Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction and Exposure to Head Impacts in University Football Players.

Objective: To investigate the link between dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and exposure to head impacts in concussed football athletes.

Design: This was a prospective, observational pilot study.

Setting: Canadian university football.

Knowledge transfer and retention of simulation-based learning for neurosurgical instruments: a randomised trial of perioperative nurses.

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that simulation is an acceptable method of training in nursing education. The objectives of this study were to determine the effectiveness of tablet-based simulation in learning neurosurgical instruments and to assess whether skills learnt in the simulation environment are transferred to a real clinical task and retained over time.

Methods: A randomised controlled trial was conducted.

Long-Term Effects of Education and Legislation Enforcement on All-Age Bicycle Helmet Use: A Longitudinal Study.

Bicycle-related injuries are a leading cause of child and youth hospitalizations in Canada. The use of helmets while bicycling reduces the risk of brain injuries. This study investigated the long-term effect of legislation coupled with enforcement to improve helmet use rates.

Achieving all-age helmet use compliance for snow sports: strategic use of education, legislation and enforcement.

Background: Nova Scotia is the first jurisdiction in the world to mandate ski and snowboard helmet use for all ages at ski hills in the province. This study represents a longitudinal examination of the effects of social marketing, educational campaigns and the introduction of helmet legislation on all-age snow sport helmet use in Nova Scotia.

Methods: A baseline observational study was conducted to establish the threshold of ski and snowboarding helmet use.

Implementation of an all-ages mandatory helmet policy for ice skating.

Ice skaters sustain a significant number of head injuries each winter. We are the first to implement an all-ages helmet policy at a university-based Canadian arena. We report our experience from a cross-sectional observational study as well as the policy's consequences on helmet use and skating participation.

Helmets for skiing and snowboarding: who is using them and why.

Background: In Canada, winter sports injuries are responsible for significant health care burden, with estimates of $400 million in direct and indirect annual health care costs. For ski-related injuries, helmets have been shown to provide significant protection. Current common practice in Canada, including the Province of Nova Scotia, is to leave the decision of whether to wear a helmet to the individual.

Major traumatic brain injury: time to tertiary care and the impact of a clinical guideline.

Background: To achieve timely access to neurosurgical care for adult brain-injured patients, a Head Injury Guideline was implemented to standardize the emergency department evaluation and management of these patients. The goals of this study were to document times to neurosurgical care for patients with major traumatic brain injury presenting to a Provincial emergency room and to evaluate the impact of the Guideline on timely access to definitive care.

Methods: Data collected prospectively and stored in the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry and the Emergency Health Services Communications and Dispatch Centre database were analyzed for patients with head abbreviated injury scale score (AIS)≥3.