Active clinical trials for "Brain Injuries"

Background: - Previous studies have shown that computer-based devices that simulate everyday tasks can be helpful for evaluation and rehabilitation in people who have had strokes. Researchers are interested in studying whether similar devices can be used to evaluate and treat individuals who have had a traumatic brain injury, to determine if the device should be developed to help with rehabilitation in the future. Objectives: - To evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-based simulation compared with actual performance of actions in individuals who have had a traumatic brain injury. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have had a non-penetrating mild or moderate traumatic head injury within the past year and have experience playing computer games. Design: Participants will be screened with a physical and neurological examination and medical history. Participants will complete questionnaires and an interview about mood and feelings, stress levels, quality of life, and how well they function at work or at home. Participants will also have tests of memory, attention, thinking, and reasoning. Some of the questionnaires and tests will be completed in writing, some orally, and some on a computer. Participants will have movement and coordination tests that involve simple tasks such as putting pegs in a pegboard, using a key, lifting different objects, and folding things. Participants will duplicate the movement and coordination tests by using a computer program that simulates the tasks with a cursor on a computer screen. Participants will do four separate simulated tasks (such as arranging letters or hitting a nail with a hammer) three times. The full visit will take about 4 hours, and no followup visits are required.

Background: - Traumatic brain injury may have a range of effects, from severe and permanent disability to more subtle functional and cognitive deficits that often go undetected during initial treatment. To improve treatments and therapies and to provide a uniform quality of care, researchers are interested in developing more standardized criteria for diagnosing and classifying different types of traumatic brain injury. By identifying imaging and other indicators immediately after the injury and during the initial treatment phrase, researchers hope to better understand the nature and effects of acute traumatic brain injury. Objectives: To study the MRI results of individuals who have recently had head injury and suspected traumatic brain injury. To study the natural evolution of traumatic brain injury for up to 3 months after head injury. Eligibility: - Individuals at least 18 years of age who have been admitted to a hospital with a diagnosed or suspected traumatic brain injury within the past 48 hours. Design: Participants will have one 3-hour study visits: an initial visit (within 48 hours of head injury). Participants may be asked to have an optional 4-day, 30-day, 90-day, and 1-year follow-up. Each visit may involve blood samples, an MRI scan (approximately 30 minutes), and a series of tests to evaluate brain function. At the optional follow-up visit, participants may have blood samples, an MRI scan, and a general traumatic brain injury assessment. This study does not provide treatment and does not replace any current therapies. However, participants who are eligible for other National Institutes of Health studies may be referred to these studies by researchers.

This observational study assessed whether measurements of certain pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the blood (either singly or in combination) at birth and/or up to day of life 21 can predict cerebral palsy at 18-22 months corrected age.

The goal of this study is to examine things that make it easy or hard for OEF/OIF veterans with polytrauma to live independently or do things "on their own" at home and in the community.

The purpose of this project is to determine the effects of mild traumatic brain injury and blast exposure on the inner ear balance and central nervous systems.

The development of pneumonia and other infections is one of the most common complications of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Prior studies have also found that patients suffering from TBI also develop immune dysfunction consistent with an immunosuppressed state shortly after the traumatic event. Specifically, it has been shown that patients with a TBI have impaired delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH), cellular immunity and humoral immunity. The humoral arm of the immune system is particularly involved in defending the host against extracellular bacteria and is primarily composed of B-cells, immunoglobulins and complement. Surgery and trauma impair the clonal expansion of antibody producing B lymphocytes causing hypogammaglobulinemia, through a mechanism involving T lymphocytes. In addition, during the systemic inflammatory process, pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1 (IL-1beta) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) are released. Nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-kB) is a transcriptional regulatory protein that is involved in the expression of proinflammatory cytokines and appears to act at a critical step in the transcription of many proinflammatory genes. The hypothesis of this study is that the hypogammaglobulinemia from the immune dysfunction and the induction of NF-kB from the inflammatory process are, in part, responsible for the development of pneumonia and other infectious complications identified after TBI. This study has two specific aims: The primary specific aim of this study is to determine the association between serum immunoglobulin or NF-kB levels and the development of pneumonia in patients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). The secondary specific aim of this study is to determine the relative contribution of clinical variables such as APACHE II-III Score and Injury Severity Score as compared to immunological variables (serum immunoglobulins and NF-kB) to the development of pneumonia in patients suffering from TBI.

This study performs assessments of pituitary functions by basal hormone levels in the acute phase after TBI and/or SAH followed by detailed endocrine tests (insulin-induced hypoglycemia or growth hormone releasing hormone-arginine-corticotropin releasing hormone-leuteinizing hormone releasing hormone [GHRH-arginine-CRH-LHRH] test) after 4 and 12 months.

To learn more about behavior and everyday functioning after brain injury, and to learn if behavior and functioning gets better with more education about changes after brain injury.

Excitatory amino acids may be involved in secondary neuronal damage after traumatic brain injury. The amount of microglia activation is an indirect measure of neuronal damage. Micorglia activation will be measured R)-[11C]PK11195 PET 1 week, 1 month and 6 months after brain injury.

This study will attempt to evaluate clinical, laboratory and radiographic parameters together to assess heir values in outcome prediction from brain injury. Patients will be followed up for a period of 6 months, following admission to ICU, to assess outcome, using the Extended Glasgow Outcome Score (GOSE). We hypothesise that it is possible to reliably predict outcome in brain injury from the current investigations we have at our disposal.