Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Brain Injury, Depression, JAMA / 21.09.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_28208" align="alignleft" width="200"]Ricardo E. Jorge MD Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Director Houston Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders Senior Scientist Beth K. and Stuart C. Yudofsky Division of Neuropsychiatry Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center Baylor College of Medicine Dr. Ricardo Jorge[/caption] Ricardo E. Jorge MD Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Director Houston Translational Research Center for TBI and Stress Disorders Senior Scientist Beth K. and Stuart C. Yudofsky Division of Neuropsychiatry Michael E DeBakey VA Medical Center Baylor College of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Depressive disorders affect between one-third and one-half of patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Once established, these disorders are difficult to treat and frequently follow a chronic and refractory course. Depression has a deleterious effect on TBI outcomes, particularly affecting the community reintegration of TBI patients. In this randomized clinical trial that included 94 adult patients with TBI, the hazards for developing depression for participants receiving placebo were about 4 times the hazards of participants receiving sertraline treatment.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Pediatrics / 02.08.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_26633" align="alignleft" width="142"]Danny G. Thomas, MD, MPH Department of Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Corporate Center Milwaukee, WI Dr. Danny Thomas[/caption] Danny G. Thomas, MD, MPH Department of Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Corporate Center Milwaukee, WI MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This was a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial of strict rest after concussion published last year. We wanted to find out how mental and physical activity levels related to symptom spikes or sudden increases in concussion symptoms. We found that one in three patients had symptoms spikes in recovery. Patients who had symptom spikes tended to have higher symptoms in the emergency department and throughout recovery. Most symptom spikes were not associated with an increase in physical and mental activity level the day prior. We did find that a sudden increase in activity like returning to school did increase the risk of having a symptom spike, but the good news is these symptom spikes seemed to resolve the following day and did not impact recovery by 10 days.
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Parkinson's / 11.07.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_25913" align="alignleft" width="150"]Paul K. Crane, MD MPH Professor Department of Medicine Adjunct Professor Department of Health Services University of Washington Dr. Paul Crane[/caption] Paul K. Crane, MD MPH Professor Department of Medicine Adjunct Professor Department of Health Services University of Washington MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The background is that the most common experience of head injury with loss of consciousness is an apparent recovery. Sometimes this is very fast, sometimes it takes somewhat longer, but typically people return to their prior baseline. Nevertheless there is concern that the head injury may have set in motion processes that would lead to late life neurodegenerative conditions. This is bad enough for someone to deal with but it's made even worse if the head injury isn't even the victim's fault. Previous research has focused especially on Alzheimer's disease. A more limited research has focused on Parkinson's disease. We used data from three prospective cohort studies that included more than 7,000 people to study the relationship between head injury with loss of consciousness and subsequent risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. We collected head injury exposure data at study enrollment, at a time when we administered cognitive tests and knew they did not have dementia, so our exposure data are not biased. Each of these studies also performed brain autopsies on people who died, and we evaluated data from more than 1500 autopsies.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Pediatrics / 31.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24766" align="alignleft" width="200"]Kristy Arbogast, PhD Co-Scientific Director Center for Injury Research and Prevention The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Professor Division of Emergency Medicine Department of Pediatrics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 Dr. Kristy Arbogast[/caption] Kristy Arbogast, PhD Co-Scientific Director Center for Injury Research and Prevention The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Professor Division of Emergency Medicine Department of Pediatrics University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA 19104 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Arbogast: The research team looked retrospectively at four recent years of data on children diagnosed with concussion at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to determine how children access the health system for a concussion. For those 8,000 kids with a CHOP primary care provider, 82% entered the health system via a primary care location, 12% entered through the ER and 5% through a specialist. One-third of concussion diagnoses were to children under age 12. Many current counts of concussion injury among children are based on emergency room visits or organized high school and college athletics data. Thus, we are vastly underestimating child and youth concussions in the US.
Artificial Sweeteners, Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Neurological Disorders, Ophthalmology / 12.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_24260" align="alignleft" width="148"]Dr. T. Dianne Langford PhD Associate Professor, Neuroscience and Neurovirology Lewis Katz School of Medicine Temple University Dr. T. Dianne Langford[/caption] Dr. T. Dianne Langford PhD Associate Professor, Neuroscience and Neurovirology Lewis Katz School of Medicine Temple University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Langford: The ocular-motor system has been shown to reflect neural damage, and one of ocular-motor functions, near point of convergence (NPC), was reported to worsen after a sport-related concussion (Mucha et al. Am J Sport Med). But the effects of subconcussive head impact, a milder form of head injury in the absence of outward symptoms remains unknown.  Prior to this study, we found that in a controlled soccer heading experimental paradigm decreased NPC function, and even 24h after the headings, NPC was not normalized back to baseline (Kawata et al. 2016 Int J Sport Med). To extend our findings from the human laboratory study, we launched longitudinal clinical studies in collaboration with the Temple football team, to see if repetitive exposure to subconcussive head impacts negatively affects NPC.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Pediatrics / 02.05.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23916" align="alignleft" width="200"]Zachary Y. Kerr, PhD, MPH Sports Injury Epidemiologist Director, NCAA Injury Surveillance Program Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention Indianapolis, IN 46202 Dr. Zachary Keff[/caption] Zachary Y. Kerr, PhD, MPH Sports Injury Epidemiologist Director, NCAA Injury Surveillance Program Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention Indianapolis, IN 46202 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Kerr: A 2013 Institutes of Medicine report called for more research on concussion in athletes aged 5-21 years.  Although there is much research on the incidence of concussion across this age span, there is less related to outcomes such as symptoms and return to play time, let along comparisons by age. In examining sport-related concussions that occurred in youth, high school, and college football, we found differences in the symptomatology and return to play time of concussed players.  For example, the odds of return to play time being under 24 hours was higher in youth than in college.  Also, over 40% of all concussions were returned to play in 2 weeks or more.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Exercise - Fitness / 26.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23773" align="alignleft" width="118"]Jaclyn B. Caccese MS The University of Delaware PhD Candidate Biomechanics and Movement Science Jaclyn Caccese[/caption] Jaclyn B. Caccese MS The University of Delaware PhD Candidate Biomechanics and Movement Science  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Recently, there has been increased concern regarding the adverse effects of repetitively heading soccer balls on brain function. While some studies have shown impaired balance and vision, it is unclear if these deficits are acute or chronic adaptations. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify changes in postural control and vestibular/ocular motor function immediately following an acute bout of 12 purposeful soccer headers. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: The main finding of this study was that women's soccer players showed an increase in sway velocity, but no other changes in balance or vestibular/ocular motor function were identified.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Neurological Disorders / 13.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_23392" align="alignleft" width="160"]Thomas A. Buckley Ed.D Assistant Professor Kinesiology & Applied Physiology 144 Human Performance Lab College of Health Sciences University of Delaware Dr. Thomas Buckley[/caption] Thomas A. Buckley Ed.D Assistant Professor Kinesiology & Applied Physiology 144 Human Performance Lab College of Health Sciences University of Delaware MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Buckley: The most recent international consensus statement recommends 24 - 48 hours of cognitive and physical rest in the immediate aftermath of a concussion; however, our clinical experience was that patients who were "shut down" for a few days did worse than patients who were allowed to be out and about as tolerated by symptoms.  This was a retrospective study (chart review) comparing symptom reporting among patients who were shut down for 24 hours and those who were not. The main finding of the study was the addition of a day of cognitive and physical rest (i.e., 'shut down") did not improve symptom recovery recovery.  In fact, we were surprised to see that the non-rest group was symptom free 1.3 days sooner than the rest group and this was statistically significant.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury / 01.04.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. David W. Lawrence, MD Department of Family & Community Medicine St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Lawrence: The risk of all-cause injury and concussion for NFL athletes is significant. There has been a lot of discussion recently about this risk of injury in the NFL and general player safety, particularly regarding concussions. The first step in improving player safety and lowering that risk is to identify the factors affecting injury rates. Once we can answer those questions, we can begin to modify player exposure.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Pediatrics / 10.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_22413" align="alignleft" width="137"]Roger Zemek, MD, FRCPC Associate Professor, Dept of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Clinical Research Chair in Pediatric Concussion, University of Ottawa Director, Clinical Research Unit, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Ottawa, ON Dr. Roger Zemek[/caption] Roger Zemek, MD, FRCPC Associate Professor, Dept of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Clinical Research Chair in Pediatric Concussion, University of Ottawa Director, Clinical Research Unit, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Ottawa, ON MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. Zemek: The number of concussions have dramatically increased over the past decade.  Not only are children and adolescents are at highest risk for getting concussions, they also take longer to recover.  As part of our background work, our team performed a systematic review (published in JAMA Pediatrics) confirming that validated, easy-to-use prognosticators did not exist for clinicians to identify children with concussion who are at the highest risk for persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS) and sequelae. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Dr. Zemek: In this, the largest concussion study in the world to-date, we derived and validated in a large, diverse cohort of children a clinical risk score that is significantly superior to clinicians’ ability to predict future PPCS at the time of ED presentation. Multivariate analysis revealed that age group, female sex, past history of migraine, prior concussion with symptom duration of >1 week, ED presentation with “answering questions slowly”, 4 or more errors on BESS Tandem stance, and the initial symptoms of headache, noise sensitivity and fatigue were all clinically significant and strongly associated with PCS at 1-month. We assigned points based on the adjusted multivariate odds ratio, and the rule incorporating patient demographic factors, past history, early cognitive deficits, balance (an physical exam finding), and early symptoms.  The rule has a maximum of 12 points.  We selected two cut-off points in order to yield three clinically relevant (low, intermediate and high risk) categories for the development of PPCS at one month.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Genetic Research / 09.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_22498" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr. Jane McDevitt Temple University in Philadelphia Dr. Jane McDevitt[/caption] Dr. Jane McDevitt Temple University in Philadelphia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Dr. McDevitt: During a head impact there is a mechanical load that causes acceleration and deceleration forces on the brain within the cranium. The acceleration and deceleration causes stress to the neurons and initiates a neurometabolic cascade, where excitatory neurotransmitters such as glutamate are released and depolarize the cell.  This triggers protein channels to open and allow ions into and out of the cell.  Increases in calcium persist longer and have greater magnitude of imbalance than any other ionic disturbance. One channel responsible for allowing calcium into the cell is r-type voltage-gated calcium channel.  One of the main proteins within this voltage-gated calcium channel is the CACNA1E protein produced by the CACNA1E gene. This protein forms the external pore and contains a pair of glutamate residues that are required for calcium selectivity.   It is also responsible for modulating neuronal firing patterns. A variation within this gene (i.e,CACNA1E ) that regulates expression levels of CACNA1E could be associated with how an athlete recovers following a concussion injury. Upwards of 20% of the concussed population fall into the prolonged recovery category, which puts these athletes at risk for returning to play quicker than they should. Variation in recovery depends on extrinsic factors like magnitude of impact, and sport, or intrinsic factors like age or sex. One intrinsic factor that has not been definitively parsed out is genetic variation. Recovery is likely to be influenced by genetics because genes determine the structure and function of proteins involved in the cell’s resistance and response to mechanical stress. Due to CACNA1E’s relationship to calcium influx regulation, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) could modify the expression level of the protein responsible for regulating calcium. Altered protein levels could lead to athlete’s responding to concussive injuries differently. The main objective of this study was to examine the association between CACNA1E SNPs with concussion recovery in athletes.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury / 03.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_22292" align="alignleft" width="200"]Mr. Jim Joyce Chairman and CEO of Aethlon Mr. Jim Joyce[/caption] Mr. Jim Joyce Chairman and CEO of Aethlon MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Mr. Joyce: Our research into the neurodegenerative disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), was inspired by the death of Tom McHale, who was a former teammate and the second person diagnosed with CTE by our colleagues at the Boston University CTE Center. CTE is characterized by exposure to repetitive head trauma and at present, can only be diagnosed post-mortem, thus creating a significant need for a non-invasive method to diagnose and monitor CTE in living individuals. The aim of our study was to examine exosomal tau levels in plasma as a potential CTE biomarker. Our research team originally discovered the presence of exosomal tau in circulation and then established methods to quantify exosomal tau, which we refer to as a TauSome™, which we believe to be the first potential blood test to detect CTE living individuals. For this study, researchers examined 78 former National Football League players and 17 former athletes of non-contact sports, with preliminary findings suggesting that exosomal tau in plasma may be a noninvasive, accurate biomarker for CTE. The study results, published in the journal of Alzheimer’s disease, can be accessed here: http://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad151028?resultNumber=7&totalResults=48&start=0&q=exosome&resultsPageSize=10&rows=10.
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews, BMJ, Brain Injury, CDC, Pediatrics / 29.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_16316" align="alignleft" width="200"]Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD Division of Violence Prevention US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia Dr. Joanne Klevens[/caption] Dr. Joanne Klevens, MD, PhD, MPH Division of Violence Prevention US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Klevens: Pediatric abusive head trauma is a leading cause of fatal child maltreatment among young children and current prevention efforts have not been proven to be consistently effective. In this study, compared to seven states with no paid family leave policies, California’s policy showed significant decreases of hospital admissions for abusive head trauma in young children. This impact was observed despite low uptake of policy benefits by Californians, particularly among populations at highest risk of abusive head trauma.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, CMAJ, Mental Health Research / 09.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_21256" align="alignleft" width="144"]Dr. Donald Redelmeier MD, MSHSR, FRCPC, FACP Senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, Ontario Dr. Donald Redelmeier[/caption] Dr. Donald Redelmeier MD, MSHSR, FRCPC, FACP Senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) Physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre Toronto, Ontario Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Redelmeier: Head injury can lead to suicide in military veterans and professional athletes; however, whether a mild concussion acquired in community settings is also a risk factor for suicide is unknown. Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report? Dr. Redelmeier: We studies 235,110 patients diagnosed with a concussion and found that  667 subsequently died from suicide. The median delay was about 6 years. This risk was about 32 per 100,000 patients annually, which is 3x the population norm and especially high if the concussion occurred on a weekend (from recreation) rather than a weekday (from employment).
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Mayo Clinic, Neurological Disorders / 02.12.2015

[caption id="attachment_19745" align="alignleft" width="125"]Kevin Bieniek Kevin Bieniek[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kevin Bieniek B.Sc. Biology and Psychology Neuroscience researcher Mayo Clinic’s campus in Florida.  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder linked to repetitive traumatic brain injury often sustained through contact sports and military blast exposure.  While CTE was first described in boxers in the 1920s, to date many descriptions of CTE have been made in high-profile professional athletes, but the frequency of Chronic traumatic encephalopathy pathology in athletes with more modest contact sports participation is unknown.  For this study, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL examined the Mayo Clinic Brain Bank, one of the largest brain banks of neurodegenerative diseases.  In searching through medical records of over 1,700 patients, 66 individuals with clinically-documented contact sports participation were identified.  Of these 66 former athletes, 21 or 32% had pathologic changes in their brains consistent with CTE.  By comparison, none of 198 control individuals that did not have contact sports documentation in their medical records (including 66 women) had CTE pathology.  These results have been recently published in the December issue of the journal Acta Neuropathologica <<hyperlink: http://www.springer.com/medicine/pathology/journal/401.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA / 21.10.2015

Dr-Davinia-Fernandez-Espejo.jpgMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Davinia Fernández-Espejo PhD School of Psychology University of Birmingham Birmingham  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Fernández-Espejo: We have previously shown that a number of patients who appear to be in a vegetative state are actually aware of themselves and their surroundings, and simply unable to show it with their external behavior. In a prior study we demonstrated that a patient who had been repeatedly diagnosed as vegetative state for 12 years was not only fully aware but able to create memories. Notably, this patient was capable to modulate their brain activity in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner to answer questions about their condition and preferences for care. In the present study we identified the reason for the dissociation between these patients’ retained awareness and their inability to respond with intentional movement. First, we used fMRI to demonstrate that a functional connection between the thalamus and the motor cortex is essential for a successful execution of voluntary movements. Second, we used diffusion tensor tractography, a technique that allows reconstructing and assessing white matter pathways in the brain, to identify damage to such connection (i.e. thalamus and motor cortex) in a paradigmatic patient who produced repeated evidence of covert awareness across multiple examinations, despite clinically appearing as being in a vegetative state.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, NEJM / 07.10.2015

Prof. Peter JD Andrews Honorary Professor Department of Anaesthesia University of EdinburghMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Peter JD Andrews Honorary Professor Department of Anaesthesia University of Edinburgh  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Prof. Andrews: Therapeutic hypothermia has shown considerable promise as a neuro-protective intervention in many species and models of cerebral injury in the laboratory. Clinical trials after neonatal hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and cardiac arrest (global cereal ischemia) show signal of benefit. The outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not improved in the last 20 years. Clinical trials of prophylactic therapeutic hypothermia for neuroprotection after traumatic brain injury show a mixed outcome, however, the larger trials are all neutral or have a trend toward harm. Because traumatic brain injury is a heterogeneous pathology it has been suggest that the therapeutic hypothermia intervention should be adjusted according to response of a biomarker, to maximize benefit and limit any harms. The EUROTHERM3235Trial was a trial of therapeutic hypothermia to reduce brain swelling after traumatic brain injury. Brain swelling was measured by an intracranial pressure (ICP) probe directly inserted into the brain. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Prof. Andrews: Hypothermia successfully reduced intracranial pressure, but did not improve outcomes compared to standard care alone, with more than a third achieving a good outcome in the standard care group and one a quarter in the hypothermia group.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury, Johns Hopkins / 09.08.2015

Frederick Korley MD Ph.D Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Emergency Medicine Baltimore, MarylandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frederick Korley MD Ph.D Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Emergency Medicine Baltimore, Maryland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Korley: Each year, millions of Americans are evaluated in emergency departments for traumatic brain injuries. Currently the only test available for diagnosing traumatic brain injury is a brain CT scan. Brain CT scans accurately identify bleeding in the brain from trauma. However, they are unable to identify damage to brain cells. Approximately 90% of patients with traumatic brain injury have no bleeding in the brain and therefore have unremarkable brain CT scans. However, these patients typically have damaged brain cells and they continue to suffer headaches, dizziness, attention and memory deficits, sleep problems among others for months after their injury and can’t figure out why. Therefore new tests are needed to identify traumatic brain injury patients with damaged brain cells and especially those who are likely to have persistent traumatic brain injury-related symptoms for months after injury. If you or any one in your family has sustained a brain injury in an accident, you might want to get in touch someone similar to this Personal Injury Lawyer St. Louis or a law firm more local to your area, who might be able to look into your case. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Korley: Our study determined that the blood levels of a protein called brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) can help predict whether a patient will continue to have symptoms related to traumatic brain injury at six 6 months after injury, even if they had an unremarkable brain CT scan.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury / 31.07.2015

Dr. Heinrich Thaler Trauma Hospital Meidling Vienna AustriaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Heinrich Thaler Trauma Hospital Meidling Vienna Austria Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Thaler:  An increased prevalence of minor head injuries in elderly patients combined with the frequent use of platelet aggregation inhibitors resulted in increased hospital admissions and cranial computed tomography. We undertook the study with the aim to reduce the workload of medical staff and costs as well as the radiation burden in the management of patients with mild head injuries. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Thaler:  S 100B is a reliable negative predictor in elderly patients and/or in patients on platelet aggregation inhibitors to rule out an intracranial hemorrhage after minor head injury (S100B is an astroglial derived protein detectable in serum in the case of cerebral tissue damage). The negative predictive value of S100B is 99,6%. We conclude that S100B levels below 0.105 µg/L can accurately predict a normal cranial computed tomography after minor head injury in older patients and those on antiplatelet medication. Additionally we found no increased risk for intracranial hemorrhage in older patients or in patients receiving antiplatelet therapy.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Outcomes & Safety, UCLA / 23.07.2015

Aaron J. Dawes, MD Fellow, VA/RWJF Clinical Scholars Program Division of Health Services Research, University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90024MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aaron J. Dawes, MD Fellow, VA/RWJF Clinical Scholars Program Division of Health Services Research, University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 90024 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Dawes: In the fall of 2013, we formed the Los Angeles County Trauma Consortium, building upon a prior administrative relationship between LA County’s 14 trauma centers. We added health research researchers from UCLA and USC, and shifted the focus of the group from logistical issues to quality improvement. As a first project, our hospitals wanted to know if there was any variation in how traumatic brain injury patients are cared for across the county. Traumatic brain injury accounts for over 1/3 of all injury-related deaths in the U.S. and is the number one reason for ambulance transport to a trauma center in LA County. When we looked at the data, we found widespread variation in both how these patients were cared for at different hospitals and what happened to them as a result of that care. After adjusting for important differences in patient mix, we found that mortality rates varied by hospital from roughly 25% to 55%. As we tried to explain this variation, we looked into how often hospitals complied with two evidence-based guidelines from the Brain Trauma Foundation, hoping that we could eventually develop an intervention to boost compliance with these recommended care practices. While compliance rates varied even more widely than mortality—from 10 to 65% for intracranial pressure monitoring and 7 to 76% for craniotomy—they did not appear to be associated with risk-adjusted mortality rates. Put simply, we found no connection between how often hospitals complied with the guidelines and how likely their patients were to survive.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Pediatrics, Sleep Disorders / 14.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kimberly Allen PhD, RN Assistant Professor Center dr-kimberly-allenfor Narcolepsy, Sleep and Health Research Department Women Children and Family Health Science Chicago, IL 60612 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Allen: Pediatric traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.Each year in the United States over 1Ž2 million children are admitted to the hospital for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Depending on the severity of the injury and how the individual child responds to the primary injury, a range of medical care may be necessary from an overnight hospital admission for observation to admission in the intensive care unit (ICU) and inpatient rehabilitation facility to re-teach and help to recover skills children once knew. The short- and long-term consequences of traumatic brain injuries include: motor and sensory impairments; cognitive, emotional, psychosocial impairments; headaches, and sleep disruptions. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Dr. Allen: The main finding from this pilot study with two groups with 15 children in each group: one of children with traumatic brain injuries and one of typically, developing healthy children was that children with traumatic brain injuries have significantly more daytime sleepiness and worse sleep quality compared to the control group. Additionally, children with TBI also had lower overall  functional scores (e.g, school, social) compared to the controlled children. All of the surveys were completed by the child’s parent.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, UT Southwestern / 18.05.2015

C. Munro Cullum, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology & Neurotherapeutics Pamela Blumenthal Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology Chief of Psychology Director of Neuropsychology Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX 75390-9044 MedicalResearch.com Interview with: C. Munro Cullum, PhD, ABPP Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology & Neurotherapeutics Pamela Blumenthal Distinguished Professor of Clinical Psychology Chief of Psychology , Director of Neuropsychology Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Cullum: My colleague and principal investigator of the study, Dr. John Hart and I have been interested in the acute and longer-term effects of traumatic brain injury for years, and because of my roles in the Alzheimer’s Disease Center and the Texas Institute for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, it seemed like a natural to begin studying older individuals with and without cognitive disorder who have a history of traumatic brain injury.  Our main findings are two-fold: First, we demonstrated that a history of concussion with loss of consciousness (which make up only about 10% of all concussions) was associated with smaller memory centers in the brain (the hippocampus) and lower memory results in our sample of retired professional football players. Concussions that did not result in loss of consciousness did not show that same strong association. Second, our data suggest that patients with a clinical diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (ie a memory disorder that does not grossly impair overall functioning but may lead to dementia) who also have a history of concussion with loss of consciousness show worse memory results and more brain atrophy than similar individuals diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment in the absence of a history of concussion.
Author Interviews, Biomarkers, Brain Injury / 13.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Pashtun Shahim, MD Departement of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology Sahlgrenska University Hospital Mölndal Sweden Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Visinin-like protein-1 (VLP-1 or VILIP-1) is a neuronal calcium-sensor protein, originally studied as a stroke marker and identified as a marker of neuronal injury in brain injury models. Increased plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) VILIP-1 hase been reported in Alzheimer’s disease, where CSF VILIP-1 correlates with CSF total tau (T-tau) and with brain volume. Recently, using a novel ultrasensitive method to measure tau in plasma, increased levels of plasma T-tau were found in concussed professional ice hockey players, where the levels correlated with the resolution of post-concussive symptoms and the players returning to play. The main findings of this study were that VILIP-1 did not increase significantly in serum after sports-related concussion. However, the serum levels of VILIP-1 increased after a friendly game without concussion, signaling extracerebral expression.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, JAMA, Pediatrics / 04.05.2015

Thomas P. Dompier, PhD, ATC President and Injury Epidemiologist Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, Inc Indianapolis, IN 46202 Adjunct Faculty Appointments Ohio University Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions University of South CarolinaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thomas P. Dompier, PhD, ATC President and Injury Epidemiologist Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention, Inc Indianapolis, IN 46202 Adjunct Faculty Appointments Ohio University Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions University of South Carolina Medical Research: What is the background for this study? D: Dompler: Per the Institute of Medicine’s recent recommendations to better describe the incidence of concussion in sport across the entire spectrum of youth sports (5-23 years), this study is the first to provide an apples-to-apples comparison using epidemiologic data provided by healthcare providers (athletic trainers) who attended all practices and games and used the same methodology to report concussions and student-athlete exposure information. Medical Research: What are the main findings? D: Dompler: a.  The main findings are that the risk (how many players out of 100 can expect to suffer at least one concussion during the season) is lowest in the youth, and increases with age. b. Game concussion rates (how many players out of 1000 exposed during a practice or game, includes multiple concussions to the same player) are highest in college but practice concussion rates are lowest in college during practice.  This suggests more can be done during high school and youth practices to reduce concussion frequency (e.g. limiting how much time can be devoted to full contact, reducing player-to-player contact by teaching proper tackling without using full contact drills such as the Oklahoma drill and others). c. While the rate is higher, there is still a substantial number of concussions that occur during practice (because there are more practices), therefore sports medicine staff should be available at both if possible (this is difficult at the youth level because of cost, however).
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Yale / 09.03.2015

Dr. Pina Violano, RN, PhD Trauma Department, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Injury Free Coalition for Kids of New Haven Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital New Haven 06510, CTMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Pina Violano, RN, PhD Trauma Department, Yale-New Haven Hospital, Injury Free Coalition for Kids of New Haven Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital New Haven 06510, CT MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Violano: In July of 2012, Connecticut became one of the first states to enact legislation to ensure the safety and appropriate evaluation and management of sports-related concussions (SRC) among High School students. SRCs are a common occurrence in high school sports with their diagnosis increasing over the last decade. While the exact reasons are not known, public health campaign efforts and education may have facilitated improvement in the evaluation and detection of sports-related concussions and may have contributed to increase awareness and treatment. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings? Dr. Violano: Evaluation of two emergency department records revealed a marked increase in the frequency of high school student athletes being treated for sports-related concussions after the implementation of Connecticut’s SRC law. This suggests that Connecticut’s legislation is effective in improving the evaluation and detection of sports-related concussions in high school students.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Stroke / 22.02.2015

Bruno Meloni PhD Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, AustraliaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bruno Meloni PhD Centre for Neuromuscular and Neurological Disorders The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? A/Prof Meloni: Due to the lack of clinically available neuroprotective drugs to minimize brain injury after stroke we had been working in the neuroprotection field for some years within the Stroke Research Group at the WA Neuroscience Research Institute. With respect to the latest findings, we were using arginine-rich peptides for several years as delivery vehicles to introduce experimental “neuroprotective peptides” into brain cells and the brain. Peptides are small chains of amino acids and the building blocks of protein.  Arginine is one of the twenty amino acids naturally produced in the body.  Arginine-rich peptides have an unique property in that they can transverse cell membranes and gain entry into cells, and even cross the blood brain barrier, which is unusual as most drugs able unable to do so. Using in vitro neuronal cell culture stroke models we soon discovered that poly-arginine and arginine-rich peptides on their own possessed potent neuroprotective properties.  Furthermore, we showed that as the length of the poly-arginine peptide increased so did the peptides neuroprotective properties.  Excitingly, the poly-arginine peptides were even more potent than the ”neuroprotective peptides” we had been working with and peptides developed by other overseas researchers. We have now confirmed using a laboratory animal stroke model that poly-arginine peptides could reduce brain damage when administered up to 1-hour after the stroke.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury, Neurology, Parkinson's / 20.02.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Line Kenborg, MSc, PhD Survivorship Unit Danish Cancer Society Research Center Copenhagen Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The hypothesis that head injuries increase the risk for Parkinson disease has been examined in many studies during the past decades, but the findings have been highly inconsistent. We have previously examined the hypothesis in a study based on information on head injuries and Parkinson disease from the Danish National Hospital Registry. In this study, we found a positive association between a hospital contact for a head injury in middle or late adulthood and a diagnosis of Parkinson disease. The reported association, however, was almost entirely due to injuries that occurred during the months preceding the first hospital contact for Parkinson disease. Because we used information from registries, we lacked detailed diagnostic information to distinguish Parkinson disease from other types of parkinsonism, and we had no information on milder head injuries and head injuries in early life. So we wanted to study whether head injuries throughout life increased the risk for Parkinson disease in the largest interview-based case-control study to date including patients with a verified diagnosis of Parkinson disease. The main finding of our study is that we do not find any association between head injuries and Parkinson disease.
Author Interviews, Brain Injury / 06.02.2015

Ashley Di Battista, Ph.D. Research Fellow Critical Care Medicine| Neurosciences & Mental Health Program The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON, CanadaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ashley Di Battista, Ph.D. Research Fellow Critical Care Medicine| Neurosciences & Mental Health Program The Hospital for Sick Children  Toronto, ON, Canada Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Di Battista: Most of what is known about adolescent quality of life (QoL) after traumatic brain injury (TBI) doesn’t come from adolescents – it comes from their parents.  This profoundly non- concordant data (known as the “Proxy Problem”) is drawn from parent reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaires (e.g. the PedsQL ™).  Parent report can be influenced by the parents’ own distress after their child’s traumatic brain injury – which results in parents providing poorer estimates of their child’s QoL.  Lack of insight is often purported to explain this difference, in the absence of direct examination of insight, or subsequent data, to support this claim.  HRQoL has been criticized in the broader wellbeing literature as incompatible with the QoL construct– due to the absence of core features of the overall QoL model, and an inherent suggestion that a lack of overt pathology is equivalent to a good outcome. Proxy reported, HRQoL focused research has generated a polarized view of quality of life after pediatric traumatic brain injury. This misrepresentation is due in part to the way in which we acquire this data (e.g. the tools) and who we ask (e.g. parents). The current study explored the individual adolescent experience of quality of life after traumatic brain injury and whether the tools commonly used to assess quality of life after brain injury are of capturing what adolescents define as relevant to their definition of quality of life. Our findings revealed that when adolescents did endorse changes in functioning on the PedsQL, they did not consider these changes to be relevant to, or impact on, their self-described QoL. While the PedsQL™ is capable of documenting changes post-injury, it does not seem to capture domains of relevance to the adolescent idea of QoL. The ability of these adolescents to reflect on their own circumstances, engage in pre-to-post injury analysis of their functioning challenges default positioning that lack of insight is the sole determinant for differences in reports between proxies and adolescents on quality of life .