Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA / 17.11.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55977" align="alignleft" width="142"]Tara L Sharma DO Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at UWMC Seattle, WA 98133 Dr. Sharma[/caption] Tara L Sharma DO Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurology at UWMC Seattle, WA 98133 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Flying can lead to reduced oxygen partial pressures and cerebral blood flow causing worsening clinical outcome in cases of moderate to severe TBI; however, not much is known regarding the clinical consequences of flying in individuals with concussion or mild TBI. Because many athletes suffer concussions during games, it is necessary to know if flying afterward may potentially hinder their ability to return to play. Overall, we found no associated between air travel and increased symptom severity in both our entire cohort and the subset of football players.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, JAMA / 25.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55471" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr-Maria Gabriela Figueiro Longo Dr. Figueiro LongoTBI[/caption] Maria Gabriela Figueiro Longo, MD, MSc Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Transcranial low-level light therapy (3LT) has been shown to be effective in animal models of traumatic brain injury. Our goal was to assess the 3LT in humans with acute TBI. We tested (1) safety, and (2) any effect in the brain in a measurable way. We found positive results for both - there was no event adverse during the trial related to the 3LT; and we found some differences in the brain MRI diffusivity parameters in the patients who received light therapy compared to the sham group. The study was not powered for clinical evaluation, although there was a trend towards lower symptom burden in the treated group.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA / 16.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_55382" align="alignleft" width="200"]Susan Rowell MD, MBA, MCR Associate Professor, Department of Surgery Division of Trauma, Acute & Critical Care Surgery Duke University School of Medicine Durham, NC 27710 Dr. Rowell[/caption] Susan Rowell MD, MBA, MCR Associate Professor, Department of Surgery Division of Trauma, Acute & Critical Care Surgery Duke University School of Medicine Durham, NC 27710 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Tranexamic acid (TXA) has been increasingly used in trauma patients since publication of the CRASH-2 trial in 2010 demonstrated a survival benefit for patients at risk for traumatic hemorrhage. Subsequently, it was shown that the earlier TXA was administered, the better the outcome. There had been several small studies suggesting that TXA may also be beneficial in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), however, an adequate prospective randomized trial was needed. In this trial we randomized over 1000 patients with moderate and severe TBI as early as possible after injury (by paramedics in the prehospital setting an average of 42 minutes after injury) to either a 1-gram TXA bolus followed by a 1-gram 8-hour TXA infusion (the dose typically used for trauma patients), a 2-gram TXA bolus only (a logistically easier route of administration requiring no maintenance infusion), or placebo only.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Cognitive Issues, Depression, Mental Health Research / 15.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_54866" align="alignleft" width="160"]Dr. Steve Erickson, MD Concussion expert at Banner University Medicine Neuroscience Institute Dr. Erickson[/caption] Dr. Steve Erickson, MD Concussion Expert at Banner University Medicine Neuroscience Institute Dr. Erikson discusses the recent Neurology publication associating repetitive head impacts with depression. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The study compared depression and cognitive function of adults (middle aged and older) who have had repetitive head impacts (RHI) and/or TBI to adults without a history of these.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, Pediatrics / 05.03.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53400" align="alignleft" width="160"]Robert F. Heary, M.D. Co-Director, Reynolds Family Spine Laboratory Director, Spine Center of New Jersey Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Newark, New Jersey Robert F. Heary, M.D.
Co-Director, Reynolds Family Spine Laboratory
Director, Spine Center of New Jersey
Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Newark, New Jersey[/caption] Robert F. Heary, M.D. Co-Director, Reynolds Family Spine Laboratory Director, Spine Center of New Jersey Professor, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Newark, New Jersey MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This article was written to assess the relative danger versus safety of youth football.  As this is a hot-button topic in the world of neurosurgery and neurology, we decided to look into this issue. In a suburban town, middle school football players were studied.  They wore helmets with accelerometers mounted inside the hemet to measure how many hits the player absorbs and the magnitude of the force behind the hits.  Also, soft “guardian caps” we worn over the outside of the helmets during practices. For all football activities (practices and games), the helmets were worn and data were accumulated.  In addition, specialized coaching related to safe tackling techniques was provided.
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Pediatrics, UCSF / 08.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52671" align="alignleft" width="179"]Benjamin N. Breyer MD, MAS, FACS Associate Professor Departments of Urology and Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California, San Francisco Dr. Breyer[/caption] Benjamin N. Breyer MD, MAS, FACS Associate Professor Departments of Urology and Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of California, San Francisco Vice-Chair of Urology Chief of Urology, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center Director, UCSF Male Genitourinary Reconstruction and Trauma Surgery Fellowship MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There has been a large increase in upright scooter usage among adults as a mode of transportation. It's convenient for commuters and may encourage greater use of public transit leading to less car traffic in cities.
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Medical Imaging, UCSF / 06.01.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52640" align="alignleft" width="180"]William G. Mantyh, MD Clinical Fellow, UCSF Memory and Aging Center Weill Institute for Neurosciences UCSF Dr. Mantyh[/caption] William G. Mantyh, MD Clinical Fellow, UCSF Memory and Aging Center Weill Institute for Neurosciences UCSF MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Similar to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementing illnesses, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition associated with abnormally folded tau protein in the brain. CTE is thought to be caused by exposure to repetitive head trauma, and recently has been the subject of intense media coverage given the frequency of CTE found in brains of deceased former American professional football players. CTE is almost impossible to confidently diagnose during life as the symptoms are diverse and vary from patient-to-patient. Symptoms can include impairments in memory, multi-tasking, behavioral/mood regulation, and movement. As there are no blood, imaging, or other tests for this disease, one active area of research is developing a test to help doctors diagnose this condition. As tau tangles in CTE are similar in many respects to those in Alzheimer’s disease, there was hope that PET tracers that detect tau in AD might also work in CTE. Flortaucipir (FTP) is probably the most widely used tau tracer in AD. Recent work has reported some signal from FTP-PET in symptomatic former NFL players and other patients at risk for CTE (Stern et al. New Engl Jour Med 2019; Lesman-Segev et al. Neuroimage Clinical 2019). The overall signal was lower than that observed in Alzheimer’s disease, and, in lieu of correlations with post-mortem findings, it was unclear how well FTP binds to tau pathology in CTE.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA / 18.12.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52509" align="alignleft" width="133"]John Breck, DO,  CAQSM Medical Services at University of Colorado, Boulder Dr. Breck[/caption] John Breck, DO,  CAQSM Medical Services at University of Colorado, Boulder MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: To date, most concussion research has focused on sport-related concussion, though it is known that a substantial number of concussions occur outside of participating in sport. Focusing solely on sport-related concussion may result in an underestimation of the underlying incidence and prevalence of concussion in the general population and leads to the widely held perception that most concussions are sport-related. An understudied population at risk for concussion are United States undergraduate college students. 
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury, Emergency Care, Pediatrics / 31.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51109" align="alignleft" width="160"]Linda Papa, MD Emergency Physicians of Central Florida Orlando Health Orlando, Florida Dr. Papa[/caption] Linda Papa, MD Emergency Physicians of Central Florida Orlando Health Orlando, Florida  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In 2018 serum biomarkers Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1) were FDA-approved in adults to detect abnormalities on CT scan in mild to moderate traumatic brain injury. However, they have not been approved to detect concussion and they have not been approved for use in children. Previous studies have focused on detecting lesions on CT in more severely injured patients. However, not having brain lesions on a CT scan does not mean there is no brain injury or concussion. Therefore, this study focused on patients with concussion who looked well and likely had normal-appearing CT scans of the brain. This study includes THREE groups of trauma patients:
  • 1) those with concussion,
  • 2) those who hit their head but had no symptoms (subconcussive), and
  • 3) those who injured their bones but did not hit their head (no concussion).
There is a group of individuals with head trauma who have been significantly understudied, and in whom biomarkers are rarely, if at all, examined. These are people who experience head trauma without symptoms of concussion. They may be classified as having “no injury” or they may represent milder forms of concussion that do not elicit the typical signs or symptoms associated with concussion and are referred to as “subconcussive” injuries. 
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Erectile Dysfunction, JAMA / 26.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51050" align="alignleft" width="200"]Rachel Grashow PhD Research Associate Department of Environmental Health Football Players Health Study at Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan Dr. Grashow[/caption] Rachel Grashow PhD Research Associate Department of Environmental Health Football Players Health Study at Harvard University Harvard T.H. Chan  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: It has been previously shown in small studies of boxers and military personnel that traumatic brain injuries can damage the pituitary gland, which serves as the "master controller" of hormone function in the brain. These studies on individuals at risk for repeated head injury found that hits on the head caused deficiencies in certain hormones, such as growth hormone and testosterone, which could have downstream effects on sexual function. Only one large study was conducted that used Taiwanese health insurance data and looked at single traumatic brain injuries and risk of erectile function (ED). In that study, men who experienced a single severe TBI were more than twice as like to report ED after their injury. In light of these findings, important questions remain regarding whether multiple head injuries are associated with pituitary or sexual dysfunction in a large population with other ED-related health issues. The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University asked former NFL players to fill out a questionnaire that interrogated demographic factors, football-related exposures and current health conditions. Specifically, we asked participants to self-report the frequency of ten different concussion symptoms experienced during professional play, as well as whether a clinician had ever recommended or prescribed medication for low testosterone or ED.  
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, Nature, Science / 11.08.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50651" align="alignleft" width="200"]Adnan Hirad, PhD MD Candidate, Medical Scientist Training Program University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry Dr. Hirad[/caption] Adnan Hirad, PhD MD Candidate, Medical Scientist Training Program University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Concussion is defined based on the manifestation of observable signs and symptoms (e.g., dizziness, difficulty with concentration, loss of consciousness, inter alia). A non-concussive head injury is when someone hits their head but does not exhibit the signs and symptoms of concussion -- IE concussion is defined by observable signs, and sub-concussive is defined as sustaining  head impacts similar (in magnitude and mechanism) to those sustained with concussion without observable signs and/or symptoms. These hits are a problem not only in football, but also with IED/bomb blasts experienced during war and potentially rugby. 
Abuse and Neglect, Brain Injury / 24.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50390" align="alignleft" width="128"]Fanny Lecuyer Giguère, PhD candidate Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC) Université de Montréal Fanny Lecuyer Giguere[/caption] Fanny Lecuyer Giguère, PhD candidate Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition (CERNEC) Université de Montréal MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Previous work on moderate-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) showed clear olfactory impairments (OI) months and years after the trauma. Within these impairments, hyposmia (partial loss of smell) and anosmia (total loss of smell) were the most described OI. Moreover, TBI patients with OI generally developed more long-term anxiety and depression symptoms, when compared to patients without OI. Almost no study evaluated such impairments after a mild TBI, which is none to be the most prevalent form of TBI (80% of all TBI). We evaluated quantitative olfactory scores, post-concussive symptoms, anxiety and depression, within the first 24 hours and one year after the trauma, on a cohort of 20 mild TBI patients and compared these results with a 22 patients control orthopaedic group. Results showed that, within the first 24-hour post-trauma, more than 50% of the mild TBI patients had clinical sing of reduced olfactory capacities (hyposmia) compared to only 5% (1 patient) within the control group. Consequently, patients with mild traumatic brain injury had lower olfactory threshold and had more difficulty to discriminate and identify different odors. Also, when comparing the mild TBI patients with OI (OI+) to the mild TBI patients without OI (OI-), we realized that OI+ mild TBI patients reported more anxiety and post-concussion symptoms 1 year after the trauma.  
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Pediatrics / 11.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_50220" align="alignleft" width="144"]Sean C. Rose, MD Pediatric sports neurologist and co-director of the Complex Concussion Clinic Nationwide Children’s Hospital  Dr. Rose[/caption] Sean C. Rose, MD Pediatric sports neurologist and co-director of the Complex Concussion Clinic Nationwide Children’s Hospital  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Very limited data has been collected in children while they are playing contact sports to study the relationship between repetitive head impacts and neurocognitive outcomes.  We previously published a 1-year analysis of youth tackle football players and found no association between the number or severity of head impacts and performance on neurocognitive testing before to after the football season.  We are now reporting the results from the 2nd year of our study, tracking children through two seasons of football participation. We measured head impacts using helmet sensors during the 2016 and 2017 football seasons.  In the total group of 166 players age 9-18, one outcome measure (processing speed), out of the 23 outcome measures studied, declined over time.  However, several other measures that also assessed processing speed did not decline.  Neither the total burden of head impacts nor the intensity of individual impacts were associated with changes in testing performance over the course of the two seasons.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Columbia, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, NEJM, Neurology / 27.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49981" align="alignleft" width="134"]Jan Claassen, MD, PhD, FNCS Associate Professor of Neurology Division of Division of Critical Care and Hospitalist Neurology Columbia University Medical Center Dr. Claassen[/caption] Jan Claassen, MD, PhD, FNCS Associate Professor of Neurology Division of Division of Critical Care and Hospitalist Neurology Columbia University Medical Center MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Unconsciousness is common and predicting recovery is challenging – often inaccurate. Many patients do not show movements on commands and typically this is interpreted as unconsciousness. Some of these patients may be able to have brain response to these commands raising the possibility of some preservation of consciousness. This has previously been shown months or years after the injury mostly using MRI. We were able to detect this activation at the bedside in the ICU shortly after brain injury. For this we applied machine learning to the EEG to distinguish the brain’s responses to commands. Patients that showed this activation were more likely to follow commands prior to discharge and had better outcomes one year later. 
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, University Texas / 24.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49930" align="alignleft" width="175"]Kevin F. Bieniek, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine Director, Biggs Institute Brain Bank Core Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio San Antonio, Texas 78229 Dr. Bieniek[/caption] Kevin F. Bieniek, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Joe R. & Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine Director, Biggs Institute Brain Bank Core Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio San Antonio, Texas 78229 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Would you briefly explain what is meant by CTE?   Response: CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is linked to prior exposure to repetitive traumatic brain injuries.  CTE pathology, characterized by a distinct deposition pattern of the protein ‘tau’, is most often observed in the brains former contact sport athletes and military veterans.  The public health impacts of this disorder are largely unknown, as this disease is often studied in individuals which advanced levels of exposure, particularly professional American football player. This study aimed to understand what the presence of this disorder might be in the general population by studying athletes and non-athletes, a number of different sports, different levels of participation, and both males and females.
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Brain Injury, ENT, Pediatrics / 12.06.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49726" align="alignleft" width="144"]Amishav Bresler MD Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School Dr. Bresler[/caption] Amishav Bresler MD Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Rutgers - New Jersey Medical School  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: This study was inspired by a personal experience with the rental scooters. The most recent American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery annual conference was in Atlanta this year. At the time of the conference, the scooter rental industry had recently entered the region. A friend of mine, another ENT resident, was encouraging others to use these scooters for transportation for both the novelty and convenience. However, he didn't even have a helmet! Here was a well-educated doctor who takes call for craniofacial injuries, who was about to get on a scooter without a helmet. This experience made me wonder if scooters were dangerous scooters and their overall impact on public health. In terms of the backgroud, the personal transportation industry is undergoing a revolution. The search for efficient and environmentally-friendly urban transportation ignited an ongoing debate in the United States regarding the role of motorized scooters. Although known to be a popular method of transportation in Europe and Asia, motorized scooters have only recently begun to make inroads in the United States. The gradual rise in popularity has been attributed to their convenience, affordability, and status as a “green” alternative to vehicles with combustion engines. These advantages combined with the fact electric scooters enable users to travel longer distances than conventional scooters present an attractive method of transportation to school, work, and leisure.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Cognitive Issues, Technology / 22.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49309" align="alignleft" width="165"]Dr.. Mahncke Dr. Mahncke[/caption] Dr. Henry W. Mahncke PhD Research neuroscientist CEO of Posit Science Corporation  MedicalResearch.com: What makes this study newsworthy?  Response: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) is a complex condition to treat. Patients can report many symptoms (e.g., cognitive deficits, depression, anxiety, stress, fatigue, pain, sleep difficulties, disorientation, emotional issues). Prior to this study, conducted at five military and veterans’ medical centers, there has been no highly-scalable intervention to treat the cognitive deficits associated with mTBI. This study showed that a plasticity-based, computerized, brain-training app can drive statistically and clinically significant gains in overall cognitive performance. Given the number of service members and vets with persistent cognitive deficits from TBIs, that’s a big deal.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Neurological Disorders, Neurology, Stroke / 12.05.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_49129" align="alignleft" width="128"]Thomas M Van Vleet PhDPosit Science  Dr. Van Vleet[/caption] Thomas M Van Vleet PhD Posit Science  Dr. Tom Van Vleet,  presented results on a common symptom of stroke and acquired brain injury (hemi-spatial neglect) at the American Academy of Neurology May 2019 MedicalResearch.com: What makes this study newsworthy? Response For the first time ever a highly-scalable intervention — computerized brain training (BrainHQ made by Posit Science) —was found to improve symptoms of hemi-spatial neglect, which is a common and often intractable and debilitating problem after stroke or other acquired brain injury. MedicalResearch.com: What can you tell us about the medical condition (hemi-spatial neglect) investigated in this study? Response About a third of patients with a brain injury exhibit a complex and debilitating array of neurological deficits known as the “neglect syndrome” (sometimes called, “hemi-spatial neglect” or “neglect”). The most apparent symptom of neglect is the inability of patients to efficiently process information on the side of space opposite the injury; often completely missing relevant events without awareness. As a result, patients often fail to adopt compensatory strategies or respond to other conventional rehabilitation protocols. The cost is significant, as patients with neglect experience longer hospital stays and have higher requirements for assistance, including greater skilled nursing home placements relative to patients with similar extent of brain injury without neglect. To date, there’s been no broadly-applicable and highly-scalable intervention for addressing neglect. An alarming reality given the increasing cost of stroke, which is currently estimated to exceed $34 billion per annum
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, Brain Injury / 29.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48921" align="alignleft" width="133"]Dr. Joseph A Schwartz PhD Public Affairs and Community Service, Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Nebraska Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE Dr. Schwartz[/caption] Dr. Joseph A Schwartz PhD Public Affairs and Community Service, Criminology and Criminal Justice University of Nebraska Omaha, Omaha, NE  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: My larger research agenda is focused on identifying the ways in which environmental and biological influences work collectively to shape behavioral patterns across major stages of the life course. I am particularly interested in identifying environmental influences that can change biological functioning or activity to result in behavioral change. Brain injury was a natural progression of these interests since brain injury is expected to result in changes in the structure and functioning of the brain, which has been linked to meaningful changes in behavior. There have also been a sizable number of studies that indicate that justice involved populations experience brain injury at a rate that is between five and eight times what is observed in the general population. I was fascinated by this finding and thought that brain injury may be a good candidate influence to investigate further.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Stem Cells, Surgical Research, University of Pittsburgh / 18.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_48666" align="alignleft" width="133"]Dr. David Okonkwo, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurological surgery Director of the Neurotrauma Clinical Trials CenterUniversity of Pittsburgh Dr. Okonkwo[/caption] Dr. David Okonkwo, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurological surgery Director of the Neurotrauma Clinical Trials Center University of Pittsburgh Dr. Okonkwo discusses the results from the STEMTRA Phase 2 trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of SB623 in patients with chronic motor deficit from traumatic brain injury. The results were presented at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), April 2019 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the US and around the globe. The effects of TBI are often long-lasting, with more than one-third of severe TBI patients displaying a neuromotor abnormality on physical examination 2 years following injury and, yet, there are no effective treatments. The public health implications are staggering: there are approximately 1.4 million new cases of TBI in the US annually, resulting in over 50,000 deaths and 80,000 disabilities; over 5 million Americans currently suffer from long-term disability caused by TBI. A successful neuroregenerative or neurorestorative therapy, such as stem cell implantation, would have significant impact.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Pediatrics / 07.02.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47249" align="alignleft" width="133"]John J. Leddy, MD Clinical Professor Department of Orthopaedics Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences University of Buffalo Dr. Leddy[/caption] John J. Leddy, MD Clinical Professor Department of Orthopaedics Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences University of Buffalo MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Sport-related concussion (SRC) is a significant public health problem without an effective treatment. Recent International Guidelines have questioned the efficacy of recommending complete rest to treat concussion and have called for prospective studies to evaluate early active treatments for sport-related concussion. 
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, PNAS / 21.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_47062" align="alignleft" width="200"]Kelly Russell PhD Department of Pediatrics and Child Health University of Manitoba Dr. Russell[/caption] Kelly Russell PhD Department of Pediatrics and Child Health University of Manitoba MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is an important patient-reported outcome that measures the patient’s perception on how their condition effects various aspects of their life, such as their physical, emotional, social and school quality of life.  HRQOL can measure the more subtle or hidden consequences of a condition, such as concussion.  Patient reported outcomes are important because they give a more complete picture of the patient’s condition than just reporting symptoms or outcomes that are only measured by their clinician.  We wanted to compare the effects of sport-related concussions versus sport-related limb fractures on HRQOL in adolescents after their injury and during their recovery. We chose to compare adolescents with sport-related concussions to a sport-related limb fracture group because we wanted to be able to attribute the results to having a concussion since not being able to play sports with their friends and teammates may decrease HRQOL regardless of the actual type of injury.  We also wanted to identify which clinical variables were associated with worse HRQOL in adolescent patients with sports-related concussion.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury / 03.01.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Robert Ross, Ph.D. Assistant Professor McConnell Hall, Room 424 University of New Hampshire  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the United States, 1.5-2 million people suffer from mild traumatic brain injuries, more commonly referred to as concussions, per year. There is a large body of work illustrating the cognitive impairments associated with concussions in the immediate aftermath of the concussive event. However, it is not clear whether concussions can change cognition more long-term and how concussions might change how the brain functions during specific types of cognition. In our study, we examined executive function, which is a cognitive process that helps control or manage other cognitive functions, in a group of healthy young adults aged 18-24 that had suffered at least two concussions and compared their performance and their brain oscillations to a group that had not suffered any concussions. Brain oscillations help the brain coordinate the activity of the thousands of neurons necessary for any sort of cognitive process to occur. The participants in the study self-reported their concussions with all concussions occurring at least one month prior to participating in the experiment.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury / 08.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Clara E. Dismuke-Greer, PhD Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center Ralph H. Johnson Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Charleston, SC 29401 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study is that previous research we had published had shown that Hispanic U.S. Veterans diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) had higher risk of mortality than non-Hispanic White U.S. Veterans, even after accounting for the effects of comorbidities as well as socio-demographics. This study sought to investigate further this apparent racial/ethnic disparity. Using a 10 year cohort followed for up to 14 years, and adjusting for TBI severity as well as comorbidities, socio-demographics and military factors, when we included location (urban vs. rural vs. highly rural vs. U.S. Territory (Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, America Samoa and Mariana Islands), as well as race/ethnicity, we found that the racial/ethnic disparity disappeared, and that it was location which became statistically significant. Our main findings were that Veterans diagnosed with TBI residing in U.S. Territories have lower survival and higher risk of mortality relative to Veterans residing on the U.S. Mainland , even after statistical adjustment for the factors listed above.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Gender Differences, JAMA, Pediatrics / 05.11.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_45692" align="alignleft" width="142"]Andrée-Anne Ledoux, PhD Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Dr. Ledoux[/caption] Andrée-Anne Ledoux, PhD Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute Ottawa, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The natural recovery processes from a pediatric concussion remains poorly characterized throughout childhood. Children’s brains go through many phases of growth during development and sex differences exist. Therefore a 6-year-old child may not have the same recovery trajectory as an adolescent because of biopsychosocial differences. Thus, this study explored symptom improvement after concussion while considering these two key demographic factors. Understanding symptom improvement at different stages of development is important in order to provide the best possible care. The study examined data from 2,716 children and adolescents who had presented at nine emergency departments across Canada and were diagnosed with concussion. We examined the natural progression of self-reported symptom recovery following pediatric concussion over the initial three months after injury. Participants in the study were aged 5 to 18 years old with acute concussion, enrolled from August 1, 2013, to May 31, 2015. We examined different age cohorts – 5 to 7 years of age, 8 to 12 years of age, and 13 to 18 years of age, and investigated how sex is associated with recovery. Our study represents the largest study to evaluate symptom improvement trajectories in concussed pediatric population.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Heart Disease, JAMA, Neurology / 31.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_45585" align="alignleft" width="133"]Dr-Marion Moseby-Knappe Dr. Moseby-Knappe[/caption] Marion Moseby-Knappe, MD Neurologist and Researcher Center for Cardiac Arrest at Lund University and Skane University Hospital Lund, Sweden MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our research focuses on improving methods for examining unconscious patients treated on intensive care units after cardiac arrest. If a patient does not wake up within the first days after cardiac arrest, physicians need to evaluate how likely it is that the patient will awaken at all and to which extent there is brain injury. According to European and American guidelines, decisions on further medical treatment of cardiac arrest patients should always be based on a combination of examinations and not only one single method. Various methods are combined when assessing the patient such as examining different neurologic reflexes, head scans (computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging), other specialist examinations (electroencephalogram or somatosensory evoked potentials) or blood markers. Our research focuses on patients included in the largest cardiac arrest trial to date, the Targeted Temperature Management after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (TTM) Trial.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness, Pediatrics / 26.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sean C. Rose, MD Pediatric sports neurologist and co-director Complex Concussion Clinic Nationwide Children’s Hospital Assistant professor of Pediatrics The Ohio State UniversitySean C. Rose, MD Pediatric sports neurologist and co-director Complex Concussion Clinic Nationwide Children’s Hospital Assistant professor of Pediatrics The Ohio State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: The link between sub-concussive head impacts and declines in neurocognitive function has been reported by some studies, yet refuted by others.  There is very little evidence that has been collected in children as they are sustaining these head impacts. We initiated a multi-year study of youth football players to provide a more in-depth look at the question.  We measured head impacts using helmet sensors during the 2016 football season.  112 players age 9-18 completed a battery of neurocognitive tests before and after the football season. We found that neither the total burden of head impacts nor the intensity of individual impacts were associated with changes in testing performance from pre to post-season.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, JAMA / 25.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_45433" align="alignleft" width="200"]Jamie Cooper AO BMBS MD FRACP FCICM FAHMS Professor of Intensive Care Medicine Monash University Deputy Director & Head of Research,  Intensive Care & Hyperbaric Medicine The Alfred, Melbourne Prof. Cooper[/caption] Jamie Cooper AO BMBS MD FRACP FCICM FAHMS Professor of Intensive Care Medicine Monash University Deputy Director & Head of Research, Intensive Care & Hyperbaric Medicine The Alfred, Melbourne MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: 50-60 million people each year suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI) . When the injury is severe only one half are able to live independently afterwards. Cooling the brain (hypothermia) is often used in intensive care units for decades to  decrease inflammation and brain swelling and hopefully to improve outcomes, but clinical staff have had uncertainty whether benefits outweigh complications. We conducted the largest randomised trial of hypothermia in TBI, in 500 patients, in 6 countries, called POLAR. We started cooling by ambulance staff, to give hypothermia the best chance to benefit patients. We continued for 3-7 days in hospital ind ICU. We measured functional outcomes at 6 months.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Pediatrics, Pediatrics, University Texas / 18.10.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_45340" align="alignleft" width="144"]Dr. Ewing-Cobbs PhD Professor in the Department of Pediatrics McGovern Medical School University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Harriet and Joe Foster Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience Dr. Ewing-Cobbs[/caption] Dr. Linda Ewing-Cobbs PhD Professor in the Department of Pediatrics McGovern Medical School University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Harriet and Joe Foster Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Children may have long-lasting psychological and physical symptoms after an injury. Post-concussive symptoms (PCS) are nonspecific cognitive, physical, and mood symptoms such as difficulty concentrating, headache, and irritability. These symptoms occur in approximately 15 to 30% children after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although PCS often resolve within one month, some children experience symptoms for longer periods of time.