Brain injury
DARPA - the research and development agency of the US Department of Defense - is putting its weight behind spinal cord injury (SCI) research.
The organisation has awarded a consortium of universities, biomedical startups, and nonprofit organizations an award that supports the development of interventions for SCI. Karen Moxon, from University of California, Davis (UC Davis), will lead the five-year project supported by the $36 million award, according to reports. The consortium will focus on three primary technologies, including a near-infrared spectroscopic sensor. Brian Kwon, co-principal investigator and spine surgeon from the University of British Columbia (UBC), will develop the sensor. Pathonix Innovations Inc., also in Vancouver, Canada, will then commercialize the device to assess blood oxygenation and blood flow at the site of spinal injury.
Having suffered a brain injury which left her struggling to rebuild her life, Helen Whiteley found salvation in running. Here, she tells how she went from running for the first time to completing the Virtual London Marathon in only eight months.
“On November 24, it will be eight years since I suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from a fall at home. I was found unresponsive at the bottom of my staircase at home by my husband Simon; I have no recollection of how I got there.
“I was initially taken to Huddersfield Hospital but once I was stabilised I was transferred to the Leeds General Infirmary neurosurgery department. It was here I was diagnosed with an acute subdural hematoma and fractured skull and was taken immediately into surgery for an emergency craniotomy to evacuate the hematoma. I was then placed in an induced coma on the neurosurgery ICU ward, where I stayed for a number of weeks.
Australia’s New South Wales government has promised to improve brain injury testing for domestic abuse victims after a psychiatrist drew attention to inconsistent care for vulnerable women. Psychiatrist Karen Williams urged the government to adopt a concussion protocol for family and domestic violence victims after doing her own research and being shocked at what she found.
It started when Williams noticed the disparity in how her patients were diagnosed and treated.Williams specialises in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), often with military, police, emergency personnel and other first responders. But she also treats the general population, the vast majority of whom are women with histories of child and domestic abuse.
In a studio in East London, a studio full of artists get to work, with one small difference – they all survived a traumatic brain injury. Photographer Leon Foggitt tells NR Times about his experience capturing the artists.
More than four years ago, photographer Leon Foggitt spotted an article about a collective of artists who’d survived a brain injury, and there was a charity where they could learn to be artists. He was intrigued.
All prisoners in England are to be screened for Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) sustained through domestic abuse from April 2021, it has been confirmed.
The announcement comes after a long-standing campaign and five years of research to highlight the issue of ABI in the prison system. This work has shown that early identification of an injury could help those working within the prison estate to better support men and women to engage with rehabilitation programmes and services designed to help prevent reoffending.
A specific post COVID-19 rehab service for people with brain injuries is being developed by a care provider.
The move comes in response to developing evidence showing the effects of the virus are wider-ranging and longer lasting than first thought. In support of those who are too debilitated to care for themselves at home in recovering from COVID-19, The Disabilities Trust has developed a specialist rehabilitation service, which it will offer in some of its 15 brain injury centres across England, Scotland and Wales. The residential programme, which include a period of between four and twelve weeks for holistic rehabilitation before being discharged home, will support brain injury survivors with factors including severe fatigue, chronic and distressing pain, low mood and weakness, all of which can be exacerbated by contracting the virus.
A recent study by Headway found that 72 per cent of brain injury survivors feel that people in their life don't understand their memory problems, with 81 per cent reporting that their life would be improved if people had a better understanding of this complex condition.
Karl Hargreaves, 49, is just one of those people battling severe memory loss following a brain injury. He is sharing his story as part of Headway’s Memory Loss: A campaign to remember in order to raise awareness and increase understanding of life after brain injury. Years of precious memories were wiped in an instant when the father from Lincoln was involved in a road traffic collision in 2015.
