In an early step toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain. The Journal of Neural Engineering's September issue is publishing Greger's study showing the feasibility of translating brain signals into computer-spoken words. ...

Children with brain injuries have difficulty developing story-telling skills even though other language abilities, such as vocabulary, tend to catch up with other children as they mature, research at the University of Chicago shows. The findings are reported in "Narrative Skill in children with Early Unilaterail Brain Injury: A possible limit to Functional Plasticity" the paper, in the current issue of Deve ...

Soldiers who receive traumatic brain injuries during war may be at a higher risk of epilepsy even decades after the brain injury occurred. The new research is published in the July 20, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Post-traumatic epilepsy is the most common cause of new-onset epilepsy in young adults with nearly 30,000 new cases per year in the Un ...

The ability to taste and smell can be lost or impaired after a head injury, according to a new study by scientists from the Université de Montréal, the Lucie Bruneau Rehabilitation Centre, as well as the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal. Published in the journal Brain Injury, the investigation established that mild to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) could cause ...

The Model System Knowledge Translation Center is a great traumatic brain injury (TBI) resource not only for clinicians, but also for patients and their families. Model Systems provides these documents free of charge and can be viewed or downloaded online. The evidence-based TBI information is written in a straightforward manner that keeps "doctor speak" in check. Go to the end of this review for a link to T ...

As mentioned in a previous post, I am on internship at a nationally ranked rehabilitation hospital. Though I am currently assigned to a traumatic brain injury rotation (TBI), I have already started to work with patients with spinal cord injuries (i.e., my next formal rotation). I recently came across a wonderful free resource for patients and their family entitled, "Spinal Cord Injury Patient-Family Teachin ...

"The Evidence-Based Review of Moderate To Severe Acquired Brain Injury*" provides a comprehensive and authoritative review of research that pertains to traumatic brain injury (TBI). The author have generously posted their work online for free as as PDF document. The Departments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, St. Joseph's Health Care, London, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, Toronto, and The Rehab ...

Moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries are characterized by varying levels of consciousness, as well as post-traumatic amnesia once the patient is alert. The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine (ACRM) points out in the article* under review today that signficant confusion and misdiagnosis exists due to the misunderstanding of terms related to severe alterations of consciousness. In light of th ...

McCrea delivers a comprehensive, state of the art review of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-concussion syndrome (PCS) in about 200 pages.  A succinct writing style characterizes "Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Postconcussion Syndrome: The New Evidence Base for Diagnosis and Treatment" cover to cover.   ...