Posts tagged recovery
Articles and news from the latest research reports.
Recovery of brain volumes with abstinence may vary for different brain regions
Chronic alcohol abuse can severely damage the nervous system, particularly cognitive functions, cerebral metabolism, and brain morphology. Building upon previous findings that alcoholics can experience brain volume recovery with abstinence, this study found that recovery of cerebral gray matter (GM) can take place within the first two weeks of abstinence, but may vary between brain regions.
Results will be published in the January 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"Shrinkage of brain matter, and an accompanying increase of cerebrospinal fluid, which acts as a cushion or buffer for the brain, are well-known degradations caused by alcohol abuse," explained Gabriele Ende, professor of medical physics in the Department of Neuroimaging at the Central Institute of Mental Health. "This volume loss has previously been associated with neuropsychological deficits such as memory loss, concentration deficits, and increased impulsivity."
"Several processes likely account for changes in brain tissue volume observed through bouts of drinking and abstinence over the course of alcoholism," added Natalie May Zahr, a research scientist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. "One process likely reflects true, irreversible neuronal cell death, while another process likely reflects shrinkage, a mechanism that would allow for volume changes in both negative and positive directions, and could account for brain volume recovery with abstinence."
"Gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) are the main components of the brain that can be distinguished with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)," explained Ende. "GM consists of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil, glial cells, and capillaries. WM mostly contains myelinated axon tracts."
"Myelin forms an insulating sheath around axons that increases the speed at which they are able to conduct electrical activity," added Zahr. "Because myelin is composed primarily of fat, it gives white matter its color. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear fluid that surrounds and thereby cushions the brain in the skull. Conventional brain structural MRI produces images of protons, with contributions primarily from water and some from fat. Tissue contrast is possible because of the fundamental differences in water content in the primary tissues of the brain: WM consists of about 70 percent water, GM 80 percent, and CSF 99 percent."
(Source: eurekalert.org)
Battling back from a brain injury
Much of the recent attention on traumatic brain injury has focused on the increased risk of neurodegenerative diseases doctors think recurrent injuries may lead to. But transportation accidents and falls, particularly among the elderly, are leading causes of TBI, and one serious head injury can be devastating. Karl Weisgraber is a retired biochemist who worked on cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s research at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. In October of last year, he was on a ladder doing work on the side of his house when he fell and smacked his head on a rock, suffering a severe traumatic brain injury. The 71-year-old Walnut Creek man spent three weeks in a coma and, through therapy, had to relearn how to walk, read and write. He is greatly appreciative of the staffs at San Francisco General and California Pacific Medical Center who worked with him, and of his wife, Judi.
A new model for predicting recovery after spinal cord injury
The novel prediction model, which combines acute functional measures and evidence of injury on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) including swelling and bleeding around the spinal cord, and which was drawn from two large clinical datasets, could help guide treatment decisions, classification of patents for clinical trials, and counseling of patients and families.
Jefferson Wilson, MD, Michael Fehlings, MD, PhD, from University of Toronto and Toronto Western Hospital, Canada, and colleagues from the U.S. describe the prediction model and its potential applications in the article “A Clinical Prediction Model for Long-Term Functional Outcome after Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury Based on Acute Clinical and Imaging Factors.”
"An important goal of medical research is to identify early surrogate markers that could assist treating physicians in determining appropriate therapeutic strategies," says W. Dalton Dietrich, III, PhD, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami, FL, and Deputy Editor of the Journal. "This article provides important information that could help predict the potential for recovery after SCI and thereby direct treatment options."
Predicting recovery after stroke
August 1, 2012
(Medical Xpress) — In work that may revolutionise rehabilitation for stroke patients, researchers from The University of Auckland and the Auckland District Health Board have shown it is possible to predict an individual’s potential for recovery of hand and arm function after a stroke.
The new approach can be used to personalise rehabilitation so that patients and therapists set realistic goals for recovery. It may also improve outcomes of trials that evaluate new therapies, by identifying patients who are most likely to respond to specific treatments.
“One in six people worldwide will have a stroke in their lifetime,” says principal investigator Professor Winston Byblow. “After stroke, impairment of the arm and hand is very common and has a major impact on independence and quality of life.
“Until now it has only been possible to group patients together according to their broad similarity to others who have already gone through upper limb rehabilitation, but this information cannot inform an individual patient’s rehabilitation plan. We have developed the first clinical algorithm to actually predict the individual patient’s potential for recovery based on information gathered before rehabilitation begins.”
The lead author of the study, Dr Cathy Stinear explains: “The algorithm begins with a bedside test within three days of stroke. The test takes only a few minutes and requires no special equipment. This is sufficient to provide a prediction for many patients, but for others an additional test is required to measure the integrity of neural pathways from the brain to the arm. If this test gives no definitive result, an MRI assessment can be performed to better determine whether the pathways in the stroke-damaged side of the brain remain viable.”
The research team have trialled the process in patients and followed their recovery. “When the tests are combined in our stepwise algorithm they accurately predict each patient’s recovery at 12 weeks, which is around the time that therapy normally ends,” says Dr Stinear.
Neurologist Professor Alan Barber, a member of the research team and Head of the Auckland Hospital Stroke Service, says that the findings are very significant. “This is the first study to predict an individual’s potential for motor recovery using measures obtained from that patient in the initial days after stroke. This information can be used to tailor rehabilitation before it begins.”
The team is now involved in a three-year trial of the algorithm within the hospital. The results will show whether the algorithm leads to improved outcomes for patients and increases the efficiency of rehabilitation services.
Provided by University of Auckland
Source: medicalxpress.com