Newsline — Monday, June 25, 2012 8:00
Discovery of Cellular Mechanism for Growth of Meningioma Could Lead to New Treatments
AAN Issues New Guideline for Treating Infantile Spasms
Friday, June 22, 2012 10:01
An updated guideline from the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) outlines the best treatments for infantile spasms — a rare type of seizure that can occur in infants and young children. The guideline was co-developed with the Child Neurology Society. It appears in the June 12, 2012, print issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Infantile spasms is a disorder that usually occurs in infants ages four to six months. The spasms are a type of seizure consisting of a sudden bending forward of the body with stiffening of the arms and legs or arching of the back while the arms and legs are extended. Infantile spasms rarely respond to the usual anti-seizure medications. Most children who suffer from infantile spasms have developmental disabilities later in life. For more information, click here to read the full release.
One Woman’s Struggle to Recover from Traumatic Brain Injury
Thursday, June 21, 2012 10:52
Andrea Briggs was critically injured in a car accident on July 26, 2011, at which point she became one of the estimated 1.7 million people per year to suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Since then, Andrea’s family has been helping her to reclaim her life. The 20-year-old is relearning how to walk, speak and write, and her memory is improving daily. She hopes to return to college and live independently again. For more information, click here to read the full article from MSNBC and view accompanying videos of Andrea’s recovery.
Chinese Meditation Has Positive Impact on White Matter of Brain
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 14:15
Researchers at Texas Tech University who have been studying integrative body-mind training (IBMT) — the Chinese mindfulness meditation – say they have confirmed and expanded on changes in the structural efficiency of white matter in the brain, which can be related to positive behavioral changes in subjects who practice the technique for a month and a minimum of 11 hours, in total. According to the online early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists Yi-Yuan Tang, PhD, of Texas Tech and Michael Posner, PhD, of the University of Oregon reported that improved mood changes coincided with increased brain-signaling connections. In addition, they found an expansion of myelin, the protective fatty tissue that surrounds the nerves, in the brain’s anterior cingulate region. For more information, click here to read the full release.
University of Miami Neurological Surgery Team Wins Charity Softball Tournament
Wednesday, June 20, 2012 10:08
Twenty-eight teams of neurosurgeons from some of the top medical institutions in the U.S. and Canada competed on June 9 at the 9th Annual Neurosurgery Charity Softball Tournament in New York City. The champion was the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Neurological Surgery. With victories over Johns Hopkins University, Dartmouth College, Cornell University, University of South Florida, University of Pittsburgh and, finally, a 5-4 win over the Barrow Neurological Institute, the Miller School team went undefeated. It was led by Ricardo Komotar, MD, assistant professor of neurological surgery, and Allan Levi, MD, PhD, professor of neurological surgery. Hosted by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the event raised funds for brain tumor research through the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation (NREF) of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). For more information, click here to read the full release.
AANS Member Dr. Eve Tsai Named One of 25 Women of Influence
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 13:00
Neurosurgeon Eve C. Tsai, MD, PhD, FAANS, recently appeared on the cover of Women of Influence Magazine’s inaugural Top 25 Women of Influence issue. When she’s not practicing medicine at The Ottawa Hospital in Ontario, Canada, Dr. Tsai is doing research on spinal cord injury (her primary area of interest) or mentoring students. Dr. Tsai is active on both the AANS Neurosurgeon editorial board and Women in Neurosurgery (WINS), for which she is president-elect. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Protective Headgear Causes Controversy in Girls’ Soccer
Tuesday, June 19, 2012 10:33
Given the growing concussion crisis in girls’ soccer, some families are choosing to purchase their children with headgear that claims to prevent concussions. Experts are questioning whether said headgear gives athletes and their families a false sense of security. For more information, click here to view the full report from NBC’s “Rock Center.”
Study Shows Positive Results of Exercise in Alleviating Neuropathic Pain
Monday, June 18, 2012 8:00
An experimental study suggests that exercise may help to alleviate pain due to nerve damage (neuropathic pain) by reducing levels of certain inflammation-promoting factors. The research – led by author Yu-Wen Chen, PhD, of China Medical University in Taichung, Taiwan – appears in the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, the official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). Study results support exercise as a potentially useful non-drug treatment for neuropathic pain, indicating that it may work by reducing inflammation-promoting substances called cytokines. For more information, click here to read the full release.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Researchers Uncover New Treatment Option for Drug-Resistant Brain Tumor
Friday, June 15, 2012 13:00
New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison explains why glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the incurable brain cancer, is highly resistant to current chemotherapies. The study – which hails from the brain-tumor research lab of John Kuo, MD, assistant professor of neurological surgery and human oncology at UW School of Medicine and Public Health – also reports success for a combination therapy that knocks out signaling of multiple members of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) family in brain-cancer cells. For more information, click here to read the full release.
Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation Impacts Ability to Learn New Walking Patterns
Friday, June 15, 2012 8:00
In a move to improve rehabilitation for patients with walking impairments, researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute have discovered that non-invasive stimulation of the cerebellum – an area of the brain that’s essential in adaptive learning – helped healthy individuals learn a new walking pattern more quickly. The findings indicate that cerebellar transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may be a valuable therapy tool to aid people who are relearning how to walk after suffering from a stroke or other brain injury. Previous studies in the lab of Amy Bastian, PhD, PT, director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Kennedy Krieger Institute, have shown that the cerebellum – a part of the brain involved in movement coordination – is necessary for walking adaptation. In this new study, Dr. Bastian and her colleagues investigated the impact of stimulation over the cerebellum on adaptive learning of a new walking pattern. In particular, her team tested how anode (positive), cathode (negative) and sham (none) stimulation affected this learning process. For more information, click here to read the full release.