http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Most children with isolated skull fractures may not need to stay in the hospital, which finding has the potential to save the health care system millions of dollars a year ("Isolated Skull Fractures: Trends in Management in U.S. Pediatric Emergency Departments"). In addition, a new device more accurately estimates children's weights, leading to more precise drug dosing in the ER ("Evaluation of the Mercy TAPE: Performance Against the Standard for Pediatric Weight Estimation"). Two studies published online this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine showcase some of the work emergency physicians are doing to improve care for children in the nation's emergency departments. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-advancing-emergency-kids-physicians.html Other Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:28:11 EST news286547284 The production of a certain kind of brain cell that had been considered an impediment to healing may actually be needed to staunch bleeding and promote repair after a stroke or head trauma, researchers at Duke Medicine report. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-brain-injury-astrocytes-unexpected-role.html Medical research Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:00:01 EST news286022977 (Medical Xpress)—The smooth operation of the brain requires a certain robustness to fluctuations in its home within the body. At the same time, its extraordinary power derives from an activity structure poised at criticality. In other words, it is highly responsive to many low-threshold events. When forced beyond its comfort zone in parameter space—its operating temperature, electrolytes, sugars, blood gas or even sensory input— the direct result is seizure, coma, or both. It would appear that anything rendered too hot or cold, too concentrated or scarce, precipitates seizure. In those genetically predisposed, or compromised by head trauma, the seizing tends toward full-blown epilepsy. A group in Hamburg, led by Michael Frotscher has been chipping away at the causes of common form a epilepsy, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Their latest research published in the journal, Cerebral Cortex, takes a closer at differentiated neurons in the dentate gryus of mouse hippocampus. Once thought to be completely immobilized by virtue of their broadly integrated dendritic trees, these neurons are now shown to become migratory once again in direct response to seizure activity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-epilepsy-differentiated-neurons.html Neuroscience Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:40:19 EST news283779586 Most scientists are starting to agree that repeat, sub-concussive hits to the head are dangerous and linked to neurological disorders later in life. A new collaborative study, though, attempted to find out why – and discovered that damage to the blood-brain barrier and the resulting autoimmune response might be the culprit. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-brain-injury-autoimmune-phenomenon-multiple.html Immunology Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:00:01 EST news281808351 A new study found that adult sleepwalking is a potentially serious condition that may induce violent behaviors and affect health-related quality of life. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-adult-sleepwalking-condition-impacts-health-related.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 28 Feb 2013 15:23:53 EST news281287418 As the National Football League braces for lawsuits by 4000 former players alleging the league failed to protect them from the long-term consequences of concussions, game-changing research by a leading Canadian researcher shows damage to the brain can persist for decades after the original head trauma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-evidence-concussions-require-long-term-follow-up.html Health Sun, 17 Feb 2013 08:06:15 EST news280310762 Visual symptoms and abnormalities occur at high rates in people with traumatic brain injury (TBI)—including Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans with blast-related TBI, reports a study, "Abnormal Fixation in Individuals with AMD when Viewing an Image of a Face", in the February issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-combat-vets-high-vision-problems.html Neuroscience Mon, 04 Feb 2013 11:50:01 EST news279200228 More than 2,000 former football players are suing the National Football League, saying the league should have taken action earlier to deal with injuries related to concussions more seriously. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-health-law-expert-nfl-concussions.html Health Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:27:06 EST news277658816 (HealthDay)—Across much of the United States, the winter months are a fun time filled with falling flakes and holiday cheer. But high season for snow and ice can also entail broken bones. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-snowboarding-tops-winter-sports-injuries.html Health Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:10:01 EST news277310430 Repeat traumatic brain injury affects a subgroup of the 3.5 million people who suffer head trauma each year. Even a mild repeat TBI that occurs when the brain is still recovering from an initial injury can result in poorer outcomes, especially in children and young adults. A metabolic marker that could serve as the basis for new mild TBI vulnerability guidelines is described in an article in Journal of Neurotrauma. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-period-vulnerability-traumatic-brain-injury.html Neuroscience Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:58:45 EST news277037912 (Medical Xpress)—A supplement used worldwide as a memory enhancer and to help in recovery from stroke and head trauma provided no benefit in enhancing the recovery of adults who had suffered a traumatic brain injury, according to findings of a national multisite clinical trial published last month in The Journal of the American Medical Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-neuroprotective-agent-benefit-patients-traumatic.html Medical research Tue, 04 Dec 2012 06:53:28 EST news273826398 (Medical Xpress)—In many pathologies of the nervous system, there is a common event - cells called microglia are activated from surveillant watchmen into fighters.  Microglia are the immune cells of the nervous system, ingesting and destroying pathogens and damaged nerve cells. Until now little was known about the molecular mechanisms of microglia activation despite this being a critical process in the body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-role-microglial-cells-defenders-fighters.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:13:08 EST news269590368 New animal studies provide additional support for investigating stem cell treatments for Parkinson's disease, head trauma, and dangerous heart problems that accompany spinal cord injury, according to research findings released today. The work, presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and the world's largest source of emerging news about brain science and health, shows scientists making progress toward using stem cell therapies to repair neurological damage. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-potential-stem-cell-therapy.html Neuroscience Mon, 15 Oct 2012 16:52:45 EST news269538757 The burden of epilepsy in poorer parts of the world could be readily alleviated by reducing the preventable causes and improving access to treatment, according to a review article published today in the Lancet. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-highlights-burden-epilepsy-world.html Neuroscience Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:22:14 EST news267992517 Scientists have restored the sense of smell in mice through gene therapy for the first time—a hopeful sign for people who can't smell anything from birth or lose it due to disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-gene-therapy-aid-diseases-cilia.html Medical research Sun, 02 Sep 2012 13:00:01 EST news265786223 (Medical Xpress) -- A Johns Hopkins review of more than 38,000 patient records finds that older adults who sustain substantial head trauma over a weekend are significantly more likely to die from their injuries than those similarly hurt and hospitalized Monday through Friday, even if their injuries are less severe and they have fewer other illnesses than their weekday counterparts. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-weekend-hospital-deadly-older-people.html Surgery Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:44:32 EST news263537063 White children are more likely to receive cranial (head) CT scans in an emergency department following minor head trauma, compared with African-American or Hispanic children, a study published by researchers at UC Davis has found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-white-children-ct-scans-hispanic.html Health Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:00:01 EST news263487550 A study, performed in mice and utilizing post-mortem samples of brains from patients with Alzheimer's disease, found that a single event of a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can disrupt proteins that regulate an enzyme associated with Alzheimer's. The paper, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, identifies the complex mechanisms that result in a rapid and robust post-injury elevation of the enzyme, BACE1, in the brain. These results may lead to the development of a drug treatment that targets this mechanism to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-brain-trauma-alzheimer-disease.html Alzheimer's disease & dementia Tue, 24 Jul 2012 17:10:09 EST news262368591 (HealthDay) -- More "safe rooms" to flee to, listening for weather alerts and better planning, especially for seniors, could reduce the death toll from devastating tornadoes, a new U.S.government report finds. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-tornadoes-dont-deadly-experts.html Health Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:00:01 EST news261941242 A new study suggests there may be a starting point at which blows to the head or other head trauma suffered in combat sports start to affect memory and thinking abilities and can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the brain. The research was released today and will be presented as part of the Emerging Science (formerly known as Late-Breaking Science) program at the American Academy of Neurology's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-trauma-sports-memory-loss.html Neuroscience Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:00:03 EST news253981272 Cerebral edemas are accumulations of fluid into the intra- or extracellular spaces of the brain and it can result from several factors such as stroke or head trauma, among others. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-treatments-brain-edema.html Neuroscience Mon, 19 Mar 2012 11:39:58 EST news251375985 Imaging has been identified as one of the key drivers of increased healthcare costs. A new study from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School has found significant variation in the use of head computed tomography (CT), even within a single emergency department. Strategies to reduce such variation in head CT use may reduce cost and improve quality of care. The study appears online in advance of publication in the April issue of The American Journal of Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-evidence-based-unnecessary-imaging.html Health Fri, 09 Mar 2012 04:41:06 EST news250490456 Some days are better than others for Leon Spinks. At 58, he has dementia, difficulty maintaining balance and short-term memory impairment, says wife Brenda. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-brain-boxers-safety-issues.html Health Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:00:01 EST news248694400 In one year alone, over 4,500 children in the United States were hospitalized due to child abuse, and 300 of them died of their injuries, Yale School of Medicine researchers report in a new study. The findings are published in the March 2012 issue of Pediatrics (published online Feb. 6). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-children-hospitalized-alarming-due-abuse.html Health Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:28:46 EST news247721309 A new study by researchers at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus and Pace University is critical of the widespread use of computerized neuropsychological tests (CNT) in decisions regarding when athletes can return to play after suffering a concussion. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-flags-over-reliance-return-to-plan-decisions-concussion.html Neuroscience Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:50:01 EST news247375905 The tradition of fighting in hockey should be stopped, as research shows that repeated head trauma causes severe and progressive brain damage, states an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-violence-hockey.html Health Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:00:03 EST news243517070 High levels of tau protein in fluid bathing the brain are linked to poor recovery after head trauma, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Fondazione IRCCS Ca Granda-Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, Italy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-high-tau-protein-linked-poor.html Neuroscience Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:19:02 EST news243015531 Young football players may be at higher risk for stroke, according to a new study released in Journal of Child Neurology (JCN). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-football-contribute-adolescents.html Health Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:05:14 EST news242575499 Football players experience repeated head trauma throughout their careers, which results in short and long-term effects to their cognitive function, physical and mental health. University of Missouri researchers are investigating how other lifestyle factors, including diet and exercise, impact the late-life health of former collision-sport athletes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-football-players-prone-late-life-health.html Health Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:04:48 EST news240066277 A new study found that spinal bleeding is found often in young children who are victims of abusive trauma. The findings support performing complete spine imaging for children undergoing brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for moderate or severe traumatic brain injury and suggest a pathway for distinguishing between abusive and accidental injury. The study is published online in the journal Radiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-spinal-brain-injury-abuse-young.html Medical research Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:00:43 EST news239947235