Articles Posted in Brain Injury

Brain injuries can occur anywhere. In Miami, car accidents, workplace injuries, slip and fall accidents, and other incidents can all lead to brain trauma. These injuries can cause cognitive problems, memory loss, vision challenges, and even mobility issues, among other symptoms. According to a new study, however, a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can also be linked to juvenile incarceration.

The new study, published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, has found that about half of teens between the ages of 16 to 18 newly admitted to jail in New York City were found to have a history of brain trauma. As part of the study, about 84 female and 300 male inmates were evaluated for TBI in 2012. About 55% of the TBI came from assault, according to the study. Researchers concluded that the rate of injuries among the juvenile group was considerably higher than the rate of TBI among the general population of teens. The rate of brain injury was also higher than researchers had predicted.

Although scientists noted that more studies need to be done, the research does suggest that one of the effects of brain injury in Miami and other communities could lead to personality changes and other long-term effects.

Statistics already show that brain injury is a huge problem. About 162 out of 100 000 hospitalizations for people under the age of 24 were for brain injury between 2009 and 2010. About 4,064 out of 100,000 emergency room visits for the same age group were related to brain injury. The latest study could suggest that more needs to be done to ensure that youth get correct diagnosis and support after suffering a serious head injury, since misdiagnosis in Miami and lack of access to care could have serious and long-term consequences.

Right now, scientists have noted an alarming increase in the number of brain injuries among youth. In addition, scientists have found that after a concussion young patients suffer from emotional and cognitive changes. Most patients can recover from these symptoms, but repeated concussions and injuries can lead to long-term injury and consequences. Unfortunately, since there are still so many questions about brain injuries and so much that is not known, it is possible that children are misdiagnosed or not given the help they need unless they show obvious symptoms of head injury. This can mean that the rate of TBI among youth may be underreported.

There is more research available about adult TBI survivors than about youthful patients. In adults, serious brain injury has been linked to decision-making issues, cognitive challenges, memory loss, aggression, emotional disorders, and other serious consequences.

Researchers of the latest study caution against making assumptions and especially point out that no link can be made between traumatic brain injury and a propensity for criminal behavior. However, they do note that their findings suggest that youth have a higher rate of TBI than previously thought and that more needs to be done to understand and treat this injury. They also note that a minor who has suffered a serious injury as a result of assault and then undergoes the additional trauma of incarceration may need additional support and even medical treatment to prevent further trauma.

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Brain injury patients in Miami and other cities often face serious and long-term consequences as a result of their injuries. Some patients, for example, face mobility or memory problems while others have their cognitive issues. Now, researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, University of the Negev, and Charité-University Medicine have found a new option that might eventually help people who develop epilepsy after brain injury.

Epilepsy is not an uncommon problem for patients who have been in a car accident in Miami or other city or have otherwise suffered a serious brain injury. In fact, one tenth to one fifth of epilepsy cases result from traumatic brain injury.

The new research was conducted on rats and found that a medication known as Cozaar or losartan could help prevent epileptic attacks in some cases. For patients who already have epilepsy, the medication could help prevent further brain damage. Currently, Cozaar is an FDA-approved medicine used to treat high blood pressure and has not yet been approved for brain injury or epileptic patients. Researchers will need to conduct further animal trials before conducting human testing. Human testing may start within a few years and the drug already seems promising for treating epilepsy in brain trauma cases.

Researchers are excited by the new study, since treatment options may be limited for brain injury patients who have suffered epilepsy as a result of head trauma. Right now, patients who have seizures and other issues related to epilepsy after being in a motorcycle accident in Miami or another accident are usually given medication to treat symptoms. That medication can cause serious side effects and does not eliminate epilepsy. The new drug therapy, if it is shown effective, has the potential to stop the development of epilepsy after a concussion or head trauma and it may have fewer side effects when compared with current treatments.

In the study, about 60 percent of rats given Cozaar failed to develop any seizures after a traumatic brain injury, where all rats would usually develop epilepsy. Even in the 40 percent of rats that did experience seizures, researchers noted that rats given the drug had about one-quarter the number of seizures common with rats not given any drug therapy. The rats only needed the medication for about three weeks after the injury to prevent the development of seizures.

The drug may work because it enters the blood-brain barrier, which can become disrupted in a traumatic brain injury. In a health person, the blood-brain barrier keeps any dangerous bacteria or drugs from entering the brain and it prevents any brain chemicals from entering the blood. After a serious brain injury, this layer of protection can be disrupted, according to researchers, and this can lead to the development of epilepsy.

Researchers have developed an MRI protocol to diagnose whether the blood-brain barrier has been compromised so that patients can be given drug therapy right away to prevent the development of seizures. According to the researchers, the blood-brain barrier will heal within a few weeks, so the medication should be administered quickly after the injury and should to only be administered for a short while.

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Brain injury patients in Homestead and other communities often work hard to recover from their injuries. Even with drug treatments, rehabilitation therapy, and other options, however, some patients recover at different levels of success. Now, a new study suggests that one of the factors that could affect recovery is education.

The study, from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found that patients with a college education may be more resilient to brain trauma and injury. Researchers concluded that patients with more education were more likely to recover from a traumatic brain injury, and the more years of education a patient had the more likely that patient was to recover. The study found that people with a college education were four times as likely to return to work or everyday activities with no disability one year after the injury when compared with patients who had not finished highs school.

Other studies have also found that higher education could help create a better “cognitive reserve” which could help patients compensate for damage to the brain. Some have also suggested that education expands and changes the brain, making a patient better able to cope with changes and difficulties by adapting more readily. Other researchers have found that patients with Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases also had a better chance of better recovery or better outcomes if they had a college education.

Brain injury patients who have been injured in a car accident or slip and fall accident in Homestead or another community, in other words, may have a better chance of recovering more fully from their injuries if their brains were already made more adaptable and strong with education.

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine reached their conclusions by looking at the medical records of 769 brain injury patients who had sustained a moderate or severe injury when they were over 22 years of age. After one year, 28% of the patients in the study were able to return to work or their regular activities with no disability. Of these recovered patients, 39% had a college degree, 31% had some college education, and only 10% had no high school diploma.

Researchers agree that more needs to be done to study the effects of education on the brain. In some ways, the study, while interesting, raises many questions. For example, does formal education alone provide the beneficial effects seen in the study, or could non-traditional forms of learning help as well? If someone is injured in a traffic collision in Homestead or another city and only then starts to study and learn, could that be enough to improve their chances of recovery?

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Some new information has shed some light on brain injuries and may help personal injury patients in Hollywood and across the country. For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have released new guidelines and a new report about preventing brain injuries in children. According to the new data, targeting the cause of brain injuries in newborns could be an important step in preventing brain injury. While past guidelines asked doctor to look at lack of oxygen at birth as a cause of brain injury, the new guidelines ask doctors to examine all possible causes.

Doctors have focused on lack of oxygen during birth because it is a common cause of birth injury in Hollywood and other communities, leading to brain injury. However, according to the new report, there may be more causes of brain injury among children than previously thought and some of those causes may occur before labor and delivery. By considering a wider range of causes, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists hope to prevent brain injury among newborns in the future.

By asking doctors to consider brain injury more closely, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists hope to also uncover some brain injuries that may not be noticed right away. With current guidelines, the report claims, some mild cases of brain injury in newborns are not detected. Newer technology in brain imaging as well as closer examination by doctors could help detect these mild cases of injury.

In addition to the guidelines by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a news report by CBS4 has uncovered a treatment being used by veterans in order to deal with mild traumatic brain injuries. According to the report, the veterans are using what is known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which involves placing a patient in a hyperbaric chamber for sessions that can be an hour long. The chamber is essentially a decompression chamber, typically used by divers who inhale 100 percent oxygen during their treatments.

Although the Food And Drug Administration has not approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy for traumatic brain injury, the treatment is legal and has been approved for 13 other uses. Some veterans report good results from the therapy. Some doctors have stated that the treatment may work because the oxygen allows for the growth of new blood vessels in an area of the brain where tissue has been wounded. They have noted a high rate of improvement among treated patients, but studies conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs have not found the therapy to help Marines who had mild traumatic brain injuries.

Since the therapy is not approved by the FDA, the treatment is not currently covered for brain injury patients in Hollywood or any other community. However, there are plans to conduct clinical trials at Fort Carson in order to determine whether this treatment could be effective for veterans.

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