A new study from U-M and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System shows that veterans with PTSD who completed a mindfulness-based group treatment plan showed a significant reduction in symptoms as compared to patients who underwent treatment as normal.
The study was presented last week at a conference on “Memorial Days and Other Days,” sponsored by the University of Haifa’s International Center for the Study of Loss, Bereavement and Human Resilience .
A Saint Louis University associate professor of pediatrics offers parents advice on how to answer difficult questions about the Boston Marathon bombing.
A disaster or tragedy is unexpected and often brings out strong emotions. The Disaster Distress Helpline 1-800-985-5990 can provide immediate counseling to anyone who needs help in dealing with the tragedy in Boston. The Helpline is a 24 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week resource that responds to people who need crisis counseling after experiencing a natural or man-made disaster or tragedy.
While the public today is better educated and aware of the risks of brain injuries, March – also known as National Brain Injury Awareness Month - is a good time to educate ourselves and others that suspected head injuries, especially concussions, shouldn’t be ignored, say Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) experts.
Considerable opportunity exists to improve interventions and outcomes of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in older adults, according to three studies published in the recent online issue of NeuroRehabilitation by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Researchers at UAB found that only 1 in 5 veterans reported receiving brain injury education while serving in the military. The researchers, whose findings were published this week in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, believe a lack of accurate knowledge could lead to misdiagnosis or misinterpretation due to the many symptoms that can overlap among brain injury and other conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and chronic pain.
With more than one million athletes now experiencing a concussion each year in the United States, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has released an evidence-based guideline for evaluating and managing athletes with concussion. This new guideline replaces the 1997 AAN guideline on the same topic. The new guideline is published in the March 18, 2013, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, was developed through an objective evidence-based review of the literature by a multidisciplinary committee of experts and has been endorsed by a broad range of athletic, medical and patient groups.
Brain imaging soon after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or mild concussion can detect tiny lesions that may eventually provide a target for treating people with mTBI, according to a study released today and that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013.
Although peripheral neuropathies afflict some 20 million Americans, their underlying causes are not completely understood. Now, scientists have shown that damage to energy factories in Schwann cells, which grow alongside neurons and enable nerve signals to travel from the spinal cord to the tips of the fingers and toes, may play a central role.
Concussions can occur in sports and in combat, but health experts do not know precisely which jolts, collisions and awkward head movements during these activities pose the greatest risks to the brain. To find out, Johns Hopkins engineers have developed a powerful new computer-based process that helps identify the dangerous conditions that lead to concussion-related brain injuries. This approach could lead to new medical treatment options and some sports rule changes to reduce brain trauma among players.
Nearly one in four women (23 %) newly diagnosed with breast cancer reported symptoms consistent with PTSD shortly after diagnosis, with increased risk among black and Asian women. Led by the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center; the study has been e-published in the JNCI.
New study suggests that exposure to diverse types of traumatic events among protective services workers is a risk factor for new onset of psychopathology and alcohol use disorders.
One in three people who survived stays in an intensive care unit (ICU) and required use of a mechanical ventilator showed substantial post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms that lasted for up to two years, according to a new Johns Hopkins study of patients with acute lung injury.
In the weeks, months and years after a severe head injury, patients often experience epileptic seizures that are difficult to control. A new study in rats suggests that gently cooling the brain after injury may prevent these seizures.
About two out of every three children will experience at least one traumatic event before they turn 18. Despite this high rate of exposure, little is known about the effectiveness of treatments aimed at preventing and relieving traumatic stress symptoms that children may experience after such events, according to researchers at RTI International, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, the RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center and the Boston Medical Center.
A study by psychiatrists with University of Iowa Health Care finds that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) have measurable abnormalities in the white matter of their brains when compared to returning veterans who have not experienced TBI.
Traumatic injury – including car accidents, gunshot wounds, and stabbings – is the leading cause of death for people younger than 40 years old in the United States, but despite the toll of these injuries, few emergency medical interventions considered to be the standard of care for these injuries have been rigorously studied in clinical trials, because patients and their families are typically unable to consent to participate in research. A new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania sought to examine peoples’ willingness to be enrolled in these types of studies under the federal provisions that allow patients with time-sensitive illnesses and injuries to be part of clinical trials without their express consent. The study revealed that those surveyed expressed high levels of approval and willingness to be part of these types of trials, both for themselves and their family members and friends.
Visual symptoms and abnormalities occur at high rates in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)—including Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans with blast-related TBI, reports a study, “Abnormal Fixation in Individuals with AMD when Viewing an Image of a Face”, in the February issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
For the first time, UCLA researchers have used a brain-imaging tool to identify the abnormal tau proteins associated with sports concussion in five retired National Football League players who are still living. Previously, confirmation of the presence of this protein could only be established by an autopsy. Follow-up studies will help determine the impact and usefulness of identifying these proteins early.
Researchers are making new strides in understanding the health consequences and treatment and rehabilitation needs of combat veterans and other service members affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI). The January-February issue of The Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America, is a special issue devoted to new research in military TBI. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
• 65% of stroke survivors with PTSD, vs. 33% of those without PTSD, failed to adhere to treatment.
• Nonadherence in PTSD patients was partially explained by increased ambivalence toward medication.
• About one-third of stroke survivors with PTSD viewed medications as disruptions to their lives, worried about long-term effects of medications or potential dependence on them.
When initial computed tomography (CT) scans show bleeding within the brain after mild head injury, decisions about repeated CT scans should be based on the patient's neurological condition, according to a report in the January issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health.
The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS) has developed two new resources to assist individuals, professionals and community leaders in the wake of tragedies, like the recent school shooting in Connecticut.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) among children in China are a growing public health concern. Two new studies by researchers of the International Program at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Wuhan Children’s Hospital in China examined pediatric TBIs that were treated at Wuhan Children’s Hospital from 2002 to 2011.
In the aftermath of the horrendous school shooting in Newtown, Conn., many parents and caregivers may wonder how, or even whether, to discuss such a traumatic event with their children.
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center experts urge parents to do so soon after the event, to be honest, yet comforting and to listen to their children.
In the wake of the recent Newtown, Connecticut, massacre that left 27 victims dead, including 20 elementary school students, the American Sociological Association (ASA) has sociologists available to discuss school shootings and how families and communities recover from these types of tragedies.
Financial cost attached to the top 12 trauma injuries at the holiday time will amaze many, says Thomas Esposito, MD, chief, trauma center, Loyola University Health System.
With more than a half million burns requiring medical intervention each year, scientists at Ohio State think they may have found a way to reduce the severity of burns by as much as fifty percent by applying a form of vitamin E within the first few hours after an injury.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center have found that a special magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique may be able to predict which patients who have experienced concussions will improve. The results, which were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), suggest that, in some patients, the brain may change to compensate for the damage caused by the injury.
Early after trauma, changes in blood lactate over time, defined as lactate clearance, provide additional information predicting mortality in trauma patients according to a study from the December issue of Anesthesiology.
Although approved for use for treating traumatic brain injury (TBI) in nearly 60 countries, use of citicoline in a randomized trial that included more than 1,200 participants with TBI did not result in improvement in functional and cognitive status.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico are comparing supercomputer simulations of blast waves on the brain with clinical studies of veterans suffering from mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) to help improve helmet designs.
New study shows a compound produced naturally by marine algae, stimulated nerve cell growth and plasticity in cultured mouse neurons. This research advances a potentially new pharmacological treatment to aid recovery of brain function following a stroke or other traumatic brain injury.
The use of helmets by skiers and snowboarders decreases the risk and severity of head injuries and saves lives, new Johns Hopkins-led research suggests. The findings debunk long-held beliefs by some that the use of helmets gives athletes a false sense of security and promotes dangerous behavior that might increase injuries.
As the nation marks Veteran’s Day to honor those who have served their country, it’s important to remember that many soldiers battle mental health conditions such as anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression long after they return from combat.
Mayo Clinic and collaborators, including the Departments of Health in Minnesota and Iowa, Regional Health in South Dakota and Sanford Health in North Dakota, have received a $2.2 million federal grant to test new ways to provide specialized TBI care, with a focus on reaching rural areas and underserved urban populations.
Virginia Tech researchers extracted 1,396 incidents of rear-end collisions from a national database and looked at them on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the intelligent vehicle systems being studied would have been called into play and, if so, how they would have helped. The research showed that 7.7 percent of crashes would be prevented by use of all three systems – warning, assisted braking, and autonomous braking.
Research presented at the 2012 ACS Annual Clinical Congress identify preventable reasons why young pedestrians are struck by motor vehicles and injury severity differences among children, seniors