Newsline — Friday, September 21, 2012 9:12
Six-year-old Fights Brain Cancer with Nebraska Running Back Rex Burkhead’s Help
Former Syracuse Basketball Star McNamara Undergoes Spine Surgery in Germany
Thursday, September 20, 2012 13:00
A four-inch scar is the only sign that Gerry McNamara, the former Syracuse University basketball star and current Orange assistant coach, underwent surgery two weeks ago in Germany to replace three discs in his upper spine. “It was a long process,” McNamara says. “It started back in May or even earlier. I didn’t know what was wrong at first, but I knew something was definitely wrong.” The first indication of trouble for McNamara wasn’t in his neck or back, but in his right pectoral and tricep muscles. One doctor thought McNamara might have torn his pectoral muscle, but a tear would have resulted in some pain, and McNamara reported none. After McNamara told Syracuse trainer Brad Pike about the problem, he was advised to have a specialist look at his neck — specifically, his upper spine. McNamara saw physicians in both Syracuse and Buffalo, N.Y., before being diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, which affected the C3 through C6 area of his cervical area, with two of those discs pressing close to McNamara’s spinal cord. For…
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‘Head Games’ Documentary Revealing the Reality of Sports-related Concussions to Hit Theaters Friday, Sept. 21
Thursday, September 20, 2012 8:00
When a concussion forced WWE’s Christopher Nowinski to retire in 2004, the professional wrestler and former Harvard University football player wanted to understand his condition better and set out to raise awareness for sports head trauma. The result was his 2006 book, “Head Games: Football’s Concussion Crisis” … and a new career as a concussion activist. Nowinski’s book was the inspiration for the new documentary “Head Games,” directed by Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”), which opens in theaters Friday, Sept. 21. The film explores the concussion crisis in American sports such as football, hockey and soccer, as well as wrestling. To read Nowinski’s interview with Reuters about his personal struggles following repeat concussions, his work to educate others and his efforts to convince the sports industry to take preventive measures, click here. To view the trailer for “Head Games,” click here.
UT Southwestern Selected for Clinical Trials Network for Neurological Disorders
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 13:00
The University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center’s expertise in neurology has earned it a place in an innovative national clinical trials network that will make it easier to test promising treatments for patients with brain, muscle and nerve disorders. UT Southwestern is one of 25 sites selected for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke’s (NINDS) new Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials. The network, known as NeuroNEXT, represents a unique model for clinical trials for brain diseases. By creating a shared infrastructure and institutional review board, institute officials say they expect to reduce the time and expense of studies, while at the same time making new treatments available to patients more quickly. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Educators Asked to Identify Concussion Symptoms in Students
Wednesday, September 19, 2012 9:42
Classroom teachers now are being brought into the discussion on how to treat high school athletes with concussions. As part of Texas House Bill 2038, which establishes a protocol for schools in the University Interscholastic League to deal with concussive injuries, teachers are notified if one of their students has sustained a concussion. “The cognitive recovery is just as important as the physical recovery,” says Larry Smith, an athletic trainer for Abilene High School in Abilene, Texas. Teachers have been asked to look for signs of fatigue, an inability to concentrate, headaches or a change in behavior. “You may notice that a kid acts out in class who normally doesn’t,” says athletic trainer Wendy Svoboda of Cooper High School in Cooper, Texas. “This helps explain that.” For more information, click here to read the full article.
NFL Grant Allows Researchers to Develop Scientific Method of Assessing Return to Play After Concussion
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 13:00
University at Buffalo (UB) sports medicine researchers have been given $100,000 by NFL Charities to develop an objective, scientific method of determining when an athlete who has had a concussion can safely return to play. NFL Charities, the charitable foundation of the National Football League (NFL) owners, has awarded the 18-month grant to researchers at the Concussion Management Clinic in the Department of Orthopaedics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The grant is one of 15 totaling $1.5 million that NFL Charities is providing researchers nationwide to support sports-related medical research on concussion/traumatic brain injury and cardiovascular medicine. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Johns Hopkins Bioengineers Develop Nanoparticles to Deliver Drugs to Brain
Tuesday, September 18, 2012 9:20
Johns Hopkins University researchers say they are one step closer to creating a drug-delivery system that’s flexible enough to overcome key challenges posed by brain cancer and other maladies affecting the brain. In a report that appears in the Aug. 29 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, the Johns Hopkins team says its bioengineers have designed nanoparticles that can safely and predictably go deep into the brain when tested in rodent and human tissue. “We are pleased to have found a way to prevent drug-embedded particles from sticking to their surroundings so that they can spread once they are in the brain,” says Justin Hanes, PhD, the Lewis J. Ort Professor of Ophthalmology, who has secondary appointments in chemical and biomolecular engineering, biomedical engineering, oncology, neurological surgery and environmental health sciences, and serves as director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Nanomedicine. For more information, click here to read the full article.
Expert Recommends No Texting, Video Games, Computer Use or TV Following Concussion
Friday, September 14, 2012 14:34
High school and college football players should cease texting, using computers, playing video games or watching TV for at least one week after sustaining a concussion, says a brain trauma expert with the Brain Injury Alliance of New Jersey. “You have to reduce the brain’s workload,” says Rosemarie Moser, PhD, lead author of a study on the benefits of complete rest following a concussion. The results appear in The Journal of Pediatrics. In preparing the report, Moser and her colleagues looked at the medical records of 49 high school and college-age students, ages 14 to 23 years, from April 2010 to September 2011. According to Moser, many doctors are not experienced in the treatment of concussion, and often tell patients to go home and rest. “The problem is, everyone defines rest differently,” she says. “What we are calling for is comprehensive rest.” For more information, click here to read the full article.
Neurosurgeon to Speak on Achieving Improved Health Outcomes at Dreamforce Conference
Friday, September 14, 2012 9:49
University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) neurosurgeon Mitchel S. Berger, MD, FAANS, FACS, has operated on nearly 4,000 brains in 28 years and compares it to walking through a minefield. “There are so many things that can get tripped off,” says Berger, who is chair of the UCSF Department of Neurological Surgery and director of the UCSF Brain Tumor Center, as well as president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), and also serves on the National Football League’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee. “The brain doesn’t have signposts.” To improve neural navigation, he pioneered two brain-mapping techniques to help avoid damage to motor, language and sensory functions, transforming approaches to tumor surgery. Berger will be among the UCSF physicians and scientists to lead sessions at Dreamforce 2012 on Thursday, Sept. 20, at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The theme: “Innovating to Improve Health Outcomes.” For more information, click here to read the full article.
NFL’s Detroit Lions Support Concussion Awareness Bill in Michigan Legislature
Thursday, September 13, 2012 15:42
Legislation aimed at raising awareness of and protecting young athletes from concussions continues to advance in the state of Michigan, backed by the NFL’s Detroit Lions and other groups. The bill has been unanimously approved by the House Health Policy Committee and now moves to the House floor. A version of the legislation already has been approved by the Michigan Senate. The new legislation would require the Michigan Department of Community Health to develop educational materials on the nature and risk of concussions, as well as a training program for concussion awareness. The information would be made available on the agency’s website, https://www.michigan.gov/mdch. In addition, the bill would require medical evaluation of suspected concussions and written medical clearance before an athlete could return to practice or competition — this would apply to participants in school or community-based athletics. For more information, click here to read the full article.