Brain Injury Lawyer - New York

Can cinnamon extract prevent cell death following a traumatic brain injury?

The United States Department of Agriculture reports on new research being conducting on the use of cinnamon extracts to prevent cell death following a traumatic brain injury.

According the department, the researchers have reported findings that the cinnamon compounds studied prevented isolated brain cells from swelling, one of the many abnormal conditions resulting from traumatic brain injury and stroke due to impaired blood flow to the brain.

The scientists used isolated glial cells—cells that support essential elements of neural tissue found in the brain and spinal cord—and put them in a culture solution. When the cell cultures were deprived of oxygen and glucose for five hours, the researchers measured the function of the mitochondrial inner membrane in the glial cells. They found a nearly 40 percent decline in the mitochondrial membrane potential due to the lack of oxygen and glucose.

The researchers then exposed some of the cells to a cinnamon extract, while other cells served as “nonexposed” controls. The reduction in the membrane potential was alleviated in the presence of the cinnamon extract.

Ninety minutes later, the researchers measured volume of the glial cells. They found that cell volume among the oxygen- and glucose-deprived cells had increased by more than 34 percent. But this increased swelling was absent in the presence of cinnamon polyphenol extract at the highest level tested.

Because neuroglial cell swelling can contribute to further neuronal injury, the study indicates that further animal-model research is warranted, according to the authors. The researchers caution that table cinnamon compounds may accumulate in the body and should not be ingested consistently as more than a spice over long periods of time.

The study was published this year in Experimental Neurology.

60 Minutes to Look at Alarming New Research on the Longterm Effects of Concussions and Head Trauma

60 minutes is scheduled to air a segment this Sunday at 7 PM (eastern standard time)  on the most recent research linking repeated concussions with a condition known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

The condition, destroys brain tissue and causes dementia.  According to neuropathologists who have investigated this condition, the only known cause is trauma.  While most commonly found in the brains of boxers, recent autopsy findings show that the condition is also found in the brains of retired football players and other sports figures who have routinely sustained multiple concussions.

The Sports Legacy Institute has been instrumental in bringing this new research to the public's attention.

You can watch a short video preview of the CBS segment A Blow to the Head.

When are CT scans necessary for children in the emergency room?

More than one-fifth of children who receive CT scans following head trauma don't need them, researchers found in an article published this week in The Lancet.

Previous studies have suggested that CT scans were being overused for pediatric head trauma, but they were subject to various limitations, including small sample size and lack of validation or independent assessment in children younger than 2, according to the researchers.

Using 33,785 children, the researchers developed rules for classifying children as low risk. These children would not need CT scans.

Older children are considered low-risk if they have normal mental status, no loss of consciousness, no vomiting, no signs of basilar skull fracture, and no severe headache, and did not sustain their injury in a serious accident.

Because children younger than 2 are generally unable to communicate their symptoms, are more sensitive to the effects of radiation, and have different mechanisms of injury, the researchers said, they needed slightly different rules.

Those who had normal mental status, no scalp swelling except frontal, no loss of consciousness more than five seconds, and no palpable skull fracture, and were acting normally according to the parents and sustained their injury in a non-severe way were classified as low risk.

Interestingly, in an accompanying editorial, an important observation was made.  If these rules were followed, there would actually be more CT scans performed on children with head trauma than is being presently accomplished.

Watching You Tube May Provide Link to Detecting Brain Damage

Brain injury researchers at the University of Kentucky have spent hundreds of hours watching YouTube videos of people getting smacked, punched and knocked in the head during sporting events and recreational activities.  The team was collecting data to document a visible, involuntary response to head trauma. The researchers claim that their  findings could have immediate value in helping coaches make educated, objective decisions about whether to return an athlete to play after a blow to the head.

The response is  dubbed the "fencing response," as a forearm posture that resembles the en garde position in competitive sword fighting. It also can appear as a defensive boxing pose. The fencing response – which has also been observed in rats under experimental conditions – indicates damage to blood vessels and neurons in a critical brainstem region that controls balance.
 
In the course of their research, the team reviewed some 2,000 "knockout" videos on YouTube, eventually narrowing their sample to three dozen that showed moderate-to-severe impacts to the head, where the person receiving the blow did not immediately get up. Of those, two-thirds exhibited a clear fencing response. The response was noted particularly in football and mixed martial art and frequently  takes place before the player even hits the ground.

Moderate-to-severe head trauma can cause permanent brain damage or death if ignored by medical staff. Unfortunately, sometimes these injuries are not readily apparent. The fencing response provides an immediate visual cue that could help injured players get the attention they need..

It should be noted that the response is not universal. The absence of a fencing response should not be taken as a sign that no injury has occurred.

The findings were published Aug. 18 in the journal,  Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Injectable Gel May Help Brain Tissue Regenerate

An injectable biomaterial gel may help brain tissue grow at the site of a traumatic brain injury, according to findings by a Clemson University bioengineer which were presented on Wednesday, at the Military Research Forum in Kansas City. The conference is geared toward improving the overall health and welfare of the U.S. armed forces, their families, veterans and the American public.

The research findings show that the biomaterial gel made up of both synthetic and natural sources has the potential to spur the growth of a patient's own neural stem cells in the body, structurally repairing the brain injury site.

The researchers predict the procedure may be ready for human testing in about three years.

New York City Brain Injury Research Symposium Announced

A one day symposium exploring cutting edge research on the brain and brain injury has been announced by the Brain Injury Association of New York State in conjunction with NYU-Hospital for Join Diseases.

The brain injury conference is scheduled to be held on December 4th from 9 AM to 4 PM at the Hospital for Joint Diseases conference center.

Some of the topics intended to be covered at the conference include:

• New Understanding of TBI Pathophysiology
• Evidence based approaches to cognitive remediation
• Treatment modalities for TBI related spasticity
• Mechanisms of blast related TBI
• Sports related concussion assessment and treatment
• Utility of eye tracking in mild TBI
• Pharmacological treatment of TBI related cognitive and behavioral problems
• New radiology assessments for TBI

More information on the conference can be obtained from the Brain Injury Association of New York State

Artificial Brain: Read More

According to the director of the Blue Brain Project, a detailed, functional artificial brain can be built within the next ten years.

The Blue Brain Project was launched in 2005 at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and aims to create a brain from laboratory date.  The project now has a software model of tens of thousands of neurons each one of which is different and allows the construction of a cortical column.  The team has already simulated elements of a rat brain.

You can review the entire speech by the director of the blue brain project and several videos from the conference.  Thanks to the Dana Foundation, Brain in the News for this tip.

Brain Surgery Without Opening The Skull

Recent advances in neurosurgery now permit some types of brain surgery to be performed using ultra sonic waves without ever cutting open the skull.

This new type of neurosurgery is reported in the recent issue of the Annals of Neurology and more information can be obtained from the post at Fast Company.

NIH Launches the Human Connectome Project to Unravel the Brain’s Connections

The National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research is launching a $30 million project that will use cutting-edge brain imaging technologies to map the circuitry of the healthy adult human brain. By systematically collecting brain imaging data from hundreds of subjects, the Human Connectome Project (HCP) will yield insight into how brain connections underlie brain function, and will open up new lines of inquiry for human neuroscience.

Investigators have been invited to submit detailed proposals to carry out the HCP, which will be funded at up to $6 million per year for five years. The HCP is the first of three Blueprint Grand Challenges, projects that address major questions and issues in neuroscience research.

The Blueprint Grand Challenges are intended to promote major leaps in the understanding of brain function, and in approaches for treating brain disorders. The three Blueprint Grand Challenges to be launched in 2009 and 2010 address:

• The connectivity of the adult, human brain
• Targeted drug development for neurological diseases
• The neural basis of chronic pain disorders

Read more about the human brain project.

Deadly medical mistakes on the increase

An important series highlighting the alarming increase in medical errors began yesterday in the Hearst newspapers including the Albany Times Union.  The story entitled, Dead By Mistake is an in depth look at preventable medical malpractice in the United States today.

According the to article, experts estimate that a staggering 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year. More Americans die each month of preventable medical injuries than died in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In addition, a federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study concluded that 99,000 patients a year succumb to hospital-acquired infections. Almost all of those deaths, experts say, also are preventable.

These numbers are not absolutes. There is no definitive study -- which is part of the problem -- but all available research indicates that the death toll from preventable medical injuries approaches 200,000 per year in the United States.

Many of these medical errors lead to irreversible brain damage.  Medical errors causing brain injury are something that we are familiar with at De Caro & Kaplen, LLP.  If you loved one or yourself is a victim of medical negligence we may be able to assist you.

Read the entire Dead by Mistake special report, with additional stories, photos, videos, maps and database of hospital errors.

Let's hope that the current discussion in Washington, DC concerning medical insurance reform includes proposals to deal with this health crisis in American hospitals.  Controlling health care costs must include controlling medical errors which increase the health care bill for all of us.