Insight

  • Addressing the gender challenge in cognitive rehabilitation

    By Natalie Mackenzie, founder and director, BIS Services In the last six months, I've watched as what was once a manageable challenge has evolved into a critical workforce crisis that's directly impacting our ability to provide timely cognitive rehabilitation services to our clients. For years, we've faced the reality that finding male psychology graduates to [...]

  • Researchers discover enzyme that protects brain from Parkinson’s

    Scientists have identified an enzyme that protects brain cells from Parkinson's disease by regulating how mitochondria — the cell’s energy producers — are recycled and replaced. The protein complex, known as PP2A-B55α, acts as a molecular switch that determines whether cells repair or create mitochondria, maintaining the energy balance vital for neuron survival. Mitochondria are [...]

  • Peptide shows significant neuroprotective effect for TBI

    A four-amino acid peptide called CAQK has shown neuroprotective effects in animal models of traumatic brain injury, researchers have reported. When given intravenously shortly after injury in mice and pigs, CAQK specifically targeted damaged brain regions, reducing inflammation, cell death and tissue damage while improving memory and motor function. A peptide is a short chain [...]

  • Fuel for recovery: A rehabilitation journey from the dietitian’s perspective

    By Tony Ward RD, MSc, specialist neuro rehab dietician and NRN director After a traumatic brain injury, recovery is rarely straightforward. Clients often spend weeks in ICU, losing significant weight and muscle mass as their bodies fight to heal fractures, soft tissue damage, and, crucially, the brain itself. Yet when they leave acute care, nutrition [...]

  • Former World Cup winner, 47, tells BBC he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease

    Former England rugby captain Lewis Moody has revealed he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). The 47-year-old World Cup winner shared the news with the BBC. Moody said he was finding it difficult to accept what the diagnosis meant for his future and his family, though his symptoms were relatively mild, including some [...]

  • Allied health expertise in medico-legal cases: Beyond the traditional voices

    By Medico Legal Healthcare In medico-legal proceedings, especially those involving personal injury, clinical negligence, or disputes over standards of care, the value of an expert witness rests on clarity, credibility, and lived clinical insight. While medical doctors and psychologists have long been central to this process, allied health professionals and other medico-legal specialist practitioners are [...]

  • Neurodiversity in focus: A neurocognitive perspective on inclusive care

    By The London Neurognitive Clinic In neurorehabilitation and clinical practice, the concept of neurodiversity is no longer confined to a discussion of autism or ADHD alone. It represents a broader recognition that cognitive, emotional, and behavioural differences are part of the human spectrum. For neuropsychologists and other allied health professionals, this shift in perspective demands [...]

  • Researchers design ‘switch’ that could slow Parkinson’s progress

    Scientists have developed a molecule that prevents toxic protein clumping in Parkinson's disease, demonstrating its effect in an animal model. Researchers at the University of Bath, working with the Universities of Oxford and Bristol, engineered a peptide fragment that locks alpha-synuclein – a protein that forms toxic clumps in Parkinson's – into its healthy shape, [...]

  • Parkinson’s ‘trigger’ directly observed in human brain tissue for the first time

    Scientists have, for the first time, directly visualised and quantified the protein clusters believed to trigger Parkinson’s, marking a major advance in the study of the world’s fastest-growing neurological disease. These tiny clusters, called alpha-synuclein oligomers, have long been considered the likely culprits for Parkinson’s disease to start developing in the brain, but until now, [...]

  • Study reveals signs that appear before every heart attack or stroke

    Warning signs like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol or glucose levels precede almost all heart attack and stroke cases, according to a study challenging the belief that these strike without warning. Above-optimal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose or smoking almost always precede these cardiac events, say researchers from Yonsei University College in South Korea, [...]