NFL Veteran Retires, Works to Prevent Brain Trauma after Junior Seau Suicide
May 16, 2012 - 11:46am

Eight-year NFL veteran Jacob Bell has decided to walk away from the game of football, partially due to the recent suicide of former linebacker Junior Seau.  Despite signing with the Cincinnati Bengals last month, the 31-year-old has used this new tragedy as motivation to walk away from the game he loves while he still can.  

However, Bell does not plan on ending his involvement with the sport.  With his retirement, he hopes to make life after football better for retired players by increasing awareness of the health risks that await them down the road, particularly concussions.  

Although he currently says he feels healthy and his mind is clear, NFL.com reports that he cites future health concerns for his retirement decision.  Bell took an active interest in his post-NFL health and frequently reached out to retired players to understand their challenges. 

As a result, he has a full grasp of the realities that former players face and understands that his own health may not last forever.  “It's a blessing to be able to retire and walk away on my own instead of being forced out of it," Bell said.

Fully aware of the tradeoffs NFL players make, he questions the wisdom of sacrificing your brain for “a couple million bucks.”  “We're giving our lives to the game of football for a price,” Bell said.  At the moment, researchers have only started putting together information on the long-term effects of frequent hits to the head and concussions.    

Bell intends to become one of the few players who come forward to present this issue, though he admits his retirement may have made this outspokenness easier.  The league report explains that Bell has offered the following additional suggestions to help protect players by preventing these brain injuries:

  • Rookies begin careers with a brain scan-Although players receive a thorough medical examination to give teams a complete overview of their health, a brain scan is not included.  Bell feels rookies should know of any possible brain trauma they suffered before entering the league.  Ideally, Bell would like the results of these scans to be for the players’ eyes only, although this might be a challenge.    
  • Include concussion awareness education during the rookie symposium-Bell criticizes his own rookie symposium in 2004, saying all the information provided revolved around money.  While he admits this was useful, he also believes a panel of doctors should be brought in to discuss the health risks.  He said that to learn about brain health issues, he had to independently research the risks by speaking to retired players.  
  • Incorporate psychologist education-With the recent number of former NFL player suicides, the depression risks of brain injuries has become a major topic.  By forcing young players to develop a relationship with psychologists early on, it may make it easier for them to seek help if they do begin experiencing depression issues later. 

Study Reports Nerve Transfer Gives Patient Back hand Function after Spinal Cord Injury
May 15, 2012 - 4:24pm

The Journal of Neurosurgery published a case report this week on an emerging procedure which allows doctors to transfer working nerves to other locations in the body where nerve function has been lost, thus restoring movement.  The study highlights the treatment’s success by describing one patient who underwent this procedure to regain hand function after a 2008 vehicle accident left him with a crushed spinal cord at the C7 vertebrae. 

This spinal cord injury (SCI) severed the nerves that would normally send signals from his brain to the muscles in his hands, leaving him unable to use them.  However, the accident spared nerves that were close, enabling doctors to utilize those to restore hand function. 

ABC News explains that those with C7 spinal cord injuries lose the ability to move their hands, although they retain shoulder, elbow, and wrist movement due to nerves that begin above the injury.  In this patient’s procedure, they cut the nerve which controls the brachialis, an arm muscle that helps bend the elbow.  Doctors then “attached it to the non-working nerve projecting out to his hand with a tiny stitch the size of a hair,” ABC explains. 

Doctors said this nerve could be sacrificed because other muscles would compensate for the missing brachialis function.  After six months, this borrowed nerve grew another six inches along the path of the non-functioning nerve and reached the muscles of the hand.  Following intense physical therapy, this patient learned to once again move his fingers with this borrowed nerve. 

This technique seizes on the peripheral nerves’ ability to regenerate, which nerves inside the spinal cord cannot do.  Peripheral nerves are those which transmit signals between muscles and the spinal cord.

Researchers and surgeons believe this process could offer up a new option to restore some of the lost independence of SCI patients.  Despite the adaptive strategies many of these patients may have developed, this procedure could help many surpass previous physical limitations due to nerve damage.   

However, ABC points out that this procedure cannot help all SCI patients.  For those with injuries higher up on their spinal cord, doctors do not have the extra muscles to borrow nerves from because so many no longer work.    

The authors also note that despite the positive findings with the focus patient, further research is needed to “assess reliable clinical outcomes and optimal timing for surgical intervention.”  Nevertheless, the researchers point out that for those who undergo brachialis nerve transfer, they tend to continue recovering increasing amounts of motor power after their surgery.

CPSC Announces Pool and Trampoline Safety Recalls and Warnings

May 14, 2012 - 3:26pm

As the summer months approach and the weather improves, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced the recall of two dangerous products and released a safety warning on a third.  All these recent safety alerts primarily concern children, who are highly vulnerable to defective and potentially hazardous outdoor toys and sporting goods like those included in these CPSC announcements.   

Portable Pool Dangers

In a late-April report, the CPSC warned of the dangers portable pools pose.  A cheaper, movable option, these can be just as dangerous as any other pools.  In fact, CPSC explains that each year they receive 35 death reports of children 5 years old and younger due to these pools. 

Portable pools make up 11 percent of all pool drownings for that age group.  However, CPSC explains these deaths are highly preventable when the following safety precautions are taken:

  • Fence off portable pools and ask neighbors to do the same
  • If fencing is not possible, use smaller pools, empty all water, and turn them upside down when supervision is not possible
  • Never leave children near a pool or spa unsupervised
  • When larger pools are not supervised, remove pool ladders and enclose with a cover that meets the latest safety standards
  • Install door alarms to send an audio warning when someone leaves the house to enter the pool or spa area
  • Train children how to swim and float and instruct them on any other basic water safety skills they need
  • Never consider young children safe to leave unsupervised in a pool just because they have had basic swimming instruction

For more pool safety information, visit the government’s official website. 

Inflatable Pool Slide Recall

CPSC, in cooperation with both Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us Inc., has announced the recall of about 21,000 Banzai in-ground pool water slides.  CPSC explains that these inflatable slides have been deemed responsible for two serious injuries and one death. 

According to the recall announcement, this pool slide can deflate as it is used.  This deflation allows users to hit the ground underneath the slide and sustain injuries.  The woman who was killed, a 29-year-old mother, fractured her neck after hitting her head on the edge of a concrete pool while going down the partially deflated slide.  

The other two injuries CPSC is aware of occurred in a similar manner, with one man becoming a quadriplegic and another woman breaking her neck.  In addition to the deflation risk, these slides are also unstable, posing a toppling over risk in both calm and windy conditions.  Furthermore, the CPSC says the product carries inadequate warnings and user instructions.  

Manufactured in China by Manley Toys, Ltd, these slides were sold in Wal-Mart and Toys R Us stores nationwide from January 2005 through June 2009.  They cost about $250.  

Owners of the slide are instructed to immediately stop using it and return it to the nearest Toys R Us or Wal-Mart for a full refund.  Instead of bringing the entire slide to retailers for a refund, CPSC explains consumers can simply cut the two safety warning notices off the slide and return those pieces.  

Trampoline Recall over Fall Hazard

In cooperation with the product’s manufacturer, Sportsman Limited, CPSC has announced the recall of about 92,000 Sportspower BouncePro 14’ Trampolines.  These products have brown mesh netting around them that can break, allowing children to fall through and be injured. 

The manufacturer has received 11 injury reports due to this six-foot net breaking.  In all, 17 reports of net failure have been reported.  Injuries to children include back and neck injuries, broken bones, and contusions.  

These products were sold at Wal-Mart stores across the nation from February 2009 through February 2012 and cost about $275.  Consumers are instructed to immediately stop using these trampolines and contact the manufacturer to receive replacement netting. 

Girls’ Soccer Accounts for Second Most High School Sports Concussions
May 11, 2012 - 4:29pm

A recently published study on the number of sports-related concussions in the United States found, not surprisingly, that football leads the list with the majority of these injuries.  However, what is surprising about the results is that girls’ soccer came in with the second greatest number of these injuries.

Furthermore, the study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine found with “gender-comparable sports, girls had a higher concussion rate (1.7) than boys (1.0).”  The research explains that player to player contact accounted for the greatest number of these injuries, while player to playing surface contact was the second most common cause.

An NBC Sports article reports that according to Dr. Robert Cantu, a leading sports medicine professional, girls in particular are more prone to concussions due to their weaker necks.  Cantu explains that the same amount of force delivered to a boy’s and a girl’s head will cause the girl’s to spin much more, increasing the harm.  He said that new research also suggests those with longer, thinner necks may have an even greater risk.   

The article also cites other studies which have said that heading the ball in soccer can lead to brain damage as well.  According to one study, youth soccer largely accounts for the 58 percent increase in the diagnosis of pediatric concussions seen from 2001 to 2010.

According to a FOX News report from last November, one study found that although heading a soccer ball does not create the impact needed to “lacerate nerve fibers in the brain,” over time the repetitive heading may “set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells."  Researchers for these studies found that those who headed the ball more frequently did worse on verbal memory and psychomotor speed tests.  

However, soccer officials are not ready to place all the blame on heading the ball.  According to the article, experts were not satisfied enough with the specificity of the data to believe that heading is the cause of these injuries.  They believed other impacts could account for the damage seen.

What is undeniable about recent sports study findings is that the belief that concussions only happen to males, and generally only in football, has been disproven.  Although concussion research has generally focused on full-contact sports like hockey and football, we now know these injuries can occur across a wide range of high school sports. 

The recent sports medicine study explains that the “understanding of concussion rates, patterns of injury, and risk factors can drive targeted preventive measures and help reduce the risk for concussion among high school athletes in all sports.”

Electric Device May Stimulate Brain Activity in Alzheimer’s Patients

May 10, 2012 - 12:25pm

Reuters reports that a new safety trial suggests that when a small electronic device is implanted into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, beneficial brain activity may be stimulated.  

Although Reuters is careful to note that the results do not indicate that the small, pacemaker-like device has any hope in acting as a cure, “it may restore some measure of activity in areas of the brain whose decline is linked to Alzheimer's symptoms like memory loss, depression and agitation,” the article reports.   

This study, published online in the Archives of Neurology this week, was undertaken to test whether deep brain stimulation (DBS) “would increase cerebral glucose metabolism in cortical and hippocampal circuits and [if] that increased metabolism would be correlated with better clinical outcomes.”   

Gwenn Smith, PhD., the study’s lead author noted that despite the encouraging changes seen in the brains of the participants of this safety study, the technique needs to be tested in a larger population.  This trial involved five patients (four men and one woman) with mild, probable Alzheimer’s disease. 

This implant is already frequently used in Parkinson’s disease patients to alleviate tremors and help control their movements.  Continuous electrical impulses are delivered into the brain with this device.

The patients involved in the study had these devices implanted close to the brain region believed to be important in memory storage.  Two weeks later, the researchers turned the devices on and kept the settings and patient medications constant for a year. 

To test the effectiveness of this implant, the patients received PET scans at the one, six, and 12-month treatment periods.  What they found was an overall increase in brain activity in all of the patients with the implants.       

According to Smith, the patients in the trial still experienced decline, though it was less than would be expected.  Cognitive function declined in all but one patient, while quality of life actually remained static. 

However, researchers note it is not the cognitive measurements that interest them, but rather evidence of increased brain cell activity.  Brain cell activity impacted the blood flow and those with better blood flow seemed to have less cognitive decline.      

This treatment resembles a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year which also used electric stimulation and showed promise in improving the mental abilities in those with chronic pain, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer’s.  The Wall Street Journal explains that when implanted electrodes stimulated a specific region of the brain known as the entorhinal area, memory improvements were noted.  

At this point, few effective Alzheimer’s treatments exist, making these studies very exciting for the medical community.  Although researchers in both studies admit the benefits of DBS need further study with far larger test populations, these preliminary results provide much-needed direction in the future treatment of Alzheimer’s and related diseases.

CDC Warns Proper Shelter Comes Before Head Protection during Tornado Season
May 9, 2012 - 11:35am

As we enter late spring and start facing the risk of increasingly violent storms, notably tornadoes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have released a statement clarifying the proper response to an approaching twister.  

The Mother Nature Network explains that the tornado season varies by region, though it “tends to move northward from late winter to mid-summer.”  Those regions that have disproportionately higher tornado occurrences are Florida and the infamous Tornado Alley.  Tornado Alley comprises the strip of land running from north Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, eastern Colorado, southwest South Dakota, and southern Minnesota.        

The CDC statement comes after a January University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Injury Control Research Center commentary which suggested that helmets are “an essential addition to an individual’s tornado-safety preparations.”  The UAB report explains that any kind of safety helmet, including hard hats, bike, or football helmets, offer an important additional measure of protection during these storms. 

According to Scott Crawford, MPH, who is the commentary’s lead author, head injuries are a major cause of tornado-related deaths in the U.S.  The UAB cites the 21 fatalities that resulted from the April 27, 2011 tornado outbreak in Alabama.  According to the Jefferson County medical examiner, at least 11 of those fatalities resulted from head or neck injuries.      

However, the CDC explains that looking for a helmet in the moments before a tornado strike can actually put individuals at a greater risk of injury or death by delaying them from finding adequate shelter.  Although the CDC stands by their recommendations for people to protect their heads during these storms, they also explain that nothing should come before the primary goal: finding a safe place to ride out the storm. 

The CDC recommends finding a shelter or tornado-safe room, such as a basement.  If a heavy table, workbench, or other sturdy piece of furniture is present, individuals are encouraged to get under it.  If stranded outdoors when a tornado hits, they recommend lying down in a ditch or gully. 

Although the CDC recognizes the value of head protection in the event of a tornado, they explain that people choosing to use a helmet should know where it is located and have it readily available.  Nothing should come before finding a safe place to seek shelter.  

Furthermore, the CDC notes that “these helmets should not be considered an alternative to seeking appropriate shelter.”  Rather, helmets should be part of a family’s total tornado emergency plan.  

For more CDC recommendations on how to stay safe this tornado season, visit their Emergency Preparedness and Response page. 

Single Research Breakthrough May Treat Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s & Other Diseases

May 8, 2012 - 4:24pm

A new article published in Nature reports that British researchers have discovered a process that results in brain cell death and may have the drug that can treat a range of related diseases.  

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), researchers at the University of Leicester have discovered how the “build-up of proteins in mice with prion disease resulted in brain cells dying.”  Prion diseases are progressive neurodegenerative disorders that result in the impairment of brain function, memory problems, personality changes, intellectual function decline, and increased movement problems.  

Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease are all conditions that result from the build-up of these proteins.  A Reuters Report explains it is these misshapen proteins that form the plaques that characterize Alzheimer’s disease and the Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s disease patients.      

According to the BBC, researchers have found that as misfolded protein levels rise in the brain, “cells respond by trying to shut down the production of all new proteins.”  

This protein production shutdown is the same process that cells use to stop the spread of viruses.  “However, shutting down the factory for a long period of time ends up killing the brain cells as they do not produce the proteins they actually need to function,” the article explains.

The research team found that when they prevented brain cells from dying, it helped mice in the testing live longer.  It is this brain cell death that explains how diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s damage the nerve cells. 

Reuters explains that although researchers have known that neuron death in the brain causes the effects seen in these neurological disorders, they now know why the neurons are dying in the first place.  Understanding why neurons die has been the major barrier in developing treatments and diagnosing illnesses at earlier stages when treatments may be more effective. 

Now researchers have discovered that by injecting a protein to block the “off” switch that led to the shutting down process of all new protein production, they are able to “restore the production of the survival proteins and halt the neurodegeneration.”    

After injecting this protein, researchers found that “brain cells were protected, protein levels were restored and synaptic transmission - the way brain cells signal to each other - was re-established.” 

Researchers noted that although these scientific findings are still in their early stages, the results show great promise.  Furthermore, the variety of diseases that this research helps us understand means that this breakthrough has the potential to change the lives of many millions of patients worldwide who previously had little hope for treatment. 

Former Linebacker’s Suicide Raises More Head Trauma Concerns in NFL
May 4, 2012 - 12:23pm

Junior Seau, a former star NFL linebacker, committed suicide on Wednesday, leaving behind questions of whether the head trauma he suffered throughout his 20-year career caused symptoms that led him to take his own life.  He was just 43.   

Although a note was not found with his body, depression and suicide are two common hallmarks seen in former football players who endured a career filled with hard hits.  A Fox News report explains Seau’s is just the latest in a series of suicides by former NFL players.  These athletes include Terry Long, Andre Waters, and Dave Duerson.  

Duerson even left specific instructions to donate his brain to science in order to study the damage done by the repeated concussions he suffered during his playing days.  In order to preserve his brain for researchers, Duerson shot himself in the chest last year.  

Though it appears Seau left no such instructions to have his brain studied, he also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.  The coroner’s office has received family approval to examine Seau’s brain for signs of long-term damage.     

Scientists who study the brains of these athletes are looking for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).  

Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy explains that CTE is a “progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head.”  Players in a highly violent position, such as linebacker, have the highest risk of developing this condition. 

A Reuters report explains that over 1,500 former players have sued the NFL for head injuries they sustained.  These suits allege that the league concealed the link between football and brain injuries.  

In its defense, the NFL has directed attention to its recent efforts to take into account these health and safety issues.  According to Reuters, the league “has cracked down on hits to the head, and stiffened rules that bar players from using their helmets as a weapon through head-first contact, which is subject to fines and suspension for repeat offenders.”

However, these recent moves come after decades of trauma suffered by former players.  Just last month, former NFL safety Ray Easterling also took his life after suffering from what his wife said were the effects of his playing days with the Atlanta Falcons.  Easterling suffered from depression, insomnia, a loss of focus, an inability to organize his thoughts, and trouble relating to others.  

USA Today reports that he was the lead plaintiff in a group of seven former players who sued the NFL last August.  That suit also claimed the league “failed to properly treat players for concussion and tried to conceal for decades any links between football and brain injuries.”  

Although experts are conflicted as to whether Seau’s suicide was related to head injuries he sustained during his playing days, virtually everyone agrees more research into the connection between head injuries and the risk for depression and suicide needs to take place.  

MSNBC reports that these suicides have helped expose the lasting dangers of concussion and repeated head trauma.  Today there is a far greater awareness and appreciation for the seriousness of these injuries, and changes to the way athletes are protected, treated, and screened are likely to continue.

 

Therapy Expands Blood Vessels, Heals Damaged Brain Cells with Oxygen
May 3, 2012 - 12:34pm

A small Bethesda, Maryland-area medical company may have developed a treatment for brain injury, stroke, or concussion patients who still experience speech, cognition, muscle, and memory problems after traditional treatments and rehabilitation.   

This start up, Relox Medical, has developed an infusion therapy which is designed to deliver the maximum amount of oxygen possible to the brain.  Local Bethesda news source, WUSA9, explains this treatment delivers a solution of magnesium chloride to patients through an IV in order to introduce the medication into the blood stream. 

Once in the body, this solution causes the blood vessels in patients to expand, allowing more oxygen to reach the brain.  While this vessel expansion occurs, patients simultaneously inhale extra oxygen through a mask. 

Dr. Bert Spilker, a Relox Medical scientist, explains that stroke or traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes brain cells to die.  Although these dead cells can never be brought back to life, injured cells around them can be rejuvenated, which is what this therapy aims to do. 

The news source explains that this extra oxygen produces adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which repairs injured brain cells. With the enlarged blood vessels, the ATP can pass through and make its way to those injured cells. 

Relox Medical has tested their therapy in clinical trials with over 80 patients.  However, before they launch a phase 3 study, the news source explains that the small company is looking for another pharmaceutical company to partner with. 

In April, we reported on a similar therapy that places TBI patients in an oxygen tank to submerge them in 100 percent oxygen under high pressure.  According to a First Coast News report, researchers believe this therapy may help the neurons and small blood vessels heal. 

Dr. Stephen Xenakis, a psychiatrist and retired Army brigadier general who recommends this treatment, says that patients undergo 40 sessions of this one-hour treatment.  Known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2), Xenakis claims patients start to see improvements in their mood, headaches, alertness, and focus about halfway through. 

Xenakis says that the therapy is particularly useful for returning soldiers who have sustained IED blast injuries.  These patients often come home with attention and memory problems and struggle to feel normal.  

One study into this treatment has already been completed, while another is in the recruitment phase.  Although it costs about $250 per treatment and insurance does not cover it, the article explains veterans are being worked with for free.  

Both this HBO2 therapy and Relox Medical’s treatment are promising advances for patients who may have believed they could never recover the quality of life they lost.  We will continue to report any updates in the approval process for these treatments. 

Mugging Gives Man Brain Damage: Becomes Math Genius who Creates Art from Complex Formulas

May 2, 2012 - 1:23pm

Ten years ago, Jason Padgett was mugged after coming out of a karaoke club in Tacoma, Washington.  ABC News reports the muggers violently kicked and beat him. 

Padgett likely suffered a closed head injury, meaning he received trauma that results from a blow to the head or a violent, quick jolt that causes the brain to knock against the skull.  Other causes of closed head injuries include automobile accidents, falls, and work or sports-related accidents.    

At first, doctors believed he had a concussion.  However, Padgett soon realized that he was “obsessed with drawing intricate diagrams, but didn’t know what they were.”  The injury left him seeing complicated mathematical formulas wherever he looked.   

Padgett said he now sees “bits and pieces of the Pythagorean theorem everywhere.”  Channeling this mathematical fixation through his drawings, he creates fractals, which he describes as “a shape that when you take the shape a part into pieces, the pieces are the same or similar to the whole.” 

For example, Padgett explains this would be like taking 1,000 small pictures of you and placing them in such a way that creates the exact same image, only larger.  He is believed to be the only person in the world with this skill. 

Examples of his work include a visual representation of the formula of Pi, which is the infinite number beginning with 3.14.  Researchers have compared his gift to that of John Nash, the mathematical genius portrayed in the 2001 film, “A Beautiful Mind.”  

With no math background or college degree, Padgett’s acquired gift baffled scientists.  To get an answer, Berit Brogaard, a neuroscientist and philosophy professor at the Center for Neurodynamics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, flew him to Finland to undergo testing. 

ABC reports that researchers found “Padgett’s brain showed damage that was forcing his brain to overcompensate in certain areas that most people don’t have access to.”  This turned him into an acquired savant, meaning he is “brilliant in a specific area.”

A Yahoo News article points out that there are other famous savants who also had brain damage, including Orlando Serrell.  After being struck in the left side of the head with a baseball at age 10, Serrell could then do complicated calendar calculations and “remember the weather every day from the day of the accident.” 

Currently a furniture store employee, Padgett hopes to teach others what he has learned about the beauty of math since his accident.  Although he admits this gift can sometimes become a burden because he can never stop seeing the mathematical formulas, he says the benefits have easily outnumbered the drawbacks. 

His profile on Fine Art America explains Padgett is now studying at Washington state in order to learn traditional mathematics “so he can better describe what he sees in a more traditional form. “  To see Padgett’s works, you can visit his online portfolio.