Obama Weighs In on the Dangers of Football

Today we would like to introduce you to Caroline Karalias! Caroline will be interning with MFM for the semester and will be a frequent contributor to "What's Making Headlines?" Enjoy her first post below and the many more to come..

Football? Dangerous? You may say it’s risky but not dangerous. Obama, however, thinks differently, and rightly so. Studies show that professional football players are three times more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases and four times more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease. The players in this study had been followed since the early ‘90s by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Repeated concussions in football players have also been linked to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a disease with symptoms like Alzheimer’s that can only be diagnosed after death.

President Obama, a loyal Chicago Bears fan, knew the team’s former safety, David Duerson, who committed suicide and was diagnosed with CTE postmortem. As a football fan himself, Obama understands that seeing football become less violent may be difficult for “those of us who love the sport.” He also admits that he “[doesn’t] know whether you can make football (be) football if there’s not some pretty significant risk factors.” Obama is especially concerned about college players who have no unions to represent them nor any sort of compensation. However, he’s sees the risks as outweighing the entertainment value and would like to see a change. 

Click here to read more about Obama's comments on CNN.com...

"One small nibble for a woman, one giant bite for BCI"

In our second ever post on “What’s Making Headlines?” we featured an incredible story about Cathy Hutchinson and a team of MGH and Brown University researchers that was helping her overcome her quadriplegia and move a robotic arm with her thoughts. For the first time in 15 years, Cathy took a sip of her morning coffee all on her own.

In the below video, meet Jan Scheuermann. Just like Cathy, an unexpected medical condition interrupted Jan’s life and took away her independence. When Jan was introduced to the brain-computer interface (BCI) studies being done at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, she set a goal of once again feeding herself a piece of chocolate. Watch as this amazing technology and the dedicated researchers involved help Jan accomplish her goal and regain a sense of independence she hasn’t felt in 10 years. As Jan describes, “This is the ride of my life. This is the rollercoaster. This is skydiving. It’s just fabulous, and I’m enjoying every second of it.”

For more, click here for the UPMC’s BCI website or click here to watch a segment featured on 60 Minutes...

Study: "Oxygen Chamber Can Boost Brain Repair"

Tel Aviv University’s Dr. Shai Efrati is devoted to helping patients with brain injuries have a maximum and meaningful recovery. He and his team of researchers are thinking outside the box to develop new treatments that may be able to literally breathe life, and oxygen, into “chronically damaged” brain tissue.

Dr. Efrati recently led a study investigating the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for patients who suffered debilitating strokes up to 3 years earlier. In theory, the team hoped that the oxygen-packed air could provide the “necessary energy for rebuilding neuronal connections and stimulating inactive neurons to facilitate the healing process.” Amazingly, this is exactly what happened. The patients that underwent the HBOT treatment demonstrated increased neuronal activity and experienced physical improvements such as increased sensation and a greater ability to communicate.

The results provide evidence that even years after injury, the brain can still heal. As one of the researchers, Prof. Ben-Jacob, elaborates, “The findings challenge the leading paradigm since they demonstrate beyond any doubt that neuroplasticity can still be activated for months and years after acute brain injury, thus revealing that many aspects of the brain remain plastic into adulthood.” The team is currently treating patients with traumatic brain injuries to see if HBOT can also help them recover.

More research is needed for a better understanding of the benefits of HBOT and the brain’s plasticity, especially for patients with different types and timings of injuries. While we don’t want to overstate the implications of these findings, this certainly seems to be an encouraging start. This study also shows the importance of never giving up hope or determination when recovering from a brain injury. Improvement is possible; continuing to fight and never giving up, no matter how difficult the obstacles become, can help the healing even years later.

Check out the American Friends Tel Aviv University website for more details about the study in the article “Oxygen Chamber Can Boost Brain Repair”

Study: Playground Safety Inadequate in Impoverished Neighborhoods

A new study of playgrounds in the Chicago area has some interesting conclusions related to injury prevention. While the researchers rated most of the playgrounds safe for children, they found that many of those located in poorer neighborhoods need improvement. Fortunately, a few simple renovations, particularly with the playground’s surface, can make a big impact on the overall safety. According to Dr. Gary Smith, the director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, “If a playground is done correctly with the appropriate surfacing, when a climbing child overreaches and falls, he or she can just get up and brush themselves off, rather than paying the price of a broken bone or a traumatic brain injury.” A safe surface could be made of either rubber, other commonly used energy-absorbing materials, or loose-fill wood chips.

Encouragingly, the researchers re-evaluated 154 of the unsafe playgrounds 2 years after they informed the Parks Department of their hazards and found that 40% could now receive a safe rating. Improvements to the failing playgrounds was not all that difficult or expensive to achieve -- to get the ball rolling, all that was needed was a demonstration of the problem and the will to fix it. Playgrounds can and should be made safer for the children that use them, especially for those living in impoverished communities who are at the greatest risk.

The findings of this study will be published in the February edition of Pediatrics. To read more now, click here for Serena Gordon’s article “Poorer neighborhoods often have less safe playgrounds” in Healthday.

Also, check out the Child Injury Prevention Alliance’s website for more tips on playground safety.

Notice anything that needs to be renovated in the above picture of the playground at Concordia Park in East Oakland, CA???

The Inspiring Success of the Pediatric Neurocritical Care Program at St. Louis Children's

In 2005, the St. Louis Children’s Hospital implemented a pediatric neurocritical care program (PNCP) to better treat children with traumatic brain injuries. This program formed a team of doctors, nurses, and therapists from the neurosurgery, neurology, trauma surgery, and radiology departments at the hospital. The idea was that the united team of specialists was better equipped to identify and prevent secondary damage that can arise from head injuries, particularly damage due to brain swelling and intracranial pressure.

A recent case study of 123 children treated at the hospital for severe TBIs, either before or after the launch of the PNCP, has proven the effectiveness of such a program. According to the results, before the PNCP, 52% of children treated for TBI either passed away or required stays at long-term care facilities while, after the start of the program, only 33% faced such a fate. As Jose Pineda, MD, director of the PNCP, commented on the study: “We were amazed by the results. We analyzed the data rigorously, and we found that our new program of care resulted in a striking improvement in outcome for children with severe traumatic brain injury. Mortality for these children was dramatically reduced, and we also noted a meaningful improvement in outcome for survivors. We know that children who suffer traumatic brain injuries have long lives ahead and must reintegrate into society and be independent. That’s where we set the bar.” (Pineda is pictured above, all the way right, with fellow supporters of the High School Sports Brain Injury Prevention Act.)

Going forward, Pineda and his dedicated team are hoping to spread the word of their success and implement similar initiatives at other hospitals. 

Click here to read more on MedicalXpress: “Pediatric program for brain injuries saves lives, reduces disabilities” 

Also, check out the homepage of the pediatric neurocritical care program at St. Louis Children’s.