Breaking point: When does head trauma in sports lead to memory loss?

A new study suggests there may be a starting point at which blows to the head or other head trauma suffered in combat sports start to affect memory and thinking abilities and can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in the brain. The research was released today and will be presented as part of the Emerging Science (formerly known as Late-Breaking Science) program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans April 21 to April 28, 2012.

Scientists discover window of opportunity to prevent cerebral palsy

Researchers at the Perinatology Research Branch of the National Institutes of Health, located at the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Detroit Medical Center, have demonstrated that a nanotechnology-based drug treatment in newborn rabbits with cerebral palsy (CP) enabled dramatic improvement of movement disorders and the inflammatory process of the brain that causes many cases of CP. The findings strongly suggest that there may be an opportunity immediately after birth for drug treatment that could minimize CP.