Encephalopathy News and Research

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Experts in brain and spinal cord injuries to discuss treatment approaches at 23rd Annual Meeting of AMSSM

Post-concussion syndrome (PCS) and spinal cord injuries are complex problems that can present with a variety of symptoms or sequelae.

29 Mar 2014

New treatment could halt progression of dementia

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered a way to potentially halt the progression of dementia caused by accumulation of a protein known as tau.

21 Mar 2014

Sports medicine physicians to convene at 2014 AMSSM Annual Meeting

More than 1,400 sports medicine physicians from the United States and abroad will attend the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM), the largest primary care sports medicine physician organization in the nation.

17 Mar 2014

Three innovative tools to detect, test and initiate personalized drug treatment for seizures

A team of researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Emory University and Cedars-Sinai - specialists in identifying and treating very rare diseases - used three innovative tools to detect a previously unknown gene mutation, test potential therapies in the lab, and initiate personalized drug treatment for a boy with a lifelong history of uncontrollable seizures that caused significant impact on his cognitive and social development.

12 Mar 2014

Penn researchers use mathematical modeling to better understand mechanisms in TBI

Even the mildest form of a traumatic brain injury, better known as a concussion, can deal permanent, irreparable damage. Now, an interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Pennsylvania is using mathematical modeling to better understand the mechanisms at play in this kind of injury, with an eye toward protecting the brain from its long-term consequences.

11 Mar 2014

New study uses Lumosity games to detect subtle cognitive impairments in patients with cirrhosis

A new study from the University of Washington has found that performance on Lumosity games can distinguish between patients with cirrhosis of the liver, pre-cirrhotic patients, and healthy controls. The study used Lumosity games as psychometric tests to detect subtle cognitive impairments in patients with cirrhosis. The study is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

6 Mar 2014

UT Southwestern Medical Center opens new Texas Institute for Brain Injury and Repair

UT Southwestern Medical Center today launched the new Texas Institute for Brain Injury and Repair, a state-funded initiative to promote innovative research and education, with the goals of accelerating translation into better diagnosis and revolutionizing care for millions of people who suffer brain injuries each year.

4 Mar 2014

Phase 2 trial results show GPB reduces hepatic encephalopathy episodes in patients with cirrhosis

Phase 2 trial results published in the March issue of Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggests the potential for Glycerol Phenylbutyrate (GPB) to reduce hepatic encephalopathy episodes in patients with cirrhosis, with a safety profile similar to placebo.

27 Feb 2014

Upstream interventions may provide options to contain emerging pathogens at source

While many endemic infectious diseases of humans have been largely contained, new microbes continue to emerge to threaten human and animal health.

18 Feb 2014

Scientists measure how well football helmet designs protected against traumatic brain injury

A new study finds that football helmets currently used on the field may do little to protect against hits to the side of the head, or rotational force, an often dangerous source of brain injury and encephalopathy.

18 Feb 2014

Prions and their shadow proteins: an interview with Dr Jiri Safar, Co-Director of the National Prion Disease Pathology Surveillance Center

The prion diseases were originally discovered by Dr Gajdusek and Dr Gibbs. The first disease discovered was Kuru, which was affecting native tribes in the Papua New Guinea highlands in the 1950s.

9 Feb 2014

Loyola University neuropsychologist find little evidence that chronic traumatic encephalopathy actually exists

The media have widely reported that a debilitating neurological condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a well-established disease in retired athletes who played football and other contact sports.

28 Jan 2014

UM professors receive grant to help athletes, military members suffering from traumatic brain injury

Athletes, members of the military and others suffering from traumatic brain injury may benefit from research conducted by two University of Montana faculty members through a new $300,000 grant awarded by General Electric Co. and the National Football League.

25 Jan 2014

Collaboration between NFL and GE seeks to improve safety of athletes, soldiers who sustain mild TBI

When the Broncos and the Seahawks meet on the gridiron for Superbowl XLVIII, player and team statistics - passer ratings, rushing yards, sacks and fumbles - will be tossed around like, well, a football.

24 Jan 2014

Researchers discover new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy

A European consortium of epilepsy researchers has reported the discovery of a new gene involved in severe childhood epilepsy. Using a novel combination of technologies, including trio exome sequencing of patient/parental DNA and genetic studies in the tiny larvae of zebrafish, the EuroEPINOMICS RES consortium found that mutations in the gene CHD2 are responsible for a subset of epilepsy patients with symptoms similar to Dravet syndrome - a severe form of childhood epilepsy that is in many patients resistant to currently available anti-epileptic drugs.

23 Jan 2014

Research uncovers new mechanism in brain cells that may help keep deadly neurological diseases in check

New research from David Westaway, PhD, of the University of Alberta and Jiri Safar, MD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has uncovered a quality control mechanism in brain cells that may help keep deadly neurological diseases in check for months or years.

17 Jan 2014

Research findings may offer new way to treat prion diseases

New research from David Westaway, PhD, of the University of Alberta and Jiri Safar, PhD, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has uncovered a quality control mechanism in brain cells that may help keep deadly neurological diseases in check for months or years.

16 Jan 2014

Researchers receive $6M grant to determine neuropathological condition of head injuries in non-athletes

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers have been awarded a major federal grant to determine the long-term clinical and neuropathological sequelae of single and repeated head injuries in non-athletes.

16 Dec 2013

Research: Creuztfeldt-Jakob disease might be transmitted by blood transfusion

Creuztfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare but fatal disease in humans. For the first time, the presence of infectivity[1] in the blood of patients affected by sporadic and the new variant of CJD was established by scientists from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the French National Veterinary School (ENVT), in collaboration with European partners.

12 Dec 2013

Study reveals pathogenic factor that triggers prion and neurodegenerative diseases

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy or prion disease is triggered by the conversion from cellular prion protein to pathogenic prion protein.