Diffusion tensor imaging findings and neuropsychological performance in adults with TBI across the spectrum of severity in the chronic-phase.

Primary Objective: To examine associations between neuroimaging indicators of cerebral tract integrity and neurocognitive functioning in traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Research Design: Between-Groups design with two TBI groups and controls.

Method And Procedures: Forty-four participants with TBI and 27 matched controls completed diffusion tensor imaging and neuropsychological measures of processing speed, attention, memory, and executive function.

Safety and feasibility of minocycline in treatment of acute traumatic brain injury.

Background: Minocycline is a pleomorphic neuroprotective agent well studied in animal models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and brain ischemia.

Methods: To test the hypothesis that administration of minocycline in moderate to severe TBI (Glasgow Coma Score 3-12). Fifteen patients were enrolled in a two-dose escalation study of minocycline to evaluate the safety of twice the recommended antibiotic dosage; tier 1 n = 7 at a loading dose of 800 mg followed by 200 mg twice a day (BID) for 7 days; tier 2 n = 8 at a loading dose of 800 mg followed by 400 mg BID for 7 days.

Impact of psychiatric symptomatology on neuropsychological assessment performance in persons with TBI: A comparison of OEF/OIF veteran and civilian samples.

Objective: To assess whether increased incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptomatology in veterans with combat-related traumatic brain injury might help account for neurocognitive impairment relative to civilians with traumatic brain injury.

Participants: Neuropsychological assessment data of 53 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans and 48 civilians with positive history of traumatic brain injury were analyzed to assess differences with respect to cognitive performance.

Design: Retrospective analysis of data including neurocognitive test performance and self-reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The Clinical Utility of the Conners' Continuous Performance Test-II in Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: The Conners' Continuous Performance Test Second Edition (CPT-II) is a measure commonly used in persons with suspected attentional deficits. Our study examined the utility of the CPT-II as a measure of attention in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI) of varying severity.

Method: As part of a larger investigation, several measures of cognitive functioning, including the CPT-II, were administered to 30 healthy control participants (HCP), 30 mild TBI participants (M-TBI), and 30 moderate to severe TBI participants (MS-TBI).

Evaluation of Cortical Thickness after Traumatic Brain Injury in Military Veterans.

Military service members frequently sustain traumatic brain injuries (TBI) while on active duty, a majority of which are related to explosive blasts and are mild in severity. Studies evaluating the cortical gray matter in persons with injuries of this nature remain scarce. The purpose of this study was to assess cortical thickness in a sample of military veterans with chronic blast-related TBI.

Cognitive and self-reported psychological outcomes of blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury in veterans: a preliminary study.

The increased use of explosives in combat has resulted in a large number of returning veterans suffering from blast-related mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and self-reported complications. It remains unclear whether this increase in self-reported difficulties is unique to the blast mechanism or stressful preinjury environment and whether cognitive-functioning deficits correspond with these difficulties in the postacute phase. This study examined the relationship between cognitive performance and self-reported psychological and somatic symptoms of blast-related mTBI compared with civilian mTBI, independent of comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.

A comparison of insufficient effort rates, neuropsychological functioning, and neuropsychiatric symptom reporting in military veterans and civilians with chronic traumatic brain injury.

Neuropsychological evaluation of persons with chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI) symptoms is complicated by multiple factors. The authors explored the impact of mechanism of injury, effort testing performance, and neuropsychiatric status in a sample of military veterans (V-TBI) and civilians (C-TBI) with chronic TBI. V-TBI (n = 74), C-TBI (n = 67), and healthy civilian control (C-HC) participants (n = 66), completed a battery of neuropsychological, effort, and self-report neuropsychiatric measures.

Complexity analysis of resting state magnetoencephalography activity in traumatic brain injury patients.

Diagnosis of mild traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) has been difficult because of the absence of obvious focal brain lesions, using conventional computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, in a large percentage of TBIs. One useful measure that can characterize potential tissue and neural network damage objectively is Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) applied to magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals. LZC is a model-independent estimator of system complexity that estimates the number of different patterns in a sequence.