Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2017
Multicenter Study Observational StudyModeling the Kinetics of Serum Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein, Ubiquitin Carboxyl-Terminal Hydrolase-L1, and S100B Concentrations in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury.
Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1), and S100B have been shown to be predictive of patients with brain injury. Kinetics of these biomarkers in injured humans have not been extensively examined. This prospective multi-center study included patients with mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injury. ⋯ GFAP concentrations increased 3.7% per hour among CT-positive patients whereas neither UCH-L1 nor S100B increased, compared with CT-negative patients. The kinetics and temporal profile of GFAP suggest it may be a more robust biomarker to detect patients with positive CT findings, particularly at later post-injury times. Further study is needed to determine if GFAP is a useful test to follow throughout a patient's clinical course.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2017
Impact of exercise on clinical symptom report and neurocognition following concussion in children and adolescents.
Recovery from concussion in childhood is poorly understood, despite its importance in decisions regarding return to normal activity. Resolution of post-concussive symptoms (PCS) is widely employed as a marker of recovery in clinical practice; however, it is unclear whether subtle impairments persist only to re-emerge in the context of increased physical or cognitive demands. This study aimed to examine the effect of strenuous exercise on clinical symptom report and neurocognition in children and adolescents after PCS resolution after concussion. ⋯ Neurocognitive performance was linked to task complexity: on less cognitively demanding tasks, processing speed was slower post-exercise and, unexpectedly, slower on Day 10 than Day 2, while for more demanding tasks (new learning), Day 2 exercise resulted in faster responses, but Day 10 processing speed post-exercise was slower. In summary, we found the expected recovery pattern for PCS, regardless of exercise, while for neurocognition, recovery was dependent on the degree of cognitive demand, and there was an unexpected reduction in performance from Day 2 to Day 10. Findings provide some suggestion that premature return to normal activities (e.g., school) may slow neurocognitive recovery.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2017
MicroRNAs as Novel Biomarkers for the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Mild and Severe Traumatic Brain Injury.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in people younger than 45 in Western countries. Despite many studies, no reliable biomarkers have been found to assess TBI severity and predict recovery. MicroRNA (miRNA) profiling has become widely used to identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets. ⋯ In addition, miR-425-5p was a strong predictor of 6-month outcome at T0-1 h and T4-12 h, while miR-21 was predictive of the outcome at T4-12 h. The panel of selected miRNAs shows promise as biomarkers to discriminate mTBI from sTBI. In addition, the selected miRNAs represent new potential therapeutic targets.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2017
Inhibitory Mechanism of the Outer Membrane Growth of Chronic Subdural Hematomas.
We previously demonstrated that the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) activates the Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) signaling pathway in fibroblasts within the outer membranes of chronic subdural hematomas (CSDHs), and the activation of this pathway may induce CSDH outer membrane growth. The inhibitory system for this signal transduction pathway is unknown. CSDH fluids were obtained from 10 patients during trepanation surgery as the case group, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained from seven patients suffering from subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) on Day 1 as the control group. ⋯ In addition, PIAS3 regulates STAT3 activation. These factors might down-regulate the IL-6/JAK/STAT signaling pathway in fibroblasts within CSDH outer membranes. Therefore, these molecules may be novel therapeutic targets for the inhibition of CSDH growth.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jun 2017
Amelioration of penetrating ballistic-like brain injury induced cognitive deficits after neuronal differentiation of transplanted human neural stem cells.
Penetrating traumatic brain injury (PTBI) is one of the major cause of death and disability worldwide. Previous studies with penetrating ballistic-like brain injury (PBBI), a PTBI rat model revealed widespread perilesional neurodegeneration, similar to that seen in humans following gunshot wound to the head, which is unmitigated by any available therapies to date. Therefore, we evaluated human neural stem cell (hNSC) engraftment to putatively exploit the potential of cell therapy that has been seen in other central nervous system injury models. ⋯ In a Morris water maze test at 8 weeks post-transplantation, animals with transplants had shorter latency to platform than vehicle-treated animals. However, weak injury-induced cognitive deficits in the control group at the delayed time point confounded benefits of durable engraftment and neuronal differentiation. Therefore, these results justify further studies to progress towards clinical translation of hNSC therapy for PTBI.