Traumatic brain injury: The first 15 milliseconds

Parental beliefs regarding adult and child motorcycle helmet-wearing practices in Vietnam

From a global perspective, low helmet-wearing rates in children are an ongoing concern. International studies show adult helmet-wearing rates are consistently higher than those of children. Research also shows parents are highly influential in promoting healthy behavior in their children. Parent-focused helmet-wearing campaigns are a practical way to actively feature parents influencing helmet-wearing in children. The current study obtained anonymous parent-focused survey data on parent and child helmet-wearing practices, perceived affects of helmet use on children's health, and beliefs about brain injury prevention from a sample of Vietnams parents. Findings from this study are consistent with previous international research that shows adults wear helmets at higher rates than children. Data from this study may help those responsible for child helmet safety campaigns develop more effective child helmet-wearing campaigns, particularly in Southeast Asian countries.

Case studies in neuroscience: reversible signatures of edema following electric and piezoelectric craniotomy drilling in macaques

In vivo electrophysiology requires direct access to brain tissue, necessitating the development and refinement of surgical procedures and techniques that promote the health and well-being of animal subjects. Here, we report a series of findings noted on structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in monkeys with MRI-compatible implants following small craniotomies that provide access for intracranial electrophysiology. We found distinct brain regions exhibiting hyperintensities in T2-weighted scans that were prominent underneath the sites at which craniotomies had been performed. We interpreted these hyperintensities as edema of the neural tissue and found that they were predominantly present following electric and piezoelectric drilling, but not when manual, hand-operated drills were used. Furthermore, the anomalies subsided within 2-3 wk following surgery. Our report highlights the utility of MRI-compatible implants that promote clinical examination of the animal's brain, sometimes revealing findings that may go unnoticed when incompatible implants are used. We show replicable differences in outcome when using electric versus mechanical devices, both ubiquitous in the field. If electric drills are used, our report cautions against electrophysiological recordings from tissue directly underneath the craniotomy for the first 2-3 wk following the procedure due to putative edema.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Close examination of structural MRI in eight nonhuman primates following craniotomy surgeries for intracranial electrophysiology highlights a prevalence of hyperintensities on T2-weighted scans following surgeries conducted using electric and piezoelectric drills, but not when using mechanical, hand-operated drills. We interpret these anomalies as edema of neural tissue that resolved 2-3 wk postsurgery. This finding is especially of interest as electrophysiological recordings from compromised tissue may directly influence the integrity of collected data immediately following surgery.

Cerebrolysin restores balance between excitatory and inhibitory amino acids in brain following concussive head injury. Superior neuroprotective effects of TiO2 nanowired drug delivery

Concussive head injury (CHI) often associated with military personnel, soccer players and related sports personnel leads to serious clinical situation causing lifetime disabilities. About 3-4k head injury per 100k populations are recorded in the United States since 2000-2014. The annual incidence of concussion has now reached to 1.2% of population in recent years. Thus, CHI inflicts a huge financial burden on the society for rehabilitation. Thus, new efforts are needed to explore novel therapeutic strategies to treat CHI cases to enhance quality of life of the victims. CHI is well known to alter endogenous balance of excitatory and inhibitory amino acid neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS) leading to brain pathology. Thus, a possibility exists that restoring the balance of amino acids in the CNS following CHI using therapeutic measures may benefit the victims in improving their quality of life. In this investigation, we used a multimodal drug Cerebrolysin (Ever NeuroPharma, Austria) that is a well-balanced composition of several neurotrophic factors and active peptide fragments in exploring its effects on CHI induced alterations in key excitatory (Glutamate, Aspartate) and inhibitory (GABA, Glycine) amino acids in the CNS in relation brain pathology in dose and time-dependent manner. CHI was produced in anesthetized rats by dropping a weight of 114.6g over the right exposed parietal skull from a distance of 20cm height (0.224N impact) and blood-brain barrier (BBB), brain edema, neuronal injuries and behavioral dysfunctions were measured 8, 24, 48 and 72h after injury. Cerebrolysin (CBL) was administered (2.5, 5 or 10mL/kg, i.v.) after 4-72h following injury. Our observations show that repeated CBL induced a dose-dependent neuroprotection in CHI (5-10mL/kg) and also improved behavioral functions. Interestingly when CBL is delivered through TiO₂ nanowires superior neuroprotective effects were observed in CHI even at a lower doses (2.5-5mL/kg). These observations are the first to demonstrate that CBL is effectively capable to attenuate CHI induced brain pathology and behavioral disturbances in a dose dependent manner, not reported earlier.

Improved neuropathological identification of traumatic brain injury through quantitative neuroimaging and neural network analyses: Some practical approaches for the neurorehabilitation clinician

BACKGROUND

Quantitative neuroimaging analyses have the potential to provide additional information about the neuropathology of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that more thoroughly informs the neurorehabilitation clinician.

OBJECTIVE

Quantitative neuroimaging is typically not covered in the standard radiological report, but often can be extracted via post-processing of clinical neuroimaging studies, provided that the proper volume acquisition sequences were originally obtained.

METHODS

Research and commercially available quantitative neuroimaging methods provide region of interest (ROI) quantification metrics, lesion burden volumetrics and cortical thickness measures, degree of focal encephalomalacia, white matter (WM) abnormalities and residual hemorrhagic pathology. If present, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a variety of techniques that aid in evaluating WM integrity. Using quantitatively identified structural and ROI neuropathological changes are most informative when done from a neural network approach.

RESULTS

Viewing quantitatively identifiable damage from a neural network perspective provides the neurorehabilitation clinician with an additional tool for linking brain pathology to understand symptoms, problems and deficits as well as aid neuropsychological test interpretation. All of these analyses can be displayed in graphic form, including3-D image analysis. A case study approach is used to demonstrate the utility of quantitative neuroimaging and network analyses in TBI.

CONCLUSIONS

Quantitative neuroimaging may provide additional useful information for the neurorehabilitation clinician.

Mammalian Models of Traumatic Brain Injury and a Place for Drosophila in TBI Research

Traumatic brain injury (TBI), caused by a sudden blow or jolt to the brain that disrupts normal function, is an emerging health epidemic with ∼2.5 million cases occurring annually in the United States that are severe enough to cause hospitalization or death. Most common causes of TBI include contact sports, vehicle crashes and domestic violence or war injuries. Injury to the central nervous system is one of the most consistent candidates for initiating the molecular and cellular cascades that result in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Not every TBI event is alike with effects varying from person to person. The majority of people recover from mild TBI within a short period of time, but repeated incidents can have deleterious long-lasting effects which depend on factors such as the number of TBIs sustained, time till medical attention, age, gender and genetics of the individual. Despite extensive research, many questions still remain regarding diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of long-term effects from TBI as well as recovery of brain function. In this review, we present an overview of TBI pathology, discuss mammalian models for TBI and focus on current methods using Drosophila melanogaster as a model for TBI study. The relatively small brain size (∼100,000 neurons and glia), conserved neurotransmitter signaling mechanisms and sophisticated genetics of Drosophila allows for cell biological, molecular and genetic analyses that are impractical in mammalian models of TBI.

Early to Long-Term Alterations of CNS Barriers After Traumatic Brain Injury: Considerations for Drug Development

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of death and disability, particularly amongst the young and the elderly. The functions of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) are strongly impaired after TBI, thus affecting brain homeostasis. Following the primary mechanical injury that characterizes TBI, a secondary injury develops over time, including events such as edema formation, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and alterations in paracelullar and transcellular transport. To date, most therapeutic interventions for TBI have aimed at direct neuroprotection during the acute phase and have not been successful. Targeting the barriers of the central nervous system (CNS) could be a wider therapeutic approach, given that restoration of brain homeostasis would benefit all brain cells, including neurons. Importantly, BBB disregulation has been observed even years after TBI, concomitantly with neurological and psychosocial sequelae; however, treatments targeting the post-acute phase are scarce. Here, we review the mechanisms of primary and secondary injury of CNS barriers, the accumulating evidence showing long-term damage to these structures and some of the therapies that have targeted these mechanisms. Finally, we discuss how the injury characteristics (hemorrhagic vs non-hemorrhagic, involvement of head rotation, gray vs white matter), the sex, and the age of the patient need to be carefully considered to improve clinical trial design and outcome interpretation, and to improve future drug development.

Vascular geometry as a risk factor for non-penetrating traumatic injuries of the aortic arch

PURPOSE

To assess biomechanical factors in aortic arch geometry contributing to the development of non-penetrating aortic arch injury (NAAI) in multiply injured patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥ 16.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

230 consecutive multiply injured trauma patients with an ISS ≥ 16 admitted to our Level-I trauma center during a consecutive 24-month period were prospectively included of whom 13 presented with NAAI (5.7%). Standardized whole-body CT in a 2x128-detector-row scanner included a head-and-neck CTA. Aortic arch diameters, width, height, angles and thoracic width and height were measured in individuals with NAAI and ISS-, sex-, age-, and trauma mechanism-matched controls.

RESULTS

There was no difference between groups regarding sex, age, ISS, and aortic diameters. The aortic arch angle in individuals with NAAI (71.3° ± 14.9°) was larger than in healthy control (60.7° ± 8.6°; p*<0.05). In patients with NAAI, the distance between ascendent and descendent aorta was larger (5.2 cm ± 1.9 cm) than in control (2.8 ± 0.5 cm; ***p<0.001). The aortic arch is higher above tracheal bifurcation in NAAI (3.6 cm ± 0.6 cm) than in matched control (2.4 cm ± 0.3 cm; ***p<0.001). Accordingly, the area under the aortic arch, calculated as half of an eliptic shape, is significantly larger in patients with NAAI (15.0 cm2 ± 6.5 cm2) when compared to age- and sex-matched controls without NAAI (5.5 cm2 ± 1.3 cm2; ***p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Besides the magnitude of deceleration and direction of impact, width and height of the aortic arch are the 3rd and 4th factor directly contributing to the risk of developing traumatic NAAI in severely injured patients.