Update on Biotechnology for TBI Rehabilitation

Military traumatic brain injury: a challenge straddling neurology and psychiatry

Military psychiatry, a new subcategory of psychiatry, has become an invaluable, intangible effect of the war. In this review, we begin by examining related military research, summarizing the related epidemiological data, neuropathology, and the research achievements of diagnosis and treatment technology, and discussing its comorbidity and sequelae. To date, advances in neuroimaging and molecular biology have greatly boosted the studies on military traumatic brain injury (TBI). In particular, in terms of pathophysiological mechanisms, several preclinical studies have identified abnormal protein accumulation, blood-brain barrier damage, and brain metabolism abnormalities involved in the development of TBI. As an important concept in the field of psychiatry, TBI is based on organic injury, which is largely different from many other mental disorders. Therefore, military TBI is both neuropathic and psychopathic, and is an emerging challenge at the intersection of neurology and psychiatry.

Nanotechnology: the coming revolution and its implications for consumers, clinicians, and informatics

Nanotechnology promises to revolutionize manufactured materials as we know them, creating a vast array of new products, drug delivery devices, and monitoring mechanisms. The promise of these products and devices is tremendous. Likewise, the implications of this technology are immense, ranging across consumers, clinicians, and the practice of informatics. Specific implications include opportunities for education of health care consumers and clinicians about the safe and ethical use of nanomaterials, a requirement for new policies and regulations, potential radical role changes for both consumers and clinicians, and new demands in the practice of informatics. The most pressing concern for health applications is the safe use of nanomaterials. Given the promise of nanomaterials and the implications across at least these 3 areas, nurses need to understand the capabilities and limitations of nanomaterials, proceed with reasoned caution, and plan now for its wide-ranging impacts.

Traumatic brain injury research priorities: the Conemaugh International Brain Injury Symposium

In 2005, an international symposium was convened with over 100 neuroscientists from 13 countries and major research centers to review current research in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and develop a consensus document on research issues and priorities. Four levels of TBI research were the focus of the discussion: basic science, acute care, post-acute neurorehabilitation, and improving quality of life (QOL). Each working group or committee was charged with reviewing current research, discussion and prioritizing future research directions, identifying critical issues that impede research in brain injury, and establishing a research agenda that will drive research over the next five years, leading to significantly improved outcomes and QOL for individuals suffering brain injuries. This symposium was organized at the request of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, to follow up on the National Institutes of Health Consensus Conference on TBI as mandated by the TBI ACT of 1996. The goal was to review what progress had been made since the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference, and also to follow up on the 1990's Decade of the Brain Project. The major purpose of the symposium was to provide recommendations to the U.S. Congress on a priority basis for research, treatment, and training in TBI over the next five years.

Brain Injury Research: Lessons for Reinventing the Future. The 38th Zeiter Lecture

I discuss novel dynamics in brain injury medicine that will shape the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation over the next several years. I review the lessons from previous clinical trials and discuss how rapid biotechnologic changes will influence the lives of people with disabilities. This lecture focuses on prior paradigms and addresses lessons learned, novel strategies for reinvention (including person-specific therapies), conventional therapy programs, biomaterials and devices, cellular-based therapies, and potential therapeutic interventions.