Scientists in the Laboratoire de Neurobiologie des Processus Adaptatifs (CNRS/Université Pierre et Marie Curie) have shown that it is possible to repair an injured brain by creating a small number of new, specifically-targeted innervations, rather than a larger number of non-specific connections. Behavioral tests have demonstrated that such reinnervation can thus restore damaged cerebral functions. These results, already on-line, were published in the journal Brain on April 1st, 2008. [continue reading…]
Brain Injury
In her PhD, defended at the University of the Basque Country, Maria Luisa de Francisco Maiz provided a clinical-forensic evaluation of brain injuries and also a study on the variables that influence the length of “legal time periods”.
Brain injuries are a serious problem in the industrialised countries, not only for their high incidence but also because they mainly affect young people. At a clinical level, the increase in the efficacy of intensive medical treatments has enabled a drop in the rates of mortality but this fact has generated, in turn, an increase in the number of persons affected by the consequences or after-effects of brain injury. Amongst the various consequences, the neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric ones pose the greatest difficulty for assessment and estimation/quantification of damage [continue reading…]
What do suffering a traumatic brain injury and using club drugs have in common? University of Florida researchers say both may trigger a similar chemical chain reaction in the brain, leading to cell death, memory loss and potentially irreversible brain damage. [continue reading…]
People with a devastating brain injury that has wiped out many of their personal memories may still be able to understand other people’s feelings and intentions, according to a joint study by the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre for Aging and the Brain, and York University’s Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health. [continue reading…]