Concussions

Engineers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) have been investigating ways of nursing concussed brain cells back to healthy function, and have found that cooling them can protect them from damage and allow them to operate as normal.

Researchers have found that by subjecting people with a mild brain injury to a dose of blue light each morning, they could help to reduce some of its typical side effects such as depression and problems with sleep.

The search is very much on for technologies that can produce unequivocal evidence of concussion, and scientists have taken an exciting step forward with a device that can assess brain cells by pulsing ultra-bright lasers through a patient’s forehead.

​The first diagnostic blood test to evaluate the severity of a concussion has been approved for marketing by the FDA. The blood test can accurately identify patients with brain tissue damage, or intracranial lesions, following a head injury without the need for an expensive & time-consuming CT scan.

Humans can sustain a concussion from a force as low as 60 G’s. But the humble woodpecker inflicts forces of over 1,000 G’s on itself regularly, so how does it protect itself from brain damage? According to a new study, it doesn’t.

A team of scientists from Brigham Young University (BYU), Utah, has developed a smartfoam-based sensor system that could give NFL coaches the tools they need to catch concussions as they happen, and take appropriate action.

​​Severe concussions are obviously cause for concern, but milder ones that go undetected can also lead to dangerous health impacts down the track. A new smartphone app could prove pivotal in this area, using the device's camera to scan the pupil for telltale signs of injury on the spot. ​

​The most common cause of concussions in hockey is shoulder-to-head impacts. According to research being conducted at Vancouver's Simon Fraser University, however, the severity of those impacts could be greatly reduced with the simple addition of a layer of foam.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have identified a series of master genes that, when damaged through traumatic brain injury, can adversely trigger changes in other genes related to the onset of many neurological and psychiatric disorders.

“Mini-brains,” models created from 3D cultures of neural cells, could help reduce our reliance on animal testing. Now researchers have discovered the neural cells are growing their own blood vessels too, opening the door for better studies of stroke, Alzheimer’s and concussion.

Concussions often go undetected, but Prevent Biometrics is aiming to change that. Its sensor-equipped mouthguard detects potentially dangerous head impacts in real-time and issues an immediate alert when an assessment is required.

In the recent past, we've seen systems that track eye movements in order to determine if a concussion has occurred. Now, scientists from Illinois' Northwestern University are suggesting that the way in which the brain processes sound may be an even better indicator.​