PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Finding a new test for children with concussions

Brain activation study helps to diagnose concussions in children and youths

2015-03-17
(Press-News.org) This news release is available in French.

Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -The Neuro, at McGill University and the MUHC, are working to develop a much needed tool for helping diagnose concussions or mild traumatic brain injuries suffered by thousands of young Canadians ---hockey and football players among them. Post-concussion symptoms can include physical ailments, emotional disturbances and sleep disruption. Objective methods for predicting how severely mild brain trauma can affect a young person's brain are sorely needed. The potential for harmful effects is especially real in the case of children and youths - with the higher threat of repeated injury and cumulative effects of concussions (and links to other serious neurological illnesses) - accurate diagnosis and proper follow-up is essential.

"Current diagnostic tools are not sensitive enough for detecting subtle abnormalities following concussion or for measuring its severity. As a result, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis are difficult," says Dr. Rajeet Singh Saluja, a neurosurgeon and the study's first author working under the guidance of Dr. Alain Ptito, a neuropsychologist whose laboratory is at The Neuro. "Our study provides valuable data for creating a tool to help diagnose concussions objectively and thus aid in assessing recovery."

In recent years it has become evident that spatial memory (positions of objects in space) and route learning (spatial memory navigation) may be impaired in adults with concussion. Until now however, there have been no studies examining spatial navigational memory in children with concussion.

Fifty adolescents-15 subjects with concussion and 35 controls-participated in the study. In addition to standard neuropsychological testing given to concussion victims, a navigational memory test was administered in which the adolescents had to orient themselves in a virtual reality neighbourhood. During this test, the subjects were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure their brain activity while carrying out the task.

"Standard neuropsychological tests showed no significant differences between concussed and control subjects," say Drs. Saluja and Ptito. "But during the navigational memory task, certain parts of the brains of subjects with concussion showed altered activation patterns, either diminished or increased activity. We still need to know whether the activation patterns later return to normal or remain permanently altered, but this could provide the basis of a robust diagnostic test for children suffering from concussions and aid in evaluating recovery."

The study concludes that the spatial memory task has the potential to be used as an fMRI diagnostic test of a suspected concussion victim and help to make the decision whether to return to activities.

INFORMATION:

This study was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Frank Litvack Fellowship for Clinician Scientists from the Litvack Family Foundation, and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé.

The study is published in the Journal of Neurotrauma (fast track online ahead of print Feb 25, 2015): http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/neu.2014.3470

The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital

The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro, is a unique academic medical centre dedicated to neuroscience. Founded in 1934 by the renowned Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro is recognized internationally for integrating research, compassionate patient care and advanced training, all key to advances in science and medicine. The Neuro is a research and teaching institute of McGill University and forms the basis for the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. Neuro researchers are world leaders in cellular and molecular neuroscience, brain imaging, cognitive neuroscience and the study and treatment of epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and neuromuscular disorders. For more information, visit http://www.theneuro.com



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

First global review on the status, future of Arctic marine mammals

First global review on the status, future of Arctic marine mammals
2015-03-17
For Arctic marine mammals, the future is especially uncertain. Loss of sea ice and warming temperatures are shifting already fragile Northern ecosystems. The precarious state of those mammals is underscored in a multinational study led by a University of Washington scientist, published this week in Conservation Biology, assessing the status of all circumpolar species and subpopulations of Arctic marine mammals, including seals, whales and polar bears. The authors outline the current state of knowledge and their recommendations for the conservation of these animals over ...

Study: Prices of cancer drugs have soared since 1995

2015-03-17
The prices of leading cancer drugs have risen at rates far outstripping inflation over the last two decades, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT economist -- but the exact reasons for the cost increases are unclear. Since 1995, a group of 58 leading cancer drugs has increased in price by 10 percent annually, even when adjusted for inflation and incremental health benefits, the study finds. More specifically, in 1995, cancer drugs in this group cost about $54,100 for each year of life they were estimated to add; by 2013, such drugs cost about $207,000 per each ...

Sunglasses on demand (video)

Sunglasses on demand (video)
2015-03-17
WASHINGTON, March 17, 2015 -- Apart from their style, sunglasses have changed very little in the last few decades. Photochromic lenses that change from clear to tinted in sunlight were a big breakthrough. Now new research from ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces could give that technology a big boost. Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed a polymer coating that changes colors with the push of a button. John Reynolds, Ph.D. and his team explain these "sunglasses on demand" in the latest episode of ACS Headline Science available here: https://youtu.be/RlfOcSUpyAA. Subscribe ...

Research uncovers flawed IQ scoring system

2015-03-17
Queen's University professor Allyson Harrison has uncovered anomalies and issues with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV), one of the most widely used intelligence tests in the world. IQ scores are used to predict educational success, to help identify intellectual disabilities or intellectual giftedness and to establish whether a person has a specific learning disability. For her research, Dr. Harrison and her colleagues examined the differences between Canadian and American WAIS-IV scores from 861 postsecondary students from across Ontario. ...

17 million-year-old whale fossil provides first exact date for East Africa's puzzling uplift

17 million-year-old whale fossil provides first exact date for East Africas puzzling uplift
2015-03-17
Uplift associated with the Great Rift Valley of East Africa and the environmental changes it produced have puzzled scientists for decades because the timing and starting elevation have been poorly constrained. Now paleontologists have tapped a fossil from the most precisely dated beaked whale in the world -- and the only stranded whale ever found so far inland on the African continent -- to pinpoint for the first time a date when East Africa's mysterious elevation began. The 17 million-year-old fossil is from the beaked Ziphiidae whale family. It was discovered 740 ...

Routine clot removal after heart attack not beneficial, may increase risk

2015-03-17
SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- A technique used to clear blood clots from arteries to the heart in about 20 percent of patients undergoing angioplasty appears to increase the risk of stroke without providing the intended benefit, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. The new study, which included more than 10,000 patients undergoing angioplasty in response to a severe heart attack, randomly assigned half of the patients to receive angioplasty alone and half to receive angioplasty with manual thrombectomy, ...

Patients 80 years and older would benefit from aggressive treatment

2015-03-17
SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Patients over age 80 with acute coronary syndromes would likely benefit from more invasive tests and therapies that may otherwise be denied them due to their age, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session in San Diego. The study focused on treatment approaches for older patients with non ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI, a type of heart attack that is milder in the acute phase but has a poor prognosis after six months or more) or the closely-related condition unstable ...

Trial of bivalirudin during angioplasty reports mixed results

2015-03-17
Patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing angioplasty who received the anticoagulant drug bivalirudin did not show significant improvements in either of two co-primary endpoints--a composite of rate of death, heart attack or stroke at 30 days, or a composite of those events plus major bleeding--as compared to patients receiving standard anticoagulation therapy, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. However, bivalirudin was associated with significantly lower rates of bleeding complications and death, ...

Arm is safer access point than groin for catheter-based heart procedures

2015-03-17
SAN DIEGO (March 16, 2015) -- Patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing coronary angiogram, a procedure used to assess blockages in the heart's arteries, had a significantly lower risk of major bleeding and death if their interventional cardiologist accessed the heart through an artery in the arm rather than the groin, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 64th Annual Scientific Session. Study authors said the results should prompt a re-evaluation of clinical guidelines and that the arm, currently used in a minority of cases in the ...

UNC-Chapel Hill researchers collaborate to develop revolutionary 3-D printing technology

2015-03-17
A 3D printing technology developed by Silicon Valley startup, Carbon3D Inc., enables objects to rise from a liquid media continuously rather than being built layer by layer as they have been for the past 25 years, representing a fundamentally new approach to 3D printing. The technology, to appear as the cover article in the March 20 print issue of Science, allows ready-to-use products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other methods and creates previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation not only in health care and medicine, but also in ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] Finding a new test for children with concussions
Brain activation study helps to diagnose concussions in children and youths