Newsline — Friday, November 2, 2012 13:00
Articles Offer Insight on Systems-based Quality Improvement for Neurosurgical Procedures
Experts Meet for Fourth International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport
Friday, November 2, 2012 9:25
Experts representing the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and several other international sports federations are meeting in Zurich this week for the Fourth International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport. The objective of the two-day event is to discuss and find a consensus on the best way to manage and prevent cases of concussion in sport. “What we are expecting is to develop very practical, simple, easy to use tools that could be applied for coaches, for the paramedical personnel on the sidelines and in grassroots, where there is little medical attention,” says Professor Jiri Dvorak, FIFA’s chief medical officer. “So we’re trying to develop simple educational materials for all involved in football and disseminate them through FIFA development programmes. With such powerful partners like FIFA, the IIHF, the IRB, the Equestrian Federation and the IOC, we can make a big impact. “The three previous concussion conferences stimulated us to perform research studies which allowed us to convince the International Football Association Board to adapt the Laws of the…
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Early Autism Intervention Shown to Improve Cognitive Skills in Children
Thursday, November 1, 2012 14:13
An autism intervention program that emphasizes social interactions and is designed for children as young as 12 months has been found to improve cognitive skills and brain responses to faces, considered a building block for social skills. Researchers say that the study, which was done at the University of Washington, is the first to demonstrate that an intensive behavioral intervention can change brain function in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. “So much of a toddler’s learning involves social interaction, and early intervention that promotes attention to people and social cues may pay dividends in promoting the normal development of the brain and behavior,” says Geraldine Dawson, lead author and chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Study Says STAT3 Transcription Factor Helps to Prevent Neurodegeneration
Thursday, November 1, 2012 8:00
The results of a new study that appears in The Journal of Cell Biology shows how a transcription factor called STAT3 remains in the axon of nerve cells to help prevent neurodegeneration. The findings could pave the way for future drug therapies to slow nerve damage in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases, nerve cells usually die in stages, with axons deteriorating first and the cells themselves perishing later. Axon degeneration may represent a turning point for patients, after which so much nerve damage has accumulated that treatments won’t work. Researchers have tested several proteins for their ability to save axons. One of these molecules, CNTF, rescues axons in rodents and extends their lives, but caused severe side effects in patients during clinical trials. “Acting on the same pathway, but farther downstream, could be an ideal way to improve the situation for motor neuron disease” and possibly for other neurodegenerative diseases, says the study’s senior author, Michael Sendtner of the University of Wuerzburg in Germany. For more information,…
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Study Reveals Effects of Inhaled Anesthesia on the Brains of Children
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 15:10
Children’s brains are more affected by an inhaled anesthetic than an intravenous anesthetic with increased levels of brain lactate, which increases brain activation and may lead to metabolic changes associated with anxiety and delirium — that’s according to Stony Brook University School of Medicine researchers. Their findings appear in the November issue of Anesthesiology and offer new clues to metabolic changes within the brains of children undergoing anesthesia. Said discoveries could help researchers understand why general anesthesia may be potentially harmful to the developing brain. In the study “Metabolomic Profiling of Children’s Brains Undergoing General Anesthesia with Sevoflurane and Propofol,” 59 children ages two to seven years old were given one of two routinely used anesthetics for an MRI procedure: sevoflurane (inhaled) and propofol (intravenous). The parietal cortex of the children’s brains was imaged one hour after being administered anesthesia. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Powered Exoskeleton Grants Mobility to Patients with Severe Spinal Cord Injuries
Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:39
Engineers at Vanderbilt University’s Center for Intelligent Mechatronics have developed a powered exoskeleton that enables people with severe spinal cord injuries to stand, walk, sit and climb stairs. Its light weight, compact size and modular design promise to provide users with an unprecedented degree of independence. Parker Hannifin Corporation – a global leader in motion and control technologies – has signed an exclusive licensing agreement to develop a commercial version of the patents-pending device for release in 2014. Between 236,000 to 327,000 people in the U.S. are dealing with serious spinal cord injuries, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, and approximately 155,000 people have paraplegia. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Focused Ultrasound Foundation-sponsored Parkinson’s Study Treats Tremors
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 13:00
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation has announced a new clinical trial investigating the use of focused ultrasound technology to treat patients with tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. Funded in part by the Foundation, the study has treated its first two patients at the University of Virginia to evaluate the noninvasive technology’s safety and effectiveness in alleviating medication-resistant Parkinsonian tremors. The trial, led by principal investigator W. Jeffrey Elias, MD, a University of Virginia neurosurgeon, is an FDA-approved double-blinded protocol study in which 30 patients are randomly assigned to either treatment or control groups and followed for one year. The subjects are undergoing an investigational procedure that targets a small area deep within the brain using focused sound waves guided by a magnetic resonance scanner. The noninvasive process uses no scalp incisions, electrodes or general anesthesia, allowing patients to remain awake and communicative. It has the potential to be a significant improvement over the current standard of care, which requires surgical implementation of a pacemaker in the brain. For more information, click here to read the full release.
University of Haifa Study Links Alzheimer’s to Protein Regulation in Brain
Tuesday, October 30, 2012 10:02
Researchers have found a link between Alzheimer’s disease and the activity level of a protein called eIF2alpha, according to a study done at the University of Haifa’s Sagol Department of Neurobiology. Professor Kobi Rosenblum, head of the department, says that altering the performance of this protein via drug therapy could constitute a treatment for Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s research in recent years has primarily focused on battling the disease once symptoms have appeared, even though it’s known that the disease nests in the brain many years before any symptoms are revealed. In advanced stages of the disease, Rosenblum explains, small lumps (called plaques) can be identified forming in the brain from a protein called amyloid. These plaques, he says, are typical of Alzheimer’s sufferers and undermine brain functioning. Much research has been directed at understanding these plaques and trying to eliminate them or restrict their formation and growth. Study results appear in the journal Neurobiology of Aging. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Scientific Model Shows How Vibrations from Hits Wobble the Brain Despite Football Helmet
Monday, October 29, 2012 15:35
With fall football season comes helmet-to-helmet collisions, the hardest of which can lead to player concussions. The physics of how the impact of a helmet hit transfers to the brain are not well understood, so a research team from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., has created a simplified experimental model of the brain and skull inside a helmet during a helmet-to-helmet collision. The model illustrates how the fast vibrational motion of the hit translates into a sloshing motion of the brain inside the skull. Researchers presented their findings at the 164th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). For more information, click here to read the full release.
Recent Spinal Shots May Pose Most Risk of Meningitis Infection
Friday, October 26, 2012 14:28
Federal health officials say the more recently a patient received a spinal injection of the contaminated steroid implicated in a nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis, the higher his or her risk of developing the disease. Those injected with the contaminated drug within the last six weeks — since Sept. 11, 2012 — may be at the greatest risk, and extra monitoring should be considered for them even if they have no symptoms, according to an advisory posted online by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The drug was recalled on Sept. 26. More recent injections may carry higher risk because the drug was older and had grown increasingly contaminated as it sat on the shelf with the fungus multiplying inside the vials. However, the risk of developing the disease remains relatively small, officials report. So far, 317 people in 17 states have been infected, and 24 have died. The disease has been traced to three lots of methylprednisolone produced by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass. About 14,000 people were injected…
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