E-Newsletter October 2003

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

Newsletter subscribers: 9,966
Website visitors (year-to-date): 1,101,986
Website page hits (year-to-date): 5,983,998

Report Gives Heads Up on Kids, Teens and Sports Injuries (Nov 3)

Undiagnosed head injuries put young athletes at risk for serious problems. Pediatric emergency medicine report notes that continuous sports-related head injuries, improperly managed, could result in chronic pain, paralysis and even death. Coaches, trainers and parents should be aware of risks.

Full article: click here

Diet May Improve Cognition (Nov 11)

Eating certain foods can help protect you from heart disease, some types of cancers and other illnesses. But can your diet also help protect your brain if you should suffer a stroke or accidental head injury? Or keep your thinking and memory skills strong as you age? Some scientists believe it might.

Full article: click here

Football Players Need Several Days to Recover From a Concussion (Nov 11)

Collegiate football players may need up to 7 days to recover from a concussion, including full recovery of cognitive function and balance, according to an article in the November 19 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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

11/24/03 Brain Injury Tips
11/23/03 Drug Company Stakes Future on Brain Injury Medicines From Marijuana Compounds
11/21/03 New Study Focuses on Repeat Concussions
11/21/03 New program has ImPACT at Dallastown: The System Gives Guidelines to Help Determine When Student-Athletes Can Return From Concussions
11/21/03 Experimental Drugs Reduce Neuron Death
11/20/03 Cumulative Effects Associated With Recurrent Concussion in Collegiate Football Players
11/19/03 Concussions More Likely In Football Players Already Hurt, Symptoms Last A Week Or So
11/18/03 Broaden Definition of Concussion for Athletes: Studies
11/17/03 Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Speed Brain Recovery
11/16/03 Acute Effects and Recovery Time Following Concussion in Collegiate Football Players
11/15/03 Brain Injuries High Among Iraq Casualties
11/14/03 Improvement Needed for Brain Injury Rehabilitation Provision
11/14/03 Head Injury Support Group Works to Create Public Awareness
11/13/03 Fund to Aid Brain Injury Victims
11/12/03 Ski Helmets: Safety on the Slopes
11/12/03 Henry Ford Researcher Awarded First NIH 'Brain Remodeling' Grant
11/11/03 Law Would Take 'Headers' Out of Soocer
11/11/03 Exercise Has a More Powerful Impact on the Brain Than Previously Thought
11/10/03 Those in Vegetative State May Seem Alert, but Brain Science Shows Otherwise
11/09/03 Diet May Improve Cognition
11/08/03 Concussions Come to a Head
11/06/03 Dizziness Affects Psychosocial Outcomes Months After Mild to Moderate Brain Injury
11/05/03 Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Emergency Department Care for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
11/05/03 Calcium Channel Blockers for Acute Traumatic Brain Injury
11/04/03 Paratroopers at Risk for Head Injury: Study
10/31/03 Researcher Awarded First NIH ?Brain Remodeling? Grant
10/30/03 Helmets Save Cyclists' Lives
10/29/03 Can We Stir a Sleeping Brain? New Techniques Could Give Hope to the Relatives of Coma Patients
10/28/03 When Head Hits Ball
10/28/03 Healing a Head Injury
10/28/03 Concussions Seen In a New Light 'Helmet on Helmet' Force Documented

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

Journal of Cognitive Rehabilitation click here
Memoryzine click here
Sherry Abrams Social Security Disability Benefits click here
Brain Injury Resource Center click here
Coma click here
Legal and Financial Issues click here

Neurolinks page: click here

The TBI Resource Guide now offers four continuing education courses. Our latest addition is a 2.0 clock-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

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

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

Jan 10
Bill Johnson Vertical Challenge for Brain Injury Awareness
Cranmore Mountain Resort, NH
Tel: 603-225-8400
Email: mail@bianh.org
Website: www.billjohnsonverticalchallenge.org

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

Conferences 2003-4: click here

New research studies currently recruiting patients:

1. Hypothermia to Treat Severe Brain Injury
2. Therapy for Reading Problems in Adults After Brain Injury

All clinical trials: 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
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 December!

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.