This week’s lead article, Mediterranean diet and subsequently improved gut microbiome tied to lower PTSD symptom burden in women, is in the Th erapies Currently Available category.

In this newsletter: Opportunities, Education, Pathophysiology, Diagnostics, Therapies Currently Available, Women’s Health, and CTE & Neurodegeneration Issues.

We appreciate the Concussion Alliance volunteers, board members, and staff members who created this edition:
Writers: Esmeralda Garcia-Ramirez, Sravya Valiveti, Melissa Brown, Zoe Heart, Chelsea Ryan, & Camilla Smith-Donald

Editors: Conor Gormally and Malayka Gormally

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Opportunities

A young man at the optometry office having his vision function checked

Tuesday, February 6, 6 pm EST: A free webinar, Optometry Post Concussion, presented by Dr. Kristine Dalton and hosted by the Canadian Concussion Centre. Register in advance. Register in advance.

Tuesday, February 6, 7 pm EST: a free webinar, New Fronts in the Fight Against CTE – Australia, Canada, UK, US report cases in Rugby, Hockey, Soccer, Football and More, part of the Concussion Legacy Foundation's CTE Awareness Month webinar series. Register in advance.

Tuesday, February 13, 4 pm EST: a free webinar, CTE Research: What's New & What's Next, part of the Concussion Legacy Foundation's CTE Awareness Month webinar series. Register in advance.

February 29, 2024, 3:00 p.m. ET: a webinar (free to caregivers), Balance Training and Reducing Fall Risk in Individuals with Brain Injury, presented by Jason Adour, PT, DPT, Michael Cyr, PT, DPT, and Katie Heller, PT, DPT and hosted by the Brain Injury Association of America. The family caregiver fee is $0 and the professional rate is $50. The professional rate includes 1 ACBIS CEU. Register in advance.

Education

Brain injury from intimate partner violence–a medical provider resource

Blog

There is a significant gap in knowledge and guidance on handling IPV-related injuries among medical providers. To address this gap, Canadian organizations have collaborated to develop a resource to aid healthcare professionals in understanding and managing these injuries effectively.

Read More →

Pathophysiology

Mouse model shows possibilities of reversing memory deficits after repeated mild head impacts

Blog

A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that in mice, memory loss after being subjected to a high frequency of mild head impacts was linked to a deficiency in synaptic plasticity rather than “a loss of neural infrastructure.” There is the possibility that “cognitive impairment caused by head impact” could be clinically reversed.

Read More →

Diagnostics

New imaging technique may facilitate future diagnosis of concussion via MRI

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In a recent study, Lily Li-Wen Wang et al. found that macrophage-adhering GLAMs can be used to identify the presence of mild traumatic brain injuries (mTBIs) that do not show up on standard MRI brain scans.

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Therapies Currently Available

Mediterranean diet and subsequently improved gut microbiome tied to lower PTSD symptom burden in women

Blog

Findings from a recent study in Nature Mental Health exploring the gut-brain-microbiota axis revealed that those who adhered to a Mediterranean diet experienced reduced PTSD symptoms,

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Women’s Health

MRI imaging and behavioral testing reveal emotional problems in female children post-concussion may be related to injury-caused delay in maturation of white matter

Blog

A study published in Biological Psychiatry

found that concussions may alter the trajectory of white matter maturation in female children and that this alteration may play a role in the onset of new depression and anxiety after concussion.

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CTE & Neurodegeneration Issues

Risk of CTE increases by 14% per year of rugby play, even in amateurs

Blog

In October 2023, Willie Stewart et al. published a paper in Acta Neuropathologica demonstrating an association between the development of CTE and the length of a person’s rugby career.

Read More →