BrainBlog

From the CBC : Concussion prevention effort features mobile app Four sports organizations partner with government on new education programs CBC News Posted: Jan 19, 2012 11:27 AM ET Last Updated: Jan 19, 2012 3:19 PM ET [snip] Four sports organizations will receive $1.5 million in federal funding for new education programs designed to reduce concussions and other brain injuries in children and youth who play team sports. The Public Health Agency of Canada's "Active and Safe" program is supporting a joint project of ThinkFirst Canada, the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, the Coaching Association of Canada, and Hockey Canada to help coachers, trainers, parents, and athletes recognize and prevent serious brain injuries. In announcing the funding in Ottawa Thursday, Minister of State for Amateur Sport Bal Gosal noted that an estimated 90 per cent of severe brain injuries were preventable if parents, coaches and the kids themselves knew more about the risks. "We can...

From the Mind Hacks blog: A Relationship Through Brain Injury

Role of Neuropsychologists in the Evaluation and Management of Sport-related Concussion: An Inter-Organization Position Statement Clin Neuropsychol. 2011 Nov; 25(8): 1289-1294 Echemendia RJ, Iverson GL, McCrea M, Broshek DK, Gioia GA, Sautter SW, Macciocchi SN, Barr WB Abstract Over the past 20 years, clinical neuropsychologists have been at the forefront of both scientific and clinical initiatives aimed at developing evidence-based approaches to the evaluation and management of sport-related concussion. These efforts have directly impacted current policy on strategies for injury assessment and return-to-play by athletes after concussion. Many states are considering legislation requiring (a) education of athletes, parents, coaches, and school/organization officials on the recognition, evaluation, and management of sport-related concussions; (b) removal from play of any youth athlete that is suspected of having sustained a concussion; and (c) not allowing the student to return to parti...

Today, NPR's All Things Considered will be airing a report it prepared with ProPublica about problems with the US military's approach to testing the cognitive function of individuals. Here is a link to a ProPublica article about the issue: Testing Program Fails Soldiers An audio link and a transcript of the report will likely be made available by NPR on the All Things Considered website after it airs. The ProPublica report includes links to a number of documents about the issue, for those interested in looking deeper into the controversy. ADDENDUM: The NPR story can be listened to and/or downloaded at this link: Listen here .

Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for Traumatic Brain Injury: Evaluating the Evidence Institute of Medicine Released: 11 October 2011 For more information, click here

Are self-reported symptoms of executive dysfunction associated with objective executive function performance following mild to moderate traumatic brain injury? Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology . 2011 Jul;33(6):704-14 Schiehser DM, Delis DC, Filoteo JV, Delano-Wood L, Han SD, Jak AJ, Drake AI, Bondi MW Abstract Background and objective: We examined the relationship between self-reported pre- and post-injury changes in executive dysfunction, apathy, disinhibition, and depression, and performance on neuropsychological tests of executive function, attention/processing speed, and memory in relation to mood levels and effort test performance in individuals in the early stages of recovery from mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: Participants were 71 noncombat military personnel who were in a semiacute stage of recovery ( PMID: 21958432 [PubMed - in process]

Conference Website From the homepage: "Plan now to attend the ACRM-ASNR 2011 Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. This annual conference draws rehabilitation researchers and clinicians from 20+ countries with a welcoming ambiance suited to seasoned and early career professionals alike. Attendees enjoy exceptional continuing education programs with productive networking opportunities. "Choose from internationally recognized plenary speakers, and symposia covering methodology and technology; practice, policy and reimbursement; neuroscience and neurorehabilitation; and musculoskeletal, aging, and development. "In addition, there are six pre-conference symposia and an Early Career Course on Wednesday. Paper presentations and poster displays, and an exhibition featuring state-of-the-art equipment and services for the rehabilitation professional. As always, there is the opportunity to meet new friends and greet old ones."

An active area of test development and research in contemporary clinical neuropsychology: Social Cognition Impairments in Relation to General Cognitive Deficits, Injury Severity and Prefrontal Lesions in Traumatic Brain Injury Patients. Journal of Neurotrauma . 2011 Sep 20; Authors: Spikman JM, Van der Naalt J, Timmerman ME, Milders MV, Veenstra WS Abstract Impairments in social behavior are frequently found in moderate to severe TBI patients and are associated with an unfavorable outcome with regard to return to work and social reintegration. Neuropsychological tests measuring aspects of social cognition are thought to be sensitive to these problems. However, little is known about the effect of general cognitive problems on these tests, nor about their sensitivity to injury severity and frontal lesions. In the present study 28 chronic TBI patients with a moderate to severe TBI were assessed with tests for social cognition (emotion recognition, Theory of Mind and empathy) and for gener...

From the conference webpage: Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust (BIRT) Brain Injury Conference 2011 Inspiring learning and innovation in brain injury rehabilitation 21-22 September 2011, The Bristol Marriott Hotel, Old Market, Bristol "The 2011 conference from the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Trust will look at the latest developments and strategies for the treatment and rehabilitation of people with acquired brain injury. This is the fourth in BIRT's series of biennial brain injury conferences. "The first day's plenary sessions provide an opportunity to hear international speakers present their latest research and theories. "Day two is devoted to symposia and practical 'hands on' workshops, enabling delegates to participate in debate, discussion, learn new techniques and share good practice." Conference webpage: Click here

From the Agency for Heatlhcare Research and Quality: Clinician Guide: Depression After Traumatic Brain Injury 13 April 2011 Read the guide

From The Atlantic.com : Giffords's Superspecialized Brain Doctor: Adding Insight to Injury by Ford Vox The Atlantic.com 07 February 2011 "A crucial part of Gabby Giffords's intensive brain injury rehabilitation at The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) in Houston involves serial assessments and counsel by a neuropsychologist, a superspecialized breed of clinician many people know little about. "Rehabilitation teams count count on expert neuropsychologists to administer formal standardized tests and analyze those results in light of clinical data. The best neuropsychological reports are veritable Rosetta stones." Read the article

Study raises questions about military's brain injury assessment tool BY KATHERINE MCINTIRE PETERS 24 May 2010 next.gov.com

Several days ago, the CDC released a report entitled, "Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Emergency Department Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths, 2002-2006" - available as a .pdf (and .doc) download. Download the report

Today's recommended reading addresses proposed efficacy measures for use in clinical trials related to traumatic brain injury (TBI): Bagiella E, Novack TA, Ansel B, Diaz-Arrastia R, Dikmen S, Hart T, & Temkin N. Measuring Outcome in Traumatic Brain Injury Treatment Trials: Recommendations From the Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network. Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation. 2010. BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) involves several aspects of a patient's condition, including physical, mental, emotional, cognitive, social, and functional changes. Therefore, a clinical trial with individuals with TBI should consider outcome measures that reflect their global status. METHODS: We present the work of the National Institute of Child Health and Development-sponsored Traumatic Brain Injury Clinical Trials Network Outcome Measures subcommittee and its choice of outcome measures for a phase III clinical trial of patients with complicated mild to severe TBI. RESULTS: ...

From The New Yorker : Author Malcolm Gladwell has a live chat about brain injuries and sports tomorrow at 1430 hrs ET. The chat can be found at the link found below. If you wish to submit a question for the essayist and author, go to that link and you can submit a question in advance of the event. Questions for Gladwell/Live Chat

Barbara, a rehabilitation professional, went on Antony Gormley's One and Other Fourth Plinth project in Trafalgar Square yesterday morning. She promoted helmet use for sports and recreational activities and did so in a very nice kiddie-friendly manner. Her hour can be viewed at: oneandother.co.uk/participants/BarbaraJean

I received the September 2009 issue of the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society yesterday. If you (or your library) have access to it) it is chock-full of excellent articles, including an overview to the anterior temporal lobes and semantic memory, a paper about the Brixton Spatial Anticipation Test, several papers relevant to problems and deficits in executive functioning in different pathologies, and a look at the phenomenon of "closing-in" behavior in patients with Alzheimer's disease

An interesting feature article in tomorrow's New York Times Sunday Magazine : The Sergeant Lost Within By DANIEL BERGNER Published: May 25, 2008 "Roadside bombs have caused hundreds of dire brain injuries to soldiers in Iraq. One of them is Shurvon Phillip, and a team of specialists has worked avidly trying to reach him." A good deal of the article deals with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) . [ ... Read the full article ... ]

Today's Science Times section of The New York Times has a good feature article about the daily work of an Occupational Therapist working with patients who have sustained severe traumatic brain injuries. Link to full text of article

This looks like an interesting article that I've added to my list of pubs to read: Schiff ND & Fins JJ. Deep brain stimulation and cognition: moving from animal to patient. Current Opinions in Neurology . 2007 Dec; 20(6): 638-642. Department of Neurology and Neuroscience, Weill Medical College of Cornell University , New York, New York, USA. PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Brain electrical stimulation has been proposed as a strategy to improve chronically impaired cognitive function. This brief review places a small number of recent studies into a broader historical context and identifies important challenges for further development of this area of research. RECENT FINDINGS: Behavioral improvements following severe brain injury with central thalamic deep brain stimulation were observed in experimental studies conducted in rodents and a report on a single human. These findings suggest that this technique warrants further study as a method to modulate cognitive function in the setting of acq...