Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jul 2015
Distributions of MR Diffusion and Spectroscopy Measures with Traumatic Brain Injury.
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have demonstrated that measures of altered metabolism and axonal injury can be detected following traumatic brain injury. The aim of this study was to characterize and compare the distributions of altered image parameters obtained by these methods in subjects with a range of injury severity and to examine their relative sensitivity for diagnostic imaging in this group of subjects. DTI and volumetric magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging data were acquired in 40 subjects that had experienced a closed-head traumatic brain injury, with a median of 36 d post-injury. ⋯ The between-group analysis revealed widespread alteration of tissue metabolites that was most strongly characterized by increased choline throughout the cerebrum and cerebellum, reaching as much as 40% increase from control values for the group with the worse cognitive assessment score. In contrast, the between-group comparison of DTI measures revealed only minor differences; however, the Z-score image analysis of individual subject DTI parameters revealed regions of altered values relative to controls throughout the major white matter tracts, but with considerable heterogeneity between subjects and with a smaller extent than the findings for altered metabolite measures. The findings of this study illustrate the complimentary nature of these neuroimaging methods.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jul 2015
Interferon Stimulated Gene 15 upregulation precedes the development of blood brain barrier disruption and cerebral edema after traumatic brain injury in young mice.
Recent studies show that myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) plays a pivotal role in development of cerebral edema, a known complication following traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children and a contributing factor to worsened neurologic recovery. Interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15) is upregulated after cerebral ischemia and is neuroprotective. The significant role of ISG15 after TBI has not been studied. ⋯ PND24 mice showed peak ISG15 expression at 6 h, and PND21 mice at 72 h. MLCK peaked in both age groups at 12 h and co-localized with ISG15 on immunohistochemistry and co-immunoprecipitation. These studies provide evidence, ISG15 is elevated following TBI in mice, preceding MLCK elevation, development of BBB disruption, and cerebral edema.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jul 2015
Trends in Unintentional Fall Related Traumatic Brain Injury Death Rates in Older Adults in the United States, 1980-2010: A Joinpoint Analysis.
Unintentional fall-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) death rate is high in older adults in the United States, but little is known regarding trends of these death rates. We sought to examine unintentional fall-related TBI death rates by age and sex in older adults from 1980 through 2010 in the United States. We used multiple-cause mortality data from 1980 through 2010 (31 years of data) to identify fall-related TBI deaths. ⋯ The second joinpoint occurred in 2005 when the APC decreased to 3.8% for 2005-2010. This descriptive epidemiological study suggests increasing fall-related TBI death rates from 1992 to 2005 and then a slowdown of increasing trends between 2005 and 2010. Continued monitoring of fall-related TBI death rate trends is needed to determine the burden of this public health problem among older adults in the United States.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Jul 2015
Estimating contact exposure in football using the Head Impact Exposure Estimate (HIEE).
Over the past decade, there has been significant debate regarding the effect of cumulative subconcussive head impacts on short and long-term neurological impairment. This debate remains unresolved, because valid epidemiological estimates of athletes' total contact exposure are lacking. We present a measure to estimate the total hours of contact exposure in football over the majority of an athlete's lifespan. ⋯ The HIEE measure was independent of concussion history (p = 0.82). Estimating total hours of contact exposure may allow for the detection of differences between individuals with variation in subconcussive impacts, regardless of concussion history. This measure is valuable for the surveillance of subconcussive impacts and their associated potential negative effects.