Predictors of Agitated Behavior During Inpatient Rehabilitation for Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective: To identify predictors of the severity of agitated behavior during inpatient traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation.

Design: Prospective, longitudinal observational study.

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation centers.

A Conceptual Model of Irritability Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Qualitative, Participatory Research Study.

Background: Individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) may have chronic problems with irritability, which can negatively affect their lives.

Objectives: (1) To describe the experience (thoughts and feelings) of irritability from the perspectives of multiple people living with or affected by the problem, and (2) to develop a conceptual model of irritability.

Design: Qualitative, participatory research.

Amantadine Effect on Perceptions of Irritability after Traumatic Brain Injury: Results of the Amantadine Irritability Multisite Study.

This study examines the effect of amantadine on irritability in persons in the post-acute period after traumatic brain injury (TBI). There were 168 persons ≥6 months post-TBI with irritability who were enrolled in a parallel-group, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial receiving either amantadine 100 mg twice daily or equivalent placebo for 60 days. Subjects were assessed at baseline and days 28 (primary end-point) and 60 of treatment using observer-rated and participant-rated Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-I) Most Problematic item (primary outcome), NPI Most Aberrant item, and NPI-I Distress Scores, as well as physician-rated Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale.

Outcome prediction in home- and community-based brain injury rehabilitation using the Mayo-Portland Adaptability Inventory.

The objective of the study was to develop statistical formulas to predict levels of community participation on discharge from post-hospital brain injury rehabilitation using retrospective data analysis. Data were collected from seven geographically distinct programmes in a home- and community-based brain injury rehabilitation provider network. Participants were 642 individuals with post-traumatic brain injury.

Ulnar motor study to first dorsal interosseous: Best reference electrode position and normative data.

Introduction: Reference electrode position affects nerve conduction study results. This study was undertaken to determine the optimal reference electrode position for ulnar motor recording from the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle and to develop normative data.

Methods: Fifty-one subjects were tested using reference electrode positions on the thumb, index, and little fingers.

A randomized controlled trial of emotion recognition training after traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To examine the effectiveness of 2 affect recognition interventions (Faces and Stories) in people with a traumatic brain injury.

Setting: Postacute rehabilitation facilities.

Participants: A total of 203 participants with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury were screened; 71 were eligible and randomized to the Faces (n = 24), Stories (n = 23), and Control interventions (n = 24).

Effectiveness of amantadine hydrochloride in the reduction of chronic traumatic brain injury irritability and aggression.

Background: Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), individuals may experience chronic problems with irritability or aggression, which may need treatment to minimize the negative impact on their relationships, home life, social interactions, community participation, and employment

Objective: : To test the a priori hypothesis that amantadine reduces irritability (primary hypothesis) and aggression (secondary hypothesis) among individuals greater than 6 months post-TBI METHODS:: A total of 76 individuals greater than 6 months post-TBI referred for irritability management were enrolled in a parallel-group, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of amantadine (n = 38) versus placebo (n = 38). Study participants were randomly assigned to receive amantadine hydrochloride 100 mg twice daily versus equivalent placebo for 28 days. Symptoms of irritability and aggression were measured before and after treatment using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Irritability (NPI-I) and Aggression (NPI-A) domains, as well as the NPI-Distress for these domains

Results: : In the amantadine group, 80.

Affect recognition in traumatic brain injury: responses to unimodal and multimodal media.

Objectives: To compare affect recognition by people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) for (1) unimodal and context-enriched multimodal media; (2) positive (happy) and negative emotions; and (3) neutral multimodal stimuli.

Participants: A total of 60 people with moderate to severe TBI and 60 matched controls.

Measures: (1) facial affect, (2) vocal affect, and (3) multimodal affect.

Relationships between alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy after traumatic brain injury.

Objectives: To determine (1) alexithymia, affect recognition, and empathy differences in participants with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI); (2) the amount of affect recognition variance explained by alexithymia; and (3) the amount of empathy variance explained by alexithymia and affect recognition.

Participants: Sixty adults with moderate-to-severe TBI; 60 age and gender-matched controls.

Procedures: Participants were evaluated for alexithymia (difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally-oriented thinking); facial and vocal affect recognition; and affective and cognitive empathy (empathic concern and perspective-taking, respectively).

Long-term survival after traumatic brain injury: a population-based analysis controlled for nonhead trauma.

Objective: To examine the contribution of co-occurring nonhead injuries to hazard of death after traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Participants: A random sample of Olmsted County, Minnesota, residents with confirmed TBI from 1987 through 1999 was identified.

Design: Each case was assigned an age- and sex-matched, non-TBI "regular control" from the population.

Formal distinctiveness of high- and low-imageability nouns: analyses and theoretical implications.

Words associated with perceptually salient, highly imageable concepts are learned earlier in life, more accurately recalled, and more rapidly named than abstract words (R. W. Brown, 1976; Walker & Hulme, 1999).