Brain injury
A groundbreaking neurorehabilitation centre is today opening its doors, bringing a new dimension to brain injury rehabilitation in the UK.
Calvert Reconnections, the UK’s first intensive acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation centre which offers a unique approach to rehab for its residents, is now open after having to previously delay plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The centre, on the outskirts of Keswick in the Lake District, offers the first residential programme of its kind, combining traditional clinical therapies with physical activity in the outdoors. “The opening of our new centre is the culmination of years of meticulous planning by the Lake District Calvert Trust. It is a landmark moment for the ABI rehab market and for us,” said Giles Mounsey-Heysham, chairman of the Lake District Calvert Trust (LDCT) trustees.
Brain injury charity Headway has partnered with safety manufacturer Centurion in an effort to educate those in the construction industry around concussion and brain injuries.
Hard Hat Awareness Week runs from June 14th - 20th and is designed to make sure those in the building sector are following the best practices to avoid any potential head injuries. As well as this both groups are using the event to help people spot the signs of concussion for both themselves and their coworkers through a series of educational media pieces. Like Griggs, deputy chief executive at Headway, said campaigns like this are vital to showing people the serious nature of a head injury. “We have been running our concussion awareness campaign for a while now,” he said. “But that has been primarily focused on the world of sport.
A first-of-its-kind house has been created for people with brain injuries, using the latest in technology innovation to support them in their return to living independently.
The Link is a pioneering project designed to bridge the gap between acute medical settings and return home, or to allow for a period of independent living, which uses assistive, smart and strategy technology to enable residents to live autonomously thanks to the ‘hidden’ support within the building. The purpose-built house, in Snodland, Kent, is a unique innovation from BIS Services, which has been meticulously planned for over three years. It offers a solution to people who are set to move back into the community but want to live in somewhere that feels like home during their transition, rather than a multi-occupancy unit, while not compromising on levels of support. But while they are able to live independently, they have the benefit of round-the-clock subtle monitoring, with observations of skill, patterns of behaviour, independent motivation and initiation, all of which can be graded and reduced where appropriate, allowing for maximum safety whilst increasing positive outcomes.
The injury sustained last night by France defender Benjamin Pavard and the way it was dealt with was "sickening to watch", with calls for urgent action to be taken to protect players from such a situation repeating.
Pavard was injured in the Euro 2021 match with Germany, when he collided with Germany’s Robin Gosens. Pavard hit the ground without his arms protecting him from the fall and later admitted he was ‘a little knocked out for ten, 15 seconds’. Despite this, the player was allowed to continue after receiving on-pitch medical attention for less than three minutes – a decision labelled by brain injury charity Headway as "disturbing". While the Premiership last season became the first football competition in the world to trial the use of concussion substitutes - although its premise of permanent rather than temporary replacements has prompted widespread calls for it to go further - no such measures are in place during the Euros. In the wake of Pavard's injury last night, with football fans around the world fearing for the player's welfare during the incident, Headway has called for urgent action to be taken to ensure such a situation does not occur again.
Scientists have revealed a potential mechanism for how traumatic brain injury leads to neurodegenerative diseases.
The results could aid the development of treatments that halt the progression of cell damage after brain injury, which can otherwise lead to neurological diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Repeated head trauma is linked to a progressive neurodegenerative syndrome, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Postmortem tissues from patients with CTE show dysfunctional levels of a molecule called TDP-43, which is also found in ALS, Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia.
The lifelong consequences of domestic violence on brain health are to be investigated through new research.
The Drake IPV Study – led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, and funded by The Drake Foundation – will examine individuals exposed to domestic abuse, many of whom currently report a history of traumatic brain injury. The research – overseen by Professor Willie Stewart, who leads multiple collaborative research programmes exploring outcomes from traumatic brain injury – recognises the growing awareness of the association between brain injury and increased risk of neurodegenerative disease, including dementia. Domestic abuse – or intimate partner violence – is all too common, with global estimates suggesting approximately 30 per cent of women over age 15 years will have been exposed to physical or sexual intimate partner violence.
Social workers must receive better training and information around acquired brain injuries (ABI) following the findings of a review into the death of a man in Brighton, a brain injury organisation has said.
A review into the death of a 42-year-old man - known as ‘James’ - who had an ABI, has found the current safeguarding system to be insufficient, with a lack of expert knowledge in brain injury among the agencies working to protect him. Now, UKABIF (UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum) has written to Social Work England and the Secretary of State for Health, gathering signatures from experts across health, social work and law in support of their call for improved training for social workers. James died in July 2019 and his death led to a Safeguarding Adult Review (SAR) looking at the involvement of Brighton & Hove Health and Adult Social Care, Brighton & Hove CCG/Sussex NHS Commissioners, Sussex Police, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, Brighton & Hove Housing Department, Money Advice Plus and Brighton and Hove Safer Communities Team.
As a specialist provider of mental health support, caring for some of the most clinically complex patients in the UK’s mental health system, the team of experts at St Andrew’s provide bespoke clinical and therapeutic approaches that enable vulnerable patients to recover. Here, NR Times meets senior social worker, Emma Wakeman
Can you tell us about your experience in mental health I’ve been at St Andrew’s for three and a half years and I’ve always worked in neuropsychiatry. I actually did a student placement here when I was training to be a social worker and just absolutely loved it. I loved the patients and the work so I applied for a job and got it.
A new means of determining concussion in young children has been developed, in an innovation which could help change the way they are treated and accurately diagnosed at the earliest stages.
Through the work of scientists at Université de Montréal, children up to five years of age can be assessed more accurately, with difficulties often arising in toddlers and pre-school children being able to describe their symptoms. To address the lack of assessment tools for this age group, UdeM neuropsychology professor Miriam Beauchamp, who conducts research at the UdeM-affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital, designed a new observational tool that allows parents and clinicians to assess the child's health status. It is also designed to document the progression of symptoms and their severity over time, and also emphasises the importance of parents tracking changes in their child after a head injury.
New research has determined that the window of opportunity to provide possible treatments for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) differs depending on whether the patient is male or female.
And from these findings, scientists from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Arizona State University have teamed up on the first study looking at sex-targeted drug delivery for TBI in a five-year, $2.5 million project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The study will be used to help design nanoparticle delivery systems targeting both sexes for treatment of TBI. One of the many factors that could be causing this difference between female and male patients is varying levels and cycles of sex hormones such as oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. While these levels already differ in healthy people, brain injuries can also cause additional hormone disruption for both sexes.
