Using a type of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called diffusion spectrum imaging to study the brains of five healthy individuals, Swiss and American researchers have drawn up the first high resolution map of connections in the brain.

Understanding communication between neurons in the cerebral cortex, the area of the brain responsible for reasoning and planning, can help researchers understand what is affected in a traumatic brain injury. By having a map of a “healthy” brain to compare an injured one to, the potential for healing these damaged areas increases greatly.

Olaf Sporns, co-author of the study, says that this map allows them to “measure a significant correlation between brain anatomy and brain dynamics,” meaning that this knowledge will allow them to better predict what the brain will do.

Up until now, the only data available regarding the wiring of the human brain came from studying the deceased. In the living brain, typical MRI studies could only note the ups and downs of neural activity, which could be applied to actions such as decision making, but failed to show the underlying workings in the brain.

The scientists involved in this study see this map as the first step towards the development of a full-scale model of the human brain. The potential use of this new technology is limitless.

According to a report by clinical scientists from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, traumatic brain injury patients should be given nutritional supplements as soon as possible following the injury.

The recommended intake is through a gastric feeding tube, and if done timely enough, can increase a TBI patient’s chance of survival four-fold. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that optimal nutrition will improve your health and chances of healing, but this study from the Journal of Neurosurgery found that the nutritional supplementation recommended for the first week of recovery isn’t enough.

For optimal benefits, supplements need to be taken as soon as it is medically possible. The best outcome for TBI patients came from a minimum of 25kcal/kg each day, an amount that provides the body with what it needs to properly repair the complex damage in the brain.

DisabilityInfo.gov

“DisabilityInfo.gov is a comprehensive online resource designed to provide people with disabilities with quick and easy access to the information they need. With just a few clicks, the site provides access to disability-related information and programs available across the government on numerous subjects, including benefits, civil rights, community life, education, employment, housing, health, technology and transportation.

DisabilityInfo.gov is managed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), in partnership with 21 other federal agencies.

DisabilityInfo.gov is the result of an Executive Memorandum issued by President George W. Bush on August 28, 2002 as part of his New Freedom Initiative which directed federal agencies to work together to build a one-stop interagency Web portal for people with disabilities, their families, employers, service providers and community members.”

This site provides some excellent resources for everything disability related, with an emphasis on government policies and procedures. It’s worth checking out.

According to ScienceDaily, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation is one of the most common causes of death and long-term neurological damage among infants and children. One of the methods of resuscitation is to apply 100 percent oxygen in an effort to revive the deprived brain.

New studies are suggesting that this application may actually cause more damage than benefit to the resuscitated brain. Research done on mice where they were given 100 percent oxygen resulted in a disruption of myelination and motor coordination. Myelin is a fatty substance that insulates nerve cells and allows them to transmit electrical signals quickly. As myelin develops in children, their coordination improves.

Dr. Steven Kernie, an associate professor with UT Southwestern Medical Center, says he wanted to find out if the application of 100 percent oxygen would impair the recovery of damaged neurons after a brain injury. He found that this amount of oxygen exposure causes oxidative stress, though it can be reversed with the addition of an antioxidant. Dr. Kearnie plans to continue his research to determine the ideal amount of oxygen that will benefit recovery.

The use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, as mentioned in a previous post, isn’t the same thing in case you are wondering how the two compare. With this therapy, patients are given 100% oxygen, but in cycles. They are given periods of time with decreased a decreased oxygen percentage in order to reduce the chance of oxygen toxicity. We aren’t sure if there have been any detrimental affects at this time, but we will look further into the correlation between the two therapies.

Communicating How You Want to Be Treated After A Disabling Injury

When you are newly disabled, whether through a spinal injury or traumatic brain injury, there are so many vital things to process and re-learn that figuring out where to start can seem very overwhelming. Today we are looking at tips on how to speak with someone who is disabled or what you can and should request in the behavior of those who speak to you. The following suggestions are thanks to Disapedia.com

• When talking to a person with a disability, look at and speak directly to that person, rather than through a companion who may be along.
  

• Relax. Don’t be embarrassed if you happen to use accepted common expressions such as “See you later” or “Got to be running along” that seem to relate to the person’s disability.
  

• To get the attention of a person with a hearing impairment, tap the person on the shoulder or wave your hand. Look directly at the person and speak clearly, naturally and slowly to establish if the person can read lips. No all persons with hearing impairments can lip-read. Those who can will rely on facial expression and other body language to help in understanding. Show consideration by placing yourself facing the light source and keeping your hands, cigarettes and food away from your mouth when speaking. Keep mustaches well trimmed. Shouting won’t help. Written notes may.
  

• When talking with a person in a wheelchair for more than a few minutes, use a chair, whenever possible, in order to place yourself at the person’s eye level to facilitate conversation.
  

• When greeting a person with a severe loss of vision, always identify yourself and others who may be with you.

It takes time for the family and friends of someone with a disability to realize that they don’t need to tip-toe around you or to understand that your disability does not make you a wholly different person. It’s your right to request a respectful and equalizing communication process that takes into account any barriers that your disability may present.

On the blog, If I Only Had a Brain, author Laura Bruno discusses how to improve your cash flow when you are encumbered with a disability. She lists tips for those who were injured at work or in a car accident while providing ideas for additional earning potential. While not overly in-depth, the information she provides is a good starting place for determining how you will continue to generate income after a disabling injury.

A TBI survivor herself, Laura has turned her situation around by becoming a Life Coach and the author of If I Only Had a Brain Injury: A TBI Survivor and Life Coach’s Guide to Chronic Fatigue, Concussion, Lyme Disease, Migraine or Other “Medical Mystery”.

With so many adaptations to make after a brain or spinal cord injury, resources such as hers can help provide you with information that will make your “new” life easier and fuller .

Q: What are the three processes that injure the brain?

A: Bruising, tearing and swelling.

When the brain is bruised, the brain tissue is smashed against the skull and blood vessels may tear. When blood vessels tear, they release blood into areas of the brain in a random, chaotic manner. “There is no room for this extra blood, and the skull, being hard and brittle, does not expand. So the blood begins to press on softer things–like brain tissue. Brain tissue is very delicate and will stop working properly or may even die off. With large amounts of bleeding in the brain, the pressure will make critical areas of the brain stop working.”

When the brain tissue is torn, it is due to an amount of energy acting on it during a traumatic impact that cuts the tissue. “Tearing in the brain “cuts” the wires that make the brain work. One of the problems with tearing is that it happens on a microscopic level (the brain has about 100 billion of these “wires”). This tearing may not show up on typical medical tests. Devices that take pictures of the brain will not see these small tears.”

Swelling, due to blood leaking after an impact to the brain, causes pressure to build up with no outlet until areas of the brain are damaged.

Reference: http://www.tbiguide.com

With the use of brain-imaging technology that uses MEG technology (magnetoencephalography), physicians at an Elk Grove Village hospital are hoping to determine if combat veterans are suffering from undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries.

This “magnetic stethoscope” picks up magnetic signals that are produced by the brain when it is exposed to visual or auditory stimuli. This will help doctors determine whether vets who have PTSD also have a TBI as those signals differ when patients have one from when they have both.

According to the Chicago Tribune article, this technology will help patients receive proper treatment for the biological factors involved in PTSD and TBI.

On Courant.com, Lisa Chedekel writes that the military is starting a program where they will test and evaluate troops that are war bound before they leave. This screening is to help create a reference point for those who end up sustaining brain damage.

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the growing number of soldiers returning from war with various degrees of brain damage. With a variety of organizations advocating for better treatment of our wounded troops, this “pre-deployment screening” is an excellent sign that U.S. military leaders are beginning to take these injuries as the serious matter that they are.

For the full article, click here.

Healing from traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries involves a variety of mental and physical processes and responses. “Biofeedback is a technique that uses monitoring instruments to measure and feed back information about muscle tension, heart rate, sweat responses, skin temperature, or brain activity” - all pertinent indicators of the healing process.

How can this help you with the healing process? Understanding how your body is reacting to stress, pain and  yes, even your thoughts, can help you to gain a better grasp on exactly what will and won’t help and hinder your healing from these injuries. “Biofeedback can help you learn to influence your own physiological responses to physical, emotional or psychological stress” by pinpointing thought patterns and emotions that are working against the healing process.

Does this sound a bit “new-age”? Give it a chance. Picture electrodes hooked up to the affected areas of your body that are involved with your injury or are tight from the resulting stress and pain. Now as you work through various thoughts and emotions, the machine responds with beeps or in a visual display that alerts you to which part of your body is reacting to that thought.

With this knowledge and the immediate feedback from the machine, you are able to work on changing your thoughts and your reactions to strong stresses and even figure out how to catch the stress before it begins to rise and negatively influence your body. After practice creates a familiarity with your physical responses, you will be able to work through this without the biofeedback instruments.

For more information, visit the Mayo Clinic.