, in particular nonlacunar infarcts, but not with leukoaraiosis (ie, white matter disease), according to an analysis of data from the prospective Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS). Results of the study were published in Neurology.
The Daily Tar Heel | Dec 3, 2018
Since the early 2000s, hundreds of studies have been conducted to determine the origin CTE and results of the disease. In 2011, Dean of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences Kevin Guskiewicz received a MacArthur Fellowship – informally known as a "Genius Grant" – for research in sports-related brain injuries. Now, with part of a $14.7 million grant from the NFL, Guskiewicz and researchers at UNC will survey up to 2,500 former NFL players, the largest group of former NFL players studied thus far, in partnership with the Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin. UNC will receive $4.7 million of the grant.
CNN | Dec 3, 2018
Life expectancy in the United States declined from 2016 to 2017, yet the 10 leading causes of death remained the same, according to three government reports released Thursday. Increasing deaths due to drug overdoses and suicides explain this slight downtick in life expectancy, the US Centers for Disease Control says. Overdose deaths reached a new high in 2017, topping 70,000, while the suicide rate increased by 3.7%, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics reports.
Washington State University Insider | Dec 3, 2018
Families of rural children with mild head injuries pay more for medical care and get less of it, a Washington State University analysis has found. Janessa M. Graves, an assistant professor of nursing at WSU Spokane, analyzed data on more than 380,000 children with mild traumatic brain injuries. Researchers found the rural patients got less care. Meanwhile, their healthcare costs were significantly higher than those of urban youth in the six months after being injured.
Cosmos Magazine | Dec 3, 2018
A fossil record littered with broken bones and fractured skulls has given Neanderthals a reputation for having led lives full of risk and violence. But that reputation is unfair, according to a fresh analysis of prehistoric knocks to the head. The study, published in the journal Nature, is the first to compare Neanderthals – thought to be particularly prone to head injury – with members of our own species who lived in Western Eurasia at the same time as our closest known relative. What they found was that head trauma was no more common in Neanderthals than in Palaeolithic humans.
CBS News (CO) | Dec 2, 2018
Actor Scott Takeda has appeared in big movies like Gone Girl, Dallas Buyers Club and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot but few people know that back in 2016 he sustained a traumatic brain injury. Now he is directing a new film with hopes of removing the stigma from the condition itself as well as using marijuana as a way to treat it.
Futurity | Nov 30, 2018
A genetic variation may explain why similar levels of head trauma can cause some people to suffer more drastic symptoms of CTE than others.
University of California | Nov 30, 2018
UCLA biologists have created the first cell “atlas” of the hippocampus – the part of the brain that helps regulate learning and memory – when it is affected by traumatic brain injury.
Forbes | Nov 30, 2018
Raiders legend Jim Plunkett wants every football player to know more about concussions. Plunkett has joined former NFL stars Steve Young and Ronnie Lott to raise awareness of concussions and educate young football players about the risks of playing concussed.
Reuters | Nov 30, 2018
Some veterans may experience a sharper decline in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with meditation-based therapy than with other forms of treatment, a recent study suggests.
CDC | Nov 26, 2018
HEADS UP to Healthcare Providers is a free online training developed by CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The goal of the training is to provide an overview of the evidence-based recommendations outlined in the CDC Pediatric mTBI Guideline and to equip healthcare providers with practical strategies to integrate these recommendations into clinical practice.
The Boston Globe | Nov 26, 2018
A number of start-ups are experimenting with drugs that could be taken immediately after blunt head trauma in the hope of preventing or limiting damage. Clinical trials of experimental drugs have invariably ended in disappointment. Among the best-known were two studies in 2014 of the hormone progesterone given to people immediately after acute traumatic brain injuries. Still, researchers continue the hunt.
The Good Men Project | Nov 26, 2018
Visual problems are often overlooked during the initial evaluation of a concussion as some symptoms may not be present until days, weeks, or even longer following the incident. To assist concussion sufferers and their caregivers, as well as health care professionals who may see or be treating a patient following a concussion or other TBI, The Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA) and Concussion Legacy Foundation have developed a new educational resource titled Common Vision Problems & Symptoms Following a Concussion.
ABC News | Nov 26, 2018
Your imagination — normally associated with childhood fun — might have the power to help treat anxiety and fear, according to a new study. Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City explored the exact brain pathways that people use when they learn — and unlearn — how to react to threats. They found that imagining a threatening scenario might provide similar benefits to exposure therapy for someone who has been through a traumatic event. The researchers hope to use this knowledge to improve treatments for people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
San Antonio Express-News | Nov 26, 2018
As a psychiatrist, I encounter many frustrations regarding lack of appropriate services, disparities to care and the stigma that surrounds mental health. Some of the ugliest stigma exists around the diagnosis of PTSD, wrongheadedly due to a culture that values “being strong” or “getting over” adversity. This culture is intensified in the military.
The Huffington Post | Nov 26, 2018
We are now better able to recognize PTSD, and treatments have certainly advanced, but we still don’t have a full understanding of just what PTSD is. Three scholars who have individually studied PTSD weigh in on why after decades of studying combat-related trauma, we still don’t have a full understanding of PTSD.
The Boston Globe | Nov 24, 2018
Despite growing public awareness of the dangers of repeated head impacts no drugs have been approved to treat concussions. For the estimated 2.8 million cases of traumatic brain injuries that are seen in US hospital emergency rooms each year, the main prescription remains unchanged: rest. Now, a number of start-ups are experimenting with drugs that could be taken immediately after blunt head trauma in the hope of preventing or limiting damage.
Toronto Sun | Nov 24, 2018
Throughout the 1970s Ken Dryden famously protected Team Canada and Montreal Canadiens nets from those imposing threats. Now he’s on a mission to fight a far more serious threat – on behalf of young Canadian athletes in all sports, at all levels. That is, concussions. The Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender and former Liberal cabinet minister on Wednesday will tell a parliamentary subcommittee studying sports-related concussions in Canada that the problem is no longer awareness. Dryden will tell the subcommittee that there “is plenty of awareness. The problem is sports decision-makers who don’t take this awareness and act. “We have a problem … A knee that limps is one thing. A brain that limps is another.”
The Globe and Mail | Nov 24, 2018
Awareness of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy has increased exponentially. But there’s more work to be done. With that in mind, a non-partisan subcommittee met on Wednesday for the first time in Ottawa, tasked with delivering recommendations on how to make sports safer and protecting youth from concussions.
New York Times | Nov 20, 2018
After years of legal wrangling, the N.H.L. and hundreds of its retired players announced a settlement to the players’ concussion lawsuit last Monday. $18.9 million.
NBC News | Nov 20, 2018
A federal judge in Connecticut has ruled that thousands of Navy and Marine Corps veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who developed post-traumatic stress disorder but were denied Veterans Affairs benefits can sue the military.
Pamplin Media Group | Nov 20, 2018
Head injuries in girls' soccer are an 'unpublicized epidemic' according to national researchers.
USA Today | Nov 20, 2018
Through its Scientific Advisory Board established as part of its "Play Smart. Play Safe" initiative, the NFL is awarding grants to investigative teams focusing on concussions and associated conditions, including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
MD Magazine | Nov 20, 2018
A meta-analysis of more than 7 million patients confirms that just 1 instance of a concussion or mild TBI is associated with a two-fold greater risk of suicide.
AAP | Nov 12, 2018
In its first update in eight years, the AAP cites the latest research into the incidence and treatment of these injuries in the clinical report, “Sport-Related Concussion in Children and Adolescents,” published in the December issue of Pediatrics. Over the past few years, guidance on treatment and recovery of injured players has evolved. The AAP report reflects the latest research on recommendations, which now call for reducing – but not eliminating – a return to some physical and cognitive activity in the days following a concussion.
Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | Nov 12, 2018
Researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have found that patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) also show signs of asymptomatic brain injury. They reported the results of their study at the American Heart Association Scientific Session conference in Chicago. “We think patients with atrial fibrillation experience chronic, subclinical cerebral injuries,” said Oxana Galenko, Ph.D., the study’s lead investigator. In the study, researchers performed MRIs on atrial fibrillation patients and found that 41% showed signs of at least one kind of a silent brain damage.
Global News (Canada) | Nov 12, 2018
New changes to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) are being touted by B.C.’s NDP government as a way to save the money-losing insurer a billion dollars a year, but a B.C. health advocate says the new regulations will bring challenges to some head injury victims. “We’ve come to the realization that there is no such thing as a minor brain injury,” says Geoffrey Sing, chair of the British Columbia Brain Injury Association. One of the new changes would reclassify mild concussions as minor injuries, likely capping pain and suffering awards at $5,500. Sing says the move is overly broad given the huge range of outcomes with head injuries and concussions.
The Post and Courier | Nov 12, 2018
Last week brought both good and bad news for football regarding the degenerative brain condition known as CTE. On one hand, a study showed just how big a problem CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) is for the sport. Another study offered a glimpse of the future for predicting athletes at risk and developing treatments to reverse the disease. Lst week, researchers at Boston University published a study that links a specific gene to CTE. Specifically, the gene appears to be implicated among former players who developed the most severe forms of the condition.
KATU News (OR) | Nov 12, 2018
When Jarm Hawes suffered a stroke in 2015, the physical effects were devastating. She couldn’t get around without a walker. Her left eye drifted, and the stroke paralyzed her face, leaving it twisted and slack. With rehab work, she regained the ability to walk, and her eye started working better. But one thing she thought she’d lost permanently was a critical piece of her appearance. Her smile. Dr. Loyo thought she could help. Loyo is one of the few doctors on the West Coast who perform nerve transfer surgeries to reanimate faces that have been frozen by injury.
Detroit News | Nov 12, 2018
Plans call for the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology to create a comprehensive concussion center. The Ann Arbor school says the University of Michigan Biosciences Initiative awarded $5.6 million for the Michigan Concussion Center. The center will seek to answer fundamental questions about concussion prevention, identification, diagnosis, management and outcomes. The School of Kinesiology will have dedicated space for the center in its new building, which is scheduled to be completed in fall 2020.
The Tennessean | Nov 12, 2018
There's a middle ground between reckless dismissal of CTE research and the fear of football that has gripped some people. People are worried about the future of the sport, and I get that, but the answer is not to ignore the information that is being gathered or cry conspiracy. The answer is to digest it and ask for more. To understand that we aren’t close to where we need to be in understanding CTE, and that this research hopefully will allow us to gauge susceptibility to CTE at some point.
NBC News 11 (GA) | Nov 7, 2018
Allan DaPore fell down a flight of stairs, changing his life forever with a severe brain injury. Now, his life is changing again as he begins a new life with the woman who stood by his side at Atlanta's Shepherd Center. Kaitlin Fitzgerald, Allan's fiance, said she confronted some hard truths – she was 24 years old and they weren’t married. It was uncertain whether her boyfriend would ever resemble the man she fell in love with years earlier. “I’m sure she had some of the hardest days you can imagine. But when she was in front of him, it was all about him,” said Jessica Berman, DaPore’s speech-language pathologist. “By the time he left Shepherd, she had taken on the role of speech therapist, occupational therapist, physical therapist … everything.”
The Conversation | Nov 7, 2018
The sports world is understandably eager to prevent concussions, but some of the products on the market are not helping and may even hurt, by leading people to feel protected when they are not. As a physiologist and sports medicine researcher, I study how the body responds to exercise and other stressors. I also study ways to prevent and treat sports injuries. As the public learns more about the potential long-term dangers of contact sports parents, athletes and sports organizations are desperate to find a quick fix to the concussion crisis. Unfortunately, I do not think there is an easy solution to make inherently high-risk sports safe.
CNN | Nov 5, 2018
Scientists have zeroed in our genetic code to better determine why some people develop chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the Alzheimer's-like disease associated with repeated hits to the head. In a new study, researchers at Boston University's CTE Center say that a variant of the gene TMEM106B may influence why some people experience more severe forms of the disease than others.
Physcian's Weekly | Nov 5, 2018
Getting a good sleep each night after a sports-related concussion might be linked to a shorter recovery time in adolescents, new research suggests. Young athletes who slept well after a concussion were more likely to recover within two weeks, while those who slept poorly were more likely to endure symptoms for 30 days or more, according to research presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Orlando, Florida.
USA Today | Nov 5, 2018
From Abilene Christian University to Yale, an analysis released Friday showed that 147 college football programs had at least one former player diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The Concussion Legacy Foundation made the data, culled from a study released earlier this year by Boston researchers, public on Friday.
Boca Newspaper (FL) | Nov 5, 2018
Many organizations and high schools are implementing programs to assess for the baseline brain activity of their athletes prior to the start of the season. In essence, a snap shot of the athletes brain function is taken prior to the athletic competition so as to be able to compare neurological function after a concussion and determine the amount of injury sustained. These tests also provide a baseline marker for objective “return to play” benchmarks. This takes away the subjective reporting of a child which in many cases cannot even accurately describe what they are feeling.
Penn State News | Nov 5, 2018
A gene associated with the learning disorder dyslexia may offer researchers clues about variations in individual athletes’ susceptibility to concussions, according to a pilot study by Penn State and Northwestern University. Out of the nine genes studied, researchers found that one — called KIAA0319 — significantly predicted the number of previously diagnosed concussions for the combined cohorts.
Yahoo! Lifestyle | Nov 5, 2018
Former football player Jon McCall suffers from possible complications of CTE and his wife, Sara, is caring for him. Sara wants to share her story in the hopes that she can prevent future generations from adding to those numbers, possibly by dissuading parents from letting their kids play football to begin with. “Even if it’s just one mom reading the article and saying, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t know this,'” she says.
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