Articles: traumatic-brain-injuries.
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Mol. Cell. Neurosci. · May 2015
ReviewPost-traumatic neurodegeneration and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity around the world. Concussive and subconcussive forms of closed-head injury due to impact or blast neurotrauma represent the most common types of TBI in civilian and military settings. It is becoming increasingly evident that TBI can lead to persistent, long-term debilitating effects, and in some cases, progressive neurodegeneration and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). ⋯ Although research on the long-term effects of TBI is advancing quickly, the incidence and prevalence of post-traumatic neurodegeneration and CTE are unknown. Critical knowledge gaps include elucidation of pathogenic mechanisms, identification of genetic risk factors, and clarification of relevant variables-including age at exposure to trauma, history of prior and subsequent head trauma, substance use, gender, stress, and comorbidities-all of which may contribute to risk profiles and the development of post-traumatic neurodegeneration and CTE. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Traumatic Brain Injury'.
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Mol. Cell. Neurosci. · May 2015
ReviewThe pathophysiology of repetitive concussive traumatic brain injury in experimental models; new developments and open questions.
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the pathophysiology of repetitive concussive traumatic brain injury (rcTBI) in large part due to the association with dramatic cases of progressive neurological deterioration in professional athletes, military personnel, and others. However, our understanding of the pathophysiology of rcTBI is less advanced than for more severe brain injuries. Most prominently, the mechanisms underlying traumatic axonal injury, microglial activation, amyloid-beta accumulation, and progressive tau pathology are not yet known. ⋯ Furthermore, we propose a discrete set of open, experimentally tractable questions that may serve as a framework for future investigations. In addition, we also raise several important questions that are less experimentally tractable at this time, in hopes that they may stimulate future methodological developments to address them. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled "Traumatic Brain Injury".
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Expert Rev Neurother · May 2015
EditorialWhy have we not yet developed a simple blood test for TBI?
In recent years, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has emerged as a rapidly growing public health challenge. Annually, approximately 1.7 million people will sustain a TBI in the USA and WHO has named TBI the leading cause of death and disability in young adults worldwide, predicting it will become the third leading cause of death in the general population by 2020. ⋯ Despite decades of basic and clinical research, and the identification of hundreds of biochemical markers, presently there is no blood test to objectively assess TBI severity. Recent work suggests treatment-induced variance in the brain's glymphatic clearance may be responsible for the breakdown between biomarker discovery and clinical translation.
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Evidence-based guidelines for the care of severe traumatic brain injury have been available from the Brain Trauma Foundation (BTF) since 1995. A total of 15 recommendations compose the current guidelines. Although each individual guideline has been validated in isolation, to date, little research has examined the guidelines in composite. We examined the relationship between compliance with the BTF severe TBI guidelines and mortality. ⋯ Our data indicate that full compliance with all 15 severe TBI guidelines is difficult to achieve and may not be necessary to optimally care for patients.
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Int J Appl Basic Med Res · May 2015
Which score should be used in intubated patients' Glasgow coma scale or full outline of unresponsiveness?
Today Glasgow coma scale (GCS) is the most well-known and common score for evaluation of the level of consciousness and outcome predict after traumatic brain injuries in the world. Regarding to some advantages of the full outline of unresponsiveness (FOUR) score over GCS in intubated patients, we're going to compare the precision of these two scores in predicting the outcome predict in intubated patients. ⋯ The research results indicated that FOUR score is more exact and more practical in intubated patients regarding lack of verbal response factor in early mortality prediction in GCS. Hence, it is recommended for health professionals to use the FOUR score to predict the early outcome of intubated patients with traumatic brain injuries.