E-Newsletter October 2003

Centre for Neuro Skills
Leaders in Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation
For more information click here

Newsletter subscribers: 9,803
Website visitors (year-to-date): 926,266
Website page hits (year-to-date): 5,426,602

'Shaping' Technique Found Effective and Efficient in Brain Injury Rehabilitation (Oct 6)

A behavior-based therapy called shaping may help traumatic brain injury patients to recover more efficiently than other treatments.

Full article: click here

Damage to the Frontal Lobes Can Affect a Person's Ability to 'Stay on the Job' (Oct 13)

A new study sheds light on why brain injury patients have difficulty performing tasks consistently -- a necessary requirement for holding a job. The findings may influence how clinical assessments of brain injury are conducted in future, encouraging doctors to pay closer attention to 'variability' of performance as a marker for impairment.

Full article: click here

Imagining Movement Of Affected Limbs Aids Brain Injury Rehabilitation (Oct 20)

Imagining movement of arms and legs that have been weakened from brain injury may facilitate functional recovery of affected limbs, a Northwestern University study has found.

Full article: click here

FGF-2 to the Rescue Following Traumatic Brain Injury (Oct 27)

Harvard Medical School reports that fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) plays a critical role in the ability of the brain to make new cells following traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Full article: click here

The Fall 2003 (12.4) issue of the Inside View quarterly newsletter is now available. With a $12 yearly subscription ($24 international), glossy, hard-copy versions of the Inside View will be delivered to your door every three months.

Two-year subscriptions are only $22 ($44 international) and three-year subscriptions are $30 ($60 international).

Fall Issue Table of Contents:

Treatment Window for TBI Widens
Hypertonic Resuscitation
New Signals for Concussion
Figuring Out Visual Neglect
Household Falls and Infant TBI
Inherited Gene and Seizures
Sage Helps Memory
2003 Conference Schedule
CNS Programs and Services

Subscribe to the Inside View newsletter: click here

10/27/03 States of Awareness: Defining, Debating What Constitutes a Vegetative State
10/26/03 Concussions Seen in a New Light
10/24/03 Head Injuries a Prep Concern
10/24/03 Brain Injury Survivors Tap Creativity
10/23/03 Traumatic Low Attenuation Subdural Fluid Collections in Children Younger Than 3 Years
10/23/03 Study: Support Groups Aid Families of the Brain Injured
10/23/03 Evidence That Neurons Prune Only 'Twigs' To Rewire Themselves
10/23/03 Paramedic-Administered Neuromuscular Blockade Improves Prehospital Intubation Success in Severely Head-Injured Patients
10/22/03 Kids and Concussions
10/20/03 Abusive Head Injury as a Cause of Apparent Life-Threatening Events in Infancy
10/16/03 FGF-2 to the Rescue Following Traumatic Brain Injury
10/15/03 Brain Injuries Take Toll on US Soldiers
10/14/03 Skating Legend Helps Raise Awareness of Brain Injuries
10/14/03 Call for Head-Injury Screenings
10/13/03 Health Officials: Sports Head Injuries Need to be Screened Carefully
10/12/03 Concussions, Impact Studied by the NFL
10/11/03 Proliferation and Neuronal Differentiation of Mitotically Active Cells Following Traumatic Brain Injury
10/10/03 Patient Age and Outcome Following Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: An Analysis of 5600 Patients
10/09/03 Head Injury Damage Not Tied to Alzheimer's Factor
10/08/03 Report to Congress on Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in the United States: Steps to Prevent a Serious Public Health Problem
10/08/03 Students Learn Realities of Living With Brain Injuries
10/08/03 Proliferation and Neuronal Differentiation of Mitotically Active Cells Following Traumatic Brain Injury
10/08/03 Imagining Movement Of Affected Limbs Aids Brain Injury Rehabilitation
10/08/03 Brain Injury Group Looks to Expand Medicaid Program
10/07/03 Campaign Aimed At Preventing Head Injuries
10/06/03 Assessment of Cerebrovascular Autoregulation in Head-Injured Patients
10/01/03 Degree of Damage Can Vary
10/01/03 PTA Seeking Head Injury Legislation

Read the current press releases: click here

Our digital library includes graphics and animations of various aspects of neurology and types of traumatic brain injury.

Graphics library: click here

Animations library: click here

Brain Injury Recovery Network click here
Netter Collection click here
CDC Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Report click here
After Brain Injury: Tools for Living click here

Neurolinks page: click here

The TBI Resource Guide now offers four continuing education courses. Our latest addition is a 2.0 unit hour course: Brain Anatomy and Function. Our online CE courses are $60 each.

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Applied Behavior Analysis
Brain Injury Rehabilitation: An Overview
Brain Anatomy and Function

CE Courses page: click here

Oct 30
Vermont Annual TBI Conference
Killington, VT
Phone: 802-241-3184
Website: www.dad.state.vt.us/dvr/tbi/tbicon.htm
Email: lisap@dad.state.vt.us

Oct 30-31
Echoes of Violence: Traumatic Brain Injury
Billings, MT
Phone: 406-254-6038

Nov 6-7
The Rehabilitative & Neuropsychiatric Interface
Clearwater Beach, FL
Phone: 813-903-4844
Email: Frank.Valva@med.va.gov

Nov 6-7
Annual National Neurotrauma Symposium
Biloxi, MS
Phone: 305-663-6777
Email: NNS2003@dprice.com

Nov 14
Behavior Problems and Psychosocial Issues After Brain Injury
Memphis, TN
Phone: 901-545-8487
Email: cchambers@the-med.org

Dec 3-5
Pacific Coast Brain Injury Conference
Vancouver, Canada
Phone: 604-944-2652
Email: pcbic@attcanada.ca

Dec 5-6
Traumatic Brain Injury: A Team Approach to Rehabilitation
Atlanta, GA
Phone: 309-263-0310
Email: cepa@dpc.net

Mar 25-26 (2004)
Brain Injury Association of Maryland Conference
Baltimore, MD
Phone: 410-448-2924
Website: www.biamd.org
Email: info@biamd.org

Conferences 2003-4: click here

Over My Head
Claudia L. Osborn
Paperback; $10.47 (256 pp)

Awareness about head-injury prevention has significantly increased in the last decade. Yet on one summer evening in 1988, a young physician out for a bicycle ride without a helmet was hit by a careless driver and sustained a devastating brain injury. This autobiographical account "from the inside looking out" details that physician's experience from the moment of impact through her remarkable comeback to resumption of teaching and research responsibilities. Her story shows the effect of a severe head injury on behavior and personality. This inspiring documentation will assist patients, families, and friends enduring the same difficulties and help health professionals understand and train their patients in the difficult rehabilitation process. Very highly recommended for consumer health and patient education collections . . . click here for more information or to order

I'll Carry the Fork!: Recovering a Life After Brain Injury
Kara L. Swanson
Paperback; $13.56 (205 pp)

In January 1996, a van speeding through a red light ended the life Kara Swanson had known. She suddenly joined the 2 million Americans who suffer brain injury each year. It was like being thrust into a foreign country with no map, no way to speak the language, no directions home. "This is the book I wish I could have read when I was first diagnosed with a brain injury," Kara writes. I tried to take the information that it took me months and years to learn and put it into a short, easy-to-read book that would help survivors and their loved ones better understand the process of recovery." Written with laugh-out-loud humor, candor, and technical input from medical and legal profesionals, "I'll Carry the Fork!" offers inspiration and practical help to anyone dealing with the aftermath of brain injury. Because as Kara says, "Sometimes when your life ends, you don't actually die." . . . click here for more information or to order

Brain Repair
Donald G. Stein
Paperback; $11.16 (176pp)

Over a half million people each year suffer brain-damaging injuries and diseases--but the outlook for their eventual recovery is far more hopeful than it was just a short while ago. In Brain Repair, three internationally renowned neuroscientists team up to offer an intriguing and up-to-the-minute introduction to the explosive advances being made in the research, technology, and treatment of brain damage . . . click here for more information or to order

Where is the Mango Princess?
C. E. Crimmins
Paperback; $10.40 (272 pp)

Humorist Cathy Crimmins has written a deeply personal, wrenching, and often hilarious account of the effects of traumatic brain injury, not only on the victim, in this case her husband, but on the family. When her husband Alan is injured in a speedboat accident, Cathy Crimmins reluctantly assumes the role of caregiver and learns to cope with the person he has become. No longer the man who loved obscure Japanese cinema and wry humor, Crimmins' husband has emerged from the accident a childlike and unpredictable replica of his former self with a short attention span and a penchant for inane cartoons. Where Is the Mango Princess? is a breathtaking account that explores the very nature of personality-and the complexities of the heart . . . click here for more information or to order

Normal Again: Redefining Life With Brain Injury
Dennis P. Swiercinsky
Paperback; $17.95 (276 pp)

Swiercinsky (a neuropsychologist who specializes in brain injury) has written a useful handbook on how life continues after a brain injury. Guiding the reader through the medical experience as well as the personal one, the text includes numerous autobiographical statements and anecdotes. Appendices contain useful terminology, a guide to hospital equipment, description of medications, and neurological tests and procedures . . . click here for more information or to order

Complete listing of brain injury related books: click here

Centre for Neuro Skills has immediate openings for the positions listed below. You can contact the Human Resources Dept. at hrca@neuroskills.com or call 800-922-4994 or 661-872-3408.

Admissions Coordinator
Speech Therapist
Counselor
Lotus Notes Developer

Listing of all CNS employment opportunities: click here

Have you missed one of our newsletters? You can now read past issues of our monthly e-newsletter in our archive section: click here

That is all for this month. See you in November!

Craig S. Persel
Managing Editor, TBI Resource Guide
Centre for Neuro Skills
craig@neuroskills.com

Feel free to send a copy of this newsletter to your friends and colleagues.