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Early Concussions Tied to Faster Cognitive Decline - Neuroscience News
“These findings indicate that even people with traumatic brain injuries in earlier life who appear to have fully recovered from them may still be at increased risk of cognitive problems and dementia later in life,” said study author Marianne Chanti-Ketterl, PhD, MSPH, of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
“Among identical twins, who share the same genes and many of the same exposures early in life, we found that the twin who had a concussion had lower test scores and faster decline than their twin who had never had a concussion.”
Damage to white matter is linked to worse cognitive outcomes after brain injury -- ScienceDaily
The most unexpected aspect of our findings was that damage to gray matter hubs of the brain that are really interconnected with other regions didn't really tell us much about how poorly people would do on cognitive tests after brain damage. On the other hand, people with damage to the densest white matter connections did much worse on those tests," explains Justin Reber, PhD, a UI postdoctoral research fellow in psychology and first author on the study. "This is important because both scientists and clinicians often focus almost exclusively on the role of gray matter. This study is a reminder that connections between brain regions might matter just as much as those regions themselves, if not more so."
Brain changes following traumatic brain injury share similarities with Alzheimer's disease: Using MRIs and machine learning, researchers mapped comparable degenerative changes in gray and white matter of the brain -- ScienceDaily
In multiple brain areas of both TBI and Alzheimer's participants, the researchers found reduced cortical thickness when compared to the healthy controls. Cortical thickness is roughly correlated with brain age and its thinning is often associated with reductions in attention, memory and verbal fluency, as well as with decreased ability to make decisions, integrate new information and adapt one's behavior to new situations, among other deficits.
"These findings are the first to suggest that cognitive impairment following a traumatic brain injury is useful for predicting the magnitude of Alzheimer's-like brain degradation," said study author Andrei Irimia, an assistant professor of gerontology, neuroscience and biomedical engineering at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. "The results may help health professionals to identify TBI victims who are at greater risk for Alzheimer's disease."
Using MRIs, the study identified significant similarities between TBI and Alzheimer's disease in how the brain's gray and white matter degrade after injury. In gray matter -- the part of the brain that contains neuron cell bodies and their short-range connections -- the most extensive similarities were in areas involved in memory (temporal lobes) and decision-making (orbitofrontal cortices).
Why visual stimulation may work in fight against Alzheimer's: Mouse study - Neuroscience News
Tsai’s original study on the effects of flickering light showed that visual stimulation at a frequency of 40 hertz (cycles per second) induces brain waves known as gamma oscillations in the visual cortex. These brain waves are believed to contribute to normal brain functions such as attention and memory, and previous studies have suggested that they are impaired in Alzheimer’s patients.
Tsai and her colleagues later found that combining the flickering light with sound stimuli — 40-hertz tones — reduced plaques even further and also had farther-reaching effects, extending to the hippocampus and parts of the prefrontal cortex. The researchers have also found cognitive benefits from both the light- and sound-induced gamma oscillations.
In their new study, the researchers wanted to delve deeper into how these beneficial effects arise. They focused on two different strains of mice that are genetically programmed to develop Alzheimer’s symptoms. One, known as Tau P301S, has a mutated version of the Tau protein, which forms neurofibrillary tangles like those seen in Alzheimer’s patients. The other, known as CK-p25, can be induced to produce a protein called p25, which causes severe neurodegeneration. Both of these models show much greater neuron loss than the model they used for the original light flickering study, Tsai says.
The researchers found that visual stimulation, given one hour a day for three to six weeks, had dramatic effects on neuron degeneration. They started the treatments shortly before degeneration would have been expected to begin, in both types of Alzheimer’s models. After three weeks of treatment, Tau P301S mice showed no neuronal degeneration, while the untreated Tau P301S mice had lost 15 to 20 percent of their neurons. Neurodegeneration was also prevented in the CK-p25 mice, which were treated for six weeks.
Risk of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression in Civilian Patients After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A TRACK-TBI Study. | Traumatic Brain Injury | JAMA Psychiatry | JAMA Network
Participants were 1155 patients (752 men [65.1%]; mean [SD] age, 40.5 [17.2] years) with mTBI and 230 patients (155 men [67.4%]; mean [SD] age, 40.4 [15.6] years) with nonhead orthopedic trauma injuries. Weights-adjusted prevalence of PTSD and/or MDD in the mTBI vs orthopedic trauma comparison groups at 3 months was 20.0% (SE, 1.4%) vs 8.7% (SE, 2.2%) (P < .001) and at 6 months was 21.2% (SE, 1.5%) vs 12.1% (SE, 3.2%) (P = .03). Risk factors for probable PTSD at 6 months after mTBI included less education (adjusted odds ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.82-0.97 per year), being black (adjusted odds ratio, 5.11; 95% CI, 2.89-9.05), self-reported psychiatric history (adjusted odds ratio, 3.57; 95% CI, 2.09-6.09), and injury resulting from assault or other violence (adjusted odds ratio, 3.43; 95% CI, 1.56-7.54).
MRI technique shows unique signatures of concussion in rugby players -- ScienceDaily
The authors point out that there is growing evidence of persistent changes in the brain that last well beyond clinical recovery and clearance to return to play. This study confirmed those findings showing clear brain changes in both structure and function that persisted six-months after injury. They also showed that these persistent brain changes related to concussion history, even in healthy athletes.
"We were able to show evidence of prior concussion history through this method," said Menon who is also a scientist at Robarts Research Institute and the director of the Western Centre for Functional and Metabolic Mapping. "This component correlates directly with the number of previous concussions that an athlete has had. This hasn't been shown before."
Lasting impact of concussions on young adults -- ScienceDaily
In their study, recently published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, researchers looked at young adults ranging in age from 18 to 24 who had sustained at least two concussions with the most recent one being at least a month before the testing. The participants were asked to switch between two tasks which included telling the difference between colors and shapes, like red and green and circle or square. Cognitive changes, like working memory and processing speed, were noted and oscillatory activity, or brainwaves, were monitored with an electroencephalogram (EEG), which tests for changes in the brainwaves.
In both the concussion group and the control group, researchers looked for differences in three different types of brainwaves and their effects on executive function, which is the ability to control cognitive functions like attention, inhibition, performance, flexibility, stability, working memory, and planning. They found an overall lower performance rate from those in the concussion group during the task-switching exercise. They were less accurate and processing performance was low.
Elevations in MicroRNA Biomarkers in Serum Are Associated with Measures of Concussion, Neurocognitive Function and Subconcussive Trauma over a single NCAA Division I Season in Collegiate Football Players | Journal of Neurotrauma
All the athletes had elevated levels of circulating miRNAs at the beginning of the season compared to control subjects (p<0.001). Athletes with the lowest standard assessment of concussion (SAC) scores at the beginning of the season had the highest levels of miRNAs. The AUC for predicting pre-season SAC scores were miR-195 (0.90), miR-20a (0.89), miR-151-5p (0.86), miR-505* (0.85), miR-9-3p (0.77) and miR-362-3p (0.76). In athletes with declining neurocognitive function over the season, concentrations of miRNAs increased over same period. There were significant negative correlations with miR-505* (p=0.011), miR-30d (p=0.007), miR-92 (p=0.033), and miR-151-5p (p=0.008). The miRNAs correlating with balance problems were miR-505* (p=0.007), miR-30d (p=0.028), and miR-151-5p (p=0.023). Those correlating with poor reaction times were miR-20a (0.043), miR-505* (p=0.049), miR-30d (p=0.031), miR-92 (p=0.015), and miR-151-5p (p=0.044). Select miRNAs were associated with baseline concussion assessments at the beginning of the season and with neurocognitive changes from pre to post-season in collegiate football players.
New study finds evidence of brain injuries in football players at surprisingly young age: College football players found to have cognitive issues and blood biomarkers indicating brain injuries -- ScienceDaily
The study tested biomarkers in the blood called microRNA's and found that the college football players had elevated levels of these biomarkers that indicate concussions before the season even started.
"It was quite shocking to learn that the biomarkers were high before they were even involved in one hit or tackle for the season," said Linda Papa, MD, lead author of the study and emergency medicine physician at Orlando Health "This suggests that the effects of past head injuries are persisting over time."
Researchers also conducted cognitive tests with each study participant before and after the season and found that those who struggled with balance and memory had higher levels of the biomarkers. "Some of these players had never been diagnosed with a concussion but they still had elevated biomarker levels in their blood, indicating they likely experienced head injuries that were not severe enough to be clinically diagnosed, but still caused damage. These injuries are also known as subconcussive injuries," said Papa.
Papa says that these biomarkers can potentially help identify those less severe head injuries so that players can get the proper treatment.
Engage multiple layers to rebuild a brain
The researchers placed mice in a dark box and trained them to search for a nearby object with their whiskers. When the mice detected the object, they pulled a lever with their paw to dispense water as a reward. Conventional wisdom argued that this kind of detection task depends almost entirely on a functioning sensory cortex — in this case, the barrel cortex.
To confirm this was true, the researchers used laser light to temporarily turn off barrel-cortex cells, a popular technique known as optogenetics. As expected, animals had difficulty whisking while the cells were turned off. And when the team then permanently removed their barrel cortex, the animals could not perform the task the next day.
But on day two, the animals’ performance suddenly recovered to original levels. “This came as a huge surprise, since it suggested that tactile sensation, such as whisker-based touch, may not completely rely on the cortex,” said Dr. Hong. “These findings challenge the commonly held, cortex-centric view of how the brain drives touch perception.”
Study identifies distinct origin of ADHD in children with history of brain injury -- ScienceDaily
The researchers also looked for hallmark abnormalities in brain structure associated with the disorder. The association between volumes of ADHD-related brain structures and ADHD symptom severity was similar between the two groups. However, an analysis of the connections bridging the two brain hemispheres revealed opposite relationships with ADHD symptoms between the groups. The structural findings indicate the presence of both similar and distinct neural mechanisms that cause ADHD after TBI.
Study of Retired NFL and NHL Players Doesn't Find Evidence of Early Onset Dementia - Neuroscience News
The assessments of cognitive function (e.g., memory, attention, visual spatial orientation), executive function and mental health in the retired athletes didn’t reveal statistically significant impairment compared to controls.
The researchers did find evidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in more of the retired athletes than the controls, but said the rate was as expected for the age, education level and body mass index of the athletes, all factors that can raise the risk of MCI; it also was not statistically significant.
Advanced brain imaging detected no microscopic or macroscopic brain tissue injury differences in retired athletes versus the controls. The non-contact sport athletes were found to have a higher rate of microbleeds in the brain but these results only approached statistical significance.
Researchers Watch Brain's Lining Heal After Head Injury - Neuroscience News
“The lining of the brain, with help from the immune system, has a remarkable ability to put itself back together again after injury,” said Dorian McGavern, Ph.D., scientist at the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the senior author of the study published in Nature Immunology. “As we learn more about all the cells involved in the repair process, we may be able to identify potential targets for therapy that lead to better outcomes for patients.”
The study came about from an observation on MRI scans of adult patients who experienced a concussion or mTBI. Around half of patients with mTBI show evidence of injury to blood vessels in the meninges, which appears on MRI scans as a vascular dye leaking out of the damaged vessels.
The meninges are a collection of membranes that line the central nervous system and help protect brain and spinal cord tissue from various forms of injury. Damage to the meninges can cause cell death in underlying brain tissue.
When the brain's wiring breaks: Key molecular details of a common type of brain injury and a possible new treatment strategy -- ScienceDaily
"Neurologists know this," said Taylor, a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center. "It's why they promote physical therapy and retraining for people who suffer head injury. During this extended period of excitability, PT and retraining can help guide injured neurons along beneficial pathways."
Association of Playing High School Football with Cognition and Mental Health Later in Life | BrainLine
Among the 3904 men in the study, after matching and model-based covariate adjustment, compared with each control condition, there was no statistically significant harmful association of playing football with a reduced composite cognition score or an increased modified Center for Epidemiological Studies’ Depression Scale depression score. After adjustment for multiple testing, playing football did not have a significant adverse association with any of the secondary outcomes, such as the likelihood of heavy alcohol use at 65 years of age. Cognitive and depression outcomes later in life were found to be similar for high school football players and their nonplaying counterparts from mid-1950s in Wisconsin.
Lifelong behavioral and neuropathological consequences of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury - Mouzon - 2018 - Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology - Wiley Online Library
In this context, our current data demonstrate, for the first time, that rather than an acute, time limited event, mild TBI can precipitate a lifelong degenerative process. These data therefore suggest that successful treatment strategies should consider both the acute and chronic nature of mTBI.
Why head and face pain causes more suffering: Sensory neurons in the head and face tap directly into the brain's emotional pathways -- ScienceDaily
The team found that sensory neurons that serve the head and face are wired directly into one of the brain's principal emotional signaling hubs. Sensory neurons elsewhere in the body are also connected to this hub, but only indirectly.
The results may pave the way toward more effective treatments for pain mediated by the craniofacial nerve, such as chronic headaches and neuropathic face pain.
"Usually doctors focus on treating the sensation of pain, but this shows the we really need to treat the emotional aspects of pain as well," said Fan Wang, a professor of neurobiology and cell biology at Duke, and senior author of the study. The results appear online Nov. 13 in Nature Neuroscience.
Traumatic brain injury causes intestinal damage, study shows: Two-way brain-gut interactions may worsen outcome after TBI -- ScienceDaily
This is the first study to find that TBI in mice can trigger delayed, long-term changes in the colon and that subsequent bacterial infections in the gastrointestinal system can increase posttraumatic brain inflammation and associated tissue loss. The findings were published recently in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
"These results indicate strong two-way interactions between the brain and the gut that may help explain the increased incidence of systemic infections after brain trauma and allow new treatment approaches," said the lead researcher, Alan Faden, MD, the David S. Brown Professor in Trauma in the Departments of Anesthesiology, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at UMSOM, and director of the UMSOM Shock, Trauma and Anesthesiology Research Center.
Cumulative Head Impact Exposure Predicts Later-Life Depression, Apathy, Executive Dysfunction, and Cognitive Impairment in Former High School and College Football Players
The investigation of RHI has most commonly been in contact sports, such as American football. More than 4,500,000 amateur athletes participate in tackle football each year,12,13 and this sport has one of the highest rates of concussion.14,15 Surveys of high school and college athletes show that ∼50% of football players sustain a concussion each year, and >30% sustain multiple concussions.14,16,17 Subconcussive events are likely even more frequent, as helmet-based accelerometer studies estimate that amateur football players average 600 subconcussive impacts per season in high school and >1000 at the collegiate level.3 The high prevalence of concussive and subconcussive events in amateur football players is concerning, given their reported association with acute18–20 and chronic21–25 neurological consequences. Repetitive subconcussive blows (measured by helmet accelerometer sensors recording events that exceed 14.4g10) are associated with pre- to post-season cognitive decline,10,26 functional brain alterations (e.g., reduced neurophysiological health),10,26,27 and microstructural white matter brain changes28 in high school football players.
Brain connectivity disruptions may explain cognitive deficits in people with brain injury | EurekAlert! Science News
A study recently published in the Journal of International Neuropsychological Society found that individuals who are at least six months post-injury exhibit between-network, long-range and inter-hemispheric connectivity disruptions. Specifically, scientists observed TBI-related connectivity disruptions in the default mode and dorsal attention networks and the default mode and frontoparietal control networks; interactions among the networks are key to achieving daily life goals.
