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This is the final day of the year that you can be a part of making magic happen.
Please consider making a tax-deductible gift today.
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#5Thoughts Friday
The
Edition
12/31/2021
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A new study by authors at The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University published in Frontiers in Public Health demonstrates that the U.S. could save billions of dollars and drastically improve quality of life for millions of people with severe brain injuries by expanding access to rehabilitation service
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This research paper examined seven studies published between 2009 and 2019 that studied the cost-savings from accessing multi-disciplinary rehabilitation services (such as physical, cognitive and occupational therapies) after a severe brain injury. Authors Laura Lorenz, PhD’08, a visiting research scholar at the Heller School, and Michael Doonan, PhD’02, director of the MPP program, discussed their findings and policy recommendations with Heller Communications.
Their main finding was that investing in rehabilitation care will save an average of $1.5 million per person over the course of their life, mostly from a reduced need for supervision and nursing home care. Most people with brain injury prefer to be more independent and able to do more for themselves, so the cost-savings investment also contributes to better quality of life.
CLICK HERE to read an interview about their findings.
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CLICK HERE or the Graphic above to download a new Tool for Caregivers of Individuals with Brain Injuries n PDF format from the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System (TBIMS) and the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center (MSKTC). |
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared SyncThink’s Eye-Sync technology to aid in the diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injury, the company has announced.
Eye-Sync is a virtual reality eye-tracking platform that provides objective measurements to aid in the assessment of concussion. It’s the first mobile, rapid test for concussion that has been cleared by the FDA, the company said.
As reported by Medscape Medical News, Eye-Sync received breakthrough designation from the FDA for this indication in March 2019.
The FDA initially cleared the Eye-Sync platform for recording, viewing, and analyzing eye movements to help clinicians identify visual tracking impairment.
The Eye-Sync technology uses a series of 60-second eye tracking assessments, neurocognitive batteries, symptom inventories, and standardized patient inventories to identify the type and severity of impairment after concussion.
“The platform generates customizable and interpretive reports that support clinical decision making, and offers visual and vestibular therapies to remedy deficits and monitor improvement over time,” the company said.
CLICK HERE for more on this emerging testing platform.
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CLICK HERE to download the December 2021 Bulletin in PDF format.
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TBI Hot Topics Bulletin
Stay informed about Traumatic Brain Injury
Are you a busy health care provider? Not enough time to keep up with research? Stay informed with the TBI Hot Topics Bulletin. It tracks the latest TBI scientific studies, advances, and discoveries most relevant to health care providers.
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Thanks to 'neuroplasticity', your brain can dramatically reprogramme itself after major damage. |
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Some animals have incredible regenerative abilities, growing new legs and tails to replace lost ones. Fish and salamanders can even grow new brain cells to repair damaged portions of their brains. As mammals, though, our capacity for regeneration is more limited, particularly where the brain is concerned.
“Lower vertebrates keep on replacing neurons quite happily throughout their life, but mammals don’t,” explains James Fawcett, a neuroscientist at the University of Cambridge. “We stop making new neurons before birth, pretty much, except for one or two small parts of the nervous system.”
This means that while we can repair a cut to our skin by growing new skin cells, we can’t recover from a brain injury in the same way. Instead, our brain’s only option is to work with the existing neurons – cells that carry all the information required for us to think, move and perform our normal bodily functions.
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CLICK HERE to learn about how the brain heals itself.
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Webinar — What Families Need to Know About Planning for a Loved One with Special Needs
January 7, 2022
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Webinar attendees will come to understand what is involved in the planning process for a special needs family and the importance of preserving your loved one’s financial security and quality of life.
Presented by Elville and Associates’ Managing Principal and Lead Attorney Stephen R. Elville, this webinar is a broad reaching discussion about planning for their loved one with special needs.
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2) What We are Reading This Week |
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In the early days of the Cold War, a spirit of desperate scientific rivalry birthed a different kind of space race: not the race to outer space that we all know, but a race to master the inner space of the human body. While surgeons on either side of the Iron Curtain competed to become the first to transplant organs like the kidney and heart, a young American neurosurgeon had an even more ambitious thought: Why not transplant the brain?
Dr. Robert White was a friend to two popes and a founder of the Vatican’s Commission on Bioethics. He developed lifesaving neurosurgical techniques still used in hospitals today and was nominated for the Nobel Prize. But like Dr. Jekyll before him, Dr. White had another identity. In his lab, he was waging a battle against the limits of science and against mortality itself—working to perfect a surgery that would allow the soul to live on after the human body had died.
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If you decide to buy anything mentioned in #5ThoughtsFriday, don't forget to use
donation beneficiary.
We receive 0.5% of the purchase price and you receive the same great service, no extra charge!
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1) Quote We are Contemplating |
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“And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.”
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Looking for Something fun to do in Maryland this weekend?
Click the picture below and discover a world of possibilities!
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HAVE A WONDERFUL
HOLIDAY WEEKEND.
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE COVID-19 VACCINE BY GETTING VACCINATED, GETTING THE BOOSTER, and WEARING YOUR MASK IN PUBLIC.
THE LIFE YOU SAVE
MAY BE YOUR OWN.
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Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful weekend.
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