View clinical trials related to Brain Injuries.
Filter by:A new technology called Global Z-Score Neurofeedback Technology (GZNT) has been identified that can overcome an existing barrier to the use of neurofeedback as a treatment technique in a military setting. Neurofeedback, or EEG Biofeedback, is a form of biofeedback that uses the brain's own electrical activity as the training parameter. With sufficient practice, the brain can learn to change its own activity through finely tuned feedback using computerized sounds, graphs and animations. Previous attempts at using neurofeedback as a treatment modality have been subject to a lack of standardization and have required significant expertise on the part of the provider. This new GZNT technology allows neurofeedback to be administered in a standardized and semi-automated fashion, which, if effective, will represent a significant advance toward providing this promising treatment modality to Service Members in a military or VA setting. This study will determine feasibility and preliminary evidence of efficacy for this neurofeedback technology in a pilot study of soldiers with medical issues associated with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). GZNT technology has the potential to provide a cost-efficient, non-invasive/non-pharmacological approach to recovery from impact and/or blast-induced brain injury, and holds promise to simultaneously address emotional symptoms that are often a part of the post-concussion symptom picture.
The investigators will conduct an observational crossover study. The investigators aim to recruit 50 participants with severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) requiring intracranial pressure (ICP) monitoring during their stay at the Neuro Trauma ICU at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center. Overall, participants will be monitored, on average, for approximately 6-8 hours during the study period. The investigators do not anticipate the need for prolonged monitoring during the duration of their hospital stay or post hospital period.
The purpose of this project is to test the hypothesis that Speed of Information Processing (SIP) deficits in acquired brain injury (ABI) can be remediated. The majority of individuals with acquired brain injuries have speed of information processing deficits as part of the cognitive sequelae of the brain injury. Empirical research is expected to demonstrate the efficacy of computerized cognitive Speed of Information Processing (SIP) training in individuals with ABI. Study participants will be asked to attend two study visits over the course of approximately 13 weeks. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the experimental or control group.
Background: - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often causes problems with moving and balance, and thinking and emotions. Exercise can improve these things in people with other brain damage. Researchers want to look at the effect of exercise on these things in people with TBI. Objectives: - To study how head injuries affect the brain. To study if exercise can help some symptoms in people with TBI. These include problems thinking, balancing, and moving, and depression or anxiety. Eligibility: - People age between 18 and 79 - Had a non-penetrating TBI at least 12 months ago - Are physically inactive, but can stand and walk without help Design: - Participants will be screened with medical history, physical exam, and blood and urine tests. They may have a balance test. - Participants will be assigned to a high-intensity or a lower-intensity exercise program. - The study is 6 months long. There will be 3 months with exercise on an elliptical machine and 3 months without exercise. - Participants will exercise for 30 minutes on an elliptical machine, 3 days per week for 3 months. - Participants will also have 3 outpatient testing visits lasting approximately 8 hours, once every 3 months. This visit will include: - Blood tests - Tests for memory, attention, and thinking - Tests of walking and balance - Questionnaires - An MRI: they will lie in a machine that takes pictures of their brain, while breathing regular air and air with more carbon dioxide - Test of physical fitness
Hypothesis: Cortical spreading depolarizations are inhibited by the NMDA receptor antagonist Ketamine Aim 1: To demonstrate, in a group of patients with acute severe brain injury requiring surgery including traumatic brain injury and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage, whether use of continuous infusion of ketamine decreases frequency of occurrence of cortical spreading depolarizations.
Researches that focus on the perception of prosodic elements among adult who suffered traumatic brain injury (TBI), focus on their ability to decipher intonation in order to understand an additional meaning of a sentence. According to these researches, adults who suffer from TBI, with no signs of Aphasia, have difficulty perceiving and deciphering intonation (Marquardt et al., 2001; Angeleri et al., 2008). The current research asks to broaden the knowledge in this domain by examining the ability of adults with TBI to understand an additional prosodic element - focused stress. The ability to identify and understand focused stress in a sentence requires different abilities. First, a psychoacoustic ability in order to detect the stressed word. Second, an ability to understand the lexical grammatical meaning of the word as it negates other possible meanings (for example, in the sentence "I'm eating a red apple" the stressed word negated the option of a different color). Third, an understanding of the stressed word as it creates a different pragmatic/social meaning (for example, in the sentence "mom, I asked for red, yellow and green candy" the role of the stressed word is to mark the candy that the addressee didn't get). The aim of the study is to assess the ability of adults who had experienced TBI to grasp and understand the meaning of focused stress in the different contexts that were described above. An additional aim is to examine if differences in speech and cognitive abilities can describe some of the variation in the results. Thirty adults between the ages of 18-50 years will take part in this study, fifteen adults who had experienced moderate to severe TBI (0.5-3 years post injury) and fifteen healthy adults. Each participant with TBI will be matched to a healthy adult by gender, age, education and social-economic status. All of the participants will be Hebrew native speakers, with no learning disability, no neurological injury, proper speech abilities and no hearing impairment. The participants will undergo seven different tests in three different meetings (60 minute each), in a quiet room at Sheba - Academic Medical Center Hospital. The tests will include different cognitive and language examinations. The main test of the study will be The Hebrew Focused Stress Test (HFST). The HFST includes three subtests. The first subtest requires identification of the stressed word in a sentence based on psychoacoustic abilities alone. The second and the third subtests require understanding the meaning of focused stress in different contexts - lexical grammatical and pragmatic/social. The test includes forty eight recorded sentences. In each sentence one word is stressed. The participants will be asked to listen to the recordings and answer a closed question regarding the stressed word.
Using Virtual Reality and Robotics Technologies for Vocational Evaluation, Training and Placement (VR4VR) is a project that incorporates Virtual Reality into job training to increase job opportunities for people who have physical or mental disabilities. The investigators are using Virtual Reality and robotics for job evaluation, training and placement of people with disabilities. The investigators' goal is to assess and train people in a safe, adaptable, and fun virtual environment similar to a video game. This is an interventional study with three target populations: autism spectrum disorder, traumatic brain injury, and severe mobility and manipulation impairments. The prototype system allows for a wide range of environments with the vocational evaluator easily controlling the virtual experience, while the job seekers interact realistically.
This is a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled study about Cyclosporine A (CSP) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Cyclosporine A is a drug already marketed and available for other diseases, but is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment of traumatic brain injury. The effect of Cyclosporine A on chemicals produced following brain injury is being determined using doses no larger than those used for patients having organ transplant. It is also being given for a much shorter time period (3 days). It is not know if side effects seen in patients taking cyclosporine A will occur when it is given for only 3 days. It is not known if patients with brain injury that are treated with cyclosporine A will have side effects like those seen in organ transplant patients.
The cough assessment is fundamental in the weaning process as it gives information on the possibility to expel food and secretion out from the airways. The majority of persons suffering from severe acquired brain injury are not able to cough voluntary due to severe cognitive deficit. In the present study, it would be evaluated the intensity of the reflex cough (RC) and the results would be correlated with weaning outcome.
This study will assess the effectiveness of a portable goggle system in the diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in athletes.