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The main objective of this study was to elucidate the possible mechanistic link between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using an animal model. We examined behavioral and histological effects of TBI in pre-symptomatic AD-transgenic mice (C57B6/SJL/SwissWebster/B6D2F1). In previous studies, these mice displayed AD-like behavioral deficits by 15-17 months of age and AD-like neuropathology as early as six months of age. To clarify the effects of TBI on these mice, the present study began when they were about three months of age and the study ended when they were about five months of age. As a control, non-transgenic (NT) mice were also evaluated in this study. To assess behavioral changes following TBI, all mice were subjected to 14 days of pre-TBI training of a spatial memory task, the radial arm water maze (RAWM). After training, there were no performance differences between AD-transgenic mice and NT mice. Then, half of the AD-transgenic mice, as well as half of the NT mice, received an experimental TBI at the right parietal cortex using a pneumatic impactor. The other half of these mice received sham surgery. At two, four, and six weeks after surgery, all mice were tested in the same water maze task and the numbers of errors were recorded. AD-transgenic mice with TBI made significantly more errors than AD-transgenic mice without TBI and NT mice regardless of TBI. Furthermore, deficits were observed at both two and six weeks after TBI surgery. To assess histological changes following TBI, we used a monoclonal antibody against beta-amyloid to detect AD-like plaques and an antibody against NeuN to evaluate the total neuronal loss. There were no clear group differences in terms of the beta amyloid expression pattern, although one AD-transgenic mouse with TBI showed AD-like beta amyloid plaques throughout the entire cortex and hippocampus. These results suggest that TBI precipitated behavioral deficits in a spatial memory task in pre-symptomatic AD-transgenic mice, but not control mice. Further studies are warranted for histological effects of TBI.

Background: Patients with non-penetrating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are at high risk for damage to ventral prefrontal brain regions, due to the brain’s acceleration into the bony ridges of the anterior portions of the skull. Current neuropsychological assessments of these patients focus mainly on the assessment of so-called “executive functions,” which are associated with dorsolateral prefrontal regions. Ventral prefrontal pathology is more likely to disrupt social and emotional functions, but assessments of these abilities using objective measurements that require patients to demonstrate their competence are rare. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic social and emotional deficits are common in TBI, and that these difficulties result in significant functional impairments post-injury, making clear the need to develop and use objective assessment tools during clinical neuropsychological assessments. Methods: In the current project, the Global Interpersonal Skills Test (GIST), a questionnaire measure of social skills with both a self-rated and an informant-rated version, was developed, along with three novel or adapted performance-based measures of social and emotional functioning. The first novel measure was the Assessments of Social Context (ASC), a video-based task examining comprehension of social context using non-verbal cues, including the identification of emotions, intensions and positive or negative attitudes of one person towards another. The second task was the Awareness of Interoception Test (AIT), a heartbeat detection paradigm adapted from previous literature that measures participants’ sensitivity to their cardiac function, which is implicated in basic emotional functioning. The third task was the Social Interpretations Task (SIT), an animation-based task adapted from previous literature examining participants’ ability to apply a social interpretation to stimuli that are not inherently social in nature. All novel tasks were developed and piloted with healthy undergraduates. A group of patients with moderate to severe TBI (N = 16), and a group of non-brain damaged controls (N = 16) underwent neuropsychological testing. Standard neuropsychological measures including the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Digit Span and Digit Symbol Coding from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, phonemic (FAS) and semantic fluency (Animals) from the Verbal Fluency Test, and the Trail Making Test, as well as the novel measures to both patients with TBI and controls were administered. The following predictions were made: vi 1) The novel performance-based measures of social abilities would be more sensitive to the presence of moderate and severe TBI than the standard neuropsychological measures of cognition; 2) On the informant version of the GIST, but not the self-report version, patients would have scores than controls; 3) Patients’ performance on the ASC would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, measured by the informant-version of the GIST; 4) Patients’ AIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this would be related to their self-rated emotional changes; 5) Patients’ SIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, again measured by the informant-version of the GIST. Findings: Findings were consistent with these hypotheses: 1) A statistically significant logistic regression revealed that a Social composite variable comprising the ASC, AIT and SIT was more sensitive to the presence of TBI (β = 9.59, p < .05) than a Cognitive composite variable comprising Digit Symbol Coding, Trails B completion time, and Phonemic Fluency (β = 0.006, p = .466). 2) A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that informants of patients gave lower GIST scores to patients than the informants of controls (F(1,28) = 22.2, p < 0.0001), whereas there were no differences between groups on the self-rated version of the GIST (F(1,28) = .35, p = .56); 3) Patients’ ASC performance was significantly poorer than controls’ on a MANOVA (F(1,31) = 21.7, p < .0001), and ASC total scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .624, p < .0001). 4) Patients’ AIT performance was significantly poorer than controls’ using an independent samples t test (t(13) = 1.43, p < 0.005), and qualitative investigation of subjective reports of emotional change among patients suggested a potential relationship between emotional changes and AIT performance. vii 5) Patients’ SIT performance was significantly poorer than controls on an independent samples t test (t(30) = -2.12, p < 0.05), and SIT scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .460, p < .0001). Interpretation: This research represents a preliminary step in the development of clinically useful measures of social and emotional difficulties following TBI. Given the small sample size of the patient group, and the presence of co-morbid difficulties among some of the participants in this research, further testing of these measures in larger, more homogeneous samples would strengthen the current results, as would using a comparison group of people with milder TBI, rather than neuro-typical controls. The complexity of social behaviour requires that the current measures be further validated against other real-world assessments of social ability, and that assessments of other aspects of social behaviour be conducted. Nonetheless, the measures described here are a promising start to supplementing the neuropsychological toolkit in an area that requires further development at the present time.

Background: Patients with non-penetrating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are at high risk for damage to ventral prefrontal brain regions, due to the brain’s acceleration into the bony ridges of the anterior portions of the skull. Current neuropsychological assessments of these patients focus mainly on the assessment of so-called “executive functions,” which are associated with dorsolateral prefrontal regions. Ventral prefrontal pathology is more likely to disrupt social and emotional functions, but assessments of these abilities using objective measurements that require patients to demonstrate their competence are rare. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic social and emotional deficits are common in TBI, and that these difficulties result in significant functional impairments post-injury, making clear the need to develop and use objective assessment tools during clinical neuropsychological assessments. Methods: In the current project, the Global Interpersonal Skills Test (GIST), a questionnaire measure of social skills with both a self-rated and an informant-rated version, was developed, along with three novel or adapted performance-based measures of social and emotional functioning. The first novel measure was the Assessments of Social Context (ASC), a video-based task examining comprehension of social context using non-verbal cues, including the identification of emotions, intensions and positive or negative attitudes of one person towards another. The second task was the Awareness of Interoception Test (AIT), a heartbeat detection paradigm adapted from previous literature that measures participants’ sensitivity to their cardiac function, which is implicated in basic emotional functioning. The third task was the Social Interpretations Task (SIT), an animation-based task adapted from previous literature examining participants’ ability to apply a social interpretation to stimuli that are not inherently social in nature. All novel tasks were developed and piloted with healthy undergraduates. A group of patients with moderate to severe TBI (N = 16), and a group of non-brain damaged controls (N = 16) underwent neuropsychological testing. Standard neuropsychological measures including the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Digit Span and Digit Symbol Coding from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, phonemic (FAS) and semantic fluency (Animals) from the Verbal Fluency Test, and the Trail Making Test, as well as the novel measures to both patients with TBI and controls were administered. The following predictions were made: vi 1) The novel performance-based measures of social abilities would be more sensitive to the presence of moderate and severe TBI than the standard neuropsychological measures of cognition; 2) On the informant version of the GIST, but not the self-report version, patients would have scores than controls; 3) Patients’ performance on the ASC would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, measured by the informant-version of the GIST; 4) Patients’ AIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this would be related to their self-rated emotional changes; 5) Patients’ SIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, again measured by the informant-version of the GIST. Findings: Findings were consistent with these hypotheses: 1) A statistically significant logistic regression revealed that a Social composite variable comprising the ASC, AIT and SIT was more sensitive to the presence of TBI (β = 9.59, p < .05) than a Cognitive composite variable comprising Digit Symbol Coding, Trails B completion time, and Phonemic Fluency (β = 0.006, p = .466). 2) A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that informants of patients gave lower GIST scores to patients than the informants of controls (F(1,28) = 22.2, p < 0.0001), whereas there were no differences between groups on the self-rated version of the GIST (F(1,28) = .35, p = .56); 3) Patients’ ASC performance was significantly poorer than controls’ on a MANOVA (F(1,31) = 21.7, p < .0001), and ASC total scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .624, p < .0001). 4) Patients’ AIT performance was significantly poorer than controls’ using an independent samples t test (t(13) = 1.43, p < 0.005), and qualitative investigation of subjective reports of emotional change among patients suggested a potential relationship between emotional changes and AIT performance. vii 5) Patients’ SIT performance was significantly poorer than controls on an independent samples t test (t(30) = -2.12, p < 0.05), and SIT scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .460, p < .0001). Interpretation: This research represents a preliminary step in the development of clinically useful measures of social and emotional difficulties following TBI. Given the small sample size of the patient group, and the presence of co-morbid difficulties among some of the participants in this research, further testing of these measures in larger, more homogeneous samples would strengthen the current results, as would using a comparison group of people with milder TBI, rather than neuro-typical controls. The complexity of social behaviour requires that the current measures be further validated against other real-world assessments of social ability, and that assessments of other aspects of social behaviour be conducted. Nonetheless, the measures described here are a promising start to supplementing the neuropsychological toolkit in an area that requires further development at the present time.

Background: Patients with non-penetrating traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are at high risk for damage to ventral prefrontal brain regions, due to the brain’s acceleration into the bony ridges of the anterior portions of the skull. Current neuropsychological assessments of these patients focus mainly on the assessment of so-called “executive functions,” which are associated with dorsolateral prefrontal regions. Ventral prefrontal pathology is more likely to disrupt social and emotional functions, but assessments of these abilities using objective measurements that require patients to demonstrate their competence are rare. Mounting evidence suggests that chronic social and emotional deficits are common in TBI, and that these difficulties result in significant functional impairments post-injury, making clear the need to develop and use objective assessment tools during clinical neuropsychological assessments. Methods: In the current project, the Global Interpersonal Skills Test (GIST), a questionnaire measure of social skills with both a self-rated and an informant-rated version, was developed, along with three novel or adapted performance-based measures of social and emotional functioning. The first novel measure was the Assessments of Social Context (ASC), a video-based task examining comprehension of social context using non-verbal cues, including the identification of emotions, intensions and positive or negative attitudes of one person towards another. The second task was the Awareness of Interoception Test (AIT), a heartbeat detection paradigm adapted from previous literature that measures participants’ sensitivity to their cardiac function, which is implicated in basic emotional functioning. The third task was the Social Interpretations Task (SIT), an animation-based task adapted from previous literature examining participants’ ability to apply a social interpretation to stimuli that are not inherently social in nature. All novel tasks were developed and piloted with healthy undergraduates. A group of patients with moderate to severe TBI (N = 16), and a group of non-brain damaged controls (N = 16) underwent neuropsychological testing. Standard neuropsychological measures including the Wechsler Test of Adult Reading, Digit Span and Digit Symbol Coding from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, phonemic (FAS) and semantic fluency (Animals) from the Verbal Fluency Test, and the Trail Making Test, as well as the novel measures to both patients with TBI and controls were administered. The following predictions were made: vi 1) The novel performance-based measures of social abilities would be more sensitive to the presence of moderate and severe TBI than the standard neuropsychological measures of cognition; 2) On the informant version of the GIST, but not the self-report version, patients would have scores than controls; 3) Patients’ performance on the ASC would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, measured by the informant-version of the GIST; 4) Patients’ AIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this would be related to their self-rated emotional changes; 5) Patients’ SIT performance would be less accurate than controls’, and this difference would be associated with real-world social skills, again measured by the informant-version of the GIST. Findings: Findings were consistent with these hypotheses: 1) A statistically significant logistic regression revealed that a Social composite variable comprising the ASC, AIT and SIT was more sensitive to the presence of TBI (β = 9.59, p < .05) than a Cognitive composite variable comprising Digit Symbol Coding, Trails B completion time, and Phonemic Fluency (β = 0.006, p = .466). 2) A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that informants of patients gave lower GIST scores to patients than the informants of controls (F(1,28) = 22.2, p < 0.0001), whereas there were no differences between groups on the self-rated version of the GIST (F(1,28) = .35, p = .56); 3) Patients’ ASC performance was significantly poorer than controls’ on a MANOVA (F(1,31) = 21.7, p < .0001), and ASC total scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .624, p < .0001). 4) Patients’ AIT performance was significantly poorer than controls’ using an independent samples t test (t(13) = 1.43, p < 0.005), and qualitative investigation of subjective reports of emotional change among patients suggested a potential relationship between emotional changes and AIT performance. vii 5) Patients’ SIT performance was significantly poorer than controls on an independent samples t test (t(30) = -2.12, p < 0.05), and SIT scores were significantly correlated with GIST informant scores, using Spearman’s rank-order correlations (ρ(31) = .460, p < .0001). Interpretation: This research represents a preliminary step in the development of clinically useful measures of social and emotional difficulties following TBI. Given the small sample size of the patient group, and the presence of co-morbid difficulties among some of the participants in this research, further testing of these measures in larger, more homogeneous samples would strengthen the current results, as would using a comparison group of people with milder TBI, rather than neuro-typical controls. The complexity of social behaviour requires that the current measures be further validated against other real-world assessments of social ability, and that assessments of other aspects of social behaviour be conducted. Nonetheless, the measures described here are a promising start to supplementing the neuropsychological toolkit in an area that requires further development at the present time.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Speech Pathology and Audiology, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 54-59).

Introdução: Acidentes com ciclistas podem ser bastante sérios especialmente pela possibilidade de trauma cranioencefálico grave. Métodos: O objetivo desse trabalho foi estimar a prevalência do uso de capacetes por ciclistas nos finais de semana e feriados na cidade de Porto Alegre. Durante os finais de semana e feriados da primavera de 2007, foi realizado um estudo transversal. 969 ciclistas foram incluídos na amostra. Este estudo foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética do Grupo de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Resultados: A prevalência do uso de capacetes pelos ciclistas foi de 5,6% (IC 95% 4,5 a 7,5). Os ciclistas mais jovens (idade ≤ 20 anos) tiveram uma prevalência menor do uso do capacete, quando comparados à observada entre os demais ciclistas (idade > 20 anos), (P< 0,001; 2,1% vs. 7,8%, respectivamente). Discussão: Embora esse estudo tenha sido realizado em fins de semana e feriados, quando se espera que a prevalência do uso do capacete seja maior, nós encontramos somente 5,6% dos ciclistas utilizando esse equipamento de proteção. Medidas educativas e iniciativas que reduzam o preço de tais equipamentos poderiam trazer benefícios consideráveis para a saúde dessa população. / Introduction: Accidents involving cyclists can be very serious, especially due to the possibility of severe traumatic brain injury. Methods: The objective of this work was estimate the prevalence of helmet use among cyclists in weekends and holidays in the city of Porto Alegre. During the spring of 2007 we conducted a cross-sectional study involving 969 cyclists. The survey was carried out during weekends and holidays on 20 randomly distributed observation sites around the city. The Ethics Committee of the Research and Pos-Graduation Group of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre approved this study. Results: The observed prevalence of helmet use was 5.6% (IC 95% 4.5 a 7.5). Younger cyclists (age ≤ 20 years) had a lower prevalence of helmet use than that observed among older cyclists (age > 20 years), (P< 0.001; 2.1% vs. 7.8%, respectively). Discussion: Although this study was carried out on weekends and holidays, when the prevalence of helmet use was expected to be higher, we found only 5.6% of cyclist using this protective device. Educational measures and incentives to reduce the price of such equipment could bring considerable benefits to the safety and health of cyclists in this population.

Introdução: Acidentes com ciclistas podem ser bastante sérios especialmente pela possibilidade de trauma cranioencefálico grave. Métodos: O objetivo desse trabalho foi estimar a prevalência do uso de capacetes por ciclistas nos finais de semana e feriados na cidade de Porto Alegre. Durante os finais de semana e feriados da primavera de 2007, foi realizado um estudo transversal. 969 ciclistas foram incluídos na amostra. Este estudo foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética do Grupo de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Resultados: A prevalência do uso de capacetes pelos ciclistas foi de 5,6% (IC 95% 4,5 a 7,5). Os ciclistas mais jovens (idade ≤ 20 anos) tiveram uma prevalência menor do uso do capacete, quando comparados à observada entre os demais ciclistas (idade > 20 anos), (P< 0,001; 2,1% vs. 7,8%, respectivamente). Discussão: Embora esse estudo tenha sido realizado em fins de semana e feriados, quando se espera que a prevalência do uso do capacete seja maior, nós encontramos somente 5,6% dos ciclistas utilizando esse equipamento de proteção. Medidas educativas e iniciativas que reduzam o preço de tais equipamentos poderiam trazer benefícios consideráveis para a saúde dessa população. / Introduction: Accidents involving cyclists can be very serious, especially due to the possibility of severe traumatic brain injury. Methods: The objective of this work was estimate the prevalence of helmet use among cyclists in weekends and holidays in the city of Porto Alegre. During the spring of 2007 we conducted a cross-sectional study involving 969 cyclists. The survey was carried out during weekends and holidays on 20 randomly distributed observation sites around the city. The Ethics Committee of the Research and Pos-Graduation Group of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre approved this study. Results: The observed prevalence of helmet use was 5.6% (IC 95% 4.5 a 7.5). Younger cyclists (age ≤ 20 years) had a lower prevalence of helmet use than that observed among older cyclists (age > 20 years), (P< 0.001; 2.1% vs. 7.8%, respectively). Discussion: Although this study was carried out on weekends and holidays, when the prevalence of helmet use was expected to be higher, we found only 5.6% of cyclist using this protective device. Educational measures and incentives to reduce the price of such equipment could bring considerable benefits to the safety and health of cyclists in this population.

Introdução: Acidentes com ciclistas podem ser bastante sérios especialmente pela possibilidade de trauma cranioencefálico grave. Métodos: O objetivo desse trabalho foi estimar a prevalência do uso de capacetes por ciclistas nos finais de semana e feriados na cidade de Porto Alegre. Durante os finais de semana e feriados da primavera de 2007, foi realizado um estudo transversal. 969 ciclistas foram incluídos na amostra. Este estudo foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética do Grupo de Pesquisa e Pós-Graduação do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre. Resultados: A prevalência do uso de capacetes pelos ciclistas foi de 5,6% (IC 95% 4,5 a 7,5). Os ciclistas mais jovens (idade ≤ 20 anos) tiveram uma prevalência menor do uso do capacete, quando comparados à observada entre os demais ciclistas (idade > 20 anos), (P< 0,001; 2,1% vs. 7,8%, respectivamente). Discussão: Embora esse estudo tenha sido realizado em fins de semana e feriados, quando se espera que a prevalência do uso do capacete seja maior, nós encontramos somente 5,6% dos ciclistas utilizando esse equipamento de proteção. Medidas educativas e iniciativas que reduzam o preço de tais equipamentos poderiam trazer benefícios consideráveis para a saúde dessa população. / Introduction: Accidents involving cyclists can be very serious, especially due to the possibility of severe traumatic brain injury. Methods: The objective of this work was estimate the prevalence of helmet use among cyclists in weekends and holidays in the city of Porto Alegre. During the spring of 2007 we conducted a cross-sectional study involving 969 cyclists. The survey was carried out during weekends and holidays on 20 randomly distributed observation sites around the city. The Ethics Committee of the Research and Pos-Graduation Group of Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre approved this study. Results: The observed prevalence of helmet use was 5.6% (IC 95% 4.5 a 7.5). Younger cyclists (age ≤ 20 years) had a lower prevalence of helmet use than that observed among older cyclists (age > 20 years), (P< 0.001; 2.1% vs. 7.8%, respectively). Discussion: Although this study was carried out on weekends and holidays, when the prevalence of helmet use was expected to be higher, we found only 5.6% of cyclist using this protective device. Educational measures and incentives to reduce the price of such equipment could bring considerable benefits to the safety and health of cyclists in this population.