One area of leadership is in patient registries for battlefield-related conditions such as wounds, brain trauma and eye injuries.
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Two-thirds of all injuries are from bombs, and of these some 28% involve brain trauma, according to the Department of Defence.
Fortunately medicines that work on psychotic symptoms from an illness such as schizophrenia also work for psychotic symptoms arising from brain trauma.
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Two of the deaths, a brain trauma and a case of rheumatoid arthritis that worsened after treatment was stopped, are clearly not linked to the drug.
He says he has no symptoms of brain trauma.
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Areas for potential research include a search for genetic markers which could reveal a susceptibility to particular types of brain trauma, as well as developing more defined and consistent management and treatment protocols.
In complex cases where the diagnosis is unclear or there is a suspicion of coexisting conditions, especially if there is a history of head injury or other brain trauma, a SPECT scan can help.
At that point, Jones said he decided to donate his own brain to the Sports Legacy Institute -- which studies the link between sports and brain trauma -- for research upon his death.
Many of the players also share a genetic risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases, so perhaps deposits of tau are the result of brain trauma coupled with the weakened ability of the brain to repair itself.
While the drug industry has tested dozens of compounds to treat the acute phases of stroke and brain trauma, only a few medicines for lifting patients out of vegetative states have been brought into large-scale trials.
On March 5th the House oversight committee heard testimony from John Shannon, an infantry sergeant who was shot in the head near the Saddam Mosque in Ramadi, causing brain trauma and the loss of an eye.
The NFL wants to use the same sensors, though altered slightly, in football helmets to track the severity of blows to the head, so players may be taken out of games before severe brain trauma namely concussions occurs or escalates.
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Presumably, the brain clings to trauma for an evolutionary reason, perhaps to avoid past mistakes.
Researchers have tried to link problems with the brain either through trauma or malformation to extraordinary mental abilities - one of the theories being that damage to one area prompts compensation in another.
Roughly 25, 000 Americans are stuck in a vegetative state as a result of suffering brain damage from a car accident or other trauma, or after their brain has been deprived of oxygen following a stroke or heart attack.
The report showed Seau had CTE, a brain disease linked head trauma, which can lead to depression.
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He would, however, like to donate his brain to Boston University and its School of Medicine and Sports Legacy Institute, which studies brain disease and head trauma.
While the growing number of lawsuits against the NFL by former players who have suffered concussions may be at least partly responsible for the formation of this joint initiative, there is no doubt that this venture will result in important research that will evaluate the effects of trauma on the brain and brain functioning.
Before shooting himself, Duerson, a former Chicago Bears defensive back, left a note asking that his brain be studied for signs of trauma.
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The brain, trying to deal with major emotional trauma, can alter its neural pathways, creating, essentially, a different person.
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In a 1999 article in the peer-reviewed journal Anesthesiology, Gail A. Van Norman, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of Washington, reported a case in which a 30-year-old patient with severe head trauma began breathing spontaneously after being declared brain dead.
He was 62, and an autopsy found that he had the degenerative brain disease CTE, thought to be caused by head trauma.
So the idea behind beta blockers for preventing PTSD is that if you can prevent the body's stress system from reacting strongly to a trauma, you might be able to reduce the brain's fear and horror response.
But for anyone, peering into the brain as we now can do, the physiological story is that trauma disrupts the balance of feeling, memory and decision-making.
This form of brain damage has been increasingly diagnosed by symptoms in athletes subjected to head trauma.
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He left a note to send his brain for use in the ongoing study of the effect of concussions and head trauma on depression and suicide.
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